Tipping at Restaurants - Skip Tipping on the Tax
My husband and I were dining at Ruby Tuesday this evening. When we got the check, I noticed at the bottom was something that I found interesting:
The following traditional gratuity calculations are based on the total of the check including tax:
15%: $6.13
18%: $7.35
20%: $8.17
I have never seen anything like this at any other eating establishments so it gave me a lot to think about.
My first impression was that it was pushy.
Upon further thought, I remembered all of the people I’ve dined with in the past who could never figure out how to calculate tips. Maybe this was a good idea after all. Who am I to dismiss an idea that would take away the guesswork from those who were incapable of figuring out a tip?
I reread it and noticed that it said it calculated the tip “including tax.” I have never seen any tipping etiquette guides include tax in their tipping calculations. At least they mentioned it, not that I wouldn’t have run my own calculations to verify this, but still, it feels sleazy to me.
For those who are curious about the tipping etiquette, from everything I’ve read, it’s generally 15-25% on the total bill excluding tax and expensive wine. Yes, some people are now tipping 25%. Twenty percent is still the standard for good service, but don’t feel shy about exceptional service earning more or poor service earning much less.
About.com has a decent guide on tipping that seems reasonably helpful, if you want to read more about tipping.
Chalk this experience up as leaving me thinking Ruby Tuesday is pushy and a bit sleazy for trying to modify the tipping standards.
Your best bet is to learn how to calculate tips for yourself. Everyone knows how to calculate 10% by moving the decimal over one place to the left. Example: 10% of $10 is $1. Doubling that to $2 is 20%. Taking 1/2 of the 10%, which is 50 cents, and adding it to the 10% number of $1 is 15%, or $1.50. Dividing your bill (excluding tax) by 4 gives you 25%, or $2.50.
Too much to think about? Try the calculator on your cell phone or PDA. In that case, just convert the percentage to a decimal, so 20% is .20, and multiply that by your bill (excluding tax). $10 x .20 = $2.00.
Still too complicated? Round your numbers and see if that helps.
Tipping shouldn’t be stressful. It’s a reward for good service and shouldn’t put you out any more than the money you leave behind. Just try to be fair and you’ll be good to go!
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September 10th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Another trick is to use the tax as a basis.
In MA, for example, the tax is 5%, so 3 times the tax is 15% and 4 times is 20%
In NJ (when I lived there), the tax was 6% (I think this has changed), so 3 times the tax is 18%.
In NY (in the county I lived in), the tax was 8%, so 2 times the tax was 16%.
Etc.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
[...] wondered if others bloggers had written about this and I found a few that had (MoneyStuffed, Pet Peeving, and Steve Barnes). They seemed to mostly complain about the inclusion of tax in the [...]