a little tipsy

Today, the waiter is ranting today about a piece in the NYTimes calling for mandatory service charges on restaurant tabs rather than voluntary tips.

I've never been a waiter, but the way things are going at my church it could soon be my next career. My wife waited tables for a time in the distant, hazy past. Her tips were the essence of her wages, the meager hourly rate she earned was the gravy. The few people I knew who are or have been employed as servers would say the same. I think they would look at the Times proposal as a wage cap.

But hey, that's beside the point. What I really want to know is, and you can choose to remain anonymous in the comments if you like, what is your standard tipping practice when you dine out? I want the whole deal. If you tip at all, whether or not you give a percent of the bill and what percentage scheme you use. Do you do the old school "tax times two" method? Inquiring minds want to know.

Here's what I do: I default to twenty percent. If my server is good, I tip more. Only if the service is really poor, or if the server is just a jerk, do I ever tip less than twenty percent.

You can leave your tipping schema in the comments.

Posted to: community