This may be anecdotal, but I ran into this exact same issue a few weeks ago. The suggested 20% was significantly higher than the 20% on the bill. It took me a little bit to figure out, but we were at the restaurant for a steak special and happy hour. The 20% tip was for the non-special price. For example, the steak and two sides special was $18, but the normal price was $28. The drinks were $5 but the normal price was $8. So the suggested tip was 20% of $36, not 20% of $23. These aren’t the exact numbers, and there were two of us, but you get the idea. The POS/Tip suggestion is setup so the servers don’t get the shit end of the stick when the restaurant is doing a deal/special. I’m not sure I fully agree with it, and I have my own beef with tipping culture in general, but I’m just looking to explain what might be seen in OP’s photo.
Understood, but not my problem. If it says 20%, it should be 20%. For trying to pull shit like this it is going to be a 0% from me.
Restaurant tries to scam customers, yet they still give a 20% tip?
Pretty sure the waitress wasn’t the one who fucked with the register. Probably the restaurant trying to ensure they don’t have to pay the difference if the tips come up short and leave the staff below minimum wage.
You think place like that distributes tips honestly?
I feels like reasoning like this is why it would never end.
Wait so you get scammed but still give 20% tips? This would be an automatic 0% tip
Yeah, what’s likely happening here is that the tip numbers were calculated off the subtotal intentionally. So say you buy a “happy hour” drink and it is $3 instead of $6, they tip is calculated before the “discount”.
Their machine could have actually been wrong, but using a total before discounts seems more likely.
On the surface, I can understand this. It’s not the server’s fault that they got the happy hour rush when everything is 50% off. If anything, they had to work harder because it was busier. Why punish them for that extra work with lower tip calculations? The drinks aren’t any easier or faster to pour just because they’re half off. It should at least be transparent, but I at least understand the reasoning.
What does bug me is when the tip calculations are based on the after-tax total. Fuck that, I’m already getting taxed 10% on this, you don’t need your 18% calculated from that extra 10%.
You think the wait staff setup the machine to do math wrong?
Fuck tips. 0 tips. Pay your people.
You pay for the service of being waited on… don’t want to tip… then go to McDonald’s! wtf! 🤬
Do you tip for the service for customer tech support or similar customer facing industries as well?
No, your comment is asinine and completely irrelevant, when you call tech support for example, Apple or AT&T, you are already paying their damn salaries with the bill you pay each month (plus they get paid more an hr-duh).
You don’t pay my salary when you come in dine at my table for hours and eat like $200 worth of food and provide NO tip! You occupied my table knowing others could come in and give me a better tips, that’s the difference!! You clearly haven’t worked in the food industry before.
I have! But in a civilized country, not the USA. I do pay your salary when I go to the restaurant, yes. You are paid by the restaurant only because people go there and eat. Your salary is literally dependant on people ordering food. It is the service you provide, you are not a fucking independent contractor that I have personally hires to serve my table lol. You are on the restaurant’s payroll, same as tech support is on whatever company’s payroll. No tips for one, no tips to the other. A techy gets paid the same whether they spend 5 hours on a ticket and licks the customer’s dick, or if they spend one hour and are complete asses.
Yeah, you have never worked the service industry in America so… comment invalid.
Don’t like tipping in the US than don’t go out, or stay in whatever county you are skimming servers out of tips you live in…
My restaurant actually pays us more than the bogus ass fed minimum wage and I don’t have to “kiss ass” of customers they genuinely like me, might be hard for you to comprehend but I get well over 20% on almost every table. I can make $3-4k a month with my wage and shifts like 25hrs a week, that’s what’s wrong in the US. When you make more as a server with half the hours than a full time teacher, something’s got to change…
Bottom line, my restaurant pays me $11.10/hr or $15/hr (asst manager) plus tips so basically tip your servers or do not go out and hit a drive thru instead. Stop punishing us because of what you believe in…
Tipping, specifically in the original context of restaurants, I will still do, simply because the government needs to change the minimum wage so that servers are included. They’re currently a protected group that is allowed to be paid far less than minimum wage, and they are supposed to make up the difference in tips.
In every other context, wow me and I’ll tip you, otherwise, don’t expect shit.
If you did your job as you are expected to do, then I don’t see why I need to tip.
It was always a dumb idea to pay servers LESS because they got tips. There was a time when tips were mostly cash and you didn’t have to claim them as income. But now that advantage is almost completely gone. And we should just end tipping. If you go out and don’t like the service then don’t go back. Just like it works with any other business.
Thank you! After all the comments and being a server I was starting to feel like I was going crazy!
Like you said, tip your servers accordingly and if not then don’t go the f out! Go through a drive thru instead!
And if you hate the tipping culture then try to change it! Don’t punish the servers for your selfish actions and beliefs for a service rendered! You don’t HAVE to be waited on… you chose that! So don’t choose to not tip that’s an asshole move and if you’re a regular even worse!
This is exactly me. I still tip you all. Even if the food sucked, I’m doing what I can to leave a tip.
I’d add a caveat for bad service, but honestly, I don’t think I’ve met a server yet that deserved to not be tipped (aka, paid fairly for their service).
If you suck at your job, you won’t have it very long. Server or not. Let’s let the system work the way it does for everyone else. Ban below minimum wage wages for servers.
Once that happens, I can happily never tip again.
Love you!! You are my perfect customer! But I agree, I always tip 10% and 20% for great service! I always tip even on take out since hosts have to ensure orders and box it up accordingly. But seriously, I agree, I live in MN so us servers are lucky but still, the tipping culture is out of control! You tip for take out and dine in… I shouldn’t have to tip a person during a fast food order which EVERYTHING IS ALREADY FUCKING COOKED! You ain’t doing shit but warming up that shitty food (I don’t eat). Why would anyone fucking tip?! American tipping culture is going to shit since no one is getting paid the wages entitled…
America is trash and can’t even get to 250 years while other countries have 1000s under their belts! It’s fucking embarrassing!
Fast food workers generally get minimum wage at least, so tipping shouldn’t be required or expected there. It’s mostly servers at restaurants as far as I know.
When I know that the workers are paid less than minimum, I’m pretty much always tipping unless you’re grossly negligent or you are actively mean. You can have a bad disposition, that’s fine. Everyone has bad days, I’ll still tip as long as you’re not directing your unhappiness at me. I just got here, I’m not the thing you’re mad at, so please don’t treat me like I am.
If tipping goes away tomorrow, I’ll be happy. Not just for my pocket book and the pain and frustration I feel staring at menus trying to up all the prices by 15-20% so I know what I’ll actually be paying, but for the workers actually making a decent wage.
We also need to address minimum wage issues, but that’s another matter entirely and affects a much larger group of people.
I agree, in MN we get paid pretty well as servers but agree some restaurants do this MOSTLY CHAINS, I am in a mom and pop and they haven’t raised prices in 2 years even after the fiasco of egg prices going crazy and then Drumpf saying he’ll bring him down which never happened. We never raise our prices… so people should also make that realization.
But thank you for understanding the fucked up system of tipping, I quit my teaching job because I make almost 3X as much with 1/2 the hours and that’s sickening! And then you have the servers complaining about how other people have better tips, it’s so much drama!
But I thank you for tipping honestly, a lot of people do not understand the importance of take out or serving in a restaurant and if they don’t get it… they need to watch the moving “Waiting”. Not saying I would do anything in that moving but others def will… so basically, don’t fuck with the people who serve you food…



