Do waitresses actually look at my tip amount?

[GravitySucks]

Is this heaven?

Mrs Scrapr gets mad at me because I walked out of a joint with a$8 grilled cheese. 3 beers and a burger would be $20 easy plus tip. The taco truck burrito is $8

Joy of LCOL area.
DD lived in a very HCOL and took DW out for a great deal martini happy hour. $12 each for a 5 - 7 weekday happy hour. Next week I took DW out to an upper end steak house at home. Martinis were $5.50 regular price. She delighted in texting the menu pics to DD.I
The 3 beers and burger for $9 seem long gone even here though I can find it for $12. Tonight is $14 prime rib and $1.50 16oz Yuenglings at a local family restaurant for me. Hard to beat that.
I'll probably end up tipping 30%, but probably will have a beer served up gratis. A couple places where I ask for a waitress i know is good I will make sure every Christmas season I give them an extra $20 or so. Does the waitress notice? You bet. They also notice when you treat them decently and don't make a scene over a mistake.

 

[Midpack]

I was a server in college, and I checked tip amount as soon as I could do it discreetly - every check. Maybe some don’t.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I don’t know it it’s true or not but I understand tips on a credit card may be understandably reduced by the restaurant according to the fees the credit card charges the establishment (e.g., a $100 charge on Visa may incur a 5%, or whatever, fee to Visa, so a $20 tip on the card will be reduced by $1 too). So I like to tip in cash so the server gets the whole amount (DH could not care less about this ). I’m not in charge of the server’s taxes.

 

[Rianne]

I was a waitress in high school and college and earned more than most for a part time job. Sometimes go home with $70-$100 for a 5 hour shift. I'm talking late 70's early 80's. My checks earned me @$2 an hour. Friendly, reasonably efficient service is key. If patrons want privacy and time to talk, it's important to be aware of their needs. If in a hurry, waitresses/waiters, let's say server, should be keen to the situation. I often had repeat customers. Quick, casual conversation is best. That brings good tips. I always tip well, at least 15% for average service, 20-30% for great service. And yes, cash is king.

 

[Lsbcal]

I think some look at the credit card receipt and some don't. I'll take my kids to the local drive through joint and get a large Oreo milkshake for $5 and tip $15. Sometimes I get a gushing "Are you sure?!" and thank you, sometimes I get zero reaction.

Maybe the ones that don't look are too busy, or superstitious, or fatalistic, or - hopefully not - entitled.

So far I have put the tip on the tip line on the credit card slip because I usually don't carry cash. But I can see differences between cash and credit - with cash the waitress gets it right away but would have to make decisions about whether and how much to share with busboys etc. and whether to report on their income taxes. Oh, and with credit card tips I think I've seen it where they don't even charge the tip to my card, even when it's what I think is a decent tip - so the slip is for $15.31 and I'll write in $22, and the charge will come through as $15.31 on my statement.

I'm not sure I'll change my practice but I'll mull it over.

I notice that pending CC charges do not usually show the tip amount. But the final charges a few days later do show it. Perhaps this is what you are seeing?


I don't like dealing in cash nowadays. Plus I do think people should pay their taxes or we will all have to do it for them. So I'm sticking with tips via the CC line charge.

 

[SecondCor521]

I notice that pending CC charges do not usually show the tip amount. But the final charges a few days later do show it. Perhaps this is what you are seeing?

In the situations I'm thinking of, it's the final charge. I would say most of the time the tip does get added in for the final charge, but sometimes not. Since I use Quicken and I make a note on my copy of the receipt about the tip I left, I feel badly for the server who didn't get the tip, but for the $5 or $10 I'm not going to drive across town or call them to have them fix it.

I agree with you and the others that it's the server's job to pay their taxes appropriately.

 

[Red Badger]

One should IMHO pay cash as often as possible (sometimes I just do not have that much cash with me) for the following two reasons:

1) establishments vary in terms of how they handle tips on CCs, some have the "house" take a cut and others will share them equally with the entire staff, whereas I prefer to reward the service provided by my specific server. if the server chooses to share with say the busboy ,or others of his/her own volition that is fine with me but do not like it to be forced

2) most will make sure the CC tips are paid out by end of shift, but not all besides sometimes a server will have reason to leave early and may or may not therefore lose out on his/her tips

Intentions of others are not something i can control. Reporting taxable income of wait staff or anyone else is their concern not mine. have enough effort to make sure I do my own taxes legally and properly

Agree on both points and last comment. If I know a joint is spreading the tip to other staff, I cease my visits.

In many countries, the house often retains any tips paid via cc. Outside the US, I really try to tip cash.

 

[Midpack]

Do you guys tip more (from a percentage standpoint) if you’re at a restaurant where the bill for two may he $20, but the servers seem to be understaffed and working harder than the servers at a restaurant where the bill may be $200? Tipping folks more based on the expense or ‘classiness’ of the restaurant or less because it’s bob Evans always gets me.

I usually tip between 18-20% but I will go higher or lower for extremely good or bad service. However, I do tip a higher percentage/round up generously at really low price restaurants, and never less than $1/person or 10% even at a stand up/coffee place. I don’t think servers have an expectation of anything but a % tip. Most servers don’t make a lot so I’m not going to get stingy with anyone who provides decent service at all.

 

[Scrapr]

at the local coffee shop I frequent they have the tip thing on the i pad. So I have been tipping on that. For years prior I would drop a $20 in at Christmas. Several times to make sure my fav baristas get a bit. I am pretty sure the more regular tips will add up more over the course of a year

 

[gamboolman]

Tipping has got way the FN Hell out of hand with all the "entitled" folks....

We tip accordingly...... good service.....GD good tip....as in stupid good..... as in a $150 dinner for 2 getting a spare hundo......

Normal service gets 15% ish....

Less than acceptable..... we tip accordingly.....

Entitled folks can go EAD....To Hell With them....

But thats just us..... I respect the right of everyone to do whatever the FN Hell they want with there monies.... And I GD for sure don't want sum SOB telling me what to do with my GD hard honest earned money......

But that's just me...... Ms. gamboolgal will be the eternal peace maker and "explain" that I have been too deep into the Knob Creek.....

ha...I relish the waitress that gives me shiiite for shiite service.....fun times to ensue...

And I really enjoy rewarding courteous congenial outstanding service..... But it's my choice.....

Gamboolman.....

 

[JustCurious]

I notice that pending CC charges do not usually show the tip amount. But the final charges a few days later do show it.

I've noticed that as well.

 

[Dtail]

I've noticed that as well.

+2 always been that way for my cc.

 

[Jerry1]

All tips are taxable income whether paid in cash or on a credit card. Whether the waiter elects to report cash based tips is their decision. I do not think it's a good idea to pay cash tips if doing so is for the intention of underreporting income for tax purposes.

I think, but not sure, that restaurants impute an amount for tips and put that on their W-2. I’m not sure what they base it on, but my guess is that the IRS has better things to do than pursue any difference.

 

[Winemaker]

When my son and daughter worked as servers 1997-2007, imputed amounts just brought their wages up to minimum wage. They both had to declare and sign for their tips at end of shift, they made sure they reported up to minimum wage, but deducted the cc amounts. Rarely, if ever they made less than min. wage, but they were both two hustling kids, who knew what side their bread was buttered.

 

[jjquantz]

OK, so the consensus seems to be that the servers tend to notice. DW and I don't eat out that often, but we tip very generously. My question is: how often do you need to go to a spot before the larger tips are connected to your face? Clearly, if I were to go daily, the connection will be made quickly. But what about weekly? monthly?

 

[mamadogmamacat]

Well, I've lived in my current community for 20 yrs now. So, despite it being a suburb of a large metro area with lots of diversity of all sorts and people moving in/out as jobs change, it usually only takes a couple to maybe at most a half dozen times before I'm noticed. Even to the point if I come in with a friend/family for a time or two but then go alone or with someone else, that is noticed and we chat about how so and so who I was seen with is doing. And, I'm generally introverted, so its not coming from me, this interest, it's just people are generally nice, and yeah I suppose a bit nosy.

 

[MikeD]

Time Saving Tip

Tipping has got way the FN Hell out of hand with all the "entitled" folks....

We tip accordingly...... good service.....GD good tip....as in stupid good..... as in a $150 dinner for 2 getting a spare hundo......

Normal service gets 15% ish....

Less than acceptable..... we tip accordingly.....

Entitled folks can go EAD....To Hell With them....

But thats just us..... I respect the right of everyone to do whatever the FN Hell they want with there monies.... And I GD for sure don't want sum SOB telling me what to do with my GD hard honest earned money......

But that's just me...... Ms. gamboolgal will be the eternal peace maker and "explain" that I have been too deep into the Knob Creek.....

ha...I relish the waitress that gives me shiiite for shiite service.....fun times to ensue...

And I really enjoy rewarding courteous congenial outstanding service..... But it's my choice.....

Gamboolman.....

I suggest using only one period at the end of a sentence. It will make it a lot easier to read.

 

[RobbieB]

I could care less weather the tips are split or not. Not my business, not my job.

I frequent the places I do for one reason, the food is great. When the food declines that's when I stop going.

 

[marko]

I think, but not sure, that restaurants impute an amount for tips and put that on their W-2. I’m not sure what they base it on, but my guess is that the IRS has better things to do than pursue any difference.

At least in the restaurant where I was a silent partner, their W2 has the amount of sales attributed to that server based on his/her input into the point of sale system (necessary to place an order to the kitchen/bar). When they send your veal parmigiana and beer order to the kitchen on that little screen it gets counted as a sale for them.

CC tips and cash tips are entered manually into the same system by the server at shift's end as part of their punch out. Sales, CC tips and claimed cash tips all go on a separate W2 box.

AFAIK, the IRS computers look for total tips that do not come close to a 15% tip total vs sales.
In seasonal places, underreporting your cash tips lowers your income when it's time to file for seasonal unemployment benefits so, honesty is the best policy!