Restaurants adding fees

[Jstpssng]

Don't drink coffee, but I don't ever recall running into that with a restaurant fountain drink. Occasionally they'll "forget" and put ice in it, but never give me a hard time when I send it back. Not paying full price for a glass that's only 30% soda and the rest ice. Never really got the thing about ice in a fountain drink anyway, it's generally cold enough for me right out of the spout, but apparently I'm in the minority.

I don't drink much soda and even more rarely go to a restaurant. Yet I remember going to a small place and ordering a Coke... between the ice and the water to reconstitute the soda the chlorinated water was so bad that I couldn't drink it.

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Yep, I know that I'm getting old. The last time I ate at a restaurant tipping norm was 15%.
I generally would put that much on a card and drop a few bucks on the table... some for the government to tax, some for the wait staff.

 

[gsganzer]

I travel frequently, so I eat out a lot. I have a couple of hard-fast rules. If I'm standing when I order, then no tip and if I'm doing take-out, no tip.

I also look for "automatic tips". Recently, at a place in Denver, they added 18% to the final bill (only 2 of us eating), plus there was still the option for a tip. I didn't give a tip and also decided I won't visit that establishment again. I imagine they'll get the idea if others think like me.

I really wish we'd do away with the whole tip thing, in the US. It's gotten out of control, and it's made me resentful of even eating out.

 

[Jstpssng]

I really wish we'd do away with the whole tip thing, in the US. It's gotten out of control, and it's made me resentful of even eating out

When Maine revamped it's minimum wage laws they tried to do that, but wait staff was up in arms because they make too much money.

 

[WinterDeere]

Thank you to all who claim they don't go to restaurants anymore, I have noticed it's been easier to get reservations in recent years.

I do find automatic gratuity above a 10% or 15% minimum on large parties, to be irritating. Anyone adding an automatic gratuity to the bill of a party of two, and especially anything as high as 20%, is failing to understand the meaning of the word "gratuity".

I usually leave 20%, rounded up to the nearest dollar, but that's based on my own decision about the service being reasonably good. I have left less when service was bad and I was reasonably sure it wasn't just a case of a wait staff being screwed by the kitchen.

What I find more grating than an automatic gratuity, is counter-service places that request a tip, especially when it's requested before they even prepare my order. For what exactly am I providing this tip, when I'm the one standing at the counter waiting for my food? And if I fail to tip, is it going to impact the food or beverage you're making for me?

When a cashier is rude enough to point out that I can select tip amount during payment, I always say, "let's see how good my order is, first."