Standard tip is 15%, for average service. The person took your order and brought out your food and refilled your drink.

If you've ever waited tables (like I have) then you'll tip 20%. 20% is for good service (which you'll see more of obviously in a more expensive restaurant). The person explained the menu, offered selections, and was generally more attentive than your average restaurant.

Anything more than 20% is if the service was exceptional in some way. The wait staff went way out of their way to make sure that your dining experience was exquisite.

I aim high when tipping as part of a large party. Both in an attempt to avoid situations like we ended up with this time, and in recognition of the fact that handling large parties is a more difficult task for a server. One that probably slows down their overall service, meaning fewer total tips on their shift, and possibly lower tips from customers they are not able to pay as much attention to as they might otherwise due to having to deal with the large group.

You may not be more particular, but most other people very much are.

And I fully support/endorse that philosophy. All I'm saying is that the service was so poor you feel you need to ding the server on the tip, you should also tell the manager.

I meant to ask if someone had suggested one of us had lifted the cash. Sorry for not being clear.

Absolutely not! (I'm quite serious)

I don't get it. What is the good kind of whale?

Even back in the days that I was waiting tables (over 13 years ago), the "standard" tip was a range of 15 to 20 percent. So I can't say I find it surprising to hear that has nudged up a bit.

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On a side note, have restaurants stopped automatically adding gratuity to large parties? Did something happen to make them change that policy? It seemed ubiquitous not too long ago, but now I've encountered two unrelated dining establishments in the past week where I know for certain this policy has changed.

(Yeah, I know two does not a trend make.)

A "whale" is Vegas lingo for the highest of high rollers, the people who drop so much money that casinos fall over themselves to cater to their every whim to get them to lose their money in their establishment.

And no, restaurants have not stopped adding automatic gratuity on large parties, you've just run across a couple anomalies.

And while no one has accused anyone of our friends of intentionally stealing any money, we have been told that we should feel shame for some reason.

SM, on the one or two occassions when I felt it necessary to tip below the 18% automatic grautuity, speaking to the manger was de riguer ... if only to inform them why we wouldn't be paying the bill in full.

And if it's more than anecdotal that the standard tip has "nudged" up to near 20%, I still maintain that a tip for great service near one-fourth the price of the meal is usurous.


Lastly, as far as the JKBCF is concerned ... either some person or persons seriously cheaped out on their bill, some person in our party is a dirty, rotten thief who stole some money (pfft, um not), or someone in the restaurant is a thief who steals money from guests' checks (um, also not bloody likely).


I'm not saying this is the resulting scenario then, but the most likely answer is piss-poor accounting, more likely a mistake by the restaurant on the bill.

Kevy should sue.

A story. I'm am of course not accusing anyone there of similar behavior. It just triggered the memory. (But seriously, I blame scaeagles.)

Back in my first year of college a high school friend was at the same school but in a different room. He shared a pod five people and I hung out with them a lot. A pretty nice group of people. Every few weeks we'd all eat out together at table service restaurants.

One of the guys frequently forgot something at the table or would use the bathroom and tell us he'd meet us out front, etc. But we never thought anything of it until one night late in the year another member of the group did forget his sunglasses and went back in just in time to see our fine friend stealing the tip we'd all left. And we realized he'd been doing it all year long.

My personal rule is to take the bottom line total and add 20%. 20% is easier to figure than 25% (IMO - 10% is easiest and just double that) and it keeps things safe. Again, I know not everyone agrees with this, but it is my policy.

Unless on the rare occasion I get bad service, I would rather give too much than too little. This holds true especially in places where I go repeatedly (lunch for example). My regular lunch partner and I have a couple of places we frequent and we can always count on great service and extra perks.

As Lisa mentioned, Jazz Kitchen is the oddity that does NOT automatically add the tip to large groups (though will upon request).

C'mon Alex: you're among friends. You can admit that it was you who was going back to pilfer the tips to support your drug addiction.

As a former waiter, I'm going to guess that the restaurant's policy not to add a gratuity on is because the park is an international tourist destination and folks from other countries have different views on the matter.

I wasn't there, and if you're offended by my attitude, I'm sorry in advance...

After reading close to 100 posts about this dinner, it strikes me that this is precisely why I loathe these kinds of situations.

When I'm out with friends, I find that there's nothing easier than getting one bill, adding the tip, and dividing it by the number of people in attendance. Sure, there might be one person who only ate the bean dip appetizer and another who had 10 mixed drinks, but over time with a group of friends these things tend to balance out. If someone's short on cash, there's generally someone else who will cover for them, and if someone needs to leave before the check arrives, they will leave what their estimated cut is and then will owe or be reimbursed shortly. No headaches, no hassle.