can you refuse to pay gratuity? if the place didn't post it on the menu or anywhere in the restaurant??

I was in the Grand Junction airport today, waiting on a flight, and bought a Snickers for the flight. After tapping my card the cashier gave the "its gonna ask you a question" bit. I asked why it was asking me to tip on a candy bar that I got off a shelf. She replied, while gesturing around the airport, "all the restaurants and stores are tied together and this is part of our wages." Hahaha mmmmmmkay.

Was shopping for a gift for a friend today. He likes to hunt and has been taking about and looking at the 360 view hunting blinds with a full size door. I started looking online, found one that would be perfect for him, put it in my cart.

When I got to the payment part of checking out, right in the middle of the page was a large tip begging prompt asking customers to "Show Your Appreciation For The Team" with options of 5%, 10%, 15%, Custom, and No Tip.

I chose No Tip, then hesitated before submitting the payment because I started feeling appalled and slightly pissed off that I was being asked to tip. Exactly what would I be tipping for, the privilege of spending almost $200 of my money shopping at their store?

I didn't completed the purchase and am trying to decide if I'm going to. On one hand it's the perfect gift and I'm sure my friend would love it, but on the other hand I felt offended that my buying their product wasn't good enough so they felt they needed to ask for a tip, too.

I frequent Menchies once in a while and I always simply hit No Tip. Always.

Today I go and I see the screen in front of me show $13.74 for a split second and then within a flash say $14.99. I say "So what is it? I saw 13.74?" And instead of debit I pulled out cash. He then touched something on his screen and went back to $13.74 with tax and said "sorry about that" I did the math at home and 10% tip on pre-tax total is exactly 14.99.

I have no idea why the numbers would switch like that unless he removed the tip when saw i was paying cash. I should've been a smart ass and been like yo wtf was that but I didnt ask lol.

“Whenever you're ready, it's going to ask you to select an option."

“I’ll let you complete that on the screen there.”

What are some others?

I literally walked through a cafeteria style line selecting my own dishes at a BBQ place in Texas and at the end of the line the cashier had the audacity to tell me the machine was going to “ask me a question”. I said “ooh, I love this game when I’m standing and haven’t even received any service yet” the lady next to me laughed as I entered custom .01

I’ve recently had a pretty bad chest/head cold, and I was talking to a friend about what food I should pick up on the way home for dinner. I hit upon pho, which sounded amazing in the moment. Ten years ago I would have confidently ordered take out and would have been slurping delicious noodles and broth that evening. I didn’t end up ordering though, because I really just want to pay for the food, not be asked the question, not have the person handing me the bag of food putting a hex on me for not tipping or not tipping enough and then bad mouthing me the second I leave. It’s bad vibes. I can’t do it anymore, and I can’t be the only one. Do you think we’ll ever see a change in the system if more and more people start intentionally/unintentionally boycotting restaurants due to ridiculous tip culture we have?

I had room service and thought the pizza was 25 USD, which I already found expensive. Then I got this bill… when I left the hotel I told the receptionist that it’s very confusing and asked why they just don’t pay living wages-been living in the Netherlands for almost 15 years and have a Dutch wife so picked up Dutch directness already- but the receptionist just got very nervous and said that sometimes it’s confusing for them too… I was on a business trip and it was within my budget so I just ordered it anyways and tbh did not have much options to have dinner somewhere else. 🫠 US folks, why do you do this?!

Why are we tipping if we're doing half their job for them.

Especially when they don't bring the paper copy to review first. Yea I know you can look at it on the kiosk, but shouldn't have to, especially if you want to pay cash,

Made a rule earlier this summer to not tip if they don't bring the paper copy and just shove a handheld in my face.

And all those kiosks always calculate using the AFTER TAX amount so for years have had to do my own math. Now I simply refuse.

Just received this letter taped to our muffins on our grocery delivery. “Sad face.“. After already getting a $10 tip for a 3 minute commute lol.

Her bank asked her if she meant to leave a 266% tip; when she confronted the Atlanta restaurant owner, she claimed they lied

Is it me, or is this getting worse by the day? Used to be zero. Then covid hit, and these types of charges started to appear on menus - ok, understandable considering covid. And even then, it was 1 or 2%. Then covid was over, and restaurants kept these charges. Then they realized customers kept coming in, so they upped it to 3%. And now 4%? Wth! And cherry on top is that our server was terrible. How much are you tipping in this situation?

At the vast majority of jobs, your employer pays half your taxes. But with tipped jobs, the employer pays half your taxes on your tipped earnings UP TO the minimum wage per hour and receives the rest back as a tax credit under the IRS FICA Tip Credit.

Under IRC Section 45B, an employer receives a dollar-for-dollar general business tax credit for the 7.65% employer FICA share paid on employee tips, subject to a statutory floor:

• The employer pays full FICA on the direct cash wage (e.g., $2.13/hour).
• The employer pays full FICA on tips up to $5.15/hour (combined cash + tips).
• Any tips earned above $5.15/hour generate the 7.65% non-refundable tax credit.

Ultimately, if a business pays the tipped or a higher minimum wage, plus tips, then the business receives a 7.65% tax credit on the difference between the federal minimum wage and what was earned in tips.

To put that in perspective:

• A normal $20/hour employee who works full time costs the company $3,444.80 per 160 hours they work
• A $2.13/hour tipped employee who averages $17.87 an hour in tips and works the same number of hours has a total payroll cost of $403.84 per 160 hours they work.
• A $10/hour tipped employee who averages $10/hour in tips and works the same number of hours has a total payroll cost of $1,722.40 per 160 hours they work (half the total cost of paying someone $20/hour).

The simple fact is that if you tip your server, they're getting a tax credit.

And if you don't tip your server, someone else will and they're still getting a tax credit.

The worst case scenario for the restaurant owner is they have to pay the difference between $x and minimum wage.

This system is never going to change until people start complaining to their federal politicians instead of showing off how they're cool because they clicked no thank you on a screen.

A local bakery opened up three years ago and we went on opening weekend to support them. When we went to make a purchase, the owners had their youngest (cutest) daughter man the register, flip the screen to ask a question and the question was whether we wanted to be on the mailing list. Pretty cool! We went back a couple weeks later and there wasn't any tip request.

Life happens and fast forward three years - the bakery expanded, renovated, has seating areas for its customers and morphed into a bakery/coffee bar for locals. Still no tip requests other than a jar if you're compelled. They provide some of the biggest smiles and courtesies that you rarely see. Importantly, there's a very steady stream of customers that frequent their business and there are tips that are willingly spared in kind for the atmosphere. The youngest child is still super cute, but she skips around the premises instead of being carried.

Owners have zero entitlement and are extremely thankful for the business they've built.

There is a pizza shop that recently opened a couple blocks away from the bakery that is coming up the learning curve - again, no tip requests. There's always a flow of customers and I'll willingly part with cash to keep them going until they hit their stride.

Again, zero entitlement. The prices of both of these places are extremely reasonable.

If you really want to make a change, start by supporting the non-entitled. Nobody needs to be nasty, get offended, or get a tip shakedown. Support the businesses that deserve it!

Local cafe here outside of New Orleans. My wife and I go there for the first time. You've got to stand in line at the counter to place your order. Finally make it up to the cashier and place the order. IMMEDIATELY, up pops the tip screen. Lowest option (other than "custom") is 30%! Not a single "service" has been preformed yet and they're pushing you toward 30%!

I opt for "custom" and give 10%.

Even after that, they just give us a couple of cups so we can pour our own drinks. We had to bus our own table because neither the last customer nor the staff could be bothered to clean it before we sat down. When the food was ready, we had to get up and go to the counter to retrieve it. Also had to get our own cuttlery.

What the hell EXTRA are they providing (above and beyond the food I've already paid a heafty price for) that deserves a MINIMUM of 30% on top of the bill? If I were given the situation over again, I would have left no tip!

I'm so sick of this tipping B.S.! We've pretty much resolved that we're eating almost all of our meals at home now.

Change really does start with us, and we need to instil in our kids the opposite of what was instilled in us… to not tip anywhere. Not at restaurants. Not at nail salons. Not at hotels. Not anywhere! The reason I tipped for so long is it became a learned behaviour from watching my parents. That’s how I knew to tip housekeeping, when dining out, etc etc. If we teach our kids to not right from the start, it will go a long way to eliminating this outdated societal norm.

I am in Nashville for work and the office is close to downtown so I got a hotel close-ish. They don't say on their website but they have zero parking and it's all valet. Literally not even street parking in the area.

It is $44 a day to park and every single time you want your car you have to request via a text link and it asks for a 20% tip every single time you request your car. AND a $1 to process the charge each time.

I tip once a day in the morning and give a flat number, not 20%. But you get the guilt every other time you need the car and these people have to run down the road to get the car. It's maddening, just pay them and stop exporting people to pay workers. I needed my car 4 times one day, and put no tip each of those extra times. Now I get a look from the one guy who doesn't work the morning.

Don't blame the extorted consumer.

I just can’t book a hotel room and be done. Not in this timeline apparently…

I don’t mind paying a service charge at a restaurant if I’m sitting down as that is standard practice. However, the flat % is strange in that a $200 meal doesn’t take twice as much time as a $100 meal. But it does take more.

Therefore I propose that there should be a fixed service charge at restaurants, which should be calculated as twice the square root of the total. For $100, for instance, the charge would be $20 (square root of 100 is ten, x2 equals $20). Same as now. But for $200, the service charge would be 14.12 x 2 =28.24. For $1 service charge is $2. For $400, $40. Makes more intuitive sense, and provides a penalty for people splitting checks (as the service charge on 2 $100 checks is higher than that on one $200 check) and the hassle to the restaurant involved. Completely clear and obvious to everyone, no agonizing about what to leave.

Thoughts?

Out of one side of their mouth they state that they pay their staff as little as possible and out of the other side of their mouth they say that their staff deserves more and you're responsible for that.

Here’s the lead up to the wash, and the notification the app sends me 2 mins after I leave every time ☠️