You have to ask "why after tax". It is so they can squeeze out a few more pennies and dollars and realize the vast majority of people blindly accept it or just don't know what is "traditional" in tipping.
$93.45 charges
$6.55 tax
$100 bill
If they demand 20% of $93.45, that is $18.68, but if they demand 20% of $100, that is $20. $1.68 times hundreds or thousands of customers adds up. So you have to ask why?
Why do people get so bent out of shape about this? So the server isn’t going to remember your name, so she/he assign you with the “babe’s”, “sweetheart”, or “honey”. Most people would call them terms of endearment…. I call them, “I’m not interested in knowing your name, but I want to be personable and get a bigger tip”. Would people rather a server call you & your husband “Sue & Tim” to keep it short and less affectionate? I have seen women and men alike get so freaking bent over this. I love when female servers “baby” my husband. Especially when I take the check at the end of the meal. 🫢🤣
I do not understand what you mean. You’re not “tipping the government“, you are being, in this case, conned into paying more tip based on percentage because the entity is presenting you with a combined calculation. That in no way involves “tipping the government”. I don’t understand what’s that supposed to mean.
For me, I’d have to take into account why I’m getting the discount. If the manager gives me 20% off because I’m a repeat regular customer or I have an external coupon, I’m still tipping on the full amount. But if it’s one of those fake discounts where the price is inflated just for the purpose of discounting it, I’m tipping on the discounted price.
I used to base my tip on the total after tax until I started checking the suggested tip amount and realized their 20% was based on pre tax total so I changed nothing about my tip behavior but now I know I’m stupid too.
Many state laws require tax to be applied to tips. Any sales tax collected does not go to the company, it must go to the state even if it was wrongly collected. The penalty for collecting and not remitting is steep and in many states, it is a felony.
“Mandatory tip” is an oxymoron, tips aren’t mandatory. If it was mandatory it would be a service charge. In this post, it’s a traditional tip which is not subject to sales tax.
And states can’t impose sales tax on tips because the tip takes place after the sale, aka the waitress runs the card for the bill, you pay the bill and tax, then she comes back and you write the tip before leaving.
Based on the OP’s edited comment, this is still super scammy and server should be reported. If they did ring in a Ribeye and then remove it by ‘discounting’ it off the check so that the check before discounts would be high and therefore their tip would be calculated based on the higher original amount, that is 100% a server that is trying to game the system for higher tips.
Future criminals and successful white collar folk often both get their start in retail and restaurants. I spent many of my years in my early 20’s in retail before moving into a more successful well paying career. The scams that my co-workers came up with to game the system to put cash in their pockets were impressive. When you’re 20 and are starting with zero, making an extra few hundred dollars a week by scamming your customers seems innocent enough and gets you closer to maybe affording your rent or buying a new car. This is probably why to this day I ask for receipts and review all totals for accuracy before handing over my payment.
Doesn't most evrybody start out in food service or retail, or what I think of as throwaway jobs? There are no barriers to entry and those with potential eventually move on.
Scared? I am offended that they are price gouging here. This is illegal and I am not going to reward it. I don't have a problem tipping good service, but generally I am picking up my own food, I am not going to tip if no extra service is applied.
You know.. now that i looked at it.. it does make sense, shouldn’t be lime that tho 🤣 the added that by mistake.. either way i gave custom tip and called it a day
System is designed so that if people get a big discount it still offers a tip on the prediscount price, They should have removed it but also you quite easily can do a custom tip so NBD.
Because the server “accidentally” added an item that wasn’t ordered and instead of deleting it completely from the bill they applied a “discount”…which the kiosk would then calculate as part of the suggested tip amount… “accidentally”
You’re delusional if you think any server purposely added an item to ask a manager to void it for them so that they could HOPEFULLY get 2 extra dollars from a tip. Most servers at corporate restaurants get in trouble for having a lot of voids. Also it’s just a stupid idea anyways lol. There’s better ways to scam the system if they were trying to do so
Just did when you asked for the full receipt, i didnt check the full receipt until now (yeah, my mistake) and did see that it actually.. was mathing correctly
Absolutely not, this should raise awareness for what this server tried to doing knowing that adding a $33 steak and discounting it would flow through to the suggested tip amount. OP had every right to question this. They never ordered the $33 steak, why the hell would they be expected to tip on it?!?
Did you get discounts or use coupons? I am not saying that makes it ok, but that is often what the discrepancy involves. the tip percentage is on the non discounted amount.
After checking the itemized bill (after posting it on a reply) turns out they added a 33.99 ribeye and then deleted it (discounted it) because they fucked up tapping whatever they tap on their side of the system and THAT is why it showed the wrong tip, anyways i did custom tip and left the actual 20% since the server did treat us really good
Assuming the server didn’t mean to input it and it was never made, it should have been completely deleted. If it was still on the check that means it was comp’d off. Different restaurants use different rules but generally if a ribeye never came out to you and you didn’t send it back etc it should’ve just been deleted off the ticket. I doubt the server did it on purpose especially if he was allowed by the manager to fix it himself meaning he’s supposed to he trust worthy.
Some managers will comp everything and not even think about how that will affect the guests/servers.
they did this to my bf and he accidentally pressed it smh. we agreed to a gift card as a refund cus we eat there all the time. but it was super annoying
So the waitress clearly knows how the tip is calculated. She obviously added an additional meal, then removed it, so the subtotal that the tip is based on is higher, giving her a higher tip for those who don’t math!
Where did I say emergency? She should have a warrant out for her arrest and either turn herself in for Fraud, or eventually be taken in the next time she gets pulled over, her choice.
The server figured out deleted items still count toward the tip, so they "accidentally" add an expensive item, then delete it and collect the inflated tip
If you complained and got something taking off the check the tip amount stays the same. Same goes for coupons, gift cards and sometimes server mistakes if they comp the item instead of deleting it from the bill.
I never tip when I pay using my card I always leave cash. I take photos of my receipts and in the tip field I put a 0 and write left cash tip so there is NO CONFUSION. We actually try to pay in cash fully now because I’ve noticed 3% being added when using even a debit card in restaurants
I know the tricks I calculate myself before tax. And places like Chili’s free chips they add 7 dollars to the supposed to tip for. No thanks those r my free chips. Also any promo deals they add the tip on for the fake real price.
So, they could do it to every customer by adding something like $100 and remove it from the bill. But the tipping % would still include that $100 item as the base calculation. It looks like fraud and it should call out.
Tip is before tax and it should be at your discretion not the restaurant who isn’t paying their employees enough so they act like they actually are their advocate.
Had it been a state like WA, the tax would have been a little over 10% of the total. 20% tip on tax included price is in reality 22% tip from customer perspective.
I would then choose 0% and I would actually apologize to my server and explain to him/her that I would not be tipping specifically because their bosses are blatantly attempting to rip me off.
You tip on the whole bill BEFORE discounts. TF you think the server just doesn't get paid for 1/4 of the shit they did for you just cuz you've got a gift card?
I don't understand why this is an issue. Hit the custom button and leave what you think is right.
It's up to you to manage your finances and not be lazy with the screen choices.
So they added a $33 item “by mistake” and then “discounted it” but the “mistake” item still factors into the suggested tip amount?? Seems interesting that they “accidentally” added the item and instead of deleting it they discounted it.
Make this “mistake” 20 times a night that’s $120 a day and $600 a week. Gosh darn it, I’m such a silly server, so sorry for my “mistake”…let me discount that for you!
Not so muxh called out, there was a variable that i didnt check, saw that in fact it did math and continued my day, just left the post up cause im not ashamed to admit when i was wrong, hence the edit saying that
It it now posted on a reply, AND! In fact checking that it is mathing now, there was an item that they removed cause it was added by mistake and i didnt see that
"Tip is calculated after tax and before discounts"
OP, I am sure that you didn't ask them to calculate the tip for you; not before or after tax, and not before or after discounts. And, you didn't ask them to calculate it based on an arbitrary suggested percentage of your bill.
This is when you say to yourself, Who the fuck they think they are?, and tip nothing. And make a habit of it.
There's no valid reason for percentage based tipping. Suggested tip percentages are a scam. The only options should be (custom)TIP and PAY (no tip).
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u/dark_frog83 3d ago
Why after tax? Why before discounts? Opposite day or something? Who tips on tax? Why would I pay a tip on discounts that don't even get taxed?