Loading ...Tip Log: The Etiquette of Auto-Gratuity
Posted by Kirsten Henri on January 30th, 2008
While looking over the menu at Bindi, the new Indian-ish spot in the Midtown Gayborhood, we were slightly taken aback by a notice on the menu that a gratuity of 20% would be added for parties of five or more.
Even though we were only a party of two, we had a nice long discussion about auto-gratuity policy in general. Five or more? 20%? What’s the deal?
Auto-gratuity, the tip that is automatically applied to the bill of a large party, is a slippery beast. It varies in its application from restaurant to restaurant. While a ‘large party’ at one restaurant can be six or more people, at another it might be eight or more. The percentage varies as well. It can be 15%, but is more often 18% and it is not uncommon to see 20%. It is supposed to be applied to the amount of the bill before tax, but that doesn’t always happen.
We’ve been on all sides of this issue, folks – as a waiter who, when faced with a large table full of needy, drunken jerks, thanked the universe for the automatic 18% gratuity that was going to be tacked on to their bill. We’ve been a customer who has paid that 18% (or even 20%) automatic gratuity after receiving sub-par service. We’ve even been an event planner who tacked on the 20% gratuity to a large party.
Our view? 18% on parties of six or more is fair. Anything else is presumptuous. Besides, you know Foobooz is leaving 20% or more anyway.
Is auto-gratuity even legal? Can you refuse to pay it? Click here to find out!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am
“Parties of 5 or more” does seem dubious.
If you’re paying in cash, can you legally get away with not leaving a full tip if it’s added to your bill?
Can you request that the server rework the bill if the bill lists the tip after the tax? I would imagine this is an issue one would bring up with a manager.
I have no problem with 20% being added, as I am world-wizened enough to know that just because Foobooz is tipping 20% doesn’t mean the rest of the eaters are doing the same. And as someone who has been to restaurants with groups of 6 or more and had several people throwing in cash and credit cards, I know I would prefer for a tip to be spelled out rather than left to me.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I was eating/drinking at a Center City pub recently; we were a group of four, waiting for a fifth. That person kept calling saying she was getting delayed (work stuff), so we went ahead and ordered beers, several appetizers, etc. Place was almost entirely empty. When the fifth member of our party finally arrived, she was apologetic; the server was nice about it. Place was still empty. We all ordered entrees, more drinks, etcetc.
Then when we got the check — 18% grat! I didn’t get the logic there. Like, just because one person in our party didn’t show up on time, we were automatically going to leave a shit tip? It’s not like all we got was water and a veggie burger to split four ways. And it wasn’t like we were hogging a table up waiting for our tardy friend; no one else was even there. And there were only five of us. I found it bizarre. Worst part is, server would’ve gotten a much, much better tip if he hadn’t put that grat on there.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I ALWAYS tip at least 20 percent, except in those cases when I’m slapped with the autograt. Then I pay whatever the predetermined amount is. It’s like the server doesn’t trust me. Can’t they see the inner waitress in my eyes?
January 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Last night at Farmacia our waiter, under the guise of warning us that an 18% tip had been added for our party of 6, told us that, “the minimum required tip has been included, feel free to add more if you’d like.” Seriously? I usually drop at least 20% for decent service, but once you start prescribing tip amounts that’s all you’re getting.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
We ate at Black Sheep last week and experienced a series of service issues from very slow and inattentive service to having entrees literally thrown on top of a table already packed with finished appetizers, from a busboy who yelled at us to move our chair out of his way(so that he could go smoke) to that same busboy neglecting the needs of the busy dining room while he stood watching tv, eating chicken wings (then licking his fingers clean) and finally picking the debris from his teeth with a toothpick. Yum … After experiencing poor service throughout our dinner we noted that at least in the service industry one is able to provide some sort of feedback through a tip. We were all stunned when we received the bill, complete with a 20% gratuity added on to the bill — a friend had joined us at the end of our dinner for a beer, making our party of five into a party of six. Great. I am usually a 20% plus tipper, but we had clearly not received 20% service.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Eating at the Miami cafe last week, their “policy” is to add a 19% gratuity for parties of more than ONE. So, basically, unless you’re eating solo or grabbing takeout, they’re guaranteed a tip.
I thought it was a crock. Esp after the service we did (not) have.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The sad thing is that the auto grat exists as a layer of protection for servers: because there are so many assholes out there, this kind of thing has to be in existence. If you’re offended by it because you’re cheap then consider it a slap in your miserly mouth. If it bothers you because you’re in the business and insulted because you feel grouped with all the other cheapskates, remember that the service staff doesn’t necessarily know who you are.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
As a waiter of more than 30 years experience, I am still conflicted about the auto-grat issue. There have been times when I’ve applied it gladly, times when I’ve thought it appropriate, and times when I’ve chosen to take my chances, with results both favorable and not so. A part of the problem is that when the gratuity can be presumed, often the service is allowed to slacken, and so the typically high percentage of the autograt is not deserved. On the other hand,when a server is making less than $3 an hour, it is not unreasonable that they expect some recognition of the value of their service, recognition that the restaurant is clearly not offering. Most recently I have been working at a joint where the bill averages more than $100 per person, where the average tip is in excess of 20%, and often the service has in my opinion not justified the gratuity – but the diner is not seperating the quality of service from the ambiance of the dining room, the excellence of the food, the attentions of the sommelier. They are so enamored of the experience that they are not as critical as someone else, particularly, me, might be. On large parties, the host is required to sign a written agreement that spells out certain details, among which is the autogratuity – 21%. The extra 1% goes to the manager responsible for arranging the party, the balance goes to the pool for the waitstaff who are working that night. It’s steep – we’ve seen tips of over ten grand – but at least it isn’t a surprise.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Once in a “nice” restaurant that has since closed down in Memphis, my group of six received ridiculously poor service: plates of dimsum flung at us without names, empty glasses, rudeness, etc. It was their busiest day, though, so despite being sad about not knowing what we were eating, we would have been happy to tip the 18% autograt (specified on the menu) and might even have tipped 20% for sympathy.
What happened instead is that our waitress hand-wrote the tip on our bill. We pulled out a calculator and checked it twice: 22%. Unconscionable. We tipped 18% and left… she chased us out the door waving the tip and hollering!
She was a rare case, but even then I felt that the trouble with gratuity is more that it exists in the first place – or that it exists the way we do it in this country. I think servers and consumers both would be happier if servers were just paid a reasonable amount for their work and the tip remained a little extra. Doesn’t it strike anyone else as ridiculous that this practice adds on one-fifth of the cost of their meal? Or that a significant percent of a server’s income can be arbitrarily withheld?
I’m a diehard 20% tipper but I just think the system is so wrong!
May 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I just finished reading all of these posts and am for the most part extremely annoid. Most of these stories, people in the service industry hear all the time and most of the time are the ones telling these stories. There are still several standards of tip giving out there. the old school style, tipping on food only (no tax, no beverage) is very common because you get a lot of people who go out to eat maybe once a year. They are not aware of the studying and preperation that goes into making even the smallest of things like your drink or an amuse. With wine being as popular as it has become (thank god) waitstaff and management are required to know more than you so you don”t have to. It really is a job that intales effort, knowledge, charisma, patience, stamina, and constant learning (sound like what you do?). For those of us that are in the industry, it falls short of full gratuity, mostly leaving us jaded for the next table. A lot of people claim to “always leave ATLEAST 20%” and a countable amount of you do, but definatly NOT the majority. I personally am a fan of tipping on parties of 5 or more (at most restaraunts. restaraunts of higher caliber is insulting because at that level, it is understood). The truth as we all know is the gamble of whether or not a table will tip high is near always a no. As Bill P said, sometimes the gamble does work in your favor, but not enough to be cosistant. and as Ron said, you don’t know if the person your waiting on is “in the business”. You try to “read” the guest and hope they are generous, or a regular, but 9 times out of 10, believe it or not the server is screwed.
Accounting for shitty service, well it seems that it will never go away. Either you have a different (maybe even pompous) expectation of service or the server sucks. If its the first than i suggest you dine out more often, possibly alone so you can fully concentrate on the actions of the staff. realistically contemplate how long an order fire well done 12oz. NY strip will take from your own at home cooking experience, than judge the performance of the staff greeting and making every table feel unique, special, all the while creating a peaceful relaxing and possibly intoxicating hour and a half (depending on restaraunt). If its the later, than the only comfort i can offer is that the restaraunt will suffer. you are pissed off, now go tell 10 friends never to eat there, they will now tell 10 friends and so on. trust me, if the service is awfull, the restaraunt will show it. Someone mentioned the black sheep. I use to frequent the black sheep years ago and loved it. the food was great, space was clean and nice, and service was perfect. I left philly and recently returned. Stopped back in for some food and atmosphere and was disappointed. the menu and staff really let go, lowered menu prices, stained paper menus with folds and tears, corners rolled, shirts half untucked (one or the other please. its just sloppy even for a pub) and the food was below par. Now they still do business but no where near what they used to do. it is truly up to management to weed out those employees that cause an issue with the restaraunts business, those that do succeed and those that don’t fail.
If you are trully angry about your service, you may request to speak with the manager about the added gratuity, BUT I EMPLORE YOU TO TRULY HAVE A VALID REASON FOR YOUR DISSAPPROVAL. PLEASE DO NOT ARGUE FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHEAPNESS OR SPITE TOWARDS A STAFF MEMBER. BASE IT SOLEY ON THE DINING EXPERIENCE. IT CAN CAUSE DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE ESTABLISHMENT.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I meant “gratting on parties of 5 or more….”
September 24th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I only have a year experience as a waitress after 7 yrs working as an afterschool teacher. It’s relevant to the fact that the change was drastic and most definitely hard,considering that putting up with adults is such a bigger headache than dealing with 1st graders ( they don’t know better yet ).I must say that now as cashier and manager of Pio Pio Riko in Manhattan Ave.I’ve had to deal with all type of customers and I could only come to one conclusion: gratuity included is a MUST.(We charge 15 percent regardless of the amount of people being served) If you think about it, you came in for your usual chicken meal with soda that with tax is a total of $6. With the tip it adds up to $6.90..wasn’t this the least amount of tip you were going to leave ANYWAYS? God I hope so! Remember, you’re not obligated to leave something extra if you don’t want to.Someone above mentioned a point that should be so obvious to all of those who stated they wouldve left more tip had it not been included. Now that’s either total bs on your part or you really are forgetting that we’re waitresses, not mind readers.How are we supposed to know how much of a “great tipper” you are?? We can’t, so why take the risk. It was only after I started here as a waitress that I realized how difficult it is to be one, and how devastating it is to think you’ve provided such great service and you haven’t been compensated fairly or in very few cases,nothing at all! Sure is a bitter taste when you’re left cleaning up the mess they’ve left behind..which is why most restaurants have the gratuity included now.Us waitresses start learning which customer is which, and not that its the best way to solve the issue, but we tend to not be as amiable if you already have a bad reputation as a tipper. Those who’ve never tried on these shoes would never know what the steps to being a waiter or waitress really is.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I’m mostly annoyed by the fact that many restaurants calculated the 18% after sales tax has been added. What is the rationale behind that (other than greed)? If I have exactly the same food and service in a different state, why should I auto-tip differently?
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
There’s no “laws” regarding gratuity. If any percentage is added to your bill (and it should be 18 or 20% times the pre-tax total) you can refuse to pay it, if you had really unacceptable service.
As a bartender and waitress, I am super conflicted about gratuity still. That said, when I get a table of sniffy Euros, or seniors out to a pre-theater luncheon, I add that 18% and point it out to them.
Servers who don’t point out the automatic gratuity are hoping you are either ignorant or presbyopic enough not to notice, and then they pocket the double grat.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
you know what’s worse. going out with your bar and restaurant friends who feel like every freaking place you go to you have to leave a 40% tip. They do it when going to see someone we know, which I can understand if it is a friend but by the same aspect will that friend be coming to my office to tip me extra? I know this is slightly rude, but still. But for a friend waiting on us I can overlook it. Although I am not tipping some stranger 40% just because you are in the industry and so are they and you have some special bond.
Lol i’m being slightly over the top but it always irks me.
Anyone else experience this?