You may write off the tip on a business meal. There is no IRS section for tipping, so add it to your bill. The entire expense is then a business expense. As 95% of the people at TV are retired, this is a very unhelpful tip. See what I did there, a tip on a tip. And they say financial folks are dull and boring.

And now we know why!

Absolutely! The service charge is what the restaurant demand to "cover", or make up for the tip you no longer have to leave. They have taken the option away. Still, some are so conditioned they still feel the "need" to tip on top of the mandatory tip. Since the service charge is mandatory, management claims it as revenue. Improves their numbers and (big plus for them) they get to administer the additional $ and share in it.

Yes, I guess I agree.

You're very much the exception, not the rule.
Part of my job as a sales rep is to do server training. Most people want a friendly, engaging and honest server.

Part of the training we do encourages servers to smile, introduce themselves and engage with their customers, as well as offer honest advice when asked. Also, to learn their names if they're regulars. People in general like being greeted by their name. It makes them feel appreciated.

We also tell them to read the customer and be flexible. Some like yourself, don't want anything but service.

The server training we do has been proven to improve the customer experience and in turn increase tips.

The really good servers truly enjoy what they do, and the higher tips they make are a direct result of that.

I see it every day.

Hey! That $5 +$5 from 4 more tables + @ $8 wage and server is near $30 ph. Not bad for wait job at Denny's. And she never had to even look at me or smile.

It's not that simple. They usually have to share part of the tips with the bussers and kitchen.

Plus they won't make good tips for 8 straight hours. Only during the busy time.

Guess I'm another exceptional individual. Be polite. Be quietly efficient. Serve the meal with the least amount of interrupting as possible. (This is a date and you weren't invited to join us Becky). If you are going to refill our coffee or drinks we shouldn't even know you were here. They should appear as if by magic.
To me, once the order has been taken, the less I actually have to speak with the server about needing/wanting this or that, the better. The meal should flow as if from a wellspring, without hiccups or sputtering. A meal catered by a genie. That, to me is exceptional service. Do NOT call me Hon.

But, they may do way better. And, I would think handling only 5 tables in an hour is pretty slow. As far as tip sharing or pooling, there are other establishments and jobs, so they can choose. Plus, remember all the Other tipped employees who also put money in the pool. There could be some big winners in there to claim a share of. Things may not be all gloom and doom for waitstaff like we've been lead to believe. I remember one waiter in a more upscale restaurant. I noticed his gold Rolex President and remarked on it. He grinned and assured me it was real. He told me he loved his job. Lots of big business folk, each trying to order the most expensive stuff and trying to be the biggest tipper.

If you can make $25 an hour, you are looking at $50,000 a year. Not bad for a job with no educational requirements.

Do people tip clerks in a clothing store or at Home Depot or the grocery store? I think most of those jobs start around minimum wage!

Florida minimum wage is $11 an hour or $440 a week or $22,880 a year.

Yeah, we loved the Sonrise Cafe but, to be honest, we love Darrell's even more.

We stopped there today for a delicious breakfast. It was $23 and we gave her $35 to include a tip. Then we went to a few stores, finished off at Fresh Market, and drove back home. Life is good.

To further clarify large group mandatory charges, this is a quote directly from the IRS.gov website:

"Charges added to a customer's check, such as for large parties, by your employer and distributed to you should not be added to your daily tip record. These additional charges your employer adds to a customer's bill do not constitute tips as they are service charges. These service charges are non-tip wages and are subject to social security tax, Medicare tax, and federal income tax withholding."

If the waiter gets the service charge, why would you also tip them? Seems like a way to pay them twice.

Agree. I wouldn't tip them. Also, I avoid restaurants that charge a mandatory "gratuity" for large groups. To me, it's insulting. At least the IRS recognizes that a mandatory gratuity is not a tip.

How much of the difference in how tipping (and service) is seen can be attributed to cultural differences based on where people in TV come from? It is a melting pot after all.

I recall my first experience here with that cultural difference. My wife and I stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Quite a few people hanging around the reception area. I asked the hostess how long the wait was going to be. Her response (as she put an arm around me): "why it's not gonna be that long at all, honey!" Never see that in Minnesota. It caught me off guard but at the same time brought a big smile to my face. What a uniquely southern way of putting people at ease!

Same with some of the other examples mentioned here. Southern Minnesota, where I lived and worked, is a primarily rural setting. Numerous small towns divided by large stretches of corn and beans: 200 mile days visiting clients were not unusual. You got to know the waitstaff in the eateries you frequented and they got to know you. Just the way things are done there; anyone who would rebuff a friendly greeting or inquiry would be seen in a not-too-favorable light. The other side of that particular coin is that, in my experience, there are parts of this country where the locals are not so laid-back; larger cities and parts of the eastern U.S. where people are a lot more private and closed-off and where any unsolicited expression of familiarity is viewed with suspicion.

There are no absolutes regarding this particular topic. What is acceptable to someone is NOT acceptable to someone else. Simple as that.

Truth!

I'm okay with a restaurant adding 15% to the bill for large parties. This is why: there are times, when a large party will have a dedicated server. That server doesn't serve any other table while that party is there, because the server already has 20 customers and really just shouldn't be expected to manage more if there are other servers on the shift.

If that table's host says "please give me the bill, I'm taking care of it" and he stiffs the server, then that server has just spent the last hour-plus working his butt off for less than minimum wage, and ZERO opportunity to earn a dime from any other customer for that hour.

My grandparents always undertipped - they put $1 on the table, no matter how large or small the bill. They decided that $1 was quite enough, the server should "just get a better job" if they want to earn more than that. Because they assumed that it was -that- easy for everyone to "just get a better job." So my sister and I always snuck a few bucks extra to the server after the grands went toward the exit of the restaurant. We estimated, since the grands wouldn't let us see the bill. Often there were 14 people: grands, my parents, my mom's two sisters and their spouses, and all the grandkids. I was the oldest grandkid and since I was working, it was no big deal to me to toss in a five or a ten a few times a year to ensure that the server wouldn't be utterly miserable after dealing with our family drama for an hour (just somewhat miserable, but hey - that's the customer service business for ya).

This kind of thing does happen. Not often, but often enough to cause a server to walk out on the job. Employers who understand this, will make sure that the larger parties are guaranteed to kick in at least the minimum gratuity. Customers can always top it off if the service was remarkably awesome, but generally no more than 5% of the pre-gratuity, pre-tax bill.

I need to do more research on this, but I have been asking around as it differs in different establishments. I have found that some do, some don't. I have also found that if you put the tip on a credit card, it goes on their paycheck and therefore is taxed. I need more clarification. I don't know if dishwashers and cooks make minimum wage, but they should. They all should make minimum wage and not have to rely on tips. There does not seem to be a uniform way of distributing tips.

This thread has made me think about how I tip - I’m now considering to start tipping in cash and handing it directly to the waiter/waitress.

If it is done correctly, a tip placed on a credit card should not go into the server's paycheck. It should be paid directly to the server and not taxed. The server only pays tax on their tips based on the "allocated" tip amount that appears in Box 8 of their W-2 form.

That's what I do. They appreciate it.

Not exactly.

All tips received by the server should be reported by the server to the employer, taxed as wages, and included on the W-2. It might be that tips on credit cards are automatically considered to be reported without any other action of the employee but I haven't looked into that. All tips *should* be reported and taxed but that doesn't always happen.

Allocated tips on the W-2 are something different. Allocated tips are based on 8% (usually) of a restaurant's gross receipts. The total amount is allocated to each tipped employee based on an IRS formula. The allocated amount on the W-2 is the difference between their reported amount and their portion of the 8%. The employee has the choice to pay taxes on their allocated amount or to provide evidence that they did not receive that amount.

IRS: Tip Recordkeeping & Reporting

Tips are calculated and taxed as SSI, Medicare, and unemployment calculations.
Imagine work g your whole life as a server and one reaches retirement-age calculations based on wages without significant savings 401k, Keogh possible retirement benefits. SSI payment for 2023 is the same nationwide. It is: —$914 for one person.
Unemployment in Florida To calculate your weekly benefit amount, use the quarter in the base period with your highest earnings and divide the earnings by 26. This number is your weekly benefit amount. The minimum weekly benefit amount is $32 and the maximum weekly benefit amount is $275.so it is important to account for all wages. You can receive benefits for anywhere between 12 and 23 weeks depending on Florida's current unemployment rate. Benefits will vary for each claimant and will be based on earnings from your base period. Your base period is based on the first four completed quarters within the past 18 months. No one is getting rich from not working.

While technically correct, I suspect that there is a lot of underreporting of tips to the employers, and the employers rely mostly on the allocated tip calculation to report tip income. Note that the allocated tip amount on the W-2 is added to the total wages and is therefore taxed for the FICA taxes.

Am I misreading the document I linked?

If your employer allocated tips to you, then the allocated tips are shown separately in Box 8 of your Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. They are not included in Box 1 (Wages, tips, other compensation), Box 5 (Medicare wages and tips), or Box 7 (Social security tips) of your Form W-2.

Generally, you must report the tips allocated to you by your employer on your income tax return. Attach Form 4137, Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income, to Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, or Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors, to report tips allocated by your employer (in Box 8 of Form W-2).

(emphasis added)

As I understand it, the amount in Box 8 of your W-2 is transferred to Form 4137, where you are supposed to add any other unreported tips, and pay FICA tax on the total. But, I think that most servers will not add any unreported tips to the Form 4137. So, the only unreported tips on Form 4137 would be the allocated tips in Box 8.

The unfairness of "pooling". Management involvement in what should be a private expression of appreciation between customer and server. And, the spaghetti snarl of tax regs. Another reason to pay servers a regular wage and drop the antiquated "tip" scam.

I agree. If the server already chose to under-report tips such that they received an amount in box 8 then it is highly unlikely that they would choose to report more.

It's possible that there are reasons other than lack of reporting that result in a number in box 8 but in general I have no sympathy for anyone who intentionally under-reports in order to avoid paying taxes.

5% is nothing. These people rely on tips. I just had a waitress tell me someone tipped her less than $3 and she had to share with the hostess so she got virtually nothing. I agree with you that it is nonsense but until someone changes these laws, they need tips to survive.

While I sympathize with " these people rely on tips", whose fault is that? Not yours and not mine. Why does the freaking hostess, get a cut? Don't they make minimum for walking me to an open table, which I could do if the "Please seat yourself" sign was set out. Doesn't the busperson make minimum? Nobody in the kitchen should rely on tips, surely! And who is this mysterious "runner" that shows up with what is supposed to be my order, makes a guess at what it is then asks "who gets the steak?" Where is my waitperson, you know the one who is supposed to wait on me?

I hate your waitress. She told you that "oh pity me" tale to make you feel sorry for her and guilt trip you into giving her a bigger tip to make up for the (probably fictional) cheapskate. She sure enhanced your dining experience, didn't she. She had no business discussing any of her personal woes with any customer. Very, very unprofessional. Keep it professional.

I agree.

I guess everyone has a different mindset when dining out. I don't really want my server to get too chatty, or too friendly. I'm not looking for another dinner guest. Cheerful, polite, and efficient works best for me.

Nothing wrong with professional. But servers are people too and waitstaff are apt to be young. As in teens-or-early-20s young. Not all, of course, but quite a few it seems.

But tips can be used for more than showing appreciation (or not) for the quality of service. A couple of years back my wife and I were dining at Cody's in LSL, and our waitress was obviously NOT having a good day. I overheard her talking to a co-worker, saying that she had been called in to work ON HER DAY OFF because the place was short-staffed. The coffee she brought was barely warm so I asked her if she could bring me another cup, which she seemed to think was an imposition by the way she exhaled exasperatedly and headed for the kitchen. The hot cup never came, so about 10 minutes later I asked another server passing by if she could get the coffee for me, which she did. Our waitress saw that and said that the reason she was slow was that she was helping out in another section in addition as well as waiting on us. All in all, not a good experience.

Came time to pay the bill (about $25, as I recall). I made it a point to tip the waitress in person ($10) and told her that I hoped that her day would get better. I recall she had a shocked look on her face, followed by a BIG smile.

Made both of us feel good.

Good for you! You did something nice. You were generous without the expectation of generosity being forced on you. Giving anything that is not expected is a blessing to both the giver and the gifted! When gratuities are expected/demanded then the blessing becomes a curse and the joy is eliminated.

Agree, she shouldn't have dumped the guilt trip on the customer.

HOWEVER - the situation she described - really does happen. Even when the tip is a GOOD tip - I mean if the person only ordered a cup of coffee and a slice of cake for $8 total, if they give a $3 tip - that really does get shared with the host and the other wait staff in many places. If it's not cash, it gets pooled. And the waiter who earned that $3 tip might not even see a full dollar of it, once it's been split.

We don’t eat out often but when we do we tip minimum $50. Checks over $100 we give 50 percent. We do this because we can and we know about struggling and we like to make someone’s day. Waite staff remember us.

True, but they DO get a share of everyone else's tips. It's sometimes called spreading the wealth or leveling the playing field.

$8 meal. $3 tip. 37.5% is very generous. Maybe, just maybe the cake and coffee is all they could afford for their 90th birthday party of one. Old and alone and poor. And you worry about the waitress and look down on a very generous 37.5%.
If you don't know the circumstances of the customer, you have no right to judge. In my scenario the customer was very generous, and if the tip is pooled that is the waitstaff problem, not the customers. Even though the tip was generous by % standards if the actual cash figure recieved is not appreciated by the recipient, then they don't deserve any tip.

And here I thought the Rat Pack was all dead.
Good on you, mate. It's your money (I assume), spend it as you please.

They get a share of everyone else's tips, minus the tips of the hostess and busboy, who don't get their own tips at all. But the hostess and busboy get a share of everyone else's tips. Even if the hostess was busy with some other party of 3 and the waitress sat her own table's party - even if the busboy was busy with a different table when the waitress served the water and took the plates away from her own assigned table - it doesn't matter. The busboy and hostess will get some of that waitress's earned money. And she has no say-so in the matter. UNLESS it's a cash tip, because she can pocket it.

You don't know that. The policy can vary and may require that all tips be shared. I worked as a bartender when I was younger and the policy was that all tips were shared. Pocketing a tip would have had unpleasant consequences.