Thank you all for your kind words. I will admit I was (and am) very upset for my daughter. It seems the problem started when Darden started putting down recommended tip amounts. This has definitely decreased the amount of tips servers are getting -- some resent the "suggestion", some used to tip more than 18% and now don't. It's really a shame that employees are being blamed for poor management practices.

We have an absolute first rate server we always tip well at an eatery down in Sumter. She anticipates our drink requests, knows our names, asks about children and grandchildren, and adds to our dining out enjoyment. So much so we are taking HER out to eat next week - She's a hardworking mom of two teenage chldren and deserves a break.

Well now that is upsetting to me. By placing a recommended tip amount on the check, it clearly conveys the idea that a server is automatically "entitled" to at least that amount, regardless of whether they did a crappy job or a good job. It also conveys a message that the company does not believe they should pay what is "entitled" to the server. It's the attitude conveyed by the business that is a big turnoff IMO.

If I see a "suggested tip" amount of 18% or whatever, it's going to give me great pause. Tipping is supposed to be subjective, according to what kind of a job the server did. It should not be automatic, regardless of poor service. (Large tables should have the automatic percentage attached.)

If they're going to remind customers about tipping, I would much prefer to see a sentence there like: "Tipped minimum wage is $4.77/hr. in FL, and our servers greatly appreciate a gratuity that reflects their job performance."

An entitlement attitude is a real turnoff.

Maybe we should all email Darden and tell them what we think of that suggested tip percentage nonsense!

Well now I see this added info about a new IRS ruling that sheds some light on the Darden suggested tip amounts....it appears to be for good reason because of taxation (should we be surprised?):

Many restaurants have long-standing policies for adding an automatic gratuity to the tabs of parties of six or more, but an updated tax rule may change that.

Beginning in January, the Internal Revenue Service will classify automatic gratuities as "service charges" rather than tips because they aren't voluntary. The distinction allows the IRS to treat those gratuities as regular wages subject to payroll tax withholding........

.....To address the longstanding problem of large parties often tipping less for more labor, Darden is experimenting with customer checks that come printed with three suggested tip amounts already calculated.

All bills, regardless of party size, are printed with the calculations for adding a 15, 18 or 20 percent tip to the total. If the new checks are received well by customers and work to prevent servers losing tips on large tabs, automatic gratuity could be eliminated company-wide by year-end, and other restaurants are expected to follow suit."

New IRS rule may end automatic gratuity in restaurants - UPI.com

And if one cannot afford to tip what is one doing "eating out" anyway????

I just cant believe this is happening in TV

Darden is a national chain - not just tv.

I have become so "jaded" by less-than-reputable owners, that I tip well IN CASH. This way I KNOW the server receives the tip they deserve without question. Sure, I need to always have cash on hand, but I think it is worth a bit of my time so that the server doesn't get cheated out of their due compensation.

Cash tips!

While on vacation in Maine this summer, I noticed that almost all of the restaurants added an 18% gratuity to the "bill" of those dining. This is done automatically. It is stated on the menu.

This is nothing new. It's done in many states.

Also, in many restaurants (various states) all of the servers have to "share" their tips with the hostess or host who takes them to their table, hands them their menu, etc. I would assume in better restaurants, the tip is also shared with the ones who clean off the table......or the bus boys.

The young people we've known who have worked in restaurants get very low wages.......they RELY on the tips.

We always tip generously. Would never leave such a note.

On the other side of the coin.......in a good restaurant, wait staff can do very well tip wise.........but usually after six days out of seven working and very very long hours.

A blast from the past. Back in 1968, I had a next door neighbor with two toddlers who only worked waitressing on the weekend when her husband could stay with the little ones at night........she would tell me she made $100. for the two evenings waitressing. Back in the '60s that was good. That $100. was in "tips" alone......

A young person we know now who "hostesses" tells me she makes at least $300 or more in tips alone..........plus her salary. That would be the minimum......

we hand the wait staff our tip in cash and always approx. 25 % for dinner or food orders and 35% when just up to the bar for a beer or two. Bartenders and Wait staff have nothing, nothing to do with policy so don't blame them for you problems.

From a practical perspective, this raises a question of just how prevalent this problem is. You included three examples of rather tacky customer comments in lieu of tips. Are there others? How many? Over what period of time? This thread is beginning to sound as if this is a problem of epidemic proportions. Is it possible that all this commentary is being spent on just a few isolated issues over a period of time? If that's the case we should not be condemning Darden for doing what many Restaurants have done for many years nor should we be assuming that the predominance of Restaurant patrons are cheap bas---ds who won't tip. Bottom line is that tipping should be proportionate to the level of service delivered and the manner in which it's being delivered. The alternative of course is to eliminate tipping, raise servers wages and add the additional cost to the price of meals. In this scenario, diners won't be able to brag about what generous tippers they are and will resort to condemnation of the establishment because their prices are to high.

Well Foxy, who knows if it is happening a LOT?. Even a little is danged cheating and stealing in my book.

It is my experience here in The Villages after six years, that we have the best servers overall that I have ever encountered. If I were one of them, I would be already arrested because I would not have the patience to survive the attitude of many of the customers that they have to deal with, including some of my friends.

I see these folks as doing a job that requires a lot of careful listening and a lot of lip buttoning and extreme agility and leads to varicose veins and much teeth gritting.

I do NOT blame THEM, if the cook undercooked the fish or overcooked the hamburger. I see them working every day and try to remember what 20 percent figures up to be and if I can't do it right, I try to round it off to a little bit more.

They are working, the magic word to me, and they are putting up with people who were NOT all born and raised in Ohio and were NOT all taught to have good manners and patience and taught they were not superior to ANYONE.

I feel for your daughter RedWitch and if these notes continue, we will have to gather the girls posse once again, load up our super soakers, and hunt down these cheap critters.

foxy, these were notes left in one week, in one restaurant to one server -- my daughter in TV. Some of her co-workers have gotten similar notes. It's not a majority but tips have definitely dropped since Darden started posted suggested tips.

Whether a server today gets a 30% or nothing tip, the tab is figured as if the server received an 18% tip for income tax purposes. Also, the 18% figure is used to determine how much the server OWES the hostess, the bus boy, the bar back, the bartender, basically everyone but the manager and the kitchen workers. So, more than once a server has had to pay out more than s/he has made that shift. If a customer stiffs the restaurant, the server is not allowed to stop the customer from leaving but is required to pay the drink or dinner tab in most restaurants. If a customer adds Crystal Light (or similar product) to a glass of water, the server has to pay for the "lemonade" that was not put on the tab. To say these practices are obscene is putting it mildly. To add mean-spirited, nasty notes on top of this is well beyond the pale to my mind.

What if a server put a note on the customer's plate "I only make $4 and hour, so I ate your food"