MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Tipping question in America.

Tipping question in America.


Do you tip based on total or sub-total???

I have been living here for several years but I rarely go out.

Yesterday was one of those 'rarely' times and was wondering about tipping.

Our bill was $72 pre-tax, $78 post-tax... I left $16 tip.

Is this a good amount for good service?

It's about 31% pre-tax... 21% post-tax.

Our server was very nice and arranged for my date to have her dessert decorated with her name and hearts design... but I didn't like any of food (I knew I wasn't going to and its not the server's fault) it's all fake food like pre-made, not really made from scratch at the restaurant... it was a Cheesecake Factory location.

Thanks in advance about the tipping question.

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That’s a fair tip for the waitress.

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tip if u want or be a cheap jew if u so decide its up to you at end of the day. Tip is called tip because it extra money NOT required to be provided so no problem on being a cheapskate. I never tipped until after a became a millionaire but do now here and there but if someone pisses me off I stop tipping good. One time this twigboy 🍕 delivery driver got pissy with me after I forgot to give his shitty pen back after tipping the son of a bitch like three fitty for delivering a za. Next time the guy showed up in Antarctica level weather expecting a bigass tip for the big trouble of showing up in the hellish weather and I stiffed him big time lowering his tip to 1.50$. Funny thing was I told myself I was gonna give the fat friendly pizza guy a 7$ tip if he showed up since the weather was so bad but the twigboy was gonna get a small ass tip if his bitchass showed up after the pen comment. I am petty like that but really the dude should of just let me have the shitty pen or asked for it nicely at least not demanding it back from a paying tipping customer. he was cold so why should i tip his bitch ass, I will save money for someone who is cool

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‘Cheap Jew’ is not a nice thing to say.

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not nice but it is accurate

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Isn't it redundant, Adolf?

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Weird how you didn't give an example of a demographic that does tip, but when it came to not tipping, you decided to throw in Jews as if we didn't know what not tipping was.

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Bullshit.

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I always base my tip on the pre-tax price. On $72 pre-tax I would have left something between $11 and $14 depending on the level of service. So $16 is quite generous IMO.

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Thank you, I just want to learn "the rules".

I'm not used to this system and also recall getting a haircut recently... it was like $18... I left $3 tip.

But ahead of me was a lady with her 8 year old son who did not leave any tip.

I feel guilty or rude if I don't tip.

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I think in America it's 15% in the pre-tax. So 72 dollars would be around 10 to 11 dollars. However, that's the average amount and you don't have to go by that. Tipping in my opinion depends what you thought of the service and what you want to give. If it's average service, go with 10 to 11 dollars, but if you think it was below average in your opinion, go with 8 dollars. If the person was disrespectful to you, no need to give anything. Above average go with 15 dollars. It's up to you. If you get great service or feel very generous, you can give 30 or 40 dollars. Whatever you want to give.

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Thanks.

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It really just depends on the service and the amount of the bill. Under $20, I usually don't pay much attention to the tax, but after that, I start tipping on the pre-tax amount.

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It's about 22.2% pretax and 20.5% post tax.

31% of pretax is $22.32
21% of post tax is $16.38

Either way it's a good tip and within what's normally considered a standard tip.

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How did you do this math?

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Since the amount of tax varies State to State, even city to city (as a city can impose additional sales tax) I wouldn't use that formula. Easier just to figure tip on pre-tax amount.

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The formula for getting a percentage is (portion/total)*100.

In your case....

16/72*100=22.2%
16/78*100=20.5%

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You misread. I wrote the bill was $72 pre-tax and $78 with tax... and (besides this) I left a $16 tip.

Tax was about $6 (8.25%)

Either way, the total amount of money with tip and taxes was $94 something (I don't recall the change).

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But I also made a mistake lol.

$72 sub-total * 23% + $6 tax = $94.56 (my mistake in the percentage was that I took into account the tax like part of the tip... got it).

$78 total * 21% = $94.38

So it was actually rounding it about 23% of the sub-total tip and 21% total tip.

$72 + 23% + $6 tax = $94.56
$78 (tax is already in this amount) + 21% = $94.38

But well... it seems like it was 'decent', I'm still learning the tipping culture.

Thanks.

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That's not what you wrote. You said that you left $16 on $72 and claimed it was 31%. 31% of 72 is 22.32.

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No, that is not what I wrote.

You came up with some crazy math cause you can't read.

I said sub-total was 72 and total was 78.

And I separately wrote that I left a $16 tip (obviously on top of those numbers... actual money spent was $94 either way)

You were the one who took those numbers and came up with some non-sense numbers when I made clear the tip was besides them... I never said it was $72 with tip, nor $78 with tip... I said those were the amounts on the bill and obviously besides that I left $16 as a tip.

The only mistake I made was the 31% when it was actually 23% because I did not subtract the tax from the sub-total one... the other 21% was correct over the total plus tip.

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LOL!!! I said: "You said that you left $16 on $72 and claimed it was 31%. 31% of 72 is 22.32." And then you claimed "You were the one who took those numbers and came up with some non-sense numbers" then continued on to say "The only mistake I made was the 31% when it was actually 23%..."

Seriously, where is the disconnect between what I said and what you said? You claimed I made up "nonsense" and then turned around and agreed with what I said! Jesus Christ.

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I always tip 15% pre-tax, whether the service was terrible or great or somewhere-in-between. And I always pay cash, so that's a break.

I hate Cheesecake Factory. So many great independent restaurants with better food and better value.

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Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be good at all... we only went there cause it was after 10 PM, it was nearby and open a bit later than other places I actually wanted to go.

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I usually tip 15% more than is expected because I really put my server to work. He, she, or they will be doing a lot of running back and forth from my table to the kitchen and a lot of carrying. I will also tip the host something too if he, she, or they can get me a table in a more private setting with dimmer lighting. There have been a few occasions where I've had dinner for 4 for 1.

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