Bryan went out for a lovely meal at Chili’s, which is not an oxymoron, with his family. When the bill came, he noticed something he hadn’t seen before: a “suggested gratuity” and suggested total line below the actual amount due. He and his family found this just a bit obnoxious, since the restaurant’s suggested tip is 18% rather than the standard starting point of 15% in this country.

On August [12], 2012 my family and I went to a local Chili’s and were having a good time until we got the bill. The Chili’s had the “guts” to put a “suggested gratuity” line on the bill. We all (including my kids) found it rude and unprofessional to put a tip suggestion on the ticket and on top of that it was for 18% of the bill.

Chili’s isn’t the first restaurant to ever do this by any means. We posted a few receipts from southern California a while ago, which were interesting because they pre-calculated tips of 15%, 18%, and 20%, but calculated them based on the total including sales tax.

There’s a difference, though, between a table of pre-calculated tips and printing the total including an 18% gratuity on the receipt where a careless person might think that’s just the total.

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