Mike has no complaints about his recent visit to TGI Friday’s. Really, he doesn’t. The only thing that prompted him to write to Consumerist was one little blurb at the bottom of his receipt, which provided handy recommended tips. That’s very useful. If the standard gratuity in the United States is supposed to be 15%, though, why does this scale start at 18%?

He writes:

I went to TGI Fridays with my wife, and we had a fine experience. But I was put off by the bottom of the receipt, attached, which conveniently suggests tips from 18 to 25 percent. Now, it was calculated before tax, but it’s still presumptuous of them to ignore the traditional and industry standard of 15% for average service.

That standard is only traditional because that’s the tradition. Perhaps if customers are told enough times that 18% is the barest minimum that they should tip, they’ll internalize it. People consider a 15% tip standard, and raise or lower the amount they actually give their server based on that. What if you can get them to start that internal negotiation at 20% instead?

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