There must be something in the water lately and if there is, we need to get ourselves a big ol’ glass of it: Just last week a customer left a $446 tip on a $6 Steak ‘N Shake bill, and now another generous patron has splashed out with a $1,000 tip on a $60 restaurant tab so the waitress can finally go on that trip to Italy she’s been hoping for. [More]
the tipping point
Steak ‘n Shake Waitress Scores $446 Tip On $6 Check
By 5.16.13
It’s nice to ride toward the end of the week with a happy tipping-related story for a change. A waitress at a Steak ‘n Shake eatery in Indianapolis got the biggest bonus of her life when a diner left a 7,433% tip. [More]
Restaurant Learns Instagram Isn’t Intended For Hurling Racial Slurs At Bad Tippers
By 4.25.13
Someone at a restaurant in Delaware missed the class where they explain that the usual place to vent racially biased frustration at a customer is on the receipt, as the eatery is now having to do a lot of apologizing for things that showed up on its Instagram page. [More]
Waiters Sue Employer For Taking Wages To Cover Walk-Outs
By 4.5.13
Earlier this week, we wrote about the legality (or lack thereof) of employers docking tipped workers’ wages to cover walk-outs and bad orders. Little did we know that the same day, dozens of current and former servers at a Milwaukee restaurant were filing a class-action suit, alleging these sorts of violations. [More]
After A Dine-And-Dash, Is It Legal For A Restaurant To Take Money From A Waiter’s Tips?
By 4.2.13 — Updated: 5.23.17
It’s a story we’ve heard any number of times, both professionally and from friends in the restaurant world. A customer splits without paying the bill, or doesn’t leave enough to cover the full amount; to make up for the loss, the manager takes it out of the waiter’s pay. Can this be legal? [More]
Customer Orders 85 Pizzas, Pays .68% Tip
By 3.5.13
We can understand why one might be reluctant to fork over a full 15-18% tip on a restaurant bill of $1453, but even a 1% tip would be better than this. [More]
Waitress Who Posted No-Tip Receipt From “Pastor” Customer Fired From Job
By 1.31.13
Earlier this week, we posted a story about a restaurant customer who not only chose to deny the waitress a tip, but also wrote “I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18?” on the receipt. Now we’ve learned that the server who posted the receipt online has been fired. [More]
Diner Thinks That Saying He’s A Pastor Allows Him To Stiff Waiter On Tip
By 1.29.13 — Updated: 1.31.13
Do You Still Tip Your Cab Driver When He Gets Lost?
By 1.18.13
If your waiter accidentally brings you someone else’s food, you’re probably still going to tip him, provided that he takes it back and eventually gives you the correct dish. But when your cabbie gets lost, that meter can keep running while he tries to correct his course. So does he get a tip? [More]
Pizza Deliverer: If You Live In A $650K House And Don’t Tip, There’s Something Wrong With You
By 12.4.12
Tipping waiters at a restaurant is relatively easy — so long as you know how to calculate the standard 15-20% — but tipping for delivery is always a topic of much debate, as there are factors involved like the cost of the meal, the weather, how long you had to wait, and how much was being carried. [More]
Starbucks Store Gives Away Two Months Of Tips To Charity
By 11.27.12
A Starbucks store in Greencastle, IN, recently handed over a check to the local chapter of the Humane Society, representing the full amount of tips taken in by the coffee shop in September and October. [More]
“Stop Eating” Is Not The Kind Of Tip You Should Leave Your Applebee’s Waitress
By 11.21.12
Leaving a $0 tip on a $30 bill at Applebee’s is bad enough. But then taking the effort to write “Stop Eating B*tch!” as a “tip” is crossing the line from being a bad consumer into being a horrible human being. [More]
Is It Ever Acceptable For Waiters To Be Unpleasant?
By 11.13.12
The “snooty waiter” who looks down his nose with disdain at his customers is a character that has been trotted out on film and TV too many times to count. But while we may not blink when we see this well-known caricature on screen, it’s a different story when that same snob is taking your lunch order. [More]
Tip Your Pizza Hut Driver Or He Might Pee On Your Door
By 11.5.12
An Iowa Pizza Hut delivery driver is without a job today because he decided that the best way to vent is anger about being stiffed on a tip was to urinate on the customer’s door. [More]
Starbucks To Add Tipping Function To Mobile Payment App
By 10.4.12
One of the knocks against Starbucks’ mobile payment app is that it doesn’t have a way for the customer to add a tip if they want to. But the coffee colossus has apparently realized the error of its ways and is working on a way to allow for tipping. [More]
Once All Tip Jars Take Credit Cards You'll Have No Excuse Not To Give
By 8.29.12
“Ooh… sorry, I don’t have any cash on me… [cue regretful face]” will no longer be an acceptable policy if this newfangled tip jar gadgetry catches on. DipJar is pretty simple — a credit-card scanner that sits upright and resembles a traditional tip jar. Stick youur card in and leave a tip wherever it’s deserved. Time to start dreaming up alternate excuses, ye stingy folks. [More]
Chili's Helpfully Suggests 18% Tip On My Tab
By 8.13.12
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. [More]
Who The &^#* Does This Restaurant Customer Think He Is?
By 7.24.12
There are many ways to encourage, or even demand, quality service while out for a nice meal. Telling your waiter in advance that you’re going to be a dick about the tip is most certainly not a good method for doing so. [More]
