Gratuity Included and the "Additional Tip" line

[cbdo2007]

This was brought up in Curb Your Enthusiasm last night and is something that has troubled me as well.

Occasionally I will eat out in a restaurant with just my wife and will see on the bill that an automatic 18% gratuity was already figured in and applied.

Normally, I leave 20% so the restaurant person loses money from someone like me when it does this because I'm not going to take the time to figure up the additional 2%, even if the waiter did a good job.

What gets me though, is that they add in the 18% automatically regardless of how the service was, so my not leaving additional is based more on them assuming they are great and perfect and not even giving me the option of leaving less due to a bad experience than the hassle of doing "math" at the table to come up with the extra amount.

Before I get the whiners on here about parties of 8+ or calling me cheap...I DO think that in parties of 8+ it's reasonable to include a certain gratuity because that's a big table to get stiffed on and does take some extra work and hassle. If it's just me and my wife though...just treat me like an adult and let me decide how the service was. Most likely you'll end up with 20-25% (I do the math quickly so 20% is the minimum).

[VMI Dem]

1. Cheap.

It takes too much time to figure 2%...yet figuring 20% is quick?

Heh.

[newcriminal]

2. I usually leave at least 20% tip as well.

but when they take that option away from me by automatically taking the 18% I will never add anything to it. I find it rude to automatically add the tip, and usually do not go back to a place that does.

[Taverner]

3. I ask who the "gratuity" goes to

If it goes to a pot for everyone, or worse yet to the hotel or restaurant, I include a real tip

If it goes straight to the server, I consider that the tip and don't add any more.

And I hope to Darwin the servers aren't instructed to lie to me by management

[wysimdnwyg]

4. Complain about it

If they are going to add an automatic gratuity, perhaps they should just raise their prices accordingly and pay their servers more. Then put a note on the menu explaining it. A gratuity is, by definition, "something given without claim or obligation". If they want to add this to the bill by default, it is NOT a gratuity. They're just forcing me to pay the server (and whomever else gets a cut) a set amount.

Now, don't get me wrong. I tip, and I tip well. I START at 20% and adjust up (or down) accordingly. But I don't like being told I HAVE to tip the first 18%. If I get lousy service, I demand the option to leave a lousy tip. (Oh, but like the OP, I agree that this does not apply to a large group.)