I have seen restaurants listing "Suggested Tips" on the receipt and they are alway based on the subtotal.

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It has always been pre-tax.

It's my understanding that the 'suggested tip' on the receipt is a programable option, as I've seen it offer various percentages, and both before & after-tax totals. I will mention it in a report of the total of based on the post-tax amount because in CA, both tax rates and food prices are high, and I think it gives a bad impression of the restaurant.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

It's my understanding that the 'suggested tip' on the receipt is a programable option, as I've seen it offer various percentages, and both before & after-tax totals. I will mention it in a report of the total of based on the post-tax amount because in CA, both tax rates and food prices are high, and I think it gives a bad impression of the restaurant.

I agree with Steve on this for California. I have seen both before and after tax for suggested and saw one the other day where the suggested amts were 20,22 and 25%. Also some of the restaurants have been adding a % to cover health insurance for their employees. There has been some backlash to that idea so I am not sure if they have continued that practice. It was mostly in the upscale places.

I worked in the restaurant industry for years. The tip is supposed to be based on pre-tax. I over tip as a general rule and use the total with tax as a guide line, depending on the restaurant, quality of service and the time I visited.

Good service should be between 15 & 20% .The easiest way is to double the tax amount, 9 times out of 10 you'll be in the range.

Fine dining, they get 20% on pre-tax. Casual restaurants depend on the time of day. If I'm visiting on the off rush hours they get 20% pre-tax if the service is good. Mom & pop diners are my exception & get anywhere from 15% to over 20% on the total with tax depending on my dining time. If I'm at a local joint during rush, it's 15% on pre-tax unless the service is exceptional.

My reasoning for being generous in the off rush hours is this; I worked multiple restaurants that were chain or individually owned. Individually owned restaurants normally do not have a dishwasher or bussers on hand during the off times. The work in the back of the house still needs to get done. Servers and kitchen associates end up taking up the slack. This also happens at chain restaurants even during rush times when not properly staffed by management and/or the restaurant doesn't have enough plates and silverware to handle the covers.

I rarely contribute to tip jars. Sorry Starbucks, but I'm not going to hand over money for a latte that takes 20 minutes when there are no customers in the store or the drive-thru. I can make a latte at home in 5 minutes. Not going to do it for any counter service restaurants either.

My exception to tip jars is when the restaurant is locally owned and I'm helped by someone who isn't the owner.

When shopping a restaurant, I always follow the guidelines. If the guidelines are ambiguous, I contact the scheduler and/or a supervisor to make sure I'm doing it right.

Why should you tip on tax? I tip 20% on the total, tax is 5 to 7 % depending on where you live, that's like leaving a 25% or more tip. The editor is truly wrong or the MSC.

@MA Smith wrote:

I rarely contribute to tip jars. Sorry Starbucks, but I'm not going to hand over money for a latte that takes 20 minutes when there are no customers in the store or the drive-thru.

Let them know that you aren't satisfied. If it's really 20 minutes, they will give you a gift card.

As a certified barista, I think that you are exaggerating a bit. It takes between 17-25 seconds to pull espresso shots and only a few seconds more to steam the milk.

Funny you say that. At home it actually takes me longer than five minutes to make a cappuccino. I timed it one morning and thought it was six or seven minutes. Now that is assuming I'm fully awake which is unlikely if I haven't yet had my cappuccino, LOL.

If you're like me, you probably don't have a fully automated machine like SBucks, @LisaSTL. I start with grinding the beans, so it's probably a 10-minute job...

And yes...it gets faster after the first one

@SteveSoCal wrote:

If you're like me, you probably don't have a fully automated machine like SBucks, @LisaSTL. I start with grinding the beans, so it's probably a 10-minute job...

And yes...it gets faster after the first one

You're the best boyfriend ever Steve.

@SoCalMama wrote:

You're the best boyfriend ever Steve.

I can name a few people who might not agree with that. None of them got an espresso from me this this morning, though.

Nope, mine is not automated and I always grind the beans right before. Being an older machine it probably takes longer to heat up the water than in it's younger days. My dream is to one day have a Breville.

I make my morning Joe in a French Press, and would like recommendations for a really good coffee pot where cleanup is easy. I'm listening.....I like it strong...thx.

Clearly I jinxed myself discussing this...and Mercury is still in retrograde. My machine stopped heating this morning and I'm on hold with Breville support. It may be curtains for the espresso maker, but it served me well for many years. @LisaSTL and I are both in the market for Breville, it seems

I guess it's Starbucks for me today. I'm told the employees are forced to pool their tips (trying to stay on topic) so you aren't really tipping anyone in particular there.

I think I actually bought this machine on a mystery shop! Does the high-end kitchen store still get shopped? I've been out of retail shops for a while...

Irene. I recently got an AeroPress which is a plastic french press. It is easy to load and to clean and you can buy a permanent filter. Not sure if it is easier than what you have but it just needs to be pulled apart and then rinsed. Otherwise it is plastic so easy to take with you if you want to make better quality coffee on the road.

Steve,I just saw a Breville at Best Buy for $99.00 (looks complicated).
Sandy, I heard about the AeroPress, but my plumber told me NOT to put coffee grinds down the disposal, bad really bad and I don't want to get a new one...that's why I'm looking for a non French Press, have two of them,
love their coffee, but not the mess. I don't care about the road, I care about disposing the grinds....

The Breville I was drooling over is more like $2,500.

While French press coffee is delish, I have to agree about the mess. I've always dumped the grounds in the trash regardless of the coffeemaker. I must admit with anything other than my espresso maker, there were always a few leftover in the filter, just not enough to cause plumbing problems. The espresso filter has nothing left after it is dumped.

@shopper8 wrote:

Why should you tip on tax? I tip 20% on the total, tax is 5 to 7 % depending on where you live, that's like leaving a 25% or more tip. The editor is truly wrong or the MSC.

I wish it was 5%. It's ~10% here so a $50 meal is really $55. I agree that the editor is wrong.

I generally use a cuisinart and brew coffee but we dump all grinds except those few leftovers in a small plastic bag in the trash, not down the sink. Irene the answer is to have my husband make the coffee and do the cleanup!! In exchange he gets fancy mystery shop dinners. We took the aeropress on our recent trip and with the help of microwaved water were able to have coffee so much better than those little packs from the hotel. Even doubling and tripling up on those one server hotel packs for a one cupper gave consistently weak coffee and also caused some overflow messes.
I guess we are still talking about tips in this thread but it has turned to coffee tips instead of meal tips!

@LisaSTL wrote:

The Breville I was drooling over is more like $2,500.

I have a separate grinder, but it's still over $500 even on sale for the good espresso makers.

Someone at Breville needs to start a MS program. They promised a call back after I had been holding for 15 minutes and so far...nothing.

Luckily HQ for them is by LAX so hopefully I can take it in and get it fixed. The Pasquini outlet is even closer to me in L.A. so perhaps it's time for a change otherwise.

If its for tipping for a shop i tip exactly what is rewuired based on the highest dollar amount is on the bill.

If its tipping personally , i tip based on service. Shitty service = shitty tip.

I will not tip for togo orders. Sorry. Thats not a service.

@Danish wrote:

One shop I completed required me to leave a specific percentage amount for the tip, which was higher than what I've seen before. This shop was in the fine dining category. I calculated the tip based on the sub-total, before tax was added. However, the editor dinged me because he said I failed to leave the required tip in his perception. I sent an email advising the editor I had left the appropriate tip based on the sub-total amount. Isn't tipping on the sub-total amount standard?

You have to remember that some people are not real smart or they are told not to be real smart by their boss.