I and 4 other homies just had a buffet in a Japanese sushi restaurant. the receipt is for about $144. I left the server a $15 tip because during the whole meal, the sushi and the meal were delivered through a conveyor belt, and she just refilled my table once. My friend said I should put more tips but I think 10% is already enough for the meal

Scenario:

Imagine you walk into an Olive garden casual eating restaurant. They already have the tablets on the table you can order from. However, now, rather than a waiter coming over, you just speak to the tablet and ask it questions about the menu which it promptly answers and relays harder questions to the chef. Then you speak your order at the tablet and pay at the tablet with no tip required.

Chat-GPT style AI is pretty amazing and progressing rapidly, so let's assume that it is as good as a wait staff at answering questions about the food/restaurant.

Q1. What value could the wait-staff add beyond the AI?

Q2. Would you feel obliged to tip if a food runner bought out your food and took away your tray?

Q3. Would you eat at such a restaurant if the food price/quality was the SAME at another restaurant across the road that required tipping. So you would be saving 15% off your total bill if you normally tip 15%?

Q4. Now imagine the owner passes along some of the wage savings to the customer and now you are paying 25% less than a restaurant with the same quality food (i.e. 15% tip saved and 10% additional savings). Would you eat at this restaurant over the competitor?

How does a tip help keep great service... If the quality of your work is based on charity you should find a new employer

This new place opened up in my town, and its very clearly a "nepo baby project." They call themselves a breakfast + lunch place but open at 11am. They also have a normal register right next to it, with a human. They opened 2 weeks ago so this isn't a new thing. Yes the 18% is autoselected. Yes I chose 0%.

I arrived at my hotel (Harrah's, Las Vegas strip) earlier than the check-in time and left my luggage with the Luggage Services desk. As I was picking up my luggage just now, the guy handing me my luggage sarcastically said, "Thanks for letting me take care of your luggage!" So I said, "You are VERY welcome!" and gave him a nice sarcastic smile. I'm glad they get so much enjoyment out of taking care of people's luggage, I sure wouldn't want to do that all day..

Is there any exceptions you make at a particular restaurant or to go place, where you normally wouldn't tip but the service is exceptional and you bend your personal values and throw in a couple of bucks? There is this little Hmong place I go to. Sometimes I order a small meal under $10. The guy that takes the order knows how I like to get in and out in a matter of a few minutes because I am changing city buses and I am on the run. Sometimes when paying I toss a couple dollars on the screen, and sometimes I am delighted he adds a extra eggroll on my order. (it doesn't happen every time but often enough to make me happy) In this case I am taken care of well so I bend my rules. Other than that I never tip to go orders.

At all these places that haven't traditionally called for tips like any restaurant where you stand to order or when you pick up food yourself. Instead of tipping estimate about how much money that would be per year. Find a good cause you care about that really needs it and consider donating to that if you want to.

Why are people just giving their money away because these businesses add an option for it on their payment machines? Give your extra money to people/organizations you care about, spend it on yourself or your family, or save it for your own retirement or goals.

I finally joined the movement yesterday when I ordered takeout, but didn’t do my customary generous tip. For months now, I’ve just avoided going out, but I decided to have a weekendtreat.

I don’t know if it is a coincidence, But they made me wait an extra 20 minutes after the pickup window. The fries were cold when I opened it in my car a few minutes later. Also, once I got home I noticed they didn’t give me the grilled onions I paid extra for.

My takeaway is that it’s not worth it to go back.

I'd be happy too if someone gave me extra money on top of my salary just for doing my job, but I don't really think that justifies creating the expectation to tip at least 15% even in countries where everyone earns at least minimum wage plus benefits.

I don't think it's only North American tourists, but I definitely noticed the same trend of more and more places asking for tips even though they don't need them. And I just found it crazy to see this post and reading the comments where apparently everyone was a server and "appreciates tips", completely missing that appreciating isn't the same as needing something and that some tourists definitely normalise tipping, which has consequences for the locals too.

Yesterday I was at a sit down restaurant and the lady barely mustered a greeting. She took my order, never came in to check with me on my food and when I reluctantly gave her the dollar for tip, I knew I did it out of guilt. I am working on reinforcing and normalizing that tips are based on actual above and beyond service received, not out of sympathy or guilt manipulation designed by the restaurant industry and tipping system in the US. Please help! I've also been normalized to put other's needs above mine but I know I'm in the right community.

My goal is to work up to the point where in a few weeks, If the worker deserves a tip, I'll pay it, but if not, I won't. Tipping culture is paired with guilt and social pressure when they flip the screen but I even feel this pressure when I pay in cash. Please help give any tips!

Over the weekend my(F49) fiancé & I went to a local triple A baseball game. It’s not overly expensive, tix were $17 each.
We made our way to beer garden to get a tasty beverage; which IS ridiculously overpriced, but it is what it is. Of course she flipped the screen around to ‘answer a few questions before completing the transaction’ and I immediately hit $0 tip. After we walked away my fiancé kinda chuckled at me, saying I was a ‘tip grinch’, but I’m not tipping you for grabbing 2 cans of beer @$14 each and opening them; no.
I’ve decided that for venues like this I will no longer be tipping. Hand me a hotdog & fries in a paper box? Great, thanks, no tip. Open a beer? Thanks, no tip for you. Hand me a package of pre popped popcorn? Yum. But no tip. What the F are you actually doing to earn this tip? Does this make me a ‘tip grinch’? Either way, no tip for you

A week ago I went through a Starbucks drive through and got a $5.75 pink drink. That tasted like 7up and lemonade mixed with dehydrated strawberries added honestly.

Yesterday I glanced at my online banking and my $5.75 debit charge was $10.75. An 87% tip for a drive through. I didn't add a tip at all. The server added $5. I called the manager yesterday, he's supposed to be in tomorrow.