The Dark Side of Tipping: Unveiling the Issues.

So I was out to dinner one night with the wife at a local diner and I overheard a couple of the staff boasting about making over a thousand dollars a day, and how easy it was to guilt women, or just flirt with the fugly’s as she put it, into stress tipping. They were in the back, being louder than I assume they thought they were.

I’m sure she was exaggerating, or just really lucky, but this got me to thinking about my bill as I sipped my coffee, which was 36 dollars. A median bill for us. I’ve had a lot higher, but also a bit lower.

Personally, I don’t like to tip based on the check amount, but that’s usually how most people calculate it.

The assumption here is that the higher the check, the harder the staff worked, but that just isn’t always true. The cost of the items plays a larger part in the bill than staff effort, although they can correlate sometimes.

Take a look at this bill for us one night out to dinner during our vacation.

Notice the SVS Charge, and still there’s a Tip line. what is a service charge if not a tip? So what do you get for that price?