Tips Gone Wild; Because Handing Me a Bag
Is Not a Billable Service.
Substack,
by
G Frank Ferris
Original Article
Posted By: Boomer in the Basement,
12/19/2025 5:58:37 PM
Writing this in December as I am you might be tempted to think I’m something of a money-grubbing Scrooge, but let me assure you in this first sentence I’m nothing of the sort. In fact, when it comes to tipping good service, I’m renowned for being generous, and was going twenty percent years before it was standard.
My formula for a tip is this. When I enter an establishment, the wait staff is at twenty percent, perhaps even a little more. The tip is built into my tipping psyche. At that point, it’s up to the wait staff to begin working their way down.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
mc squared 12/19/2025 6:15:21 PM (No. 2043394)
Bravo. I tip generously for good service but handing me a bag isn't service.
38 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Digger 12/19/2025 6:45:29 PM (No. 2043398)
What he said! Like the author, I enter with a 20% tip in mind. It can go down (or up) from there, depending on quality of service. Our favorite and regular waitresses get their tips handed to them discreetly in cash. That was important before “no tax on tips” and may still be important where management confiscates tips and puts them into a pool for all waitstaff to share. I don’t tip at buffet’s where I have to get my own food. I ignore tip jars. Recently the host who seated us wore a lanyard to which were pinned several dollar bills - ha, no tip there!
19 people like this.
If you saw the pic of the young woman with all the tats and piercings, i wonder what she will look like seventy years from now. She will not stay young forever.
17 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
cor-vet 12/19/2025 7:07:49 PM (No. 2043405)
I'm getting tired of the expected 18 to 20% tip, and I'm tired of the immediate questionnaires emailed to me after I leave a store.
28 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
3XALADY 12/19/2025 7:17:21 PM (No. 2043408)
It mostly bites my butt to pay 20% but I usually do unless service has been terrible and my drink glass hasn't been watched. All that to maybe set down a plate and maybe a couple of glasses of Diet Coke. At Outback the waitress doesn't even deliver the food, someone from the kitchen brings it out. I will give my trash truck driver a nice tip because some times during the year I may have cardboard boxes that I have to set by the trash container and he has to get out of the truck to dispose of them. Kind of like paying forward.
14 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
philsner 12/19/2025 7:34:26 PM (No. 2043410)
That picture is obviously fake.
0 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
greyseal 12/19/2025 7:44:18 PM (No. 2043411)
I start at 18% and go either up or down depending. There is a local Tex-Mex place where the waitress (who has worked there for a couple of years) remembers our drink orders when we come in, where we like to sit, and what we normally order (including what we like to include/exclude). She gets a generous tip. Ditto for the young lady at BW3 - she remembers everything we like (including what heat I like for my wings).
But the folks behind the counter at the BBQ joint who simply hand me a bag with my order (they don't even make change since I tap the card)? No tip. Same for the drive-thru at Bojangles, Biscuitville, or Arby's. At Red Robin, the staffer who is personable, always checks on us, and keeps the drinks filled gets 18%, the one that barely acknowledges we're there might get 15%.
A tip is earned.
greyseal
19 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
rikkitikki 12/19/2025 8:01:58 PM (No. 2043415)
IMO, the root problem is what I call an "entitlement mentality", one that used to be confined to half the folks on welfare, but has cross-contaminated the entire hourly-wage work force. And that mentality is not what made America great.
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Catherine 12/19/2025 8:30:51 PM (No. 2043423)
I usually give a $5 tip to the people who deliver my meds from the pharmacy. It's a free service but I like to tip anyway. Their faces always show surprise then a big grin and "thank you." Makes me feel good. No $5 isn't much but it beats nothing which is what they probably usually get.
11 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 12/19/2025 8:43:59 PM (No. 2043425)
For twenty years a friend and I met at a restaurant for dinner on Friday nights. We generally had the9 same waitress for at least ten years of that. I often got a bowl of chili and a glass of water, about four bucks. I always tipped her by putting a $5 bill into her hand, so it didn't wind up in a tip fund for everyone. I wanted tip her for her careful, friendly service.
I, too, won't tip for counter service. Take my order, refill my drink and you'll get 15%. Do better service, it can go up. For bad service, it goes down.
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
padiva 12/19/2025 9:02:22 PM (No. 2043430)
I work in a retail department store. It's easy to go the extra mile. The young ones don't bother to do the extra tasks- not being extra kind to the customers or doing other tasks. The manager is letting me work as many hours as I want since get stuff done.
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Sully 12/19/2025 10:00:12 PM (No. 2043434)
I put myself thru 2 schools working in restaurants, and like all such people am a good tipper. Usually I figure out the %20 and round up to the nearest 5 or 10 dollar bill. Used to tip in cash before potus 47.
It is infuriating when a mere money taker spins the tablet around so I can click a pre figured tip button. Grrrrrr
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Jesse Jenkem 12/19/2025 10:18:18 PM (No. 2043435)
Who in their right mind would hire someone looking like that?
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
mifla 12/20/2025 5:19:21 AM (No. 2043451)
I have had jobs where I relied on tips to help pay for college, so I usually tip generously.
The tip goes up when the service is good.
This past summer, I went into a neighborhood restaurant and ordered an iced tea. It was 90+ degrees outside. The tea came - the glass had a lot of ice in it and the waitress put an extra glass of ice next to it.
She also kept on eye on the level of tea in my glass throughout the meal.
She got a very good tip.
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Dr. Constant 12/20/2025 6:14:06 AM (No. 2043461)
I hate the idea of paying bribes for service. And that's what tips have devolved into.
6 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
franq 12/20/2025 9:08:27 AM (No. 2043505)
We rarely eat-in, for this reason. Don't need a 20% surcharge on my meal. Prices are high enough. I know Trump proposed a "no tax on tips" measure. Not sure if it passed. It was my understanding that the IRS assumed a 15% tip on each check, and taxed wait staff accordingly. Not a good law, in my opinion.
3 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
felixcat 12/20/2025 10:29:00 AM (No. 2043556)
If you are working behind a counter making sandwiches, I doubt you're getting paid like a waiter or waitress so I find the tip question on checking out offensive. I'll tip the men delivering furniture to my house, even when the delivery is free or the men installing an appliance in the kitchen, etc., and everytime, they seem generally appreciative and surprised.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
bpl40 12/20/2025 10:43:15 AM (No. 2043562)
Bribing you for doing what you are paid to do? No thanks.
2 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
kidsmom 12/20/2025 6:30:39 PM (No. 2043672)
The "tipping everyone" mentality came about during Covid when businesses were in danger of closing due to lack of workers. Customers tipped EVERYONE who was working doing anything to try and keep businesses open, and the practice just....stayed. I don't tip unless I am sitting at a table being served by waitstaff. Additionally, there are the businesses with the "soft" pushes--don't get me started on pet stores and the automatic screen prompt about donating to help save a dog or cat today, or grocery stores asking if I want to donate to their favorite charity.....grrrrrrr!!!
2 people like this.
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