On a stormy Friday night, we took my parents for dinner at one of their favorite chain restaurants. There were more people there than expected during inclement weather, and the place was understaffed. Still, the service was not bad: they were a little slow, and they forgot to bring my soup, but we had no complaints.
The young woman waiting on our table deserved the standard 15% gratuity.
The Canadian media has recently been abuzz with stories of restaurants in Toronto adding an automatic 20% tip to all bills, regardless of the experience its customers have had. Proprietors argue that it is perfectly acceptable to opt out of this gratuity, but the distinction is far from subtle. The assumption now is that the service will be exemplary, and it is the responsibility of patrons to signal any displeasure by actively removing an expected bonus.
I understand that wait staff are underpaid, and I accept that we are asked to supplement their incomes. However, it is important to be able to signal okay service (15%) from exemplary service (20% or more). One night, years ago, a friend and I used an excessive tip to compensate a young woman whose other table ran out on their bill. The restaurant we visited with my folks last week sought to help us out by providing three gratuity options, chosen from a menu on the credit card console. Again, there is an assumption that a tip is warranted, but one can choose 15% or 20% or 25% -- or, presumably, some different amount altogether.
If one chooses the automatic 15%, this number is unlikely to be a whole number. For awhile, I used to tip, even on credit cards, in order to achieve a round number. Say, for example, that the bill came to $24.22. I would tip $3.78, so that the total was $28. A friend pointed out that no one wanted my 78 cents; I should just tip $4. Whether the cash is kept behind the counter or tallied electronically, no one wanted pennies. But, of course, if one chooses to let the credit card console do the calculation, there is no chance to round up.
For some people, calculating the gratuity is often a hassle. When GST was 7%, folks in Alberta would double the tax and round up to determine the tip. (If the service was great, we could triple the tax.) Now that GST is 5%, we triple that tax to calculate an average tip.
So, spare some thought for me as I sat in that restaurant in St. John’s. Is tax there still 22%? No? It is 13%. (When did that happen?) That will not help me. I find it simple, of course, to calculate 10% in my head, and, if I add to that amount half as much again, I can find 15%. But wait. The number is not adding up to the 15% recommended by the credit card console. The subtotal is $80. If 10% is $8, and half of that is $4, then a 15% tip is $12, right? Why, then, is the recommended tip actually $13.56?
The answer, math fans, is that before recommending a 15% gratuity, this large chain restaurant first added the HST. They wanted me to tip on the tax.
We were happy that we did not order alcohol, as one traditionally does not tip on that amount, either.
Comments