I tipped the waiter a couple of Saturday’s ago at Las Cauelas just over 18 percent.
I can say I have always tipped at sit-down restaurants, except for one incredibly horrendous dining experience.
My idea of a sit-down restaurant is not where you order at the counter, get your food, and then take your seat. The only exception to that model is Sizzler’s where wait staff is involved to a degree in addressing your needs. The tip percentage I leave is pared down significantly in such a case to a dollar or so.
My approach to tipping is based on the idea that I go to a restaurant to do more than just get food. I do it to relax with friends and to be pampered somewhat with attentive service.
Unless you are the waiter/waitress from hell, my bottom tip is 15 percent.
I do end up tipping most of the time when service is less than stellar. I do not tip if it redefines atrocious, although I did one time to make a point by leaving a $20 bill.
More in a bit about the unforgettable experience that led me to tip for the absolute worse service I’ve ever endured as opposed to the incredibly horrendous dining experience previously referenced.
But first, let’s ponder what Congress just did.
They have exempted all workers who do services that people routinely tip for — such as waiters/waitresses, hair stylists, casino dealers, and hotel housekeeping — from tax on up to $25,000 a year in tips.
The fine print of the new law is that the exemption from income tax expires in 2028 unless Congress extends it.
This apparently is a bad thing according to some.
We are told the windfall will be countered by a loss of Medicare coverage for some, it’s not fair to the kitchen staff in a restaurant, and it will encourage employers not to pay decent wages.
Obviously, people with such concerns are either from Mars or Iowa.
Minimum wage in California is now at $16.50 an hour while the vast majority of fast food workers meet the criteria to get paid a minimum $20 an hour. A $16.50 hourly pay with “almost” tax free tips can be a healthy take for a day’s work.
Clearly, a smart waitress/waiter splits their tips in a manner with support and kitchen staff that help them deliver service that gets customers to leave a larger tip.
The tax-free tip limit of $25,000 will help raise net income for the 2.5 percent of the American workforce that report tip income, according to the IRS.
The bottom line is an overwhelming number of people that earn tips won’t be taxed on that income by Uncle Sam. And that means they will, on average, be keeping the equivalent of at least $120 on every $100 in tips they receive instead of $80.
That’s because there won’t be, for the time being, a federal tax liability for up to $25,000 a year in tips.
But there is still a state income tax liability for 219,180 California workers waiting tables and such that account for 19.8 percent of their gross income from tips based in Franchise Tax Board data.
California State Senate Bill 17 that would have dropped taxing tips was stopped several months ago when it was put in the suspend file.
The reason given by the progressive wing in the California Legislature? The state couldn’t afford to forgo $330 million annually in taxes that dropping the tax on tips represents.
These are the same workers that the same progressives keep pushing for higher minimum wages given the mantra is that restaurant workers are living on the edge of a precarious economic cliff.
Yet, when the dropping of a tax that reduces the money they can keep in their pockets is proposed, Sacramento politicians block a proposal that ups their net earnings.
So much for economic and political aspects of tipping.
Let’s get down to the mechanics.
I do not respond at all to places such as Jamba Juice or even some taquerias that have prompts asking for tips that are usually 15, 20, 25 percent or other.
When I tip at sit-down restaurants, I tend to do 15 percent and round up several dollars and some change to get the bill to an amount that involves no cents after the decimal.
The exception is a place like Black Bear Diner where you cannot add the tip to a printed receipt brought to the table.
Given you take your bill to the cashier where a prompt — when you put in your card — gives you tip percentage options including other and none, I default to the lowest number which is 15 percent.
Typically, that means I tip anywhere from somewhere under $2 or $3 less than I normally would.
I just don’t like the entire idea of a place providing tip options as it essentially makes it feel like an expectation even though I can decline to tip.
As for the atrocious service that led to me leaving a $20 cash tip, it happened at a chain restaurant in Modesto years ago that we received a gift card for $30.
Our waitress was not just AWOL most of the night, but she messed up the order three times, failed to bring our drinks until after the meal was served, and had several classless — or at least clueless — exchanges with us.
One was when Cynthia inquired about the lasagna and the waitress, who appeared to be less than 20, shot back “I never eat that because it’s fattening.”
It’s always nice for a waitress who obviously wasn’t fat by any stretch of the imagination to tell a woman diner that something was fattening as if anything on a pasta centric menu wasn’t by definition.
The real kicker, though, was the attention she paid to the next table that had six older teen boys that she clearly knew.
Not only did she respond quickly to their requests for refills and more breadsticks, but she routinely forgot similar requests we made of her.
Even though we were in her section a good 10 minutes ahead of the six teens, we weren’t served until after they were.
At one point, she even sat on one of the teen’s laps.
Meanwhile, a busboy that we had flagged down, stepped up and took care of our requests. He was even the one who corrected one of the three order errors which should never have happen given as I vegetarian I never ordered the beef lasagna.
Cynthia said we shouldn’t tip.
I was about to agree when the waitress approached and I said “miss” to get her attention so we could get our bill but she just kept on walking.
The bus boy finally got it for us.
Cynthia wanted to get the heck out of there, but I told her I wasn’t through with my soda.
I was actually waiting for the perfect moment and it came.
The waitress was back to fawning over the teen boys when the bus boy approached.
I blocked his path and said in a loud voice as I handed him a $20 bill that the tip was for him and him only.
He started to protest, and I said it is yours just as the waitress turned and looked at me with daggers in her eyes.
That prompted me to add — while looking straight at the waitress — to say that this was for doing the waitresses’ job.
And, yes, the manager heard about our experience on the way out.
It was much more satisfying rewarding someone who understood what constituted good service and to do so in the presence of the waitress from hell instead of leaving no tip.
