Comments about ‘Don't skimp on the tip when using coupons or discounts’

I feel sorry for the servers but we're ALL feeling the pinch of this recession. They are no different. I'll continue to tip 15% for good service on the pre-tax amount of the bill. If I use a coupon it is no different.

I seriously doubt the servers are reporting the additional income on their tax returns. They need only report a percentage based on the total amount of the bill without tax.

The 20% tip movement is just silly. I'll tip that amount for exceptional, really exceptional service.

I'm not a cheapskate and in fact spent my college years waiting tables so I understand their plight but I just don't buy it. Let the market decide this one. When they don't earn enough, restaurants will have a hard time finding employees and they will have to pay more. Simple free market.

I too think that 15 percent is adequate. Whenever I use a coupon, frequent dining card, etc I tip on the total value of the meal, not the discounted price. The server had to work just as hard giving you two meals, even if you're just paying full price for one.
Many servers say they don't even make the percentage the IRS taxes them on. THey're forced to pay taxes on wages they don't even make.

15% is fine enough. the more the meal costs, the more the server gets. sounds like someday we will be expected to be paying 20, then 30, then 40 all the way up to 150% of the cost in tips based upon some silly idea that the % should go up like inflation...bottom line is if i eat more food the server gets more at the 15% rate. as inflationary costs of food go up the 15% becomes larger in and of itself. no need to change the proportions. if we do things the socialistic way, then everyone will want to be servers instead of eaters....ohh...maybe we're on to something...people working for a living....

After servers take their exemptions and standard deduction on their tax returns (even singles), they'd need to make more than approx. $25,000/yr. to even begin paying taxes. They would stay in the lowest tax brakets anyway. Given that few report all their income anyway it is virtually impossible to claim that they are taxed on income they don't make. The working poor DON'T pay income taxes.

The way I see the coupon issue is that without the coupon they'd be filling salt and pepper shakers instead of serving customers. Servers benefit from the coupons because they bring customers in the door. I'd be happy to serve a table using a coupon and be tipped 15% on the actual bill instead of being sent home early or even fired because the restaurant isn't busy enough.


Better yet, tell the restaurant owners to pay a decent wage and get rid of tips all together. That's the way it works in much of the developed world. I sure don't see better service in countries that tip compared to those that don't.

I like to get out of the door before the waiter comes back to see what I left. It just makes me uncomfortable. I'm not a cheap-skate, but I feel I'm being judged. And my way of deciding how much they get? If I have to keep asking to have my water glass refilled, then the tip goes down. I love it when they keep it filled without my even asking. If they are attentive enough to do that, they are with other things too.

Sound like a bunch of people who have NO IDEA what a TIP even is, or what it is for.

When I was young it was 5% or 7 % and NOT espected, but must be earned by the server,

then it creeped up to 10%,

now it is 15% or 20% !

Seems like service is gettng worse,
and servers are getting greedier and greedier.


MEanwhile EVERYONE is looking he other way, while the Owners are NOT paying their workers a proper wage.

Since when dis it become the customers job to pay the employees?

Does anyone remember what a TIP is for?

By law, servers at restaurants have to earn through a combination of salaray and tip income at least the federal minimum wage, which was just raised to $7.25 per hour. So if tips drop, then the restaraunt has to make up the difference. In other words, $7.25 per hour is the LEAST that any server is earning at any restaurant.

If a server wants to earn more than $7.25 per hour, he or she should get a job somewhere else. It is ultimately his or her responsibility to insure that he or she gets paid what his or her time is worth, not mine.

I actually pay the server what I think the service merits. Yes, I have sometimes only left a 12% tip, but I make sure they know why. On the other hand, I have sometimes tipped almost half of the total check, because the server did an excellent job. And I made sure they knew it, also.

Do NOT tell me what to tip. I pay what I think they DESERVE!

A few months ago, when Denny's had its free breakfast special to draw more customers in and give people a break on the cost of a meal, many of the servers reported customers having their free breakfast and deciding that "free" meant no tips were necessary. The waiters and waitresses probably worked three times as hard that day than on an average day, with a lot less to show for it at the end of the day.

If a restaurant is going to have a special offer like this, they know full well that they'll be mobbed by the kind of classless boor whose hobby is looking for something for nothing, The restaurants ought to budget for a bonus for the employees that day, in exchange for the extra work they'll do and the certainty that they'll get stiffed by many of these freeloaders.