More tipping insanity
- 
“At Bistro Bis, a 22% service charge is included to (sic) every check. 18% is an automatic gratuity that goes directly to the service team and 4% contributes to our teams fair compensation and benefits.” So management takes a cut now. And there’s no opt out. 
- 
Washington DC area, right? 
 Last time I was there, one restaurant added an automatic 20% tip to the check.
 I asked a staff member when and why that become a practice, and was told it's added during the pandemic and it helped them survive the pandemic. (No, I have no way to independently verify whether that's true.)
- 
It's also like they forgot that the best way to stay in business is not to royally piss your customers off. 
- 
That is hilarious. 
- 
One of the things that pisses me off is that you have to actively choose not to tip on this shit. You have to select custom tip and put in $0. At a fast casual restaurant it’s awkward as hell (bad customer service) and in a completely non-tipping situation like above, you are going to have people that will mistakenly add tips… 
- 
Some places put a lot of thought/work into the packaging of their "to go" orders. Sometimes to the point where it seems to me it takes them more work to put the food into the well-thought-out packaging than to simply put the food on a plate and serve. When I see that, I tip more. 
- 
I tip for to go if it is a place I’d tip for table service. But otherwise I agree with the counter approach. 
- 
Some places put a lot of thought/work into the packaging of their "to go" orders. Sometimes to the point where it seems to me it takes them more work to put the food into the well-thought-out packaging than to simply put the food on a plate and serve. When I see that, I tip more. @Axtremus said in More tipping insanity: Some places put a lot of thought/work into the packaging of their "to go" orders. That's possible. I've never seen anything more complicated than wrapping up a Burger King Whopper, putting fries in a cardboard container and everything going into a sack. 
- 
Example: a diner serves a fairly complicated menu item that comes as a meal combo with bread & butter, one entree, two sides, and dessert. Depends on which “entree” you choose, it may involves a fried or grilled item that you want to keep dry and sauce/curry/mashed potato that you want to keep separate from the fried/grilled item so they don’t mix together and become a soggy mess after you take them home. An order like this can easily turn into a six container affair. In my estimate it would probably take the kitchen staff more time/effort to package such a combo meal into a “to go” ensemble package than to serve them on plates. 
- 
I tip for to go if it is a place I’d tip for table service. But otherwise I agree with the counter approach. @Mik said in More tipping insanity: I tip for to go if it is a place I’d tip for table service. But otherwise I agree with the counter approach. That’s fair. Our family sometimes gets Olive Garden or Applebees or Chinese food to go, I’ll tip like 5-10% there since I know someone’s involved with package/review of the order. 
- 
Example: a diner serves a fairly complicated menu item that comes as a meal combo with bread & butter, one entree, two sides, and dessert. Depends on which “entree” you choose, it may involves a fried or grilled item that you want to keep dry and sauce/curry/mashed potato that you want to keep separate from the fried/grilled item so they don’t mix together and become a soggy mess after you take them home. An order like this can easily turn into a six container affair. In my estimate it would probably take the kitchen staff more time/effort to package such a combo meal into a “to go” ensemble package than to serve them on plates. @Axtremus good points. My understanding of a "tip" is that it includes a gratuity for those whom you never see - cooks, busboys, Maitre'd, etc. When I go downstairs to get a pizza, I usually tip about $5 just for that service. But, at a "fast food place," such as Mickey D's or BK, should I tip if I go to the counter rather than the drive-thru? (I haven't been to a counter at Mickey's in over a decade, so I don't know if tipping is even an option) 
- 
I tried to tip an Amazon driver the other day, as he'd offered to help us bring a very heavy box into the house. He wouldn't take it, said he was just doing his job. 









