[sandmn]

Is the definition of a good server in this case one who can serve more tables than others in the same amount of time? In most places tips are mandatory and % does not depend much on anything unless someone messed up.

Commission on sales is very different from restaurant tips.

[pixelatedindex]

Tips, at least in the US has never been mandatory but it is an immense social pressure. Besides, my understanding is that tipping % is arbitrary anyway - there have been studies that show good looking people get more tips.

[jimt1234]

I think tipping culture has changed a lot in the last 5 years or so, driven mainly by the point-of-sale machines that request tips for seemingly adding no value. I think people have reached the point of tipping fatigue.

[pixelatedindex]

Definitely. I also think it has blurred the lines even more, and exposes how arbitrary it is. Do I tip if I scan from a QR code and order, where I have almost no interactions with the server? How is it any different than counter service? All that changed is instead of self-service order it is self-service pickup. I probably still have to flag down a server to get utensils or water.

Why did the tip percentage go up from 15% as the norm to like 18-20%? It’s a percentage so if things go up in price so does the tip. At what point is it their job vs quality of service? Why don’t we tip fast food workers, because they probably face more abuse / deal with unruly customers more than dine-in (at least from experience).

Can you tell I think about this a lot? lol

[jimt1234]

I'm old. For me, tipping has always been a cash-only transaction because I felt the money going directly into the server's or other staff's pockets. The owner of the business never touched the cash tips, and the tips were rarely reported (for taxes). But now, when I tip with one of those point-of-sale devices, I have no idea where that "tip money" is going - does it ever reach the server or other staff? Does the owner just pocket the "tip money"?

[9rx]

> Does the owner just pocket the "tip money"?

Not if they know what's good for them.

It is usually against the law to do so, and enforcement is extremely pro-labor, so the only chance you'd have to get away with it is if it got swept under the rug and nobody ever complained. But people who work in tipped positions are some of the most ruthless people you'll ever meet (you kind of have to be when tips are your bread and butter), so that's never going to happen in anything but made up fantasy.

[jghn]

> Why did the tip percentage go up from 15% as the norm to like 18-20%

Why did it go up from 10% to 15% 50+ years ago? And why did it go up from 18-20% to 22-25% in the last few years?

[9rx]

> And why did it go up from 18-20% to 22-25% in the last few years?

Especially when they removed the separate server minimum wage at the same time, meaning that servers both moved up into the regular minimum wage and gained in tipping culture.

[MikeKusold]

The final cost of the bill matters more than anything. A server at a higher-end restaurant where the bills regularly exceed hundreds of dollars will earn more in tips serving fewer tables than a server that works at a cheaper casual-chain restaurant (IHOP, Applebees, etc).

[tmiku]

More so than tables per unit time, it's dollars per unit time. When I was a server, the usual metric of how well you performed on a given shift was the total of your bills ("how much you sold"). The best servers were good at encouraging parties to spend on the things they were on the fence about: the appetizer, the second drink, the dessert. Even with the volatility of individual tipping decisions, getting your tables to order more increases the EV of your total tips.

[sandmn]

I haven't thought of that, makes sense. That likely applies more to higher-end non-chain places and tourist spots with lots of first time visitors. Regular customers will often know what they want.