r/eastside • u/jumping-llama • 5d ago
Tipping pressure
Ate at my favorite Indian restaurant in Bellevue, the server showed me the tablet for payment and literally said the words "20%".
I'm wondering if this is coming from the restaurant management or that particular server? If there's tip pressure on servers I can imagine maybe the owner is keeping a cut. Alternatively the server was being obnoxious with the pressure to increase their own earnings.
I'm inclined to not go there anymore but the food is amazing. Anyone else have a similar experience? It's a sit-down, not very fancy but not ultra casual either.
It was NOT Banaras but another restaurant with similar pricing/sit down aesthetic.
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u/Butthole_Surfer_GI 5d ago
Pressure to tip = that's an automatic 0% from me, dawg
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u/comfortable_in_chaos 5d ago
It’s rude as hell. A tip is a reward for good service not a requirement, and this exchange clearly ruined OP’s experience if they’re feeling bad enough to post about it afterwards.
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u/Mundane-Bee-7235 5d ago
I just ate in Seattle and the tip choices were 20%, 22%, and 24%. It’s getting worse.
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u/Few-Bread-6371 4d ago
Please name the restaurant so that we can avoid it or let them know about this in reviews so that tipping is optional n not judged upon
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u/opticalmace 5d ago
If a server did that to me they’d get 0%.
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u/iteidemlp 4d ago
All the tipping nonsense has made me reduce my outings to nearly just once every other month. I used to go multiple times a week but with out outrageous tipping culture has gotten, I just flat out refuse to eat out because I don't want to deal with the pressure.
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u/SkinFlap420 4d ago
Same. And honestly if more places go under because of it that’s fine with me.
I just went out to Tanoor and they have an “optional” 5% service fee automatically added to every bill, then the server came out with three tip options up to 25%
Guess where I’m not going again
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u/Mountain-Ox 3d ago
The increased cost of food alone is enough to keep us from going out more often. What was a $15 plate a few years ago is now a $25 plate. Dinner for two is pretty much always around $80 with an appetizer and drink. I don't even order a drink anymore. I feel like if they cut prices we'd (collectively) order/eat out more and they might actually make more money. I dunno, I left food service a long time ago.
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u/eyeswydeshut 2d ago
The percent-based tip may have been an ok guideline 20, 30, 40 years ago when the percent was far less and the costs weren't so high.
But, why should the gratuity that is for good service be controlled by the price of the meal? The service didn't change because one person had chicken and the other salad with chicken in it. And, if a bottle of wine was included what difference is there to the service for a $30 bottle of house wine (that's available for $15 retail) to a $75 bottle from a local winery (that's available for $40 retail)? Nothing in the service changed for that meal, but the percent-based tip could nearly double.
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u/yungimoto 5d ago
Pressure like that would get me to find the 0% option.
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u/RocketMan-1984 5d ago
Better yet… slap a nickel (or whatever loose change you have) on the table as you’re walking out. They won’t F with you next time. Though you might want to reconsider going back since they may remember you, and alternate “recipes” could be served up unbeknownst to you… 😉
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u/yungimoto 5d ago
lol, friends and I did that in high school for some legit horrible service. Waiter followed us out and threw the handful of change into my friend’s back. 🤣
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u/RocketMan-1984 5d ago
Years ago my father left a nickel on the table as a tip after receiving abysmal/insulting service at a NYC restaurant. As he was leaving the waiter shouted loud enough for many in the place to hear him: “Hey Mister, you forgot your nickel!” Upon which my father shouted back: “You keep it, you earned it!”
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u/sleeplessinseaatl 5d ago
Name the restaurant. I have tipped 0% in bellevue for bad service. Tipping is optional
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u/No-Industry7696 4d ago
Just pretend you didn’t hear them and tell them the amount you want. If its zero then its zero.
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u/shelbyrobinson 2d ago
A few years back, on Valentine's day, we went to Joey's in Bellevue. We were patient because they were jammed but finally asked where our food was after a 30-40 minutes of waiting? Waiter finally brought it out and it was stone cold because he'd forgot about it. No apology, and he never came back to offer anything beyond bringing our cold meals. I left a small tip of $7.00 because of it. Somewhere in the transaction he added a 1 in front of the 7 and got a $17 tip. I caught it on my statement and called the manager and she gave me a gift certificate for $100, saying the waiter was new. Tipping is out of control and no rhyme or reason to some of it. If I order up my food, get my own water/napkins and bus my table, why the hell would I tip that? I should get the tip, not them.
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u/Winternin 2d ago
Somewhere in the transaction he added a 1 in front of the 7 and got a $17 tip.
He should've been fired on the spot.
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u/gymshoe42 1d ago
Tipping was supposed to be for exceptional service. Sometime over the decades it became expected for any level of service and now it’s expected even for no service (ordering at a kiosk, picking up my own food at the counter, etc). Restaurants also shouldn’t be allowed to pay below the normal minimum wage. Yeah this will make dining out more expensive, but tipping is becoming used car salesman icky.
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u/SimpleLeader7713 5d ago
Hopefully, it was a one-off.
Curious - did their tablet offer a lower percentage? These days - it's become uncommon to find a default tip that's lower than 20% :(
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u/Winternin 5d ago
If they do that, it automatically makes me want to tip less than 20% (20% is how much I normally tip). So greedy.
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u/PM_me_punanis 5d ago
When I see that, I hit other amount and press 0. Especially in take out places.
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u/namastay14509 4d ago
It is your duty to write a review about this experience to warn other customers of this inappropriate behavior.
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u/Exact_Turnover2022 5d ago
Just take out.
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u/w4y 5d ago
They request tips for take out too
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u/Exact_Turnover2022 5d ago
And why would you tip that?
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u/engineeringmanager69 5d ago
Repeat after me . No tipping . Don’t feed the restaurant owning trolls .
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u/hellomouse1234 5d ago
Why not tipping ? You sit down to eat , you pay tip .
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u/nerevisigoth 5d ago
They're already getting paid to do the job. Tipping is voluntary.
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u/Winternin 5d ago
In a reasonable country, their employers would pay them a reasonable amount to do their jobs.
Unfortunately, the US is the exact opposite of reasonable when it comes to paying workers in the service industry.
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u/nerevisigoth 5d ago
They're paid plenty in Washington.
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u/Winternin 5d ago
Yep, just responded to another commentor... clearly I was very out of date on my knowledge about this.
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u/hellomouse1234 5d ago
If you cannot pay 18/20% tip please don’t go to those restaurants.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/Winternin 5d ago
In Washington tipped employees get paid the full wage ie the tips don’t eat up their wages.
Wow, I had no idea.
Just did a search and it turns out WA has the highest min wage for waiters: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees | U.S. Department of Labor.
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u/Pitiful_Jump2996 5d ago
Most Indians don't tip. They are used to it
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u/answerbrowsernobita 5d ago
I’m an Indian too. I pay 15-20% if I dine-in at non-Indian places. I don’t tip at casual Indian restaurants because many servers told me they don’t get the tip and greedy owners keep it.
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u/rocketphotoman 4d ago
My own family members who work in the service industry shared this same experience too.
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u/Supercachee 5d ago
Source? Outta thin air right?
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u/handmethetricksword 4d ago
spent a lot of time working in restaurants and the stereotype exists for a reason. Of course it’s not everyone but Indians are generally very poor tippers comparatively.
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u/rocketphotoman 4d ago
The huge irony is that many of my family members and friends have worked in the service industry locally and shared experiences that Indians here don’t tip them, and they dread serving Indian tables because of that….
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u/dudster1964 4d ago
Bill under $100 dollars -- tip $5
Bill $100 dollars and up -- tip $10
This is it!
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u/SpareEye 5d ago
What do/would you normally tip?
Do that.
I've got in the unfortunate habit of tipping 25% so dropping back to 20% and having that recognized as acceptable and appreciated is with me. I feel like take-out or counter service gets 15% and FFS I am not tipping at a drive through!
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u/Literal_Concept 5d ago
I tipped 25% for takeout during Covid. But not tipping takeout anymore, makes no sense.
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u/jumping-llama 5d ago
Usually 15%, sometimes 10% if I feel bad about some aspect of the service. Rarely 0% if there was an actual issue.
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u/urhumanwaste 5d ago
- no tip option. If they really want or need a tip.. tell them not to eat yellow snow.
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u/aectann001 2d ago
I kind of like what some places in Washington DC do: 20% service charge and no tips expected. Yeah, the price gets high, but no more games like “oh we expected you to pay X% above”
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u/Divingdeep321 5d ago
lol only other two like Banaras in the area are probably Farzi and Chutney. I went to Farzi few days ago and didn't have a server force..Don't know about Chutney though
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u/ChinesePinkAnt 4d ago
Because of inflation, the bare minimum tip should be 22% now.
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u/SkinFlap420 4d ago
lol what? Do you even math?
The meals are already more expensive due to inflation so the standard 15% tip is giving more to the server already.
We can ignore the fact that anybody turning around an iPad is probably not doing much serving to begin with, so why do you think they should get a quarter of the overall bill when prices are already insane?
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u/stupid_sane 5d ago
Name and shame