I generally tip 20% or so... when I have lunch at one of the local restaurants near my office (chinese or diner mostly), my lunch total generally comes to $7 to $10. At that price point I usually just give 20% rounded up to the next quarter if they haven't done anything to piss me off. If I am pissed off, I'll probably leave 10%, but it takes a lot to provoke me to that extent, and once it's happened, I'm probably not going back to that place. Once I left 5%. See below.
However I don't tip when I get takeout or fast food.
Quote:
Originally posted by blowmeetheclown
That was around the time I came up with my million-dollar idea (the fourth or fifth one, actually). Each table in a restaurant is outfitted with a small digital billboard-type sign (about the size of your keyboard). The sign is setup as a counter, in the form of 99.99, and is used to count down the server's tip.
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I've had a similar idea. In my case, my one pet peeve about restaurant dining that I really can't stand is when you've had a good meal, good service... and it takes forever to receive and pay your check. So I devised the idea of a clock, much as you suggest, that would say "your tip is $x" and then, after a preset period of time, say 5 minutes, start counting down the amount of the tip. The clock would start when I request my check and stop counting when I'm paid up and ready to leave.
The one time I left a 5% tip was at Olive Garden. We were there for my wife's birthday and the amount of time it took to get takeout boxes and pay the bill was shocking---almost 45 minutes. In retrospect I should have complained to the manager. But I didn't feel like it, we just never went back. (I probably wouldn't have complained there anyway... I usually write a letter, which I find more satisfying for some reason.)