Please always tip at least 15%, regardless of the service.

[Ms. Toad]

34. I concur -

but

(1) I've spoken to many wait staff who do not want to go to straight hourly becuase they make significantly more in tips than they would make being paid hourly

(2) the system is unfair, not just becase people aren't paid a fair wage for their work (and are left dependent on the generosity of cusomters. The manner of payment has ripple effects, as well. Many tipped employees don't report all of their tips as income. In the short term they are ahead, but at retirement that practice means they will receive significantly less than they should from social security. My sister falls in this category, has no savings, and wlll be receiving the bare minimum in SS since she's never reported enough income to bump her up the scale. When you're barely scraping by, the obligation to report and pay taxes on tips seems like a cruel joke when you have to come up with the extra taxes on April 15 - so I understand why every single worker whose taxes I prepared answered "No" when I asked if they earned tipa above what was reqported on their W-2. Robbbing Peter to pay Paul makes sense at the time, and who will know? Most aren't aware of the impact the failure to pay into the SS system will have down the road (and probably couldn't afford to anyway).

(3) and until the system changes, I'll continue to leave ~20% as a tip