Oct 26, 2026, 3:14 PMGonna sound like an old, but... I remember when 15% was a good sit-down restaurant tip, 10% for "meh" service, 20% "I want to impress my date with my generosity".
Having a Square reader ask me to pick between 18%, 22%, or 25% at a coffee kiosk is tip-culture inflation at work.
@amuse just another reason to pay cash
@amuse And you get asked *before* the service has been provided!
and it’s also a recognition of a heavily bifurcated economy
The food-service person I know best can buy groceries on wages but it’s tips that reliably pay the rent
This is terrible but not under their control
Very uncomfortable if one a customer oneself teetering at the bifurcation
Oct 26, 2026, 5:40 PM@amuse pay in cash. I refuse to use those pad system to pay , which insist for example, that I need to pay a tip to get someone to hand me a product from their shelves. Never look at a display. I pay what I am quoted.
@amuse
I get it.
Me?
been doing 20% (in round numbers) since the late 1990s.
given: cash. Never got accustomed to 'card' for food.
because,
well, duh.
ok
server-involved at-the-register transaction?
10% (aka: round-up the cash to nearest)
but this?
No
Just no.
Not 'tipping' a machine,
unless
tipping it into the skip.
I don't hate machines.
but
people matter far more.
...
fun side-note?
local groc that has cash-accepting self-checkouts?
65% of them are off-line
for weeks now.
hmmmm
table service is 20%
counter service is 10%
cash preferred: avoid merchant fees
card at a point of sale with aggressive tipping: i'm less likely to return
server hands me a computer instead of a bill: i'm less likely to return
I'll give the computers credit: you can hit 20% without thinking, then the merchant pays a fee. Very convenient. But when I pay cash, I estimate and round up above 20% and there's no fee involved. So, go ahead and shove that computer in my face and kiss my revenue goodbye!
* snaps suspenders
@amuse 20% has been standard since at least 1980. You must be over 70.
Oct 27, 2026, 12:08 PM@amuse
Coffee at a counter gets zero. Drawing a line where if i order and pick up stuff at a counter, that is not tippable.
@amuse
Base pay for service workers has not increased in decades, local rules aside, while the cost of living has gone up a lot.
I always tip the highest amount NO MATTER WHAT, because I've had to survive on minimum wage and the kindness of strangers, and I'm well paid now.
Tipping is racist, classist, and should not be a part of core wages. By engaging in any debate about the value of a person's work, you are perpetuating this elitist system.
@amuse There's a lot of casual racists and classists in this thread tho. And they are all catching a block.