Leaving tips ... Cash v. Card

I always leave cash as a courtesy to the waiter/waitress...it's up to them if they want to report that income or not

I pay taxes, they can pay taxes, I leave it on the card and take a picture of the signed receipt with my phone, never had any problems

I try and give cash if I have it so they can scam something from Uncle Sam, but otherwise it's CC. I've never had a problem with additional stuff being added to my CC tips.

90% of the time I out the tip on the CC. Just adds to the rewards points.
If I happen to know the server, I sometimes leave cash to help them out

I'm not really concerned about whether they report the cash income. If they're working as a Waiter/Waitress, they're likely not making enough yearly to pay taxes at the end of the year as opposed to getting it back in a refund.

Even if they do let Uncle Sam hold something for a few months, they're getting every penny back, and then some. Guess where that additional money comes from?

Ain't nobody pulling a Bernie Madoff with tip money from cash tips, bruh. The legitimate gripe would be that the unreported income could be on the level that not reporting it qualifies them for other government entitlements such as food stamps, medicaid, insurance subsidies, and child care assistance that the tip money would put them over the threshold from getting ...

Maybe someone in here could shed light on how much of a difference it would make. I've never waited tables.

Agree-I tip on the card, almost always. Exception--at times when dining w/very close friends/family, someone else will pick up the tab & I'll offer to pay the tip in cash.

My paranoia is rooted in reality.

Capital City Grille on Sherwood had a waiter who added a TWENTY DOLLAR tip on wife's card ... the bill was only like fifteen bucks. Wife goes back and the waiter admitted to altering the receipt. Manager did nothing, said it was an understanding. bullshite.

Louie's Cafe was the other. They did it TWICE. Added tips on to go orders after I gave them a cash tip ... manager argued with me that it was an automatic gratuity that the computer added ... I pointed out that both times it was simply rounded up to a neat dollar amount. When you did the math, it was two different random percentages, and both were higher than the percentage he quoted for the automatic gratuity. Computers don't do that.

He then argued that both of the employees who did it were 2 of his best people. Never been back to Louie's after that.

That's my own personal examples. I can't tell you how many criminal cases I saw while working in the criminal courts in Baton Rouge. It's not paranoia. It's reality.

When I was a waiter in college, I generally preferred cash tips because I got to walk home with money at the end of the night, as all my credit card tips were paid on my paycheck.

That being said, I usually tip on my credit card because I don't carry much cash on me.

5% less tip when dealing in cash

quote:

---

Maybe someone in here could shed light on how much of a difference it would make. I've never waited tables.

---

I've gotten money back every single year since I started working at 16. This includes the 3 years I was waiting tables.

Everyone I worked at the restaurant with got money back each year as well.

I have known a few people who have to pay, though. A few people had to when I worked at Bulldog. Of course, so many things factor into this. A few of the employees there were working 5-6 days a week and walking with a few hundred dollars each night.

I imagine it all depends on the price point of the restaurant you work in, how often you work, and how the restaurant/bar POS does your tax claims. Some places don't require employees to claim cash tips at all. Others do.