re: Here is yet another discussion on tips

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Actually most restaurants left the auto-grat up to the waiter's discretion when I was in the business in the 90's and early 00's. Customer's didn't know this and would never know unless you told them.

It was always a question you pondered when you had the ability to put a grat on a bill or not when I was working. Just like in every aspect of your life, you used prior experiences to determine what you would do and if you would add an auto-grat to the bill.

If 8 times out of 10 women over the age of 50 in tennis skirts gave you poor tips, you grat. Wrong or right, that was they way it was.

If you have served 1000's of customers, like I had, you generally have a good feel for those that tip and those that don't. Were you always right? No. But 8.9 times out of ten I could guess within 2-3% of what kind of tip I was going to get.

The only problem I would ever have with the situation is if you treat the customer differently depending on your perceived expected tip. The only customers I would give preferential treatment to was well tipping regulars. Waiters play by the same rules every body else does. You follow the money, but the same rules of professionalism still apply.

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