Restaurant tries to scam customers, yet they still give a 20% tip?

I went to a restaurant recently with my wife for our anniversary. Had great reviews on Google Maps above 4.5 stars. Yes I know this should not be the only indicator of a good experience, but the food sounded good and it was in a neighborhood we don't often go to. Something new.

When we got the bill, the server came to us and skipped past the food prices to the tip screen immediately. That should have been my red flag to stop and ask why she did that, but I didn't. I tipped 20%, then later found out that they already included that in the bill. So I tipped 20% on top of the total that already included 20%. Needless to say I won't be going back.

Tips in the US must be entirely out of control. In my experience, 10% is for good service, above for rare exceptional and less if you weren't entirely satisfied. Not even printing anything below 16 is insane.

No because I live in Australia where the govt forces restaurants to Pay their staff in full rather than outsource their wages to the customers directly.

Edit: Pay, not Pauly.

Stop tipping!!! no more

I'm surprised no one mentioned that a lot also calculate the tip after applying taxes.

Example: Meal was $40, then a 20% tip would be $8. But if taxes were $4 (making the total bill $44), then the receipt would show $8.80.

Wait so you get scammed but still give 20% tips? This would be an automatic 0% tip

Customer pays for product/service, and it's the employer's job the pay the employees. What the employer needs for this is his/her job to include in the price.

Not saying this isn’t real and completely scummy, but sometimes the tip is calculated before discounts, gift cards, and whatnot. I always tip based on what our total order was even if what we paid was less. If this is truly trying to fudge the numbers to take advantage of people then that’s shitty.

Tipping is a holdover from slavery. It’s a way to control service workers.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tip people who rely on tips, it means the system is fucking broken by design.

I'm guessing the tip is calculated before any discounts/comps, which would be conspicuously cut off in this photo

This may be anecdotal, but I ran into this exact same issue a few weeks ago. The suggested 20% was significantly higher than the 20% on the bill. It took me a little bit to figure out, but we were at the restaurant for a steak special and happy hour. The 20% tip was for the non-special price. For example, the steak and two sides special was $18, but the normal price was $28. The drinks were $5 but the normal price was $8. So the suggested tip was 20% of $36, not 20% of $23. These aren't the exact numbers, and there were two of us, but you get the idea. The POS/Tip suggestion is setup so the servers don't get the shit end of the stick when the restaurant is doing a deal/special. I'm not sure I fully agree with it, and I have my own beef with tipping culture in general, but I'm just looking to explain what might be seen in OP's photo.

Fuck tips. 0 tips. Pay your people.

That would be a reason not to give a tip.

You WRITE the tip amount on the receipt? How does the payment terminal know how much to take?

If your employees rely on tips to meet months end, your business model is shit.

I have yet to encounter an automatic tip calculation that doesn't base the tip on the total bill including taxes. It’s a pretty infuriating cash grab. Not only am I directly having to pay an employee’s wages so the restaurant doesn’t have to, I’m having to tip the government, too? (Yeah, I know the government doesn’t get the tip)

I don't like in a madhouse where they put tips on the cheque thankfully nor expect tips in percentages, so.. no

Tipping by percentage never made much sense to me. I order a coffee at a diner, the waitress only gets a 42 cent tip? She should get more if she has to carry a plate of food? She checks on me the same amount. That's a five dollar tip at least.

And they still tipped?

My tip would have been 0 right there and would have included a complaint with police