The thing that bugs me about tips is the fact they are a percentage. Why am I supposed to tip more if I ordered something more expensive but the service is equally good?

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Ekaros 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

As engineer I question why don't they present me in seconds time they spend on me. Then I could calculate fair rate to tip. Say altogether they spend 6 minutes on me. 2€ or 20€ an hour sounds reasonable enough if it was good work... Then again this probably should be included so maybe not that much.

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xyzelement 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

In general a higher bill is a proxy for a larger meal of more people in a more high-end establishment so it tracks well.

I agree if you had the $200 sea food tower by yourself it deviates from that otherwise perfect proxy. But that's already a weird situation so just pay the tip and move on.

	▲	SkiFire13 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's not a good enough proxy for more people. If you compare the least and most costly items on a menu, even adjusting for size, you'll find that there's often a 2x to 4x difference between them. If I pick one over the other I will also have to pay 2x to 4x in tip. That just doesn't checkout. Also, why do you need a proxy for the number of people when you can just count them? In Europe a service charge is relatively common and it's a per-person fixed charge.
	▲	xxs 13 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		A massive price difference would be the drinks (also the most of the profit) - realistically opening a bottle of expensive wine vs the bog standard cabernet serves as no proxy to anything. Likely certain single malts vs jim beam.