gratuity

11 Stories

Staff Left in 'Absolute Disbelief' at Patron's Tip
Staff Left in 'Absolute
Disbelief' at Patron's Tip
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 17, 2024 6:00 AM CST

Staff Left in 'Absolute Disbelief' at Patron's Tip

Customer left $10K gratuity on a $32 tab at Michigan restaurant in honor of friend who'd died

(Newser) - A 20% tip on a $32 restaurant tab would come out to about $6.40; a more generous tip of 25% would be closer to $8. One server in a Michigan eatery, however, received a tip that went right off the charts: $10,000, or about 30,835% of the...

Tipping Culture Is Surprisingly Big on TikTok

Users give a collective $11M per day

(Newser) - If you ever considered showing off your skills on TikTok, here's a little incentive. MarketWatch says that users are shelling out a collective $11 million per day in tips. Now the app is "poised to become the highest earning mobile app ever—approaching the $15 billion milestone in...

Starbucks Staffer: Wow, Are These Tip Screens Awkward

Employee at coffee chain details how gratuity prompts are a double-edged sword

(Newser) - Most service workers wouldn't turn away a decent tip. Now, however, an increasing number of businesses are using gratuity prompts built right in to electronic transactions—aka "tip screens." It's a convenient way to remind consumers to pony up a few extra bucks, but also one...

Waiter to Jason Derulo: 'I Can't Say Thank You Enough'

Singer tipped Omaha server Jordan Schaffer $5K, which he says will cover whole semester of college

(Newser) - Servers in Nebraska—or anywhere, really—aren't accustomed to getting $5,000 tips from customers. But one waiter in Omaha received just that, and he's a got a big name to thank for it. People reports that Jordan Schaffer was working tables at Charleston's Restaurant last week...

Looking for Big Tips? These States Deliver

Delaware tops the list of Toast's quarterly 'Restaurant Trends Report'

(Newser) - Online eatery platform Toast is out with its quarterly "Restaurant Trends Report," for Q4 of last year, and among such stats as delivery orders during the Super Bowl, the site examined the state of tipping nationwide. Toast looked at average tips across the US and found that Cleveland...

After 2 Drinks at Starbucks Drive-Thru, He Was Out $4.5K

Jesse O'Dell was charged for a gratuity he didn't authorize, and getting the money back was a pain

(Newser) - An Oklahoma man's visit to his local Starbucks drive-through put him out not only the cost of the two venti drinks he purchased—he was also charged nearly $4,500 for a gratuity he didn't authorize. KOKI and NBC News report that Jesse O'Dell's Jan. 7...

A Bartender Got a Tip Worth $2. It Turned Into $50K

Missouri's Taylor Russey says customer's gratuity was a Powerball ticket

(Newser) - Most watering hole patrons don't offer lottery tickets as gratuities, but one regular at Missouri's Bleachers Bar does it quite often—and a bartender at the O'Fallon establishment is now a $50,000 winner because of it. CNN reports on Taylor Russey's windfall, which came about...

Thief Steals $2M, Gives a Third Away
Thief Steals $2M,
Gives a Third Away
May 31, 2017 10:30 AM CDT

Thief Steals $2M, Gives a Third Away

'I don't regret having done this'

(Newser) - A Chinese man stole almost $2 million, then spent more than a quarter of that amount on tips for female hosts of livestreaming websites. The 21-year-old online software vendor from Guizhou province—identified only by his last name, Hu—stole $1.9 million from video website Youku Tudou after he...

Joe's Crab Shack No-Tipping Policy Was No Success

Lost up to 10% of its customers at test sites that dumped gratuities

(Newser) - The first full-service national chain to get rid of tipping is, for the most part, reinstating the practice that its former CEO once called "antiquated." Joe's Crab Shack, which had tried out the gratuity-included model in 18 of its 130 or so restaurants across the country, is...

Down With Tipping
 Down With Tipping 
OPINION
Jul 10, 2013 1:07 PM CDT

Down With Tipping

This 'repugnant custom' is bad for everyone: Brian Palmer

(Newser) - Tipping first arrived in America in the late 19th century, and was decried as bribery and quickly banned. We had the right idea back then, and we never should have been talked into accepting this "repugnant custom," writes Brian Palmer in Slate . Not only is tipping awful for...

Pub's Bad Service Leads to Arrest—of Irate Patrons

No skipping gratuity, restaurant says

(Newser) - Turns out that mandatory 18% gratuity for large parties at restaurants is mandatory enough that skipping it can get you arrested. A Philadelphia-area couple who found service at a pub was so scarce they essentially waited on themselves and their six friends ended up in cuffs when they refused to...

11 Stories
Most Read on Newser