12/08/2026
So which side has a point?
People who say "it's gotten out of control" usually mean:
"If generosity is mandatory, it's not generosity, it's a fee. Just pay your staff and put it in the price like most of the world does. Don't make me the HR department."
People who say "if you can't afford to tip, don't eat out" usually mean:
"In the US system, this is the wage. The restaurant is charging $120 instead of $144 so the customer can reward good service directly. Stiffing the server doesn't protest the system, it just hurts the person with the least power to change it."
Both are describing the same broken middle. Restaurants keep menu prices artificially low because customers have sticker shock, and workers are left depending on customers to make rent that week.
Where most people actually land now is somewhere in the middle:
• 18-20% for sit-down table service is still the standard in the US, whether we like the system or not
• Tipping for counter-service where you order and pick up yourself is truly optional, and it's okay to hit "No Tip" or "Custom" without guilt
• Great service deserves more, bad service deserves a conversation with a manager, not a 5% message tip
The moral judgment part is what's new. Tipping used to be about how the server did. Now social media has turned it into a statement about how good of a customer you are.
What about you - when you see that $24 suggested tip on $120, do you feel like you're rewarding someone, or like you're being charged a fee that the restaurant didn't want to put on the menu?