In Canada, all the debit/credit card machines in restaurants have a "tip button" that prompts you for the tip. Usually you have a choice of percentage or dollar amount (or no tip at all). Once you enter it, it calculates, adds it to the bill, and gives you the total. You then have to accept that total or correct the tip. If you entered 150% or 1500% when you meant to enter 15%, you'd notice that the total was way too high and could correct it.
We've had this system for so long that I've lost my well-practiced ability to calculate tips in my head.
Some of the machines leave you totally on your own to decide how much to tip, while others have suggested percentages (plus "other"). I've noticed that recently the "suggested percentages" on some machines have gone from 10/15/20 to 15/20/25. The change hasn't affected my behaviour - I still generally leave 15%. But I wonder how many people have changed from 15 to 20 because of the psychology of being "in the middle".
One time I do tip more than 15% is when I go out for lunch with a group. Lunch is usually cheaper than dinner, and a group with separate checks can be a lot of work for a server, so I tip a higher percentage then.
My daughter tips more than I do (and figures it out in her head!) because she works for a small college and many servers are her students (or somebody else's).
We've had this system for so long that I've lost my well-practiced ability to calculate tips in my head.
Some of the machines leave you totally on your own to decide how much to tip, while others have suggested percentages (plus "other"). I've noticed that recently the "suggested percentages" on some machines have gone from 10/15/20 to 15/20/25. The change hasn't affected my behaviour - I still generally leave 15%. But I wonder how many people have changed from 15 to 20 because of the psychology of being "in the middle".
One time I do tip more than 15% is when I go out for lunch with a group. Lunch is usually cheaper than dinner, and a group with separate checks can be a lot of work for a server, so I tip a higher percentage then.
My daughter tips more than I do (and figures it out in her head!) because she works for a small college and many servers are her students (or somebody else's).