Americans call tipping ridiculous (78 percent say so), but the fatigue lives at the counter, not the table.
The sit-down tip has barely moved. Toast puts the full-service average at 19.3 percent, holding in a narrow band for two years. What people have stopped doing is tipping the tablet before anyone has served them.
- Tip the sit-down waiter a shade over 19 percent; round to 20 if you like, but that is a courtesy, not the going rate
- Tip the takeaway coffee nothing, and feel no guilt: the gap is the entire point
- Press the small No Tip button, thank the human if there is one, and go
The screen is not asking you to be generous. It is asking before you can think.
