Food - Drink
The Tipping Etiquette To Keep In Mind When You're Splitting The Bill
By TALIN VARTANIAN
In the United States, most servers make a living through their tips, which is typically calculated by customers as a certain percentage of the total bill. While it's unclear whether or not tipping will stick around as a major part of servers' income, it's best to stay up-to-date with standard practices, especially when splitting the bill.
Let's say you're dining with someone and the bill amounts to $27.95, so 20% tip comes out to $5.59. However, many diners mentally round down a bill like this to $20, so when split in half, the bill would be $10 per person and a 20% tip of that would be $2 per person, leaving the server with $4 instead of their rightful $5.59.
By short charging the server this way, they end up with less money than they are supposed to Additionally, rounding down may affect other staff members like bartenders, bussers, and dishwashers, since tips are sometimes divided, so break out the calculator and split the bill precisely so your server is tipped what they deserve.