Why Your Check Might Come With a Tip Already Included

Ask any server and they’ll tell you two of their favorite words are “auto” and “gratuity.” Two other words that are always at the top of the list are “dead” and “food,” but that’s another story. Auto gratuity is that wonderful thing that allows servers to automatically add the tip to a restaurant check, therefore ensuring they will be tipped for the work they are doing. 

Most of the time, auto gratuity is only an option for a particularly large party, but sometimes in high-tourist areas, it happens on every check. When I once worked at a restaurant in Times Square, we begged our manager to allow auto gratuity for New Year’s Eve. Having worked the previous holiday, we knew people would park themselves at a table for far too long, and then drunkenly undertip and exit the building 20 minutes after ringing in the new year. Thankfully, our manager relented, and we all actually made money that year. 

Another restaurant I worked in was a complete tourist trap that very often welcomed customers from countries that weren’t accustomed to tipping. In that situation, the auto grat was a godsend. I understand that servers in France are paid a living wage and don’t rely on tips like servers do in the United States, but to paraphrase George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, they sure come in handy over here, bub. 

Some customers don’t appreciate the gratuity automatically being added. Servers do appreciate it and it’s not just because they’re getting that entire tip. Servers almost always tip out a portion of their tips to support staff — sometimes 2% to 3% of their sales — and they have to tip that out regardless of whether or not they were tipped themselves. In other words, if a customer stiffs their server, the server still has to tip the bartender or the busser. On a small check, it might be less than a dollar, but with a large party, the server can actually lose money if that gratuity isn’t included and the customer decides to stiff them. 

Imagine a walk-in party of 30 people ringing up a check for $1000 and not leaving a tip. If the server has to tip out 2% of their sales to support staff, that’s twenty bucks from their own apron. The automatic gratuity is basically an insurance policy for the staff.

Restaurants are only allowed to add the tip if the policy is clearly stated on the menu, website, or a sign. It should never be a surprise, and a good server will always alert their customer  if the gratuity has been added. Some customers don’t like being told how much they have to tip and claim they would have tipped more than what was added on. My argument is that just because the restaurant tacked on an 18% gratuity doesn’t mean the customer can’t decide to leave more than that if they want to. 

At the tourist trap mentioned before, some customers would fail to notice the tip had been included and then leave an additional tip, even tipping on the tip that was added. It was actually shocking how often that happened, but it just goes to show that plenty of people don’t pay attention to their checks. Always pay attention to the check, please. If a customer double tips, the right thing for the server to do is to return the unnecessary gratuity. However, once a tip goes into an apron, it’s awfully hard to get it back out.

If you go into a restaurant and realize the tip is being automatically added, you have a decision to make: accept it or don’t. Restaurants have the right to do that, just like customers have the right to go somewhere else. The tipping culture in our country is messy and no one thinks it’s a perfect system, but if you see an auto grat, it’s usually there for a good reason.

No matter what anyone thinks about someone choosing a career that relies on tips, surely everyone can agree that a server should never lose money for serving someone. The automatic gratuity makes sure that doesn’t happen.