#tipping

#tipping

As I stood staring at the screen, the tip buttons-20%, 25%, even 50%-blinked back at me like a test I hadn't studied for. Not knowing the answer, I felt a jolt of panic. A line had formed behind me, and I could practically feel the eyes on my back. In my mind, they were all silently judging, waiting to see which button I'd hit. I quickly looked for the button for "no tip," but, under pressure, guilt made the decision for me. I tapped 20%.

While many of us celebrate Thanksgiving at home surrounded by family and friends, the joy of eating out cannot be denied. Heaven is someone else stressing over the turkey, preparing the roster of sides that accommodate all dietary needs, and then sticking around to clean up and do all the dishes. But going out on Thanksgiving also means that all those folks cooking in restaurant kitchens and working the dining room are giving up their holidays to make yours flawless and festive. Good manners and generous tipping should be standard practice at a restaurant any night of the week, but diners need to be extra mindful of their etiquette and gratitude on Thanksgiving.

A couple weeks back, I wrote about tipping via screens: It's down across the board, percentage-wise, and I think the suckiness of the tipping prompts is at least partially to blame. One common strategy people employ to deal with the prompts is to ignore them, walking away from the counter when a screen asks whether they'd like to tip $1 or 25 percent or whatever, opting out of the transaction completely. You have likely walked up to a counter to buy a matcha latte only to see that the person on line ahead of you has abdicated this opportunity to tip. Maybe you even thought, I could leave a tip for them.

Gave up a bad pitch to a hitter that can hit fastballs. It cost us again.

Speaking on CNBC Tuesday morning, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski was asked how the fast-food chain would be affected by the "no tax on tips" provision of the Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July. Proponents of the change say that it will lower taxes for a variety of employees, including restaurant servers. At McDonald's, workers don't take tips, Kempczinski said, meaning that the chain's workers won't see a change.

In Europe, tipping is very different than it is in the U.S. Most waitstaff are paid a living wage to begin with, meaning that to them tips are what they are intended to be: a gift for exceptional service.

Khosrowshahi stated that "Tipping is entirely optional," advising customers to tip only if they feel they received exceptional service during their ride.