To tip or not to tip - that is still the question

So not so long ago I wrote this post about an article we ran in the Miami Herald about more and more restaurants turning to mandatory tip policies.

I hate those policies. I understand why some places call for them: cheapskates who don't tip or tip too little. But I hate those policies 'cause of that waiter or waitress who does nothing and gives attitude while doing it, all 'cause they know they're getting tipped regardless.

So I thought it was pretty cool when we ate lunch on Hollywood Beach the other day at a sidewalk cafe - sorry, can't remember the name - and when the waitress brought our check it offered options. It basically said under the tab that if we tipped 15% it would amount to such and such dollars, if we tipped 18% it would come to so and so dollars, and if we tipped 20% it would come to yada yada dollars.

That was a very savvy compromise on their part. It wasn't forcing a mandatory tip on us, but it was dropping a gentle hint to us that we had tipping options. And they even did the math on the three options they offered. We ended up going with 15% 'cause in this case the waitress didn't have a whole lot to do for us. Still, if we go back to that place I may opt for the higher tip just 'cause they saved me time by doing the math on different tip amounts.