Should I Tip Less for Minimal Service?

Some restaurants are basically turning into self-serve vending machines, and one former server is not okay with it. They walked into their neighborhood favorite, sat down, and immediately got hit with a QR code menu and an online ordering flow.

Here’s the twist: the whole “service” part got stripped down. You scan, you order, you enter your card, and the waitstaff just shows up to drop off what you already bought. No explaining the menu, no taking the order at the table, no card running, no real interaction besides handing you food.

Now OP is stuck over the tip math, worried that tipping less feels like punishing the employees, even though it feels insane to pay full 20% for almost nothing.

Original Post

Obligatory Throwaway account, I'm a former server / bartender and feel like an AH even asking this but here goes... I am working from "home" at a neighborhood favorite of mine today and they have changed how they do service.

Now, when you sit down, you scan a QR code to see the menu. You place your order online when you decide, and then you enter your card info before you're allowed to order anything.

You can either close up right away or leave the tab open and add more things for yourself. My tab is open currently.

The waitstaff is now only present to run food to you. They do not approach the table to do anything besides hand you items that you've already ordered.

Here's my dilemma: It seems insane to me to tip 20% for basically not receiving service. As a former server / bartender, explaining the menu, taking an order, and running cards was pretty much my whole job.

But it also makes me worried for the employees. There's no evidence that their pay structure has changed, so if I tip less than 20% I'm probably hurting them.

WIBTA if I tip less than 20% in this scenario? EDIT: Thanks all!

I accept your judgment and I closed out with a 20% tip. Its a stupid change and I don't like it but you have convinced me it would be petty AH behavior for me to punish waitstaff for that.

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This is also like the AITA where parents refused to accept a partner’s cultural practices.

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OP, a former server and bartender, is trying to decide if 20% is still fair when the only “waitstaff” moment is dropping off items they already rang up for themselves.

The restaurant’s new system, QR codes plus online card entry, is what makes the usual “I did my part” tipping logic feel completely upside down.

OP keeps circling back to the employees, because if their pay structure did not change, tipping less might feel like taking it out on the wrong people.

By the time the comments roll in, OP is basically choosing between math that feels petty and generosity that feels like it might be the only way to stay fair.

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

OP ended up tipping 20% anyway, because nobody wants to punish the waitstaff for a system they did not design.

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