To find it hard to leave tips in restaurants these days?

[RubyFlax]

Went for a nice meal out this week with DH, to a restaurant we’ve not tried before. Food was really nice, atmosphere and service both good. All in all a lovely time.
However am I the only one who finds it hard to leave a tip these days?
I know some places will add a service charge to the bill… no issue with this (assuming the meal / service has not been a disaster), but many others do not, and I’ve found a number of times, as happened this week, the server will just hold out the card machine for you to tap contactless with the amount already on, with no mention of a tip, and no way to add it yourself as you can’t see the screen / are not holding the card reader.
What do you do in these instances ? Ask the server to amend the amount / add a tip?
Like a lot of people we hardly ever have cash on us, and often pay for stuff via Apple Pay on phone so I don’t have cash I can leave on the table afterwards.
Interested to know what others do as I feel a bit bad for not leaving one this week. Should I be verbally stating I want to add a tip before they hold out the card machine (in my opinion a bit awkward) or should I be making sure I’ve taken some cash out to leave as a tip !?
I used to work in hospitality/ waitressing as a teenager & know how appreciated tips are so it doesn’t sit right with me to not leave anything.
In the UK by the way, as I know tipping culture varies by country!

I make sure I take cash, but personally I hope tipping culture dies out and people just get paid a fair wage.

When they give you the bill, have a look and see if service is on there. If not, just say ‘please can you put it through as £xx’. Easy, and they are used to doing it.

Ok thanks for the replies. I can see I’m just going to have to ask them to add x amount before they even hold the card reader out, if I can get in there quick enough. If not ask them to alter the amount and add a tip.
I just feel it makes the whole interaction awkward and I don’t really want to discuss a tip or ask to leave one, I just want to be able do it! I.e like when they used to hand you the card reader and it would say “add gratuity” or similar and you could select a percentage.

Cash is really not practical. I literally never have it on me. Even parking these days is paid by card or app. We are semi rural and I’d have to drive a few miles out of my way to even find a cash machine. The restaurant we went to was a couple of villages away and no cash machines enroute / nearby.

the server will just hold out the card machine for you to tap contactless with the amount already on, with no mention of a tip, and no way to add it yourself as you can’t see the screen / are not holding the card reader.

You have a voice don't you?

FFS sake woman. Speak up and ask for an itemised bill and then you can add a tip.
Then they will bring out the card machine.

I suspect if you pay extra on the card the servers wont see the tip

Literally not legal. Tips and service charges are required to be split among workers. This includes those paid on card. Business owner is not allowed to keep it.

Are you checking if service charge was already added?

When they hand over the machine like that its usually already added. That is your tip. The staff get that money, even if it's on card, or a fixed percentage added to the bill.

Always tip cash if you're a tipper. Then give it directly to the person you wish to have it.

Lots of places won't pass on tips left via card.

That's correct that legally they have to pass it on, however, as with many laws, they are often broken! Many establishments break this law day in day out.

If l know I'm going to a restaurant for a meal l always take some cash.. usually a fiver.. that l think covers the tip for a £40 meal for two.

Where I live (not UK), you add tip on the machine. When they hand over the machine it is already showing tip options. All this should go under the servers name so they know who got how much tip. My ex worked in the industry and I know that every restaurant is different. Some let a server keep their own tip. Some pool tip and then give percentages to kitchen, bartender and the rest to servers, but in some instances, owners kept the tip for themselves. 😩

They have to bring you a bill before they offer the machine. How else will you know what you're paying and how will they know if you're paying in cash or not? Then you can check if there is a service charge, which you can ask.tobe removed, or ask to add a tip. If you say nothing then presume the machine is asking you for the total at the bottom of the bill.

Personally I hate tipping and I hate service charges.

I much prefer it when prices are clearly laid out, no tips are expected and serving and kitchen staff are paid properly for the job they do. Tipping has led to jars for tips in pubs and coffee shops which is just rude.

I never have cash with me.

But why should I have to ask. That’s my point… is it becoming harder to tip ? Yes!
We had an itemised bill. I saw service wasn’t included. When she came back past with the card reader she just held it straight out for me to tap with the amount already in.
It would make it much easier to tip if
a) service was included or
b) the card reader was handed to you with “add gratuity?” option like it often used to be.

But yes “FFS” I’ll have to “use my voice” as you say, and when she immediately holds the card reader out I’ll tell her I want to add a tip so she can take the card reader back, amend the amount and then hold it out again, making the whole interaction more hassle than it needs to be.

Exactly this! This is how it used to be on most card readers in the UK. Now it seems it’s not given as an option - they just hold it out for you to tap without being given the option of adding a gratuity (unless you then verbally ask to leave one and get them to amend the amount due)

This sounds quite unusual to me. Most places I've been to in recent past have made it only too easy to tip via card machine via a yes/no option or very often service just automatically included. Only place I sometimes struggle to find a way to tip is the hairdresser. So I try to plan ahead and have a bit of cash on me. Just for that and the tooth fairy. I don't use cash for anything else!

stopped at a cafe for lunch last week - nothing flashy, but the food and service were great, and we'd had a lovely day anyway.
We'd ordered and had our mains and some wine, then got coffees separately - each time the staff were very weird about accepting a tip, it was bizarre.

Always leave cash.

Why?

I always ask the person if the staff get the tips. If they do I will tip cash (normally) rather than adding it to the total.

And before you know it, there will be no cash and we will all be paying to use our cards

I tip from my Emergency Cash. I have always, for about 40 years now, carried cash-which-is-not-to-be-touched in a separate purse.

In days of old, this consisted of 2p/10p coins for phoneboxes (remember them?), 20p coins for the expensive loos in the train station I commuted through, and a fiver for a taxi home.

I still carry 20p coins, a fiver and a tenner. We ate out yesterday; same scenario as yourself, card reader held out with no ability to add a tip, so my Emergency Tenner was deployed .

I'll top up sometime in the next week to replace it.

Do not need it.

Why wouldn't you want the kitchen staff to get tips?

Doesn't it piss them off if the wait staff don't tip them out? They can make it difficult for a waiter to do a good job if they want.

I've had this recently at the hair dresser. I used to get an option to add tip, now it doesn't seem to.

I wondered if that salon decided they didn't want people to tip any more, for some reason.

But if it's happening elsewhere maybe it is some change in the technology?

I don't think the business's keeping card tips happens anyone, I started asking when ordering if tips were passed on when it was in the news years ago. At that point some places weren't paying them on but on last couple years everyone has said oh yes of course straight off. There is far more likely to be a service charge on bill too. Do I don't find it hard and funny have you faff with cash which I haven't carried since COVID