Dining out in restaurants allows one to enjoy the sensation of being condescended to by their inferiors. – Oscar Wilde
Eating Las Vegas reader Louis writes:
I couldn’t help but notice that ELV’s tip for this meal was more than 30 percent, which caused me to wonder what your philosophy is concerning the gratuity when dining out. Thanks.
ELV responds (with a long answer to a short question):
Our philosophy about tipping is as follows:
1) Restaurant tipping is ridiculous (America is the only country in the world that practices it to such a wide extent, i.e., to where it is customary to tip in almost all restaurants.)
2) If we really tipped “to insure promptitude” we would leave the gratuity at the beginning of the meal.
3) One of the prime motivating factors in how much money we leave for a tip is how we want the recipient to perceive us after they have performed us a service — nonsensical but true.