Ok....here is my Saturday night two nights ago. Normally I sell 1300-1600. This night I only sold 1000. Here is how it all went down. (might have missed one or two tables but here goes)
1) $8 on 49.25 = 16.3% (young persian couple, about 20 yrs old. boyfriend paid)
2) $18 on 85.98 = 21% (Asian family 2 adults 2 kids. Asian dad 40 yrs old paid)
3)$28 on 197.34 = 14.2% (Latino family of 6. kids were older about 20 yrs. 24 yr old son paid) That one hurt a little bit, only because it was on such a large bill. but still, not terribly terrible.
4) $6 on 38.35 = 16% (dont remember the guests, and forgot to write it down)
At this point I'm thinking .....ok....off to not the best start. Only one good tip so far, and my largest bill so far only hit me with 14%. In all honesty, that kid could have tipped me a LOT worse based on stereotypes, but I Nailed that table, so maybe 14% on that one is not so bad.
5) $5 on 21.85 = 22.3% (black couple, about 37 yrs old. girl paid)
6) $20 on 130.78 = 15.3% (pleasant latino family of 6, late 50's yr old mom paid)
7) $18.60 on 81.41 = 25% (two white women around 50, one paid)
$9 on 44.73 = 20.1% (white married couple around 50, husband paid)
9) $8 on 49.90 = 16% (awkward asian couple around 35. Girl did all the ordering and speaking. Guy paid)
10) $25.47 on 114.25 = 22.3% (Middle eastern couple, around 37, male paid)
11) $20 on 82.60 = 24.2% (2 grandparents and one kid. 55 yr old male paid)
12) $5 on 50.25 = 10% (latino couple about 35. male paid)
So....I think I missed a couple tables but that's the night right there. Only on person tipped 10%. And they came in 10 minutes before closing which was already a red flag.
All in all I made $195 on 1000 sales. Which is 19.5%. After tipping out the required 40 dollars (4% of my sales) to bussers, bartenders, hosts, expo, and cocktail runner, I walked with 155. Actually 150. I gave the busboys an extra 5. You can never go wrong tipping bussboys extra. It actually makes you money in the long run. Normally on Saturday night I walk with 200-250, but this night my sales were lower. What can you do.
I'd also like to average all of my tips percentages EQUALLY WEIGHTED for you all to see. It would go like this.
16.3 + 21 + 22.3 + 16 + 16 + 14.2 + 25 + 20 +16 + 22.3 + 24.2 + 9.4 = 222.7
222.7/12 = 18.56% average tip per customer. About 2 percent lower than my average.
Take from this what you will.