I do 20% because that's standard in my city and then I do 20% when I'm out of town too just out of habit. No minimum.
I don't tip baristas for coffee drinks, which some others mentioned. I tip $1 per drink at bars.
If someone else doesn't tip enough and it's obvious who it is, I'll probably point it out and act like they just must not have realized it. Like someone else mentioned, they may simply have forgotten about tax if they're just adding up the cost of their dishes. If it's a big group, it's just, 'hey guys we don't have enough for tip' until enough people chip in extra money. Depending on the group dynamics that might mean some people overpay but somehow it's always obvious who's putting in more just to be a good guy/girl and I figure they're getting satisfaction out of being seen that way :) If we're getting separate checks I don't worry about it.
20/22/25. Cute. That would annoy me too.
This was the article I saw about a no-tip restaurant.
http://jayporter.com/dispatches/observations-from-a-tipless-restaurant-part-1-overview/It has some interesting insights into motivation and (un)intended consequences of legislation.
For example:
Now, let’s say that on a typical shift, a restaurant sells $1000 in food and drink. It would be reasonable that, to make that revenue, a restaurant has 2 cooks who work 8 hours each, a dishwasher who works 8 hours, and two servers who work 6 hours each. We can extrapolate from standard industry models that, of the $1000 in sales, there will be $300 available to cover the 36 hours of labor. It just so happens that this math means that everyone in the house will make $8/hour, which is of course both minimum wage and a poverty wage. But that’s just how the pie divides.
And yet, wait! We’ve forgotten something. There are also 220 extra dollars paid by the guests as tips. (This 22% is typical for restaurants like ours in San Diego — the exact amount will change with restaurant style and location.) This tip money could add another $6/hour to everyone’s wage, getting everyone up to $14/hr. While $14/hr isn’t enough to live well in San Diego, it starts approaching realistic money.
However, to give the tip money to every worker would be illegal. The law is historically very clear — the $220 in tips belongs to the two servers only, and cannot be distributed to any other employees. So, the two servers make a total of about $26/hour each, while everyone else in the restaurant is stuck at $8/hour.
He goes on to address how this is handled differently by the law depending on the area and the less than optimal outcomes that resulted in him deciding a tipless system would be the best.
As a frugal person, the tipping system annoys me. If I order a cheap meal and water to drink, the waiter is doing just as much work as if I'd ordered something expensive. Sure, apps, zerts, and constant drink orders would add a bit more work, but it's still not proportionate to the bill.