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When I go to a fully automated restaurant in the USA (example 1, example 2), am I supposed to tip?

Franck Dernoncourt
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    Incidentally, it isn't customary to tip in fast-food restaurants. Tipping is only customary in restaurants where food is brought to your table. – waiwai933 May 28 '16 at 00:43
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    @davidvc they don't address this case. – Franck Dernoncourt May 28 '16 at 01:44
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    @davidvc it seems to me that the answers as well as the question assumed that the waiters are humans. – Franck Dernoncourt May 28 '16 at 01:50
  • "Example 1" is from the satirical web site News Examiner. – Michael Hoffman May 28 '16 at 02:24
  • One day a robot will come to your table, take your order and bring you your food. They will probably expect a tip. – DJClayworth May 28 '16 at 02:48
  • @ZachLipton you read my mind. – Franck Dernoncourt May 28 '16 at 04:44
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    From the example 1 link: "The only staff that can be seen are in store to help customers with problems they may have with the software." Sounds like that could get unhealthily filthy very fast. If you're actually supposed to sweep the previous customer's leftover plates and random food spills off a table yourself in order to find a place to sit, then no, I wouldn't tip. (In fact, I wouldn't even eat there, mooting the point.) – hmakholm left over Monica May 28 '16 at 10:18
  • @waiwai933 Tipping is only customary in restaurants where they bring your food to the table AFTER also taking your order at the table. Places where you stand in line for a cashier and after your order you get a number placard to take to your table, and they bring food to you, aren't tipped at either. – Andy May 28 '16 at 15:11
  • @DJClayworth Unlikely; there'd be no reason to use a robot unless it was better and cheaper than a human. – Andy May 28 '16 at 15:13
  • My general rule is if they serve drinks, a tip is expected. If you get it yourself, it is not. There are a lot of places that blur the line, but you won't be the only person not tipping in those gray areas. Of course most restaurants at least allow tips for special circumstances. –  May 30 '16 at 05:24

3 Answers3

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No, robots wouldn't even know what a tip was, and you'd not tip at McDonald's even staffed by humans.

Andy
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In the US, tipping is usual (and expected) in so called full service restaurants; meaning you sit down directly and order at a table with the server.

No tips are usual (but of course allowed and liked) in half-service restaurants, those are restaurants where you order yourself at a central desk, sit down, and your food is brought to your table by the server.

And in self service restaurants, no tipping is usual either (and probably you would get a strange look).

Aganju
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  • Is a fully automated restaurant a full service restaurant or self-service? – Franck Dernoncourt May 28 '16 at 01:45
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    do you sit down and a server asks you what you want? probably not; you order yourself. And no servers bring the food; so self-service. – Aganju May 28 '16 at 01:46
  • Your last statement sounds a bit too broad. It's pretty common to see a small cup or jar for tips in some shops where you're not served at a table. Subway is a common example in my area. No reasonable person would hold it against you if you choose not to contribute to it, though. You may also want to mention delivery for completeness sake (which you're very much expected to tip for). – jpmc26 May 28 '16 at 08:16
  • @jpmc26 - Well Subway being a place where the staff build a sandwich to your order in front of you, it is understandable to have a tip jar out, as it would fit closer to Aganju's "half-service", not "self-service" as in the OPs example.. –  May 28 '16 at 08:26
  • @Tom Aganju's "half service" class is based on someone bringing food to your table, which Subway clearly does not do. Perhaps the classes are simply ill-defined. It may make more sense to only classify things as full service, delivery, and other. Then we could say that a tip is expected in the first two but not in the last, although a jar or cup may be present for voluntary contribution in the last case. – jpmc26 May 28 '16 at 08:32
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    @jpmc26 - I did say "closer to" not "is". But rather than nitpicking other people's comments, why not write out your definitions and post it. –  May 28 '16 at 08:41
  • @jpmc26 Its really not relevant if there's a tip jar at a subway. There's no expectation to ever put any money in it, and I never would. People at Subway make at least minimum wage. A server say at Outback makes a LOWER minimum wage as tipping is normal and customary for them (unlike employees at Subway). This is all defined by federal law, of course state laws may matter to (for example, in VT, if you don't earn enough in tips to at least make mimimum wage, your employer is required to pay you more to at least bring you to the normal minimum wage). – Andy May 28 '16 at 15:20
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Using your cited vend-o-matic "restaurant", I would hazard a guess that the card swipe / authorization process is simply sale and does not offer a tipping option. Encouraging folks to "tip" a vending machine would likely not be viewed favorably by the buying public.

Taking the automated restaurant further, to where robots are taking your order tableside, then bringing drinks and food, returning for desert orders, etc, you may see a service charge or tipping option which would be intended to be shared amongst the humans working in the kitchen (same as waiters sharing tips with cooks, host and bussers in better restaurants).

But once the entire kitchen is automated, any attempts at trolling for tips would simply be management trying to up their profits.