(1) how do we distinguish between bigger and smaller orders at the same restaurant then? The percentage thing rewards you more for the bigger table/order

(2) servers compete for jobs at the more expensive restaurants. So you wind up getting better service at fancier ones (which seems appropriate I’d say)

(3) you could always do what I do and raise the tip to like 40-50% if you have a tiny ticket because you acknowledge that your table was kind of a waste of time if you only tip 20% still (though I suspect this isn’t the type of answer those in this thread will be looking for, lol)