Tipping point

So what the hell are you supposed to tip nowadays? Some of my cheaper friends are still going the 10 percent route, which borderlines on indentured servitude. I say 20 percent. But actually it’s somewhere in the middle. “Acceptable is 15 percent,” says Rene Lopez, a bartender at Hamburger Patties (1630 J Street). A preferable tip, he says, is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. An employee at Ju Hachi by Taka’s (1730 S Street) says that for lunches, servers usually receive 15 percent or less. But for dinner, they get a healthier 15 to 20 percent in tips. And for takeout orders, “Half the people don’t leave anything, and the other half [leave] a dollar or two,” she says. The moral: Eating out is expensive.