Watch your restaurant bills for `gratuity guidelines'

LOS ANGELES -- That $40 entree got you down? Or the appetizer that costs as much as a meal? Well, prepare for another slight: Some upscale restaurants have begun adding "gratuity guidelines," to their checks, a not-so-subtle suggestion to make the voluntary tip a little more obligatory.

At Lula in Santa Monica, Calif., for instance, checks come with a recommended tip of 15, 18 or 20 percent of the meal's cost. Customers, properly encouraged, can then check a box, once they get over the surprise.

Some restaurants call it a "customer convenience." "I think it's rude," said Catherine Marin, a doctor in Los Angeles who dined recently at Lula. "It shouldn't be up to the restaurant. It should be up to the person receiving the meal." Well, perhaps not entirely. Last year, American Express developed a feature on its electronic credit card processor that will automatically calculate from the bill a gratuity selected by the restaurant. After the machine validates your card, it prints out the suggested tip on your receipt. "The reason is tipping is not consistent. It can vary from $5 to $25 for the same meal," said Karen Kraushaar, a spokesman for the 37,000-member National Restaurant Association in Washington. The association has suggested a more subtle approach. It is distributing its own credit card-size sheets to help diners calculate 15 and 20 percent tips. While there's no indication tipping guidelines are sweeping the restaurant community, "we are seeing more experimentation with ways to provide more customer convenience," Kraushaar said. Some waiters, bothered by bad tips, like the idea. "I think people just don't know what to do," said Brett Neal, who waits tables at Alegria, a trendy restaurant in Long Beach, Calif. Of course, anyone who's traveled to Europe may not be shocked at all at the tip suggestions. In France and many other countries in Europe, the gratuity is already part of the meal's cost and tipping beyond that is not customary.

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