How much do you tip?

[taylor]

Question, when I go to the restaurant I end up buying top shelf drinks. Those cost around 6 bucks each at a chain restaurant. I'll rack up 15-20 dollars between me and my wife in drinks alone. The food is then around 25 so the two of us drop 45 dollars on the deal. A family of four may spend 35 dollars but they have children that need booster seats, spill drinks, and cause a mess. Shouldn't that family pay more of a tip because they are presenting more of a burden than me? The waitress most often doesn't even bring my expensive drinks, someone else does. So she just put the order in and gets 15% of $20 for that.

It's hard to make sense of that but the tipping culture in the US is to tip based on the total bill even though the server has no influence on the item price on the menu whatsoever. When I'm out with my daughter or other children I do tend to tip more because I do think a little more service is involved.