UPDATE:
The Contra Costa Times has printed a correction to its column regarding the movement for a 25% tip standard in San Francisco. Following speculation from local news outlets (see article below) about the unattributed report, the paper has issued a retraction:
This column orginally [sic] incorrectly reported that there was a move toward a 25 percent tipping standard at San Francisco restaurants and that some "high-class restaurants" were behind it. Some restaurant workers told freelance columnist Ed Arnow they were in support of raising the tipping standard, but there is no organized effort involving local restaurants.
PREVIOUSLY:
There's been buzz concerning a local waitstaff pushing to make 25 percent the tip standard for restaurants in the Bay Area.
It all started earlier this week when a Contra Costa Times column featured in the San Jose Mercury News stated that some media reports indicated workers from an unnamed restaurant were behind the effort to increase the tipping standard in San Francisco.
The tipping standard is usually between 15 percent to 20 percent. (Scroll for a poll.)
Some local diners are not too fond about news of the proposed price hike, and a San Francisco Chronicle blog even echoed the sentiment with the headline: "Mandatory 25 percent tip -- not a San Francisco Treat."
"When I eat out I tip what I feel is deserved. For exceptional service I could go to 25 percent on rare occasion," Myra Sanchez told the Contra Costa Times.
"The whole purpose of a tip is to reward service, Mike Alexander told the newspaper. "It seems like everyone is trying to squeeze another buck out of us."
The proposed tip hike certainly got its fair share of media coverage, but some bloggers are skeptical about the hype, pointing out the article didn't cite any sources.
"We are a media source, we read other local media sources every day, we eat out all the time, and this is the first we're hearing of this," Grub Street San Francisco writes.
The Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union said told the San Francisco Chronicle they were unaware of the push when blogger Debra J. Saunders began investigating the claims.
"Until there's meat on the bone, no story," Saunders writes in her column.