a week a couple of weeks ago. First thing I noticed is that EVERY meal out had the server bringing that credit card reader to the table for me to insert the card, add the tip and say OK. But my real question is, is there some standard on how to apply tip on tax? Because in Canada, the HST is a pretty big number. At the first place we ate, the automatically calculated tips included the HST before offering you 15%, 18%, 20%, etc. So I started paying attention to it since I'm not going to tip on tax. In Toronto, almost all of the places we ate at calculated the recommended tip on the price of the meal PLUS the price of the tax. Then, our 2nd 4 days out near Lake Huron had almost none of the places basing the tip on the meal plus HST. It was just the meal price that had 18% calculated. So in the US, 2 questions for you all. 1.) is the card reader being brought to the table becoming more and more common? Universal? 2.) is the recommended tip based on just the food and drink, or based on food, drink and tax? Oh, and one other small piece of advice if/when ordering a burger in Canada. That's one way that they 'spot the Americans'. If you say how you want it cooked when you order it. Canada law says all burgers are cooked to the same temperature / doneness.