You mean how it feels to the server or how it feels to me?
I was under the impression that you were talking about how it feels to you.
I hadn't considered that you might be talking about how it feels to the server.
Now that you mention it, though, I think that you are over-thinking it. If you are trying to send a message to the server, that they need to improve their service, by lowering your tip by a few percentage points, then I don't think you are achieving your goal.
When you give a low tip, the server most likely just thinks: "that guy was an asshole".
They're not thinking: "Judging from this tip, I need to be more polite and responsive next time"
For myself, uncertainty about whether I got the percentage right and sent the right message about how I felt about the service makes me feel uncomfortable.
Why do you care so much about the percentage quantity?
Too: I don't think you really understand the messages that servers are receiving from their tips. How could they tell from a calculation of the percentage if you saw room for improvement in their service or if you were just a cheap asshole?
They couldn't, right? So how do they get the message?
Maybe some buffet establishments pays their wait staff enough that they don't need tips, and others don't. How would you know which is which? If your fixed $5 is actually stiffing someone with a very low tip, wouldn't you want to know about that?
I don't see how I could be stiffing them when I'm going and getting my own food.
And around me, buffets don't cost $25 so my $5 tip is always >20% - which is a good tip.
It was in a subsequent post that I mentioned that buffets present some uncertainty that makes me feel uncomfortable.
I just don't understand why you care so much about the digits in the percentage.
I'm beginning to think that you think that the server is somehow using those digits to translate a message about how good of a job they did. I don't think that actually happens - and that's where my confusion stems from.
Are you talking about some binary approach where you either tip good or bad depending upon whether the service was good or bad? Or is there more nuance?
At a restaurant, in general, if you don't fuck it up then you're getting a big tip from me (20+%).
And if you suck, then I tell you that you suck and I don't tip you. I don't try to send a message by just adjusting the quantity of the percentage of my tip.
I don't even see how that could send a receivable message. There's no way to tell the difference between a critique of their service and someone just being a cheap asshole.