I can't believe this policy isn't posted on the wall or printed on the menu of the Pizza Hut you visited. But failing that, didn't you read your credit card slip and notice something was seriously amiss about the price of your ONE PRICE PACKAGE DEAL family dinner before signing it, since you admittedly calculated a 15% gratuity to be added to the "erroneous" amount?

While a "stupid pizza service" isn't the Ritz, it is still a place (unlike a buffet where you'd get less personal service and therefore tip less) where one expects full table service, so there arises the question of whether to tip a standard gratuity.

I don't know what the case is in all states, but here state law allows employers to pay significantly less than the minimum hourly wage to restaurant servers on the presumption that tips earned will constitute the larger share of the wages. I suppose tips could be eliminated altogether from restaurant and bartending work and the minimum wage paid, in which case diners would seen the mandatory increase passed along in the cost of dining out. But until then...

Unfortunately, many diners are cheap, and they stiff even the most attentive wait-servers. It's easy to walk out, tra-la, on a stranger. Heck, they stiff each other, as anyone left holding the group check for a multi-party lunch will tell you, since this person frequently is left to pay for both the tip and the taxes.

Waitstaff does rely upon tips, but unfortunately they cannot rely upon you. Large parties are messy and often demanding, whether children or adults. I don't know why your server didn't do a better job of attending your party, but don't those package deals also come with a finite number of pitchers of drinks you're supposed to pour for yourself as part of the pricing deal? Duh, and I'll bet it took more than one trip to bring pizzas and drinks and all of the accompaniments for eight to your table, as well as more than one trip to clean it up. So what else did you want with the pizza deal?

Lady, you might have overpaid for reason(s) that are your own fault, and you might have gotten mediocre service for the 15% they demanded, but Pizza Hut did not rip you off.