Posted: 2/19/2009 11:21:20 PM EDT
In light of the other restaurant, tipping thread going on I thought I would create a thread on how to properly treat a bad server. Now I'm not saying I'm the worst server around, but I'm about as smooth as a giraffe on roller blades  . I've gotten a whole lot better, but theres two bad moments that stick out to me.
The first customer was my first night of serving. Before this I just bartended and never really dealt with food aside from the occasional bar dweller who decided to eat there. Well this night they dropped a 10 top on me who was already waiting at the bar getting drunk (by the time they were seated they already blew more than $200 at the bar). So they were seated, ordered more drinks and BSed for awhile. After about an hour of they ordered starters which was a mission of its own. Purses, wine glasses, cameras, etc, etc, scattered along the table had to be moved to make room. Then the real adventure came...the dinner orders. These 10 people had 12 plates which where being divided every which way. Plates being split equaled more plates which meant that room on the table was extra limited, but oh no they had to put their fucking purses, wine glasses (attention customers your wine glass belongs by your silverware or in your hand, not where your dinner plate goes), cameras and cell phones all over. Dropping all this off and making room with their crap on the table took about 3 minutes. Unfortunately towards the end of dropping the food off a wine glass got shoved in my face. Now a server with good reflexes would have swooped away, recovered, served, continued. Me? I dodged, but spilled a little sauce on one patrons leather jacket. Yea, I know, it was a major fuck up. Not to horrible though right? I mean leather is like the easiest thing to clean. Anyways I did the whole apologetic, clean it off, bring out the manager who assured her that if it stained that we would pay to clean it/get a new one and then we knocked 30% off their bill (the 30% we knocked off saved them more the cost of said jacket). Afterwards they were friendly, told me everything is okay now and then were served free desserts. When they left the lady in charge and her boy toy had huge grins while their friends didn't make eye contact. Fuck...this must mean the tip is 10% or less... Thats understandable, the service was great except for that major fuck up. Well, turns out they left nothing. After my one fuck up I figured I'd make $0 after tipping out to the bartenders and bussers, but they left NOTHING. A few minutes later though one of the guests came back in, apologized for her bosses behavior and payed me herself. I thanked her, told her that its not her problem and that she shouldn't pay for it, but then she went to my manager and insisted on paying.
The other customer is a much shorter story. To sum things up, she came early in the night and her soup wasn't steaming hot when I dropped it off. She complained, I apologized and told her that the soup won't be hot for a few more minutes and that I could get her a new one in a few moments. Right after saying that my lightswitch came on and I told her I could heat it up in a microwave for her. This was to late though, she told me no and just went through her meal. At then end of it, she approached me and told me that I fucked up my customer service with the soup thing and therefore, is not tipping me. I told her that I'm sorry for my mistake, I realize what my mistake was, that I understand why she didn't tip me and then I thanked her for talking to me about why she didn't tip. Now. Who do you think gets treated better? The lady who pretends to resolve a problem, fakes a smile, gets her shit discounted and pretends everything is good? Or the lady who is honest and approaches the situation accordingly? If you guessed honest lady then you'd be right. Ever since she has been seated quickly, served finely and taken care of. Other lady? ha. Customers, please be honest with your server. Leaving no tip or a shitty tip just makes you look like an asshole. Speak to your server about it instead. Honest customer feedback is worth more than a shitty tip. |
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For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service.
They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. People go into restaurants ruffly knowing what they are going to spend and their server's tip. The only way to change that is to give them much better service than expected service or give them absolute shit service. From your story it looks like it was average service for a large party. While you did spill something it was not your fault. Also management took care of that for you by taking a percentage off the bill and offering to clean/replace the jacket. Trust me when I say you got what you were going to get, fuck up or not. |
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Quoted:
For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service. They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. Exactly. This is why restaurants will often automatically add a gratuity for large parties. When I was serving, large parties, people with little kids, and retirees were usually the worst customers AND the worst tippers. |
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i always tip...especially if their really busy even if they screw stuff up. ive only left 0 tip when its been crazy shity service or they've pissed me off. this does remind me of a story when i was out with some of my parents friends kids. as followed
i was at a wedding of 1 of my parents friends daughter, got tanked of course, wedding ended blah blah blah decided to go to a bw3s near our hotel (out of town wedding if you didnt guess already) its late and besides us theirs 2 other groups of people 2-3 people max each and where just drinking beer. So anyway i think they where about to close in like 45 minutes, we start to order and some one lets call bob orders that isnt fried cant remember what it was but the server says their only serving fried items and bob flies off the damn handle saying bw3 is supposed to have the full kitchen open the whole time their open. he calms down and orders something else. then he asks a girl i'll call her pam what she wants, she says the kiddy menu chicken tenders for kids lke 12 an under. he says no he cant serve her that 1st shes not 12 or under and 2nd they only allow 18+ over after 12am i think, she gets all pissed off that she has to spend another 3 dollars. so blah blah beer blah blah. dinners over where about to leave and their all talking how their going to leave no tip and start poring salt and pepper all over the table which is easy to clean off, am shaking my head at how retarded their being pull out my wallet and tip 5 bucks. i thought the guy was cool and served me very well, my bother in law also tipped 5 bucks. OH and btw server made pam her meal the kiddy chicken tenders anyway to be nice and she still didnt tip. |
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I am always a good tipper, unless I have to wait 30 minutes for the water when the place is dead or something, but normally I get really good service, because if I don't I let them know about it...
I am not into makeing a scene , but the tip I leave always reflexs the service I was given...and if she's hot , she gets more..... Normally I give 30 % of the bill or more, that 15% thing is a joke, servers don't make crap for an hourly wage..... if Im treated right & the food is edible i tip well....... |
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Quoted:
In light of the other restaurant, tipping thread going on I thought I would create a thread on how to properly treat a bad server. Now I'm not saying I'm the worst server around, but I'm about as smooth as a giraffe on roller blades . I've gotten a whole lot better, but theres two bad moments that stick out to me.
The first customer was my first night of serving. Before this I just bartended and never really dealt with food aside from the occasional bar dweller who decided to eat there. Well this night they dropped a 10 top on me who was already waiting at the bar getting drunk (by the time they were seated they already blew more than $200 at the bar). So they were seated, ordered more drinks and BSed for awhile. After about an hour of they ordered starters which was a mission of its own. Purses, wine glasses, cameras, etc, etc, scattered along the table had to be moved to make room. Then the real adventure came...the dinner orders. These 10 people had 12 plates which where being divided every which way. Plates being split equaled more plates which meant that room on the table was extra limited, but oh no they had to put their fucking purses, wine glasses (attention customers your wine glass belongs by your silverware or in your hand, not where your dinner plate goes), cameras and cell phones all over. Dropping all this off and making room with their crap on the table took about 3 minutes. Unfortunately towards the end of dropping the food off a wine glass got shoved in my face. Now a server with good reflexes would have swooped away, recovered, served, continued. Me? I dodged, but spilled a little sauce on one patrons leather jacket. Yea, I know, it was a major fuck up. Not to horrible though right? I mean leather is like the easiest thing to clean. Anyways I did the whole apologetic, clean it off, bring out the manager who assured her that if it stained that we would pay to clean it/get a new one and then we knocked 30% off their bill (the 30% we knocked off saved them more the cost of said jacket). Afterwards they were friendly, told me everything is okay now and then were served free desserts. When they left the lady in charge and her boy toy had huge grins while their friends didn't make eye contact. Fuck...this must mean the tip is 10% or less... Thats understandable, the service was great except for that major fuck up. Well, turns out they left nothing. After my one fuck up I figured I'd make $0 after tipping out to the bartenders and bussers, but they left NOTHING. A few minutes later though one of the guests came back in, apologized for her bosses behavior and payed me herself. I thanked her, told her that its not her problem and that she shouldn't pay for it, but then she went to my manager and insisted on paying.
The other customer is a much shorter story. To sum things up, she came early in the night and her soup wasn't steaming hot when I dropped it off. She complained, I apologized and told her that the soup won't be hot for a few more minutes and that I could get her a new one in a few moments. Right after saying that my lightswitch came on and I told her I could heat it up in a microwave for her. This was to late though, she told me no and just went through her meal. At then end of it, she approached me and told me that I fucked up my customer service with the soup thing and therefore, is not tipping me. I told her that I'm sorry for my mistake, I realize what my mistake was, that I understand why she didn't tip me and then I thanked her for talking to me about why she didn't tip. Now. Who do you think gets treated better? The lady who pretends to resolve a problem, fakes a smile, gets her shit discounted and pretends everything is good? Or the lady who is honest and approaches the situation accordingly? If you guessed honest lady then you'd be right. Ever since she has been seated quickly, served finely and taken care of. Other lady? ha. Customers, please be honest with your server. Leaving no tip or a shitty tip just makes you look like an asshole. Speak to your server about it instead. Honest customer feedback is worth more than a shitty tip. I agree - if they aren't told, they don't know how to improve. I leave 20% usually, but hardly ever say anything. I will in the future - in a polite way. |
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Quoted: For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service. They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. snip There is none, sorry but I don't tip and could care less if you think I'm an asshole. Min wage sucks but how often do you tip the bag boy at the store? Fuck the tip entitlement mentality. |
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There is none, sorry but I don't tip and could care less if you think I'm an asshole.
Min wage sucks but how often do you tip the bag boy at the store? Fuck the tip entitlement mentality. Yes there is. You have a social obligation to tip for good service in restaurants. You are taking advantage of the tip for good service/no tip for bad service system. You are also taking advantage of your server. Your server is making UNDER minimum wage because of the tips they should be making. If more people stop tipping then restaurants have to start charging gratuity. Then you don't have the option not to tip for bad service. Another consequence could be that the restaurants will have to start charging more for food and raise servers hourly wages. People like you are going to cause prices to go up and quality of service to go down. Stop being selfish and lazy and cook your own food. |
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I think waiters/waitresses should make a set amount of pay, and the tip should be a bonus for better-than-average service. I know thats not how it is handled currently, but thats the way it should be. If you make something optional, or dependent on a level of service that some people have set excessively high, then there will be people who decide not to tip. Personally, I want to look at a menu, and know how much I'm going to spend before I order. While I try to remember tips, I do forget occasionally. |
| I tip generously when the service is good. When the service is bad, I say something to management, and if it improves, I still tip, though not as well as if I had to say nothing. If it doesn't improve, not only no tip, but an explanation why. Although I have never worked as a waiter, my sister was a waitress when she was younger. It's hard work, especially when you have to deal with assholes and drunks, which are usually the same people. |
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You get what I decide you're worth. It's my opinion of your service that determines the amount. Since when does the help determine what they get paid?
I usually tip 20% for good service but I have left as much as 30%. You have to be a shitty server to get less than $5 out of me. |
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Quoted:
For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service. They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. snip There is none, sorry but I don't tip and could care less if you think I'm an asshole. Min wage sucks but how often do you tip the bag boy at the store? Fuck the tip entitlement mentality. you do realize that servers dont make min wage right?? Around here they make around $3/hr +tips |
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I left a $.01 tip once after receiving atrocious service at an Outback. Otherwise I'm pretty understanding and generous with my tips. my friend has worked in restaraunts and bars forever. he's been a cook, chef, bartender, bouncer, dishwasher, manager......you name it, he's done it. he tips like a dying lottery winner, nearly always giving the staff the benefit of the doubt and tipping big. BUT he's taken a pair of tin-snips and cut a penny in half. he carries the halves with him and very seldom uses them. except that when service sucks in a particular way, he'll leave the half=penny. someone might forget to tip. someone might overtip, but half a penny.... that means that you thought it through. remembered to tip, and took special care to fuck the server who deserves it. use the half-penny, it works |
| To me tipping is really a matter of faith. A few bucks won't mean anything to me other than control issues. However, a good tip can make a difference to someone else. I don't want to stand before the Lord one day and have to answer why I stiffed waitress when I had plenty. |
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For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service. They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. snip There is none, sorry but I don't tip and could care less if you think I'm an asshole. Min wage sucks but how often do you tip the bag boy at the store? Fuck the tip entitlement mentality. I tried to drop a quarter to the bag boy one time, but he said, "Sorry, we can't accept tips". 
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For some reason large orders almost never tip or tip the correct amount for good service. They think that because they are spending a lot of money that negates their tip obligation. snip There is none, sorry but I don't tip and could care less if you think I'm an asshole. Min wage sucks but how often do you tip the bag boy at the store? Fuck the tip entitlement mentality. Waiters and waitresses don't make minimum wage, they are lucky to make $3 an hour. My mother was a waitress for $20 years and I can remember her making $1.50 for hourly wage +tips. Sometimes she would have $20 in tips for the day and sometimes $150 in tips for the day. |
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I tried to drop a quarter to the bag boy one time, but he said, "Sorry, we can't accept tips".
I worked as a bag boy after I turned 16 for my first job . Its true they can't accept tips, at least where I worked. We had to refuse almost to the point of them stuffing money down our pants. funny story... I was putting an old woman's food in her cart for her and she casually stuffed $2 in my chest pocket. I think she even grabbed a little nipple. She told me if I put her stuff in her car there would be more in it for me. I told her we do that for free but she kept insisting. So we got to her car, I put her stuff in for her, and the damn tease didn't pony up the sugar. 
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You get what I decide you're worth. It's my opinion of your service that determines the amount. Since when does the help determine what they get paid? I usually tip 20% for good service but I have left as much as 30%. You have to be a shitty server to get less than $5 out of me For crappy service I DO leave $0. Modified that statement to fit me, I can not see paying for bad service but will easily pay 25% for good service. |
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HAHA. Tipping threads, these always go over well.
Let's just say there are frugal people, and then there are cheap bastards. There is a difference. And some of you guys on here are cheap bastards. Having worked in the industry for a few years now, I know how the game works. You tip good and you get good service. Hell, I tip my bartenders and bussers good because I know I will get attention first. Money Talks. |
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One day after eating I was waiting for the check so I could leave . Waitress was talking with another employee and ignoring my table for a few minutes just talking. I needed to leave so I stood up and she saw me and I put my jacket on and waited for her while standing , she sees me but goes on with her story that lasts a couple minutes and then gives me the check. I told her that her friend could tip her as I was not going to and I was sorry she had to interrupt her conversation to finish waiting on me.
Never been back Now I will constantly over tip for normal service . |
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HAHA. Tipping threads, these always go over well. Let's just say there are frugal people, and then there are cheap bastards. There is a difference. And some of you guys on here are cheap bastards. Having worked in the industry for a few years now, I know how the game works. You tip good and you get good service. Hell, I tip my bartenders and bussers good because I know I will get attention first. Money Talks. I never see the same service people at the same restaurant after a month or two. I want service, forget what they consider good. If I ask for a condiment I expect it, if I do not get it, they do not get a tip. If I ask for a refill on my beverage and they forget I forget the tip. Pure and simple. |
| Just got back from Landry's Seafood in Huntsville Alabama. My waitress was absolutely perfect and went above and beyond in my opinion. She even offered to give my wife a free Banannas Foster desert since it was her birthday. The bill was $72.55. I left her $25. It could have gone the other way if she was a tool. |
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This thread premise assumes that the server cares. Many do not. I am known among the establishments I frequent and those that die with me as an awesome tipper. I tip 15% for BAD service. Goos service is more like 50%. If a place is bad enough to cause me to leave a 15% tip, I simply don't go back. Problem solved. That situation pretty much only stems from not caring, though, so explaining things wouldn't help. I have been known to call the manager afterwords, but it has never resulted in anything improving. I guess I just do it to accomplish what the OP was eluding to, in theory. |
| I"m all over the map on tipping. Good service gets 15-20% or $1, whichever is greater. so-so service gets 10%. Bad service typically gets nothing and often a discussion with the management. Excellent service has gotten up to 50% plus specific praise to the manager AND the server. |