I’m a pretty generous tipper at restaurants. Minimum of 15% for mediocre service, which means just getting me my food within some reasonable time period and not too many errors. No need to stop by twice to see if we need anything. And I tip up to 25% if service is great.
Last night Ms. Plan B and I and one of our daughters were at restaurant in the $13 to $19.95 range for entrees. About 25 minutes after we ordered we still didn’t receive our appetizers or salads - BTW the place was moderately busy- some empty tables, may half full. At that point a server comes with three plates which are obviously our entrees. Our waiter appears out of nowhere and practically dives in between the server and our table and says “No, those are for another table!” The server looks at him with a “WTF?” look and defers to his greater power and slinks back to the kitchen, NOT to any other table. The waiter runs off to the kitchen before we can say anything.
It is obvious to Ms. Plan B and I that they forgot to serve our first course and now the waiter is desperately trying to keep us from finding out. So my SO goes to that area right outside the kitchen and tells them to just forget about the first course, we don’t want our entrees to get cold and/or dry up and could we please just have the entrees now. The waiter there - not ours - starts with the “It’ll just take a minute” line and does nothing. So I stop another waiter and ask him to send our waiter over. Our waiter comes and tells us that wasn’t our food it was for another table, which is still ridiculous. So I persist and he walks back to the kitchen and brings out the entrees, the ones that a minute before were for some other table.
At this point I tell him “I don’t mind mistakes, but I have a problem with people lying to me.” His witty response: “I didn’t make a mistake; they made a mistake” My witty response “Yes, but you lied to me.”
Of course, when the check came they charged us for the appetizers but it only took one request to get that changed.
I’ve never been a waiter - but I have worked for tips. And this case is a big, fat “no tip” if I’ve ever seen one. Wouldn’t even feel bad about it.
The waiter had so much time to fix things/explain to you what the hold-up was. There were lots of things he could do - a free appetizer / whatever - to smooth things over and take care of you.
And then to lie (badly) to you? Pathetic and desperate.
Not only would I not have tipped, but when they started pulling that shit with the entrees, I would have held up my hand, and said, “You know what-forget it. I don’t think I want them anymore. I’m taking my business elsewhere.”
Mistakes happen, but that’s when you own up to it and appologize.
Definitely no tip. And most likely a talk with the manager.
I always leave a tip, even if the service was bad. Once time I wrote on the bill: “Here’s your tip: Ask your customer if they’d like more coffee. Ask them if there’s anything you can get them. Don’t make them get up and find you to get their bill.”
It is rare that I won’t tip - the service would have to be pretty bad. Had I been paying last night, I would have left only 10% - we arrived at 7:30 and weren’t served until well after 9:30. I was overruled and they left better than 10 and less than the 20 that I normally leave.
I would nomally leave something, just so that they know I didn’t forget.
I’m aghast at those who give tips for mediocre or bad service. I know that servers get paid very little in America and depend upon tips for income, but surely it is to their longer-term beneft to not get a tip if they give poor service? Either they’ll think about why they got no tip and shape up or they’ll ship out.
I feel it’s to my longer-term benefit not to go around thinking of myself as the temporary manager of my server. What you posit simply isn’t how it works. What they think is ‘what a jerk’, not ‘oh my I’m so ashamed, he sure taught me a lesson’. This is partly because very many people don’t tip or tip badly even when the service is good. If the service is bad, talking to the management is the only way to make sure it gets better.
I tip unless the waiter personally attacks me or someone I’m with. It’s happened twice. But I don’t blame the OP in this situation for choosing not to.
I would have considered that to be a ‘no tip’ situation. However, on the rare (very rare, actually – it’s only happened to me once) occasion when I don’t tip at all, I always explain the situation to the manager too.
I’ve been in a few situations where the food was very good, but the service sucked. I walked to the kitchen and handed the tip to the chef and explained to him why that server was not getting my money. On the rare occasions that everything was horrible, I did as Noone Special suggested. Leaving a dime as a tip leaves no question as to your opinion of the service.
Doubtful. If the server really sucks at their job, I’m probably not the only person unhappy with their service. More than likely their supervisor is aware of it after one busy lunch or dinner. And giving the tip to the chef and bypassing the server insures the right people know what’s going on. Chefs get a cut of the tips as well (at least, in the restaurants I’ve worked in, they did), and they don’t want anything cutting in on their cash.
Giving the tip to the chef was nice. Leaving a dime or no tip will never change the service. Only talking to the management does that. Why would the supervisor “be aware” of something if you don’t tell him? If you mean somebody will eventually tell him, well, sure, but your dime tip doesn’t make that happen. He’s not checking tips to see who’s getting shorted, nor could he tell who was shorted as punishment and who just had a cheap customer.
Ummmm…because I told the chef the service sucked, and he’s probably getting short tipped from that server because other people feel the same way, and will definitely be taking it up with the service manager? Because (as stated last post) I’m probably not the only person complaining? Leaving no tip doesn’t change service; some people just don’t tip. All waiters are aware of this, they’re not stupid. Leaving a small tip will just lead that server to believe the person’s a tightwad. Leaving a dime makes the server aware THEY SUCKED. And yes, if they want better tips…they get better.
When I eat out I have two choices as to where I leave the tip (if any). I can either deposit something on the table in cash (which I prefer) or I can add something to the bill when paying. If the former I normally say ‘I’ve left something on the table’ when paying the bill with no tip.
As for the OP, anyone leaving a tip in such circumstances requires a cranial examination. A tip is not a God given right.