Thank you $20 guy! (long)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Since I graduated this past June, I’ve been working at my family’s restaurant everyday to help out. Some days I get tipped pretty well and others I get crappy tips. Tonight was a blend of the two.

The dine-ins ranged from standard 15% to zippola. But the take-out orders were phenomenal! I was being bogged down from walk-in take out orders and phone take outs and phone delivery orders. As such it took me a while to take the order of people in the restaurant which included the walk-in take out people.

The guys who were waiting were pretty cool about it. They understood that I was the only waitress for the night and told me that they weren’t in a rush. One of them ordered some food for his girlfriend and some fresh ginger (we sell herbs and spices too) and we made small chitchat. He was pretty cool. His bill was $18.35 and he tipped $5.65. That alone would have made my night.

But then one guy came in and waited for me to get off the phone with a take out order that was proving to be difficult. (Yes, we have chicken. We have many chicken dishes, which one do you want??)

He didn’t stand out much. Just patiently waited for me to get done with the dozen or so things I had to do before he walked in. Then I apologized and took his order. He took one of the house menus and sat down with it and seemed to be memorizing some of our dishes for later, so I offered him a take-out menu which he gladly accepted. I did other standard things like made sure his food came out pretty quickly and that each of the dishes he ordered were correct before bagging them. His order was a bit heavy so I double-bagged it and put in extra napkins and utensils in there just in case. You know, nice things for a nice customer.

Then he pays for the food which was $22.75 and then hands me a $20 bill and says “here you go, here’s your tip”. I tell him that it’s way too much and he should take it back. He just backs up and laughs a little saying “no no, you guys always take care of me”. (That was a bit odd since I don’t remember him at all - remember that I work there everyday so I see the regulars every time they drop by.) I show the tip to the busguy who says to him as he’s walking off “THANK YOU!”. The guy just turns around, smiles and waves at us before he leaves the restaurant.

I’ve been getting really jaded and downright bitter about the way that waitstaff get treated. Sure, you get some nice regulars, but as a waiter you put up with a lot of b.s. from customers who think it’s your sole purpose to be their lapdog for however long they’re in the restaurant for. And to top it off, they usually tip pretty badly or not at all after all the things I do for them.

But not tonight. $5.35 guy and especially $20 guy, you both gave me faith that although there are some nutters out there, there are also some really nice and generous people too. You put my faith back into humanity. Thank you so much.

P.S. Thank you ladies who tipped $30 on your $80 bill the other weekend. I knew you were over 21, but I carded you because I knew it was your birthday. I guess we made each other happy that day.

2

Aww, that’s great, Penchan!
It sorta gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling that humanity still has hope!

3

That’s great! I love it when stuff like that happens. I’ve never been a waiter or anything, but I did spend a fair bit of time working retail. Tips are very, very rare in retail, and most stores I’ve worked at have an employee policy against them for whatever reason, but no one ever pays attention. My last retail job garnered me a few small tips from people who were appreciative of me helping them to carry their stuff out. The best though was when I worked for Future Shop in the software department. I knew my stuff there, being a PC geek and all, so when an older, rather distinguished-looking business gentleman came in looking for something I knew we didn’t have it. What he wanted to do was fairly simple – so simple that frankly nothing we carried catered to such basic functions. I did, however, know where to get a program like that, and even knew what program he needed. It was uncrippled shareware, too, so bonus for him. I told him about it. He evidently wasn’t too computer savvy though, but he needed it by the next day so made me an offer: If I could get it for him and put it on a CD he’d compensate me for my time. Again, completely against company policy but screw 'em. They didn’t pay me enough to turn down extracurricular work and what he wanted we couldn’t give him anyway. Plus, stuff like that was great for customer service, a point they never seemed to get. So I agreed. Went home that night and downloaded the program for him. I even wrote up a brief tutorial on how to do what he wanted to do in the program, something I’m used to doing for my dad whenever he wants to get his hands into something he knows little about.

So I do the little tutorial and burn that and the program onto CD with an autorun script that even did him the favour of popping up Notepad with the tutorial loaded as soon as the CD was inserted. BRought it with me the next morning and sure enough he was waiting outside by his car like he said he would. I hand him the CD and explain what I did so he could hit the ground running. He thanks me and hands me a crisp $100 bill. A hundred freakin’ bucks for a shareware prorgam and 30 minutes of my time writing the tutorial and burning the CD. That was more than I made in a day. I thanked him enthusiastically and spent a very enjoyable day at work.

I even registered the program with the author 'cos it seemed only right. (It was only $10 anyway) That was a great faith-in-humanity restoring moment. :slight_smile:

4

A couple of times we’ve left a $20 tip (on a $15 or so check) for the waitresses at the local diner where we sometimes go for a quick meal. Food’s not fancy, but a few specific waitresses always made us feel welcome and taken care of. Sadly none of them work there anymore. But those couple of $20 drops made us feel like millionaires (and cemented the continued excellent service).

5

You should do that more often. I love it when I get carded, because it doesn’t happen as often now as it used to :frowning:

6

Tips aren’t involved in my job, but similarly, when somebody I help thanks me genuinely, I get what is probably a similar (if less profitable) feeling. I actually kind of enjoy helping people when they’re nice to me; I do help the rude ones but I don’t enjoy them. Just because I work at Wally World (for now) doesn’t make me a nonperson, and it’s gratifying when somebody notices that.

7

Hrm… Gotta wonder…

17 years ago, I was in a bad bind. I’d left for work, had to drive the toll-road, and realized I’d left my wallet at home. I stopped at the first oasis, and the first guy I saw there was in dress military uniform, on the payphone. As he hung up, I explained my situation; I needed 2 bucks, he gave me a 20 and told me not to worry about paying -him- back, but that I should pay -someone- back.

A year later, I was in that same oasis, heading home after a theater rehersal. There were a pair of girls there who looked kinda scared and lost, and they came over to me and asked for some change so they could make a call and get home. Withouth asking any details whatsoever, I handed them a twenty. They said they wanted my address so they could pay me back, and I told them not to worry about paying me back, but that they should pay -someone- back.

I often wonder where that twenty is today. Who knows? Maybe it was given as a tip. :slight_smile:

8

I know, I love making people’s day by being nice to them and giving them good service when they come into my restaurant. The other waiters and I do little extras like give free drinks and desserts to our regulars to cheer them up whenever they’re having a bad day, or whenever they can’t afford it but want extras anyway (most of our customers are college students).

It really isn’t that much about the tip. Getting 15% is pretty expected since I do lots for the customer like answer questions, give suggestions - hell, I create new dishes for people sometimes. But really, if you’re nice to me and you’re patient with my time constraints, I’ll really try to make your dining experience enjoyable.

Anne Neville, I card everyone just to be sure. And you’d be surprised how many people get pissed of for me inconveniencing them by asking them for ID. I’d like getting carded, especially when I’ll look obviously around 40-50. Different folks, different strokes I guess.

I’m glad people understand how hard it is to work in customer service. ESPECIALLY in food service. There are lots of mean people out there, but I’m glad I’m encountering more nice people these days. :slight_smile:

9

Yeah, it’s always fun to make a good hit. ESPESIALLY after a dry spell.

I deal cards and had a really bad run the past week. Was making about 50% of what I usually do. Worked 6 1/2 hours on Monday and made $20.50.

Was still doing horrible on Tuesday where some new guy I didn’t know was already in $7-800. I take a ton of money from him, so he ups his bets and I hit him with a straight flush. I shove $1600 his way. He throws $115 at me, and then another $15 “for beer” when I leave the table. :slight_smile:

10

I had to post about tonight. It was a shitty night. Everyone either didn’t tip or tipped below 10%.

And some Canadian guy came in with one of our nice regulars and demanded fries on the side of his dinner. In a Thai restaurant. WTF!! I told him no, but he kept saying “I know you have potatoes and a deep fryer, so just put some in for me, I want it, I want it.” His friend told him to stop being a punk, but the guy was insisting on us making him an AMERICAN side order in a Thai restaurant. To shut him up I had the cooks make it which really pissed them off since they were busy enough as it is.

I don’t care if that guy is a regular, if he comes in with that guy again, I’m going to tell him that if he demands anything special, he can leave. I should have done that in the first place, but I’m a softie the first time someone asks for something like that. I really need to stop being so nice to pricks like that.

Oh, and if I didn’t give the regular a sad look when they were about to leave, he wouldn’t have elbowed his friend and told him he had to tip. “I’m sorry, he’s Canadian.” Whatever. Jackass.

I wish $20 guy came tonight. I really needed that ray of happiness.