This might have been asked before, but I was unable to find it In case anyone is more wise in the way of search.
A bunch of my friends and me were discussing the etiquette of tipping one penny(considering how me and my friends look, it was probably fairly surreal for everybody around us to watch us shouting about a minor point of ettiquette). Anyway we all know that just a penny means your pissed off, but the difference of opinion came about leaving a full tip and a penny. Some guys thought it was an insult that said you only deserve a penny but I’m such a great person I’m leaving a tip out of pity anyway. Some guys(one ex waiter) thought that it was a complement for great service. One chick said that a shinny penny was a complement, but a dirty penny left under a glass or plate was an insult. Another chick(also an ex waiter) thought that one penny was a complement, but two or three was an insult, and the final view was that any change was a no-no(although she finally admited that a silver dollar or sackie was cool).
It seems that any unspoken code that nobody agrees on is probably pointless, but I wanted a quick survey of opinions, especially among current and former waiters.
I have no idea about etiquette, and I’ve never waited, but I do eat out a lot.
Whenever I get crappy service, I give a minimum fair tip–the first time anyway–and just make a point of remembering the person’s name. If the service is bad, it might be a problem in the kitchen. It could be poor management (as in not staffing enough people). It could be that a bus load of the visiting swimming team decided to pick same restaurant I choose, and caught them by surprise.
But the point is, the first time, I always give the person the benefit of doubt that it might not be his/her problem. However, if that person waits on my again, and the service is still bad, and there are no obvious reasons, my “stiff” tip is a quarter instead of a penny (cent, for the purists).
I was always told that one penny was left as a way to show you didn’t forget the tip, you knew damn well you were stiffing the person for bad service. I have only done this once in my life. Like mjollnir said, I’ll try and give the benefit of the doubt to the server.
I used to wait tables. Not everyone can afford to tip. When older people (on a fixed income) only left me one penny, I heard it as “heads up” but this may differ, it meant “The service was excellent, I wish I had more to leave you”. A handful of loose change was an insult. If you want to insult the server, leave them $.16, not one penny. (Though I did appreciate the silver peace dollar someone left me.)
No real reason for .16 other than it's a piddly amount but not a single penny. I suppose you could leave .69 if it makes you smile. Quarters didn’t really bother me. The change from a bill didn’t bother me. Somehow a hodge podge pile of change, definately less than $.50 irritated me to no end, while a penny made me smile.(If all they had was coffee, hey a quarter was fine).
I waited tables for a couple of years and I never saw anything in a tip but the amount of money that was left. I’ve never heard about the significance of change in a tip.
I was always very diligent in giving the best service, whether it was in Ruby Tuesday’s or in the white tablecloth fine restaurants I worked in. Quite often, people would come in who you could tell couldn’t afford to tip very much. I understood this and didn’t let my level of service slip. However, it infuriated me to no end when a large group would come in for lunch, have me running, and leave $1 or less a piece. Hell, that was less than 10%.
I thank God that I am out of the restaurant business.
Former waiter here. A pennny on top of your tip was always taken as a sign that the customer was really pleased with your service, not just “I have money and I can afford to tip big”, more of a “I’m tipping big because you really desserve it.”
Also (probably a hijack), I always found that the people who went out of their way to tell you how good your service was are the same people who would leave 10%. Anyone else notice this?
We left a penny tip one time. It was at pizza hut, the guy was exceptionally stupid. In his deense, he was the only waiter, but there were also only about 3 tables full for the majority of the visit. He spilt our sodas, he lost our order, he dumped pizza sauce all over our breadsticks…all in all, it was a miserable experience. We paid in exact change for the bill, and left a penny on the table. I doubt he remembered us, but the next time we came in, we were happy to have a different server.
I think the lowest I could personally go would be about 10%. A server would have to deliberately piss me off to earn less than that. As for good service, I’ve always been of the opinion that more money is as clear a signal as I can make it.
Well, yeah, those things are worth like $9 IIRC. I have been known to leave a few extra quarters or other change, but I figure that if it adds up to 20%, the server isn’t really going to mind all that much.
If you’re really pissed with the service, you take that penny and put it into a glass full of water. Put something like a coaster on top of the glass and flip it upsidedown. remove the coaster and leave the full glass of water upsidedown on the table with the penny in it. Be prepared to leave really quickly once you do this, making sure you’ve already paid.
A quick note on this: although it’s a great form of revenge, see if the waiters/waitresses bus their own tables. Otherwise you’re taking your frustrations out on some poor busboy. (The latter is the only reason I didn’t use this particular form of retribution after “The Ketchup Incident.”)
I’m with the .02, which I was told a loooong time ago, had to do with giving ‘your two cents worth.’ I usually tell the waiter/waitress if there is a problem, so I’d rather not downgrade the tip.
However, there was the time, when the waiter not only dropped my shrimp on the floor, and put it back on my plate, he had STEPPED on it, first. HE got the two cents as a tip, and later the restaurant was closed down, my son STILL thinks it’s because of the ‘Wright curse’.
I have worked in restaurants, although not as a server. The servers I have known seem to think that if you can’t afford to tip, why the heck are you eating out? That sounds logical to me, as I’ve seen just how HARD they work. It’s a skilled job, and many people don’t give it the credit it deserves.
Since most servers make only half of minimum wage, I leave the waitperson 15% for poor service. Someone would have to be downright malicious to get a “change” tip. Good service gets about 20-25%, while unbelievable service gets about 33%. If someone accidentally spills a drink on me, most good restaurants will do something like comp dessert, but it shouldn’t affect the server’s tip.
By unbelievable, I’m referring to those incredibly intuitive servers who know when you need something, when you don’t (and leave you alone), when you’re in a hurry, when you want to chill, etc. They also notice things such as whether you used a straw in your drink when they bring the refill, how you like your steak cooked, even though you’ve only eaten there three times, that you need a fork for dessert, since you already dirtied your salad and dinner fork, and so on.
Servers like that are a joy to behold and should be making six figures.
Most of them do, if you include the cents as part of the six figures.
No, no, don’t mess with my food, I agree with you. I’m especially grateful to the waitress who took my roommate’s and my endeavour to make Applebee’s regret their all-you-can-eat riblets offer in such good graces.
[sub]Yeah, I know I could have phrased that somewhat better, but it’s midnight, and I want to sleep.[/sub]
