looks at time stamp of previous post That might explain it a little…!
Sticking to my made up numbers, the thing is, paying $18 or $20…that $2 goes to the restaurant, not the waitress. Removing it from the tip means you short the waitress, but the restaurant gets it’s $20. I struggle to see how reducing a tip from 15% to 3.5% is justified by the rather tiny slight. It just seems like a total overreaction and makes you look cheap.
I really, really doubt the waitress did it deliberately…most people just aren’t like that and I think it’s unfair for you to assume it was intentional. It’s much more likely to be an oversight or a mistake. I would have mentioned the error, gotten it corrected, and still probably would have tipped the full amount I normally would have, because it just isn’t a big deal at all. Even the whole sweet/unsweetened failure-to-mention… to me, that’s not something worth reducing a tip over, if the waiter corrects it as soon as it’s mentioned.
FWIW, I always assume iced tea is sweetened - Lipton or Nestea or something. I like it both ways, but it wouldn’t even occur to me to ask or specify when I placed an order.
If you want to be sure of what you’re getting in an unfamiliar restaurant, be specific when you order.
Unsweetened iced tea is the default almost everywhere I’ve traveled in the U.S. for a reason: it’s easy to dump in some sugar if you want it sweeter. It’s impossible to remove the sugar if you don’t. Even when people do want sweetened tea, they should have their choice of sweetening with sugar, honey (yes, I know this is tough with cold tea), stevia, Sweet’n’Low, or whatever.
It’s okay to dock the tip if a server screws up and doesn’t correct the problem. This server made a mistake* (charging twice) and was never given an opportunity to fix it. Screwing her on the tip was inappropriate.
She may have made two mistakes. We still don’t know whether she’s the one who prepared the iced tea, or whether the menu specified that it was sweetened.
Houston and the demarcating line of Interstate 45 is on the edge of sweet-tea land. However, I lived in Houston for about 7 years, and I have to say that the “default” for ordering an “iced tea” would be an unsweetened drink. No doubt that this could vary by establishment though, and specifying can’t hurt!
I have to ask where was this restaurant? When you ask for an “iced tea” up north you get an unsweet tea. Down south iced tea = sweet tea. Maybe she should have clarified sweet or unsweet; maybe you should have specified.
The waitress was wrong to charge you for both. But honestly, she probably just forgot to remove the first (sweetened) tea off the bill.
Regardless, none of this really implies that this person should get paid less.
This is where you’re wrong. You shouldn’t penalize someone else by cutting their pay because you are unable to stand up for yourself. If you have something to say about your bill, then say it. It’s also possible (if your party had separate checks) that she mis-split the bill, charging you for someone else’s drink. All of this seems pretty minor if the rest of your meal was fine.
I still have the same questions I had back in August:
How were the two teas listed on the bill? Sweet tea and iced tea, or the same wording twice?
Were they the same price?
Would refills be free with either or both?
