Well, let me set the stage for you all briefly. We (about 5 of us) went out to lunch at Union Station in DC. Wewent to a reasonably nice Asian place we’d eaten at before. The food was good, the service unremarkable, and the place was as busy as it usually is. We do the usual fumble for money at the end of the meal, my boss collects everyone’s contributions, pays the bill and we’re on our way back to work.
We are walking through the train station, and we hear a voice calling. It’s the waitress, and she’s waving the bill, running after us. Our first thought was that we’d underpaid somehow, so we stop and she catches up to us. She says we didn’t leave enough money. Okaaay… we go over the bill. My boss and the waitress agree the bill was paid in full.
So what’s the problem? She continues to say that we didn’t leave enough money. And then the awful realization dawns on us. We forgot to leave a tip, and this crazy waitress chased us halfway through a busy train station to get her damn money. It’s not like we are unfamiliar with normal American dining out etiquette. We just forgot. So we, embarrassedly, dig up enough money for this nut-job’s all-important tip. I hope she enjoys it a lot. Maybe she could buy a clue with it or something. Or some manners. Or perhaps a lesson in customer service. Feh. Maybe instead of a few bucks we should have given her some even more valuable advice “Don’t chase patrons down and hound them for a tip after they’ve left your restaurant. It doesn’t encourage repeat business.” Ass.
You said the restaurant was busy. Could you not give her the benefit of the doubt that that’s why the service was not stellar? I think adequate service deserves at least 15%, more if the effort is good or outstanding.
Why are you blaming her for your forgetfulness? She’s got bills to pay too, you know?
If she’s lucky she gets $2.10 an hour base. And the IRS forces the restaurant to report her tips. This is usually done on a percentage of what she’s billed. So do you make more than $2.10 an hour? I imagine so. Give her a break.
The dining party screwed up. The OP is just an execrable example of the “blame the victim” mentality. Fortunately this “victim” stood up for herself. Good for her!
Actually, maybe YOU AND YOUR CO-WORKERS could buy a clue. Or some manners. Or perhaps a lesson in customer etiquette. Feh. Maybe instead of chasing you down and asking for the tip that you should have left in the first place, she could have waited for you to return and then ignored you for an hour. And as for repeat business, when i was a waiter i never wanted repeat business from morons who didn’t tip, because they just cost me money by taking up tables that could have been used by people with brains and manners. Ass.
As a former waitperson, I’m torn, here:
On the one hand, yes, it was the dining party’s mistake and, depending upon the size of the party and the cost of the food, it could have been a very BIG mistake. Like lieu said, the waitress has bills to pay, too. She ain’t doin’ this out of a desire to serve mankind (most likely).
On the other hand, the only way I’d ever have chased a customer down for not leaving a tip would be if the gratuity had been added into the bill (which is the policy of many restaurants, for parties of six or more) and the party in question had only left enough to cover the food. In this instance, refusing to pay a tip that was added into the bill is, IMO, like skipping out on the check (or part of it, anyway) and she was right to chase them down. If the gratuity wasn’t added into the check, however, then it was, technically, still voluntary, and although I (still) wish evil things upon people who refuse to tip, I also think that demanding a tip is poor form!
Also, I’m wondering (assuming it wasn’t a situation where the tip had been added into the check) how the waitress approached the party in the OP. Did she just run up and demand her tip, or did she express concern and ask questions about the quality of her service? Did she give them the benefit of the doubt and treat them as if they simply forgot to leave a tip, or did she treat them like asswipes who’d stiffed her intentionally? I think a lot depends upon how she approached the situation, and I kind of need more details
to clarify a few points:
the service was neither great nor terrible. The restaurant was somewhat busy, but not full. She deserved a tip, and the person paying the bill forgot. When she accosted us she got her 15%. And as for how she did it, she was running down the hall yelling at us. Then she wouldn’t say that we’d forgotten her tip. Only that there was something wrong with the bill. There was no gratuity added to the bill, so we had to ask HER what we forgot. There was nothing intentional about not leaving a tip.
And Mhendo, rest assured she won’t have to worry about dealing with forgetful patrons such as us again.
I don’t get it. You admit that y’all “Forgot” to tip, your intention wasn’t to not tip, what the hell is your problem here?
that she embarassed y’all by chasing after you? You prefer that she’d taken the loss (and it would have been a loss to her, since, as was pointed out, she’s taxed on the basis of assumed tips included)
no sympathy from me, either. You screwed up and resent the person who was potentially harmed for pointing it out to you. Unfuckingbelievable.
To be honest I have seen this before. Allthough I have never seen it with non-asian restaurants. Mostly in Buffet’s and such. Where the person coming to give you the drinks runs out after you leave and says…gratuity is not included…hand goes out
Like auntie em, I’m torn here. Forgetting to leave a tip is bad, bad, bad.
Chasing down a customer for said tip? Tacky, tacky, tacky.
Also, you were out to lunch with the boss and the boss didn’t pick up the tab? Those words don’t compute. I mean, they make sense individually but strung together? Meh?
If it makes you feel any better I have left resturants with out leaving a tip too. It has happened to me twice in “dinner” type places where you leave the tip on the table and go up to a register to pay the bill. In both cases I needed change to leave a tip but then forgot to go back to the table after waiting in line and paying for the meal.
I was never chased down the street by the waitress. I did however make a point to make it up to the waitress the next time I ate there by more then doubling the tip and letting her know why.
Everyone makes mistakes. It sounds to me like your party and the waitress both made mistakes. You should probably call it even and give each other another chance.
Since a tip isn’t a requirement, not enforced by law and fully voluntary, what’s the big deal?
They didn’t leave a tip-whether by accident, rudeness, or because service sucked-how on EARTH does that justify the waitperson’s actions? Fuck that. If a waitperson chased me down because of a lack of a tip, I’d have their ass.
And please use the term ‘victim’ properly. Even if stiffed, she’s only a ‘victim’ of a rude customer, nothing more.
I always tip unless service is unusually sucky, but when warranted I will stiff the shit out of the server. I even overtip on many occasions for excellent service, so don’t get the wrong idea here. She just shouldn’t have chased them down, period. That is NEVER ok.
Sam
When i was a waiter in Canada i got stiffed a couple of times, and i never ran after a customer. But i always haad a certain amount of respect for the waiters who did, because the ones who did were generally those who gave excellent service and gave no cause for dissatisfaction. They tended to use the strategy, pointed out by auntie 'em, of inquiring as to whether there was anything wrong with the service. When the people said “no,” the waiter would then say “Oh, i’m sorry, i assumed that there must have been a problem because you neglected to leave a tip.”
For the most part, those who didn’t tip were from other countries (Brits and Aussies were the worst offenders), but also Americans on holiday. Why is it that so many Americans seem to decide that tipping is unnecessary if you’re on vacation?
In the OP’s case, it seems to me that the waitress’s actions had a couple of salutory effects:
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It ensured that she received her tip (which the OP concedes that she deserved).
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It probably saved a few future waitstaff from suffering the same fate, by ensuring that no-one in the OP’s group will forget to tip again for a while.
I still don’t understand the OP’s vitriol, however. If it were me in the same boat, my feeling of embarrassment at having forgotten to tip would far outweigh any animosity towards the waitress.
Personaly I wouldn’t go back. If the management thinks it is ok to humiliate customers, even if the customer messed up, then the heck with them. There are lots of restaraunts out there that have never humilated you that could use your money. You do not have to give second chances.
I waited tables for a number of years, and it is NEVER correct to follow someone out yelling about no tip. People forget, it especialy happens when there is a bunch of people putting in money. You should be embarased that you forgot, that still does not excuse her behavior. In virtualy any restaraunt i have worked in that is a fireable offence. Gets damn hard to meet those bills with no job doesnt it?
Oh and to those asshats that don’t tip on purpose because they think they shouldn’t have to pay for poor wage scale. Burn up and die.
If I live to be 100 years old, I don’t think that I will ever understand how people forget to tip. To me, this custom is such an ingrained part of dining culture that I would put it up there with walking around naked because you “forgot” that our culture had a nudity taboo or pissing on the sidewalk during rush hour because you “forgot” that there are special facilities for that.
Five people at the table and ALL of you forget to tip?
Wait a second. Just because his party meant to leave a tip, but forgot to, does not excuse the behaviour of the waitress, and neither does the amount of money she makes. The waitress had no idea whether or not they meant to leave a tip. What if they were dissatisfied with the service and decided not to tip her? Then chasing them through a crowded public for a tip would be rude and inappropriate. Just because it happened to be true that they forgot to tip does not mean that the waitress was not being rude.
I agree that krisolov is in the clear. The waitress made a bad choice, but I can’t condemn her going after the gang at all. Especially if we’re talking a $15-20 tip.
My approach might have been, “Excuse me sir, you did not leave a tip at your meal. Was my service reprehensible? If so, please allow me to apologize, and tell me what I’ve done wrong so that I will not repeat it for future customers.”
The alternative, for me, would have been looking at the empty table, and bursting into tears.
Not that its any of my business, krisolov, but are you a, erm, (I don’t know the politically correct term), guest of America? It being an Asian resturant, she could be a guest as well, and not know that tipping is voluntary. Confusion and miscommunication so often lead to tragedy.
Still, waitress = weirdo.
Upon preview…Everything that mhendo said.
I honestly don’t understand those who say the waitress acted properly in this instance.
The only time you chase customers is if they’ve stolen something from you – and even then it’s not a good idea. Chasing patrons down for not leaving a tip? And rather than saying “You didn’t leave a tip,” she says “There’s a problem with your bill”? Wrong on multiple levels.
I understand the waitress needs tip money. In this case, the dining party forgot to tip. It happens. But what would the waitress have done if she’d accosted these people and they’d said to her “We didn’t leave a tip because the service sucked”?
Finally, if I’m her boss, and I see her leaving other customers in the lurch while she chases down somebody who’s left the restaurant, I gently remind her that I hired her to wait on people in the restaurant, not train to become a track star.
So I assume that all of the people who think the waitress was in the wrong in this situation also believe that a business sending unpaid bills to a collection agency is equally wrong, eh?