Tipping Policy

[WhoozYoDaddy]

I was a server for 3 years in college, so I know the deal. I normally tip 20% (wish that was the standard when I worked) but that being said I have no problem tipping a lesser amount if it is warranted.

 

An example was this weekend and Texas Roadhouse. We had a table of six. Waitress came to take our drink order, and then asked us if we wanted to go ahead and place our food order as well. This was within a minute of sitting down to the table. We declined and asked for more time it was meet with an , when I asked for more water prior to getting our food, another , When my wife asked for some silverware when we got our salads, because there were only five sets for our party of six, another . I'm sorry but with that attitude your not going to get 20% form me.

 

Like I said, I've been there, I've had days where I didn't want to be there myself, bad mood, heck even very hungover (it was college) but you can't let that reflect to your customers.

 

I agree completely. Don't make your problems the reason my dining experience suffers. I will never stiff a server, but I will leave a smaller tip if the service or attitude is poor.

[rjs4470]

One of the worst situations I experienced, was actually just a couple weeks ago during the 127 yard sale. My son and I had a late, late lunch on Friday (around 2:30). Stopped at a brick-mortar place, figuring that we'd help support the local economy (versus a food truck/trailer that had come in from who knows where).

 

When we went in, there were five other tables with customers. However, one cleared out pretty much at the same time we sat down. Looked like everybody already had their food. There was one person sitting at the counter, though, that didn't have anything yet.

 

It took us 10 minutes to get someone to come to our table, and that was the bus boy who was clearing the table next to us. He actually asked what we'd like to drink, and came back with them. 5 minutes later the waitress comes over to take our order.

 

Food is prepared in a normal amount of time, and brought out by someone in the kitchen, along with the handwritten check. I get halfway thru my meal, when I run out of drink. I sit my empty cup at the end of the table so the waitress can see it. Another 5 minutes go by and my son empties his. My son says the waitress is over at one of the other tables. (I had my back to that portion of the restaurant.) A couple minutes more and the bus boy comes out to clear another table. We flag him down and he gets refills for us.

 

During the next few minutes, we're able to figure out that the group the waitress was with, was actually family! I turned around one time and saw her holding her grandson.

 

We both finish our meals, and our drinks and I look at the check. It was the wrong amount. (Not added incorrectly, but an item mispriced by $2.00) I pull out the menu to double check. Our waitress finally comes back over to our table. Only then does she ask if we'd like refills. I point out the mistake on the bill. She appologizes and corrects it.

 

As we walk up to the counter to pay, she goes around the other side to the register. She talks about how hectic it had been earlier in the day, and shows me a stack of receipts to back it up. As we make smalltalk while I wait for my credit card to go thru, I look around and see that there are only 2 tables with people at them right then...and one of them is her family.

 

I understand if things are hectic. I understand if you've got to bus your own tables, or serve the food from the kitchen, or even try to wash some dishes in between customers. None of that applied to our situation. We were an after-thought to her. An inconvenience to her spending time with her family. If I could've found the bus boy, I would've pulled some cash out and given it to directly to him, as we got more service from him than we did from her.

 

I can understand why you didn't tip well in that situation. But not tipping well, probably cost the busboy (that did a good job) a little, as they usually get a percentage of the servers tips.

[Randy Parker]

Those are the servers issues. They are not mine. Pay for performance.

 

They are the server's issues. I'm just trying to show them some understanding and kindness. I want to treat them in the same manner that I would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot.

[spindoc]

They are the server's issues. I'm just trying to show them some understanding and kindness. I want to treat them in the same manner that I would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot.

And that's why you're the best of us.

[TAC]

Not quite. I said . I do not believe it is an unskilled position. Every job, no matter how menial we think it may be requires some sort of skill in order to be able to do it. If anything, the fact that a server could come home with less than minimum wage after a shift, while being required to serve all customers various, differing needs, and serve them efficiently and with a smile, no matter what, I'd say servers are often underpaid.

 

If he is constantly getting below minimum wage at his job, he should take a hard look in the mirror. Either the place he works for is not performing or he is not. Waiting at most places should earn over minimum wage, if not he should look into a minimum wage job. Plenty of those out there.

[lawildcat]

If he is constantly getting below minimum wage at his job, he should take a hard look in the mirror. Either the place he works for is not performing or he is not. Waiting at most places should earn over minimum wage, if not he should look into a minimum wage job. Plenty of those out there.

 

The world needs ditch diggers too....

[TAC]

They are the server's issues. I'm just trying to show them some understanding and kindness. I want to treat them in the same manner that I would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

No issues being polite to them, but if I don't perform on my job there are consequences. In this case, his consequence is less pay. For the record, the Mrs. works and gets tips. We are very generous tippers when service is good or great. I have never stiffed anyone, but I've given low double digit tips when service is horrible.

[rockmom]

They are the server's issues. I'm just trying to show them some understanding and kindness. I want to treat them in the same manner that I would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

What the hell?! Who does stuff like that? :lol2:

 

The Golden Rule. Learn it, love it, live it.

[Randy Parker]

In this case, his consequence is less pay.

 

I agree with that. He or she is getting the minimum from me, which is 20%.

[rjs4470]

No issues being polite to them, but if I don't perform on my job there are consequences. In this case, his consequence is less pay. For the record, the Mrs. works and gets tips. We are very generous tippers when service is good or great. I have never stiffed anyone, but I've given low double digit tips when service is horrible.

 

Yes and no. In a servers case, he/she is almost totally dependent on tips based on interactions with different customers, of different needs, on a minute by minute basis. And servers often get needlessly stiffed for no good reason other than the customer is a jerk or is having a bad day themselves. No one is perfect. I've made mistakes in my job, but I don't get docked pay. You are right in the sense that if I don't perform, there are consequences. But that's based on a standard set by my employer and looked at over a period of time (unless I do something absolutely stupid that harms the company). Mistakes happen and get overlooked as long as I consistently perform and provide value to my employer. Servers get tips randomly based on different standards set by different people, irregardless of other extenuating circumstances.

 

Me not giving a decent tip, in the grand scheme of things, fixes nothing. If anything it might make the servers attitude even worse to the people they encounter the rest of the day. What I've done when I've gotten bad service or noticed a server was in an obviously bad mood or having a rough day, is leave a full tip, with a note like "Hope your day goes better".

[B-Ball-fan]

Let me first be clear that I in no way would ever go as far as trying to campaign that our culture do away with the much patronized and popular social construct of table serviced dining, and considering that there are countless restaurants that offer more of a serve yourself alternative, depending on one's preferred style of eating out, people have numerous options regarding what suits them, and can choose accordingly.

 

Using Riverfront Pizza in Covington as an example, both options are available under the same roof.

 

- You sit in the tavern part of the restaurant, a waitress will take your order and serve you your food.

 

-You sit in the dining area of the restaurant, you order from the counter upon arrival, wait to hear your number called, pick up your tray from the counter, and proceed to your table and voila, you start stuffing your pie hole.

 

By comparison, the folks in the tavern part of the restaurant who are by choice likely also partaking in alcohol consumption, will have an end result of a much larger bill as well as a tip, whereas the dining room patrons will simply pay the established price for the menu items, and nothing more.

 

Sounds good, everyone is happy, and everyone is aware of the various options available, and selects which one is most suitable to their preference and needs.

 

There could be various reasons why different folks choose differently...

 

The dining area people might not be drinking, they might be a family on a budget, and forego the being served option to keep costs at a minimal and reasonable, or like myself I aim not to spend more than I have to, while there's no inconvenience to me at all to take the serve yourself route when IMO for me the ends don't justify the means that I pay more to have someone do for me something so minimal that I can easily do for myself.

 

The tavern area people might either have little concern for the extra costs, as they might have more disposable cash, and are willing to pay for the convenience...

 

... or they might be drunk and want to limit staggering around the establishment and chance dropping their tray as a result of their unstableness...

 

...or perhaps they're of the nature that they just simply enjoy being served as it gives them perhaps a sense of superiority...

 

... or they could be apart of a large group and it's a more simpler process to ensure that the entire party is not traipsing throughout the restaurant while allowing them to concentrate on their socializing...

 

...or perhaps they're highly enthralled by a sporting event on the TV and they don't want to miss any of the action by walking momentarily to the counter to pick up their tray...

 

...or perhaps some folks are taking their elderly parents out to dinner, and it would be much more sensible to be served rather than hassle otherwise...

 

...or maybe parents are tending to their small or infant children and it would be much more sensible to be served rather than hassle otherwise..

 

...or maybe being served is just the way some people are used to operating, and wouldn't consider any other way.

 

As an example of people's preferences, I know a married guy with small children who absolutely refuses to take his family to dinner at Frisch's Big Boy because he has a steadfast rule that he requires alcoholic beverages with his meals.

 

His own mother, thinking economically considering the costs of raising a family, gifted him Frisch's children's coupon booklets, where he in turn handed them back telling her that she might as well keep them because they would likely go unused.

 

Everyone of course has their own preferred style, and thankfully various options are available to appease to what one's required style might be.

 

As is no surprise to anyone, it's no mystery that I personally am more of a do-it-yourself kind of guy while also just being of a thrifty nature, and while it's none of my business and shouldn't be at all of my concern, I can't but help to wonder what makes some folks more inclined to be one that requires being served?

 

It's not at all uncommon, and while it's most certainly their right, is it because they can't and won't consider any other way, and how exactly did they arrive at this need and desire to be tended to by others?

 

Sure it might be presumptuous of me to say, but do some folks have some sort of prince or princess complex that is unbeknownst to them considering it's all they've ever known, or have some folks battled their way out of a less fortunate past, and they're now rewarding themselves for their accomplishments, and being served offers to them a symbolic sense that they have finally arrived, or for some is it simply just what they're comfortable and familiar with that nothing about it in the least seams at all worthy of questioning?

 

I certainly realize that these last comments will not be at all popular, while also being considered ridiculous overkill assessments of something that our society largely throughout "some" parts of the world, views as common everyday and ordinary practices, however just for kicks I'm proposing that we step back momentarily from that which we just simply take for granted as common, and ask ourselves why being served is something that we are inclined to desire and require?

 

As I had stated in my first sentence, this in no way is a campaign to do away with serviced dining (and other such services), and I certainly fully comprehend that my mere questioning, though bizarre and unusual for some I'm sure, will have absolutely zero effect or impact on anyone here, or throughout society conducting themselves any differently than they already do.

 

But still, what the hell, I'll ask anyhow... and with it I'll also anticipate dislikes and commentary that suggests that I'm goofy and out of my head, which will not at all offend me because I completely expect it while understanding that since no one has ever been questioned about this before, it just seems downright ridiculous that I would ask.

 

Others, and I can't say that I blame them either, will not read this at all deeming it to be endless nonsense and a complete waste of their time, which you'll receive absolutely no argument from me regarding that. :lol2:

[UKMustangFan]

^What in the world does any of that have to do with tipping? :idunno:

[lawildcat]

^What in the world does any of that have to do with tipping? :idunno:

 

Too long; didn't read.

[UKMustangFan]

Too long; didn't read.

 

Cliff notes: If you like to go out to eat, it's because you think you're superior to others and feel you deserve to be served and waited on.

[PP1]

I was a server for 8 years at Don Pablos and Brio before starting my career. Its not too complicated guys. It's not rocket science. Some people are acting like it is such back breaking and horrid work. The money is good for younger couples and college students.

 

You write it down, you put it in the computer, you go get it, you pre-bus, you re-fill glasses, you be polite and smile, you drop off their check and cash them out.

 

You can be trained to do those things in less than a week.