We waited 30 min | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

This is why your server is cranky

July 29th, 2007 · 724 comments

Exhibit a) submitted by an anonymous bystander at a lunch counter in Oregon Caves National Park:

Exhibit b) submitted by Patrick in Kansas City, Missouri, who explains: “My friends Chris and Katie had a rude waitress a few weeks ago. In order to tell the waitress that there was indeed a reason she wasn’t getting a tip, Chris left this little note where the tip would ordinarily go.”

Though I can certainly empathize, as a former food service industry worker I just can’t condone not leaving a tip. (I’m guessing there are a lot of you, however, who’d disagree.)

related: passive-aggressive linkage

FILED UNDER: actions speak louder · excessive underlining · Kansas City · Missouri · most popular notes of 2007 · Oregon · restaurant · tipping

724 responses so far ↓

#1 Trickster

I’m a Swede, we only tip in this country if the service was phenomenal. On the other hand, we pay our food service workers salaries they can live on. Not tipping in the States? Not ok.

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:42 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #1.1 jt
  
  They start getting paid at minimum wage just like everyone else in the United States.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 5:46 pm rating: 90
- #1.2 jaclyn
  
  no, they don’t.
  
  idk the exact figure but i think here in georgia they make around $3.00/hr plus tip.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 6:17 pm rating: 90
- #1.3 901redbone
  
  i used to work tables and I’ve learned the average server wage in the southern states (TN, GA, AL, MS, etc) is approximately $2.13/hr + tips. I dont’ know WHAT made you think that servers make minimum wage… Not at a restaurant. I’ve worked as a cocktail waitress before and while workin THERE i was makin 6.00/hr + tips… but that’s about it…
  
  Dec 18, 2007 at 1:10 pm rating: 90
- #1.4 schm0
  
  I have a very simple solution:
  
  If you have a problem with your service, politely ask another employee to see the manager. Explain your situation and that your service was unsatisfactory. Not only will you feel better telling someone about it, but the feedback will be made aware to management and get back to the employee. Perhaps your server was skating on thin ice to begin with? Most likely, you’ll walk out happier than you would had you merely stiffed the employee, unless you’re the kind of person who enjoys such things.
  
  Leaving someone no tip it all may seem gratifying (is that ironic?), but all it does is rev up the apparently “rude” waitress for her next unfortunate customer.
  
  And just a friendly rule of thumb for all restaurant-goers:
  
  * Most servers make precisely the average amount it takes for that employee to pay his or her total income taxes. Most do not receive a paycheck and rely on tips alone.
  * If you had sub-par service, leave 10%.
  * If you had average service, leave 15%.
  * If you had excellent service, leave 20% or more.
  * Most importantly, if you have a large group, always consider the amount of work it takes to handle such a group when determining your tip.
  
  Dec 20, 2007 at 11:28 am rating: 90
- #1.5 no one
  
  How are those wages not illegal? Excuse my foreigner ignorance, but isn’t the point of “minimum wage” that it’s the minimum wage? Why fucking call it the minimum wage if it’s accepted nationwide that you can pay people well below it, that you can pay what amounts to nothing for slogging their guts out. How is that acceptable, or even legal, in any definition?
  
  I’m so fucking glad my fellow Australians kicked that Bush-loving cunt Howard out before he took us even further down the road to becoming a clone of America.
  
  Jan 24, 2008 at 7:46 pm rating: 90
- #1.6 ejw
  
  I work in the restuarant business but I am not a server. Our servers are paid $6.50 an hour. They work hard and have to deal with some rude people. They also, on average receive 40% of their tickets back in tips.
  
  I am paid $6.50 an hour. I work hard and deal with rude people. I do not recieve any tips.
  
  If the job is so bad paying – get a different one.
  
  Jan 25, 2008 at 12:35 pm rating: 91
- #1.7 ejw
  
  I also must say that the average server in a six hour shift will take home $120 A DAY in tips.
  
  I don’t mind tipping, and I do consider myself a generous tipper. I tip on how attentive the server was, and how above and beyond he/she went.
  
  If you are angry with a server, contact the manager. I manage a restuarant and the fastest way to voice your anger, have your meal comped and PREVENT this action from happening again is to talk to a manager/supervisor.
  
  Leaving a nasty note to the server does nothing but get your name and face circulated among staff as a jerk.
  
  Jan 25, 2008 at 12:46 pm rating: 90
- #1.8 rachael
  
  I’d love to work where you work, if you make that kind of money. I make less than fifty a night, and I have been looking for another job for months. It’s just not worth it, but I couldn’t afford to finish school because I’m not lucky enough to have rich parents. Serving is a real job, and if they got paid minimun wage without tips, like some people on here seem to think, there would be no servers.
  
  Feb 1, 2008 at 2:31 pm rating: 90
- #1.9 Bad service=0%
  
  Cry me a freaking river already! If you make fifty a night, five nights a week that $13,000 in tips alone, and you claim all of that on taxes right? If you include $2.50 an hour, for lets say 30 hrs a week, thats an additional $3900 a year, that brings your yearly income to $16,900. The poverty threshold for a single person under 65 is $10,488. And BTW, not everyone with a degree has rich parents, it is called student loans you sodding douche!
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 10:56 am rating: 91
- #1.10 drew
  
  …”if they got paid minimun wage without tips, like some people on here seem to think, there would be no servers.”
  
  BULL.
  SHIT.
  
  I’ve worked in food services, and respect anyone who works hard and earns their money.
  
  But I’m sorry to say, being a waiter is an unskilled job with no hazards, a comfortable environment, and regular hours. There will always be people to fill the job of waiter/waitress.
  
  But here’s the kicker: if the tip system were scrapped, and if minimum wage somehow weren’t enough to attract workers… restaurants would be forced to pay their workers MORE.
  
  That’s how the system works.
  
  May 20, 2008 at 1:08 pm rating: 90
- #1.11 Jo Mama
  
  Look, I learned in my second year of college that sweeping generalizations are tantamount to a fallacious argument.
  
  I can easily rebut all of the points made, second paragraph, first sentence.
  
  Unskilled job? Really? You say you’ve worked in food service, so you should know that this is not true. Sure, you don’t have to have a degree or apprenticeship in order to wait tables, but compare those who have served 5+ years as opposed to those just starting out. The experienced servers are infinitely better. People think we’re no better than trained monkeys and it irritates me. It does take skill; it takes patience, organization, quick math, juggling tasks, and physical and mental stamina, for a start. Not to mention the customer service aspect of it.
  
  Secondly, no hazards?? WHAT? Yeah, we’re generally not operating heavy machinery, but there are plenty of hazards in food service. Slippery floors, chemicals, heavy trays, having to dodge other people, etc. I permanently injured my back at age 19 after some idiot left a mat flipped up, I tripped, and then fell on the tile. I know people who have suffered lasting damage from chemical poisoning — where I work now, they use all sorts of toxic chemicals to refinish floors and such and there is no semblance of a decent ventilation system, so we all are breathing in fumes. Not to mention the lasting physical damage we inflict on our bodies. Backs, knees, shoulders, you name it. When I had a heavy wooden table fall on me in a storage closet, I quickly caught it with my right arm and pulled the tricep muscle so badly that I was still in pain months later. I could go on, but you get the point.
  
  Comfortable environment? That’s fairly subjective and I’m not sure what your criteria for ‘comfortable’ are. Yeah, generally we work inside in places with heat and a/c. But that’s not all it’s cracked up to be.. just because you’re seated and cool doesn’t mean we’re comfortable. Currently, I’m working in a place with an ancient cooling/heating system, so from May to September, I will be sweating to death in my uniform. All of us do. Red faces, covered in sweat head-to-toe. Not comfortable.
  
  Lastly, regular hours. I mean, you kind of make this easy for me. What regular hours? What restaurant did you work in? I never know what my schedule will be like the next week, or how many hours I’ll be working. This is true for all restaurants in which I’ve worked, and especially so for the places with 40-some servers on the payroll. Some weeks are slim, which hurts come bill/rent time, some weeks are packed. Sometimes it evens out, but sometimes you don’t get many shifts for a month and you really feel the pinch. We were all essentially laid off for a 3-week period last fall, due to a massive business decline. Senior servers have the most stable schedules, but not everyone has the luxury or desire to slave away in a place for 15 years in order to get to that point.
  
  All of your descriptors sound like you’re describing an office job, rather than one in a restaurant..
  
  May 20, 2008 at 3:30 pm rating: 90
- #1.12 drew
  
  Unskilled. Look it up dipshit. Any job listing will list it as “unskilled.” You said “Sure, you don’t have to have a degree or apprenticeship in order to wait tables”. Guess what? THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF UNSKILLED. Yes, in one sense, it takes some kind of skill. So does blowing bubbles with bubble gum.
  
  Hazards… what a whiny bitch! Work in construction, and complain about hazards. “Running into people” is not a freaking hazard. If tripping is a hazard, then there is no job on this earth that is not a hazardous job. I’m sorry you can’t walk. If the restaurant has toxic fumes and no ventilation, how the hell do you get customers to come in? What kind of dipshit managers do you have? Why don’t you report this to any number of government agencies who would require them to fix this problem?
  
  “I could go on but you get the point.” Yes– your point is, stupid people can manage to hurt themselves anywhere.
  
  Hahahahahaah here’s my favorite– your environment isn’t “comfortable” because your heater and a/c are “ancient.” You dipshit. That’s not even… my God. What torture.
  
  Regular hours. When was the last time you worked a night shift? When was the last time you were called in on an emergency? When was the last time you had to come in after hours or work overtime?
  
  If you think you qualify for an unskilled office job, and it’s better than what you’re doing, then apply for an unskilled office job. I’m guessing you’re too bitchy for people to put up with you, though, which is why you’re stuck complaining about the only job you can get.
  
  May 21, 2008 at 12:08 pm rating: 91
- #1.13 you're a dumbass.
  
  You’ve obviously never been a server.
  
  Do you realize that unless it’s a dessert or drink, food is usually scalding hot when you’re carrying it? Therefore, running into people is quite a hazard. It doesn’t just disappear when you fall, you dipshit. Plus, trust me, it usually is not the server’s fault. We’re pretty careful when the consequence is severe burns. Thanks.
  
  Sure, it’s easy to just sit in a room with an ancient air conditioner. But when you are constantly on your feet moving and the air is focused on the customers, not the servers, it becomes quite a problem.
  
  With the exception of the very few daytime servers, every shift is a night shift you retard. Do you think people only go to restaurants for lunch?
  
  If someone else fucks up on sidework, you probably will have to come in after hours so the restaurant can function properly. I know I do all the time. Overtime? When your fat ass comes in less than 5 minutes before we close and sits for hours… thats the least amount of overtime. You’d be surprised how many hours a week most of us put in…
  
  We’re too bitchy for people to put up with us? What do you think the whole restaurant business is about? Serving food and drinks to people like you and the people in bitchy moods that have to put up with YOU on a daily basis. If we were really that hard to “put up with” we wouldn’t have regulars or really customers in general. Thanks.
  
  May 21, 2008 at 1:03 pm rating: 90
- #1.14 Drew
  
  “Scalding hot food.” Yes, they serve food that will “scald” the person who eats it.
  
  How’s the hazard pay? Did you negotiate that?Because jobs with hazards have hazard pay.
  
  Gosh, I’m sorry you have to walk around in a room.
  
  “Night shift” doesn’t mean “7pm.” I’m talking after dark, not evenings. Night.
  
  “Overtime” is serving one late customer. You are so fucking spoiled. Try being a legal assistant, where “overtime” is working 60 hours a week researching for a case,.
  
  I love how you bring down other waitresses with you in your last sentence. Try to avoid “we” because most servers aren’t as bitchy or stupid as you. Very few people in the food services would ever be dumb or clueless enough to claim that the job has hazards.
  
  If you think you’re not that hard to put up with, and that you’re a skilled worker, and you’re willing to put in nights and work overtime, and that you can handle a lot of pressure… get a higher paying job that you like better. Either way, stop bitching about how hazardous, challenging, low-paying, etc. your job is.
  
  May 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm rating: 91
- #1.15 Jo Mama
  
  Boy, you’re one whopper of an asshole. An immature asshole, nonetheless, who has to resort to name-calling like a five-year-old rather than debating something intelligently like an adult. Does it hurt your little feelings to be wrong? Are you really that egotistical? I don’t let people talk to me like that, so you can go get stuffed.
  
  I don’t know who you think you are, but you certainly don’t know me. I’d be willing to wager I’m a hell of a lot smarter than you give me credit for. Fortunately for you, I don’t waste my time conversing with shit-stirrers.
  
  May 21, 2008 at 2:54 pm rating: 90
- #1.16 Drew
  
  You are so cute
  
  May 21, 2008 at 5:12 pm rating: 90
- #1.17 Halley
  
  When I lived in Utah, I got paid $2.13 an hour. . . and the Utah Mormons are CHEAP. Average tip for everyone I worked with was about 8-10%.
  
  Here in Oregon, it’s $7.95/hr. Yay!
  
  May 29, 2008 at 4:56 pm rating: 90
- #1.18 artchickhb
  
  Years ago (Back in my day… which was like 10 years ago and now I feel old) I started at pizza hut as a waitress for $1.90 an hour plus tips. And no, you might not need a degree to waitress, but it’s by no means an easy job. I have a lot of respect for wait staff who can continue to smile even when they have 20 clamoring tables of incredibly unbehaved, unparented children running about their section. (I’m a little passive aggressive to bad parents…)
  
  May 31, 2008 at 11:15 am rating: 90
- #1.19 Kelly
  
  Ok Drew… I’ve read your comments, and frankly, they’re full of shit. Let’s start with my favourite sentence.
  
  ‘[B]eing a waiter is an unskilled job with no hazards, a comfortable environment, and regular hours.’
  
  I’ll give you ‘unskilled’. Although great tact, poise, manners and smarts are essential in the service industry, and all these things are what makes a waitress good at her job; although skill is what separates a passable waitress from a great waitress, and although the ability to smile at a prick like you and not dump water over his head is definitely what I’d call a skill, these are things commonly called ‘qualities’ and not technically ‘skills’. Fine.
  
  The rest is bullshit.
  
  The toxic fumes and lack of ventilation are obviously not present in the part of the restaurant where patrons sit. Have you ever been in a restaurant kitchen? Try having sweat pouring out of literally every pore in your body and then tell me that’s a ‘comfortable’ working environment.
  
  Your argument that waiting tables includes regular hours is laughable. ‘Irregular’ means not only evening and night hours when most other people are having fun (what time does your bar close? Past midnight? I’d say that’s a night shift!) but also implies a lack of consistancy. Knowing what time you will arrive and leave with more than a week’s notice implies regular hours; not knowing from week to week how many hours you’ll work would not, in my books, count as ‘regular’.
  
  I could keep going, but it’d take all night. I’ll end by saying that people like you are the reason I am so incredibly thankful that I no longer work in customer service.
  
  Jun 11, 2008 at 8:12 pm rating: 90
- #1.20 drew
  
  Hahahah I love it when charming people like you assume that a person venting on the internet is a prick in real life. You’d be so lucky if all of your customers were like me. I’m an ultra-polite pushover who tips very well.
  
  But you’re still missing the bottom line: the pay for waitresses/waiters is shit, because that’s the way the free market works. You can keep putting forth these great arguments for why your job is just so gosh-darned hard and requires so much commitment, and people skills, and stamina, and on and on and oh my God what saints you are— but if any of that bullshit were true, you’d get paid more for what you do.
  
  You get paid shit becuase there are a hundred other people in a 5 block radius who could do what you do just as well. Junior high students can be waiters/waitresses, high school dropouts can be waiters/waitresses, unfriendly and unprofessional people can be waiters/waitresses.
  
  All I really ask is that the EMPLOYER be the one in charge of paying your damn salary, and if you suck at your job, I ask the EMPLOYER to be the one to dock your pay or fire you. I don’t want to be the one determining your worth to the company.
  
  Jun 14, 2008 at 7:27 am rating: 91
- #1.21 Lo
  
  And if the employer were to pay them more? The prices of the food would increase, so you’d still be paying for the service anyway.
  
  Jun 14, 2008 at 11:47 pm rating: 90
- #1.22 drew
  
  I have no problem paying people to serve me. My problem is that management has decided employee motivation is my job and not theirs.
  
  Also, if managers were in charge of paying servers, they’d really have a reason to bitch, because almost all would be making minimum wage, because minimum wage is what the job is a actually worth. They don’t realize how nice they have it, that generous folks come in meal after meal and plop down enough money that they earn way more than your average janitor, farmhand, vet tech, nurse, and on and on. All of these people work harder than a waiter/waitress. (I’ve been a waiter, farm hand, and vet tech. For what it’s worth, when I was a waiter, of course I liked the tip system, because I made out like a bandit, but that doesn’t mean I thought the system made sense– I was just glad to be getting paid so much for so little work.)
  
  Not to mention if management paid their own employees, they may not increase the price of food– the cheaper places might just as well cut down on the servers. And I have no problem walking across a room and getting my own food, or filling up my own glass, just like I do at McDonalds, at a cheap pancake house or diner. I’d much prefer this, instead of having to wait until someone notices my glass of water is empty before I can take another drink.
  
  Jun 15, 2008 at 4:25 pm rating: 91
- #1.23 Meghann
  
  Actually it isn’t management, it’s our government who determines server minimum wage. (3.13/hour) And there are so many servers and cooks on the clock during one shift, that in order to pay us all what we make in tips, management would have to double the prices on the menu. When a corporate restaurant needs to cut back on labor, the managers send home cooks, not usually servers, because cooks are paid more. Which means servers have to help out in the back a lot. It works out so that the customer gets cheaper food, and pays the server for their service.
  I don’t like the system, but as a college student I make more money working as a server than I would at most other time-flexible jobs. But if you are a good server who does their absolute best to make sure everything goes smoothly there is a lot of multi-tasking involved and the job can be very stressful. I’ve gone home a few nights crying because of how rude and demanding people can be. The only reason I stick with it is because I can change my schedule to accommodate school at any time and I get paid pretty well.
  
  Jun 17, 2008 at 1:18 am rating: 90
- #1.24 Moe
  
  Halley:
  
  “Utah Mormons are CHEAP.”
  Way to generalize. I happen to be a Utah Mormon, and I never tip less than 15% unless the service is absolutely abysmal. It isn’t the Mormons who are cheap, it’s the cheap people who are cheap.
  
  And now I’ll shut up, because I’ve started to sound like a chick. (Cheep Cheep!)
  
  Jun 17, 2008 at 5:34 pm rating: 90
- #1.25 Rozzie
  
  I personally dont see it as my responsibility to subsidise the restaurant business by tipping as a matter of course. Thats up to the bosses of the eateries to pay their workers decent wages and for the government to ensure that even the minimum wage is liveable. That said if I get good service I reward it but I feel no guilt leaving zero tip if the service below par – why should I ?
  The word originates from the 16th century verb tip, which meant “to give unexpectedly”, I rest my case.
  
  Jun 20, 2008 at 4:33 am rating: 90
- #1.26 AN
  
  uhhhh I thought TIPS was To Insure Prompt Service maybe im wrong, but you don’t subsudize the industry by tipping cause if you didn’t they would just charge more to offset it.
  
  Every waiter I know easly makes above minimum wage after tips, and minimum wage is dumb if you force wages to be higher less ppl can have a job normally ppl who can be more efficient and have experience so its job protection for unskilled jobs.
  
  Being a waiter is unskilled its very difficult and intensive and is far harder than I thought it would be and it takes time to master, but it doesn’t require vast amounts of specialized knowledge and the majority of ppl can at least get decent at it within a month.
  
  Clone of America I fail to see whats wrong with that we are the richest country, I don’t want to hear but we can’t take care of the poor, everyone poor I know who are poor are slackers or are just fine being poor you can easily get by in US below poverty line unless your trying to feed lots of kids and if you can’t feed your kids why did you have them O_o. I have friends that had every disadvantage outside of living in US and they moved up to middle class cause they worked hard and stayed in school, despite their wacky families.
  
  Jun 29, 2008 at 1:49 am rating: 91
- #1.27 PANU
  
  AN,
  
  Urban Legend
  
  http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp
  
  Jun 29, 2008 at 3:21 am rating: 90
- #1.28 James
  
  Not doing your job? Not acceptable.
  
  Jul 7, 2008 at 1:25 am rating: 90
add to this thread
#2 Pete

I’ve worked my share of table-waiting jobs. If you want a tip, do your job. It’s pretty simple. I was stiffed on the tip very infrequently and occasionally I felt that I didn’t really deserve a tip for the service I provided.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for bad servers who get bent out of shape because they didn’t get a tip. It’s not something you’re entitled to, it’s something you have to earn.

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:46 pm rating: 91

reply to this comment
- #2.1 Michelle
  
  My sentiments exactly, alot of servers I work with believe that it is an obligation for the customer to leave a tip, yet in reality it is up to that server to earn that tip! I have been a server for more than 20 yrs and i can assure you that I have good days and I have bad days but for the most part I make well over min. wage after hourly pay plus tips. It is all in how you serve your customers and never expect more than what you have given. This is one job where you almost can make your own wages. I haven’t made myself rich doing this kind of work but I enjoy it and have done well for myself.
  
  Apr 4, 2008 at 8:48 pm rating: 91
- #2.2 blahblah
  
  Exactly! Just doing the basic job of taking my order (correctly) and serving it will get you double taxes (16.50%) from me.
  
  My method for tipping is starting off with 15-20% depending on the type of restaurant it is. If the service is excellent, it stays at 15-20%. If the service is bad, every time the server makes a mistake, I deduct 2%. For every 5-10 mins. I have to wait after I request something (like a straw or to-go boxes), I deduct 2%. Of course, I take into account how busy the restaurant is at the time and the server’s attitude about making me wait.
  
  When the service is bad, I don’t even bother telling the server. I just go talk to the manager. Any decent manager will 1.) apologize, 2.) change servers, 3.) offer something extra like free dessert, or 4.) comp the meal. If the manager doesn’t do something to make up for the bad service, you know not to ever come back.
  
  Bottom line 4 me: servers need to understand that a tip is a GRATUITY, which means it’s gratuitous (unnecessarily extra). It’s an acknowledgment of your level of service. If you want more tips, provide better service…or apply to a higher end restaurant where the patrons generally tip very well.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 11:35 am rating: 91
- #2.3 nicholas
  
  wow, you really take into account all of that while eating? i would hate to be dining with you. how could you pay attention to your guest? i guess you eat alone alot.
  
  tipping is a gratuity, but if restaurants actually paid their employees minimum wage or more, then the price of food would raise considerably. that is the reason we get paid less, and also the reason tipping is not actually optional…unlesss you are a huge prick like you.
  
  Jun 2, 2008 at 1:40 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#3 Dave

If the service is _really_ bad, of course you don’t tip. We all know that many waitresses depend on tips – shouldn’t be that way but it is – but at least a forced half smile and coming when called (and staying in a place where a signal can be seen) is a minimum – perhaps just a rounding up sort of tip. Less than that ……..

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:49 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #3.1 Meghann
  
  For future reference, servers usually have about 5 other things to be doing WHILE they are waiting on you, such as rolling silverware, filling up dressings, arguing with cooks to make sure your food comes out the way you ordered it, helping the host seat people, and cleaning tables. So if you don’t see them, it doesn’t mean they’re sitting somewhere being lazy. It’s a hard job. If they stand around where you can see them, none of their tables will have good service because nothing will get done.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 12:34 am rating: 90
- #3.2 Canthz_B
  
  In my experience, the server who tries to “help the host seat people” is really trying to steer patrons to their own stations. It is the job of the host to seat patrons and try to make sure all servers get an equal chance for tips.
  If you weren’t trying to steal patrons from other servers and do the host’s job maybe you would do a better job at your own.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:03 am rating: 90
- #3.3 Meghann
  
  if you weren’t such an idiot maybe you would know what I’m even talking about. I don’t steal customers.
  you obviously just like to argue, I’m finished.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 7:18 pm rating: 90
- #3.4 bizzle
  
  ya canthz! have you ever worked in a restaurant? just because it is the hosts job doesnt mean they do it… besides people call in sick and servers have to help out to pick up the slack…
  
  Feb 1, 2008 at 10:54 am rating: 90
- #3.5 Canthz_B
  
  Just so I can get comment #500..bizzle, what part of “In my experience” puzzles you? ♥
  
  Feb 1, 2008 at 11:15 am rating: 90
- #3.6 shawn p
  
  where i work we concider our tip is our pay and our pay is our tip….well ive worked at the worst possible resturant since november ’07 its not that its nasty cuz we strive 2 keep that place clean and i would consider my self a good server i give ok 2 excellent service but i live in a small town and 4 me on average i mite leave with $20 to $30 and yea its a good thing im only 17 but i need money as much as the next guy u kno……….like 2nite sum1 walked out and didnt pay at all and got away with it so i had to pay the ticket out of my pocket and lost $26 (half) out of my money
  
  Feb 23, 2008 at 12:07 am rating: 90
- #3.7 Skeltz
  
  what a horrible customer you are, dave. I wonder how much spit you have ingested while dining out? Servers have shit to do, lots of it actually, and–brace yourself–the world does not revolve around you.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 12:25 am rating: 90
add to this thread
#4 Jeff

I tip very well (usually 20% if there are no problems), because I sympathize with people working in food service (being there previously myself), but there definitely are times when no tip is deserved. I have had about three or four times in my life where I was almost completely neglected by the waitstaff and stiffed them the tip; last time this happened they were wandering around in plain sight not doing much of anything, but would not come to the table. Even at the end of my disappointing visit I had to finally go chase them down to get the bill, so I could leave.

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:55 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #4.1 blahblah
  
  Just like servers think customers don’t understand all they have to go through for their job, I don’t think servers quite understand some of the horrible experiences some customers have.
  
  I have never worked as a server, but I have been a customer many, many times. The problem is that if you’ve been a customer a lot, then you’ve had a wide range of service. Getting excellent service really does raise a customer’s expectations, like “ahh, THAT’S what it’s like to get good service.” It really makes bad service stand out when we get it. My boyfriend and I disagree on tipping. He will give anyone a good tip, while I don’t believe in tipping bad service.
  
  About a year ago, we went to Chili’s (in CA) on a Saturday. It wasn’t extremely busy. When we first walked in, the hostess was chatting loudly on her cell phone on an obvious personal call. She was looking us dead in the eye the whole time with no welcome or acknowledgment that we were customers. Then she strolled off. After a couple minutes, she came back and pointed to the booth for us to seat ourselves. After sitting for about five minutes, NO ONE came by to greet us or ask us if we wanted anything to drink. We saw several servers walk by but none stopped at our table. One server even stood nearby but still didn’t approach us. After about 10 minutes of this, I went to the hostess and politely asked for the manager. When I told the manager what happened, he called over a server that was hovering nearby eavesdropping and asked her why we hadn’t been greeted, yet. She told him that she hadn’t seen us (which was a lie because I made eye contact with her at least three times). When the manager asked me where we were seated, I pointed to a table close to the one where we were actually seated and the server corrected me by saying “No, you were sitting right THERE”. Of course, I then asked her “If you didn’t see us, how do you know where we were sitting?” (thanks, law school!) After that, the manager offered to personally serve us and comp our meal but by then I was too pissed off. I told him “Thanks, but no thanks. We’re going to try out the restaurant across the street.” Yes, I am Queen of a land called Passive Aggressiva. By the way, the new restaurant we tried was fabulous with great food and service. They got a 25% tip because of our Chili’s bitterness.
  
  I haven’t went back to Chili’s since. Now, we only go to 4-star restaurants or better. Those places know how to provide great service.
  
  Honorable mention for really awful service: Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco (on top of Macy’s).
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 11:55 am rating: 91
- #4.2 Lord!
  
  “I haven’t went back to Chili’s since. Now, we only go to 4-star restaurants or better. Those places know how to provide great service.”
  
  Hmmm…. law school may have helped a smidge with your logic, but it did sod all for your grammar. Schmuck.
  
  You don’t need to go to a 4-star establishment to get good service, nor do 4-star establishments serve as a guarantee against poor service.
  
  May 7, 2008 at 5:22 pm rating: 90
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#5 Ash

I dunno, I was a server and being such, you know you have to kiss ass to get a good tip. If the server sucks that bad, they don’t need a tip because they’re obviously not working for one. I find both of these absolutely hilarious. I especially like the credit card receipt!

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:56 pm rating: 90

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#6 Jeff

Wanted to add – I would never do what is pictured in this post, even in the worst cases. Neither one of those actions is going to result in any future improvements, and if you do something like that you probably don’t want to ever go there again.

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:56 pm rating: 90

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#7 Ary H.

Not leaving a tip: textbook passive aggression.

Jul 29, 2007 at 12:57 pm rating: 90

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#8 Squeaky Wheel

To Ary – It’s not passive-aggressive – it’s the way the system works. The reason servers here don’t get at least minimum wage is because tips are *expected* to cover the discrepancy, but they’re NOT guaranteed/required to. The understanding is that if you suck, you get paid less, and you learn to not be a shitty server. Frankly, I think it’s brilliant.

I will tip up to 40%, depending on whether the server is friendly, and the price of the meal. I rarely tip less than 10%. But I will not hesitate to forgo leaving a tip if the server is rude and slow. AND I will leave a note letting them know why I didn’t tip them, if it was bad enough.

Obviously there are some who just won’t tip because they’re assholes. But that’s not the case with most people.

So I think these examples are hysterical. I especially love the receipt.

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:07 pm rating: 90

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#9 j

the only time i ever didn’t leave a tip was when i asked for something with chicken (which was more expensive anyway, whatever) and the waiter brought me it without, and when i said (politely) “i ordered this with chicken” he gave me a rude look and said “no you didn’t” when i had like 4 other people who definitely heard me say “with chicken” so i didn’t leave a tip, because the customer is always right. and i did order chicken. and he was a prick. the end!

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:08 pm rating: 90

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- #9.1 drew
  
  you had me until “because the customer is always right.”
  
  fuck that.
  
  May 20, 2008 at 1:14 pm rating: 90
- #9.2 Halley
  
  I know! I love it when I take an order and the person points to the item on the menu. I write it down. I bring it to them. “That’s not what I ordered!”
  
  I was so shocked by what they said, I replied “Yes you did!” Which I never would ever say to a patron. Then they stated that they wanted fajitas. Why’d you point to fajita Quesadillas, then!!!!!?
  
  May 29, 2008 at 5:02 pm rating: 90
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#10 BB

I never tip more than the normal “round-up” when I’m introduced to the practice of tipping as a duty, or if I am dissatisfied with the service provided to me or other customers.

I realise that this would be a problem in the U.S., where tipping is mandatory by unwritten social laws, but I live on one of the continents where tipping still is a gesture of appreciation.

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:24 pm rating: 90

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- #10.1 Tricia
  
  What you may not realize, since you aren’t from “this continent”, is that our US servers get paid WAY WAY BELOW minimum wage because it is “expected” that they will get tipped by each customer about 15%. These people work very hard for their money – they are underappreciated for running around after dozens of people’s orders and add-ons, making sure food is hot and served correctly and that glasses remain full, but they are only “noticed” when they make a mistake with an order. Please remember that these are people, hard-working people, who do make mistakes, but are trying hard everyday for pay that is miniscule. Because my mother gets health insurance through her boss, she actually OWES HER BOSS money at the end of the week instead of getting a paycheck! 100% of her take home pay is what ever tips she gets from her customers. Remember that the next time you go out to eat here in America, please.
  
  Dec 17, 2007 at 8:19 am rating: 90
- #10.2 Cimmy
  
  Whoa, Tricia, that was uncalled for. This Web site is not called “Passive-Aggressive Notes in America” and I do not have to tip anyone. I live in a city where there are tip jars everywhere. I am not fucking tipping the high school kid who scans my library books. And I will not hesitate to refuse a tip to someone who does not deserve one; I will, however, explain to the manager that some actions may need to be taken. Perhaps the server had a bad day. Whatever. But that is not my problem.
  
  Your comment was just plain rude.
  
  Dec 18, 2007 at 5:00 pm rating: 90
- #10.3 Kelsey
  
  Her comment wasn’t rude, it was stating the truth. Clearly she feels passionate about the topic, but it’s not like she called the OP names or swore or anything. No need to get defensive – she never said you had to tip librarians.
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 4:36 pm rating: 90
- #10.4 unholyghost2003
  
  kelsey,
  you missed the part where tricia slammed the OP for being from a different country/ commenting on this topic while not being an American.
  
  furthermore tricia did all of this while reiterating points made MANY times previously and NEVER offering a sound rebuttle as to why a server that has not done his or her job properly DESERVES or has the right to DEMAND or even (as seen other places on this thread) STEAL my money.
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 4:50 pm rating: 90
- #10.5 Kelsey SUCKS
  
  …which is the point I was trying to make to Sara before Kelsey came riding in on her white horse. There are other continents in the world that deserve equal time to be heard from.
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 6:23 pm rating: 90
- #10.6 long time waiter
  
  I think the main point here is this. Even though in other continents/countries waiters get paid an appropriate amount for their work, here we do not. It is especially frustrating when someone from another country comes here for vacation, work, etc. and either does not know or does not care what we make hourly and does not tip accordingly. I worked in restaurants for over 10 years starting at an average restaurant and making my way into fine dining. For standard, friendly service the customary tip should be 18% and up for better service. Coming from nice restaurants I am probably more nit-picky about my service than someone who has not worked in a restaurant at all, but I still VERY RARELY tip less than 15%.
  
  Feb 27, 2008 at 6:30 pm rating: 90
- #10.7 Drew
  
  Can you justify this “should be 18% and up”??
  
  If you are payed $3/hour, an extra $4/hour gets you up to minimum wage. Considering how many customers you serve in an hour, probably doesn’t require more than a 4-5% tip per customer.
  
  So, why are we, as customers, instead of your employer, obligated to make sure you get paid above minimum wage?
  
  When I see a crew out working in a corn field, making sure that the corn I will eventually buy in a grocery store is growing weed and insect free, do I have some sort of obligation to go out and give them some of my money?
  
  They work for minimum wage because there are plenty of other people who could do what they are doing just as well. If they do their job poorly, it is the job of their employer to get rid of them.
  
  If the boss wants them to do their job better, they should offer higher wages and demand a higher level of effort from their employees.
  
  Why is this different in the food service? Why should a huge corporation like Olive Garden or Chili’s leave customers in charge of motivating their employees to work hard? Why should customers have to determine appropriate wages for servers?
  
  When I go out to sit and enjoy a meal that someone else cooked, I agree to pay a certain price for that food. Why is it my job to worry how well the person serving me is getting paid?
  
  Maybe my waiter/waitress should wear a tag telling me how many children they support, and if they have any medical expenses, how hard they worked in school, etc… that way, I can spend my evening determining what kind of salary they “deserve” to earn, and then adjust my tip accordingly.
  
  May 20, 2008 at 1:26 pm rating: 91
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#11 Candice

I almost always tip at least 20%, and often more, when we wind up at a diner after the bar, for putting up with our drunk asses. But if the service really is bad, I have absolutely no problem with skipping the tip. Or better, fill in the tip line with “$0.01″.

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:28 pm rating: 91

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- #11.1 Skeltz
  
  WOW Candice, you are a rotten bitch. There is no other way to say it.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 1:42 am rating: 90
- #11.2 Skeltz is low-class
  
  No, Skeltz: YOU are the “rotten bitch” for turning this thread into a name-calling session. You’ve insulted almost every commenter who disagrees with you. Here’s a TIP for you: Learn some manners!
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 12:14 pm rating: 90
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#12 MB

shame you can’t see chris’ visa number on that bill.

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:34 pm rating: 90

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#13 former waitress

The last time I waitressed was five years ago, but I still remember this couple who were nice and complimented my service, but stiffed me on the tip. They paid with a credit card, but left the tip and “total” lines blank, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and filled in my own $5 tip. Eh, they never knew the difference!

Jul 29, 2007 at 1:51 pm rating: 90

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- #13.1 Just Sayin'
  
  Just a word of advice.. you probably shouldn’t advertise this fact. It doesn’t paint a pretty light on you, you know?
  
  Dec 9, 2007 at 2:15 am rating: 90
- #13.2 Also just sayin'
  
  Um, that’s also illegal, it’s called credit card fraud
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 1:41 pm rating: 90
- #13.3 Vanessa
  
  I waited tables for many years getting through school and received many ‘verbal’ tips. “You gave us the best service! Really made our night! Thanks!” Then the big fat gooseegg in the tip line. I don’t know what people think they are giving you when they say how great you were but leave you nothing but a little more in debt to the IRS because they came in and ran up a big check. You still have to tip out the busser, bartender, food expo. Think about it folks, don’t bite the hand that feeds you!
  
  Jan 5, 2008 at 2:43 am rating: 90
- #13.4 you suck
  
  Could be they just thought that was such a pathetic move, they figured any loser who had to wait tables for a living AND steal $5 tips wasn’t worth the trouble of dealing with.
  
  I’m not even sure you could be any more lame. Kudos, you are a thorough low-life.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 2:16 am rating: 90
- #13.5 blahblah
  
  So you stole the “nice” couple’s money? Yes, that makes me feel so much better about servers with bad attitudes.
  
  Thanks for reminding me to cross out the tip/total lines on credit card bills/receipts.
  
  By the way, if that couple “notices the difference”, they can call their credit card company and dispute the entire charge. And they will win.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 12:17 pm rating: 90
- #13.6 anon
  
  The people who are criticising the poster for giving herself a 5$ tip have obviously never had to subsist on minimum wage in this country during a recession. Think about it before you try to make her feel bad. After all, it was only five dollars.
  
  May 6, 2008 at 5:23 pm rating: 90
- #13.7 Drew
  
  Those who don’t think stealing is acceptable should realize that everyone is entitled to a certain amount of money.
  
  This also applies to new shoes– I know, that guy in the locker room might have really liked his Nikes, but listen, have you ever tried playing basketball in the crappy shoes you can afford from a minimum wage job? I took his Nikes because they were comfortable.
  
  Duh. Think about that before you condemn robbers and thiefs.
  
  May 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm rating: 90
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#14 kait

my best friend happens to be a waitress, and i try to keep her in mind when it comes time to tip- and having worked behind a food counter myself, i’m pretty compassionate towards servers. when the service is at all passable i leave at least 20% (and i won’t go out if i’m not able to afford my meal plus the tip.)
however, there are times when the service is so horribly sub-par that i feel it’s necessary to forgo a tip. as stated above, tips are earned, not expected.
being young i’ve gone into resturants and been denied service (as in, no one came to give my date and i waters) because it was the business-lunch rush and two eighteen year olds weren’t of any importance. i’ve been told i was wrong when said “i ordered this without veggies” (i’m allergic to most of them). trust me, i’m pretty good at remembering to leave out ingredients that send me to the hospital.
and as a note to all the female servers out there, flirting with my boyfriend (who you assume is paying) will not earn you anything. trust me on that one. (i’m talking about handing him the bill with a ‘here you go sweetie!’ and circling the amt. in a heart with your name underneath and a ‘come back again soon!!’).
in my honest opinion, if you choose a job where your income directly depends on your performance, expect your tips to reflect a job well (or not so well) done.

Jul 29, 2007 at 2:20 pm rating: 91

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- #14.1 blahblah
  
  Wow, the flirting with hearts on the bill is hilarious (and absolutely ridiculous!). I have noticed that women always hand the bill to my bf, but men will hand it to me. What’s with that?? Best thing to do is put the bill in the middle. That way, you don’t risk offending anyone or causing a couple’s fight (angry people do not tip well).
  
  And acting like the customer didn’t order what they claimed to order is a huge serving NO-NO. Some of these servers really have nerve. I went to one Italian restaurant where I ordered a substitution sauce for my pasta dish (pesto with salmon). The server actually turned up his nose and says “You want salmon with PESTO? Are you sure about that?” all disapprovingly. It took over an hour between the time we ordered and when they brought out our main dishes (the place was NOT packed at all). We were actually getting up to leave when the server finally brought out our dinner. I paid for the $15 crab cake appetizer, left no tip, and we left.
  
  Great service tip: If you’re ever in San Francisco, an excellent restaurant for food and service is Palomino’s (on Embarcadero).
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 12:26 pm rating: 90
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#15 jet

A couple of times now here in Pittsburgh we’ve had awfully slow service — 10 minutes to take our order, 30 minutes before appetizers show up, while the table next to us shows up after us and gets fed before us.

I’ve complained to waiters and managers and the most we ever get is “we’re so sorry”.

When I waited tables in Houston (and lived in restaurants in the Bay Area) it was customary for a manager to comp drinks, desert, or even half the tab if there was a screwup in the kitchen. Not once in Pittsburgh has someone offered us any sort of apology that would have cut into their profit.

Jul 29, 2007 at 2:25 pm rating: 90

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#16 Jamuraa

In my view, whether it’s completely unthinkable to not leave a tip depends on the state’s laws. Some states allow restaurants to pay their waitresses less per hour because they are supposed to make up that amount in tips. I will gladly tip all the time if it is such a state. I live in a state where everyone must make at least minimum wage – regardless of tips or not. So if they do a minimum wage job (not paying attention, bring wrong food, waiting ages to get over to us even though we’re like 1 of the 4 tables in the place) I don’t tip. Acceptable, I try to shoot for 15%.

Jul 29, 2007 at 2:32 pm rating: 90

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- #16.1 Len
  
  Where I live, wait staff have a lower minimum wage, on an average day, if even half your customers leave the “standard” 15% tip, you more than make up that hourly difference, think about the cost of a meal, the number of meals served in an hour, and the tip based on that. Chances are a decent server gets much better than “standard” minimum wage if they do their job.
  As such you are expected to earn that tip.
  Trust me, I’m not stingy, I’ll buy my $1.50 morning coffee and pay $4.00 without a second glance because my server was cordial.
  I’ll go out with the gang for a $70 a plate meal, and still we’ll leave a 30%+ tip because the server was excellent.
  
  But if you’re rude, or lax in your duties as a server, you neglect your customers for extended periods of time, and never check up on them. Consider yourself shunned, I would be happy to leave no tip, and a note for future reference, or if I think someone who works with them is clever enough to get the joke. I’ll leave my two cents on the table.
  
  Don’t try to shoot for anything, aim only for what is deserved. Most good servers understand this, and do a good or even great job. Those who don’t deserve to be shunned.
  
  And if you leave a note like this, don’t be afraid to return to that restaurant, perhaps you’ll get a server who cares about what they do. Or maybe, you’ll find your previous server has improved, and you’ll be able to give yourself a pat on the back knowing you contributed to that improvement.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 7:11 pm rating: 90
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#17 Jack

I once had a guy college preppy frat type leave me a tip of “Get a Real Job”

Unfortunately for him, my girlfriend happened to be one of his bosses at the law firm he was file clerking at….the rest of his summer sucked

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:19 pm rating: 90

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#18 Patty O. Furniture

My only food service job was a short stint at McDonald’s, but I have many friends who are waitresses. I can’t fathom leaving no tip at all, but if the service is bad I don’t leave a big tip. However that first picture isn’t passive aggressive, it’s just a douche-bag move.

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:31 pm rating: 90

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#19 Jack

btw, the reason (aside from his douchitude) that he left that charming note was that the 6th plate HE stacked on top of the pile while I was clearing slipped and I saved everything but one chicken wing bone which landed on his toe

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:34 pm rating: 90

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#20 Raye

I’ve only skipped tipping a few times in my life and only if the service was ridiculously bad. Half an hour and no service sounds pretty bad. Having said that, I would NEVER write in ketchup on the table. That’s pure assholery.

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:45 pm rating: 90

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- #20.1 Len
  
  You’re right, writing on the table in ketchup is a touch strong. You’re not creating more work for the person who is getting no money out of you.
  
  If you have no other writing utensils available, consider using the ketchup to write on a couple of napkins.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 7:15 pm rating: 90
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#21 sk

I waited tables forever, and I got stiffed on occasion. Sure, it sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. Your regulars will make up for it, and then some. I thought the ketchup was hilarious, although a total dick move. Some bitches once squirted ketchup under one of my tables (I gave them great service, they were just whores) but one of them left her sweater on accident. Guess what I used to clean up the mess?

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:54 pm rating: 90

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- #21.1 noneya
  
  haha, this is awesome! I just had to say it!
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 3:43 pm rating: 90
- #21.2 Vanessa
  
  I call that instant Karma!
  
  Jan 5, 2008 at 2:50 am rating: 90
- #21.3 901redbone
  
  SWEET!!! I probably would have done the same thing.
  
  May 22, 2008 at 6:35 pm rating: 90
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#22 aliastaken

I’ve been a waitress. I made 2.13 an hour. People who leave no tip are just assholes. As long as the server is not flat out rude to the customer, he/she deserves a tip. So service was slow… sometimes the kitchen is backed up, the computers aren’t working, or maybe your server is new and just learning the ropes. Waiting tables is hard work. If you go out to eat, don’t be a jerk, leave something for your waitress. Her life is hard enough without the customers taking their night out as a chance to sit in judgement of her.

Jul 29, 2007 at 3:57 pm rating: 90

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- #22.1 Len
  
  That’s a rediculously low wage, even for a server. At any rate, I maintain a tip should be earned.
  Slow service, and slow food are not necessarily the same thing, and the wait-staff’s tip should have no relation to the kitchen-staff.
  
  This does not stop you as a server however, from being able to offer to get drinks, refills, or apologize for the meal taking some time.
  
  Don’t blame the computers, the world has not always run on computers, yet food services have existed for many a long century.
  If you honestly have no back up plan for when the computers fail, or you don’t know how to use a pen and paper to work out the charge, I’m sorry that your school system has failed you.
  
  You should still do YOUR best as a server to earn that tip, despite the fact that hell froze over, the grease traps overflowed, and the new chef used too much cooking Cherri and there’s now a five alarm fire in the kitchen.
  
  As for sitting in judgment, the only thing they will judge you on, is your skills, or lack of skills as a server.
  
  As with any job, your work will be scrutinized, if I fuck up when fixing someone’s computer it’s my time and money that has to make up for it. If a mechanic messes up on a car, same deal. Larger corporations screw up, you end up getting law suits over it.
  
  You are held accountable. Act like it.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 7:22 pm rating: 90
- #22.2 lynn
  
  Wow. You’re an asshole. Have you ever waited on a person a day in your life? Do you have any knowlegde or experience to be making your claims? Maybe once you have done this, then you can talk about “how smoothly” things should go in the front of house when the back of the house is a disaster.
  
  I make $2.35 an hour.
  
  Why don’t you try it.
  
  Dec 7, 2007 at 1:53 pm rating: 90
- #22.3 unholyghost2003
  
  I don’t always tip. Tips need to be EARNED. Performing the minimum duties of service will get you 10% (and being POLITE AND SMILING are part of minimum duties) I say this after spending YEARS waitressing … oh BTW when I MANAGED a restaurant … leaving people 20min w/o service? That gets your ass FIRED. You want to bitch about your $2.35? Get a different job.
  
  Dec 7, 2007 at 2:31 pm rating: 90
- #22.4 lynn
  
  oh…. BTW I’m not bitching about making $2.35… I knew that was my wage when I took the job. I am bitching about people like you who seem to not take that into consideration.
  Who would even sit in a restaurant for 20 minutes without even getting a “I’ll be right with you guys” from ANYONE?? Thats just being a dumbass. Go somewhere else…. find the manager… or don’t complain if you aren’t taking any action other than writing something in ketchup… now the poor busser has to clean it up. I’m sure that really showed the server!!!
  
  Dec 7, 2007 at 3:05 pm rating: 90
- #22.5 unholyghost2003
  
  Why should I take that into consideration? Do YOU take the fact that many telemarketers work on commission into consideration when they call? Or do you just hang up?
  
  I am not saying writing in condiments is a good thing (if I were the manager there and knew who did it I would ban them from the establishment), I do stay aware of what is going on in the restaurant when determining how big, if any tip to leave. I DO grab the manager’s ear and state my complaint before walking out to eat elsewhere. I don’t believe you are ENTITLED to my money.
  
  Dec 7, 2007 at 3:16 pm rating: 90
- #22.6 Alena
  
  ‘That’s a rediculously low wage, even for a server’
  
  Well, welcome to the world of the restaurant industry. Most states have the minimum of $2.13/hr for tip-based professions. There are exceptions (such as big cities where the cost of living is higher), but just about every state I’ve worked in, I’ve earned $2.13/hr.
  
  And yes, actually, $2.13/hr is ridiculously low. Hence the reason all the servers are getting worked up about people stiffing them or not getting the point that 15% is the standard tip. Quite frankly, because the system is set up the way it is, consider that that gratuity is a part of your meal charge here in the States. If you lived in Europe, we servers would be paid a salary and it would already be included in your bill. At least here you get a say in it, no?
  
  Dec 9, 2007 at 2:28 am rating: 90
- #22.7 nina
  
  A salary? No, we get paid per hour and exceptional service gets tips.
  
  Though unlike the US in many restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc tips go into the big pot to be shared out equally among everyone. If you’re rude(or generally a habit of not being polite and smiling regardless of the actual work you do), not only do you not get a tip, but you just get fired.
  
  No salaries, but here in the UK, minimum wage for under 18s is £3.70, 18-20 is £4.45, and 21+ is £5.35.
  No, we don’t depend on tips and it is considerably more than $2.13, but the US is a much cheaper place to live, despite the almost pathetically low minimum wage.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 8:47 am rating: 90
- #22.8 Past and present server
  
  I have worked in 6 restaurants in 4 years and have always been paid between $2.13-2.23 per hour. Being stiffed on a check always hurts. Always. There is really no such thing as a paycheck for a server, it’s mostly taken out for taxes.
  
  Someone mentioned on here always smiling; well that is much easier said than done. The server is blamed for everything. If we’re out of something, lower tip; if the restaurant charges a lot for a drink, lower tip; the food’s taking a long time, lower tip. Now, I consider myself a good server and am rarely stiffed, but I find it amazing how it’s the tables that make you run around like a chicken with it’s head cut off that TELL you you’ve been great then screw you over in the tip. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t pay my rent in compliments.
  I will usually give 20-25% tips, but if the service really sucks, I will give 15%. I know what it’s like to have a bad day and have to work anyway. I served the day I found out my grandpa was dying and the day after my dog was put down. If the service is bad enough, I just won’t go back to the restaurant.
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 1:58 pm rating: 90
- #22.9 Vanessa
  
  There is a difference between commission and tips. Yes telemarketers may make commission on extra sales, but they usually make $8-$10 an hour base. Servers usually make $2.13/hr +tips.
  
  Jan 5, 2008 at 2:56 am rating: 90
- #22.10 joe
  
  if you do your job right you will get tipped. if you do your job wrong you wont. the same is true in any profession, if you are good at it you get somewhere. I was a waiter i know what it takes to do a good job and you know what i know what it takes to not do a good job. if the kitchen is backed up explain the problem to your customers and they will typically be understanding and yes still leave a tip bc you provided great service. you let them know the current situation, how long it will take to get the food and you apologize for the slow service. Realize this, I also have earn my dollar that I give you and if I have to earn that dollar you are gonna have to earn it from me. Handouts dont help anybody. Also, you choose to be a waiter you know how much you will make per hour so if you need more money you better work harder/better than the next guy. WE ARE NOT COMMUNISTS
  
  Jan 23, 2008 at 3:53 pm rating: 90
- #22.11 Erik
  
  Unholyghost: A server who has no compassion for other servers? That’s almost as disgusting and enigmatic as gay Republicans. Btw, your telemarketer analogy is stupid and totally incongruous with the tipping argument at hand. How is voluntarily going into a restaurant demanding a service at all like unwittingly picking up the phone only to discover it’s someone invading your personal space and trying to sell you something? (Nothing against telemarketers, but for argument’s sake.) I think from here, you can figure out the difference? Does it make you feel big and powerful to neglect tipping your server?
  
  Len: You are a human being. Act like it.
  
  Jan 28, 2008 at 2:59 pm rating: 90
- #22.12 blahblah
  
  If service is slow because of a backed-up kitchen or non-working computers, then the server should make up for that by acknowledging it to the customer with an “I’m so sorry, we’re slow because (fill in the blank with excuse). I’m working on getting your food/drinks/whatever.” Most sane customers will understand this because we don’t expect the server to make up for all problems in the restaurant. But when service is slow, a server should NOT:
  
  *leave the customers unattended for a long time (over 10 mins. without taking an order or bringing food/beverages/the bill)
  *walking by the customers numerous times without eye contact or any acknowledgment
  
  If you don’t want to leave a tip, then I highly recommend speaking with a manager. They need to know when a server is bad, so the server can be fired if it happens too often.
  
  I used to go to this pasta pomodoro near my house where the same server messed up my order three times. She didn’t just leave off chicken or mushrooms, but brought me an entirely different order. When I asked where was what I ordered, she tried to tell me that’s what I ordered. I hate tomato-based sauces, so I know I didn’t order what she brought out – some spaghetti-type pasta. By the time my meal was corrected, the rest of my group was already halfway through their meals. The 2nd time this happened, I had to put my meal in a to-go box (even though I was still really hungry) so we could make our movie.
  
  By the way, there was only a week between these two horrible visits, so I definitely talked with the manager who was nice enough to comp my meal. I haven’t been back since.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 12:43 pm rating: 90
- #22.13 blahblah
  
  Vanessa:
  “There is a difference between commission and tips. Yes telemarketers may make commission on extra sales, but they usually make $8-$10 an hour base. Servers usually make $2.13/hr +tips.”
  
  Maybe servers should become telemarketers then. If you don’t like major parts of your job, quit and get a new one like the rest of us do.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 12:49 pm rating: 90
- #22.14 Drew
  
  Everytime I read this bullshit “I only make 2.13+tips, I want to hear how much the “tips” is.
  
  I know, I know, “the 2.13 goes to pay taxes.” Well, so does 2.13 of everyone else’s money who makes minimum wage.
  
  Tell me, how much does “+tips” come out to on a Saturday night?
  
  I know not everyone makes this kind of money, but I worked at a nice pizza place in small-town Illinois, and I would often make $200 over five hours on Friday or Saturday night.
  
  How many jobs pay that well, that require NO training, NO education, NO talent, NO mandatory overtime, NO hazards, NO dealing with the weather, NO “on-call” time, etc?
  
  I know, I know, there are challenges to waitressing. But it’s still one of the easiest jobs around that doesn’t require training.
  
  Try working for a moving company, a seed-corn company, or as a painter, or janitor, or vet-tech (NON-R.V.T, no offense to you incredible R.V.Ts with 2 years of college training), etc. You’ll quickly find that you have no reason to bitch about the occasional rude server or the fact that you have to ‘remember orders’ and ‘roll silverware.’
  
  May 20, 2008 at 1:45 pm rating: 90
- #22.15 mk
  
  just thought you’d like to know that i went through 30 hours of training before starting my job as a waitress, as well as a written and practical (waiting on tables) exam. granted, i’ve never not been left without any tip and i only work seasonally (no regulars) and i’ve never left my table hanging for 20 minutes without service.
  maybe more restaurants should look into regular training for their staff. i hated it at the time, but it’s been a big help.
  
  Aug 2, 2008 at 8:58 pm rating: 90
- #22.16 Sirius
  
  “just thought you’d like to know”
  
  Nope.
  
  Nice apostrophe work, though; next we’ll work on the Shift key
  
  Aug 2, 2008 at 9:35 pm rating: 90
- #22.17 Canthz_B
  
  ” i’ve never not been left without any tip “ means you’ve never gotten a tip.
  
  We need to work on more than the Shift key!
  
  Aug 2, 2008 at 9:48 pm rating: 90
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#23 Andy

Yeah, I must say, if you are not leaving a tip, you need to talk with a manager about WHY you are pissed.

I’ve never stiffed on a tip. The amount that is claimed on taxes is 8% of sales, so at least I tip that.

Taking crappy service and not saying anything except with how much tip you leave/don’t leave smacks of douchebaggery (whomever came up with that term here, bless you) or just plain stupidity.

Though, I must admit that the ketchup/mustard message WAS well written, with the mustard doing the underlining and all. Douchebag move, but hey.

Jul 29, 2007 at 4:14 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #23.1 Meghann
  
  Actually in NC we are required to claim 12%.
  
  And I agree, if your service is bad, don’t automatically assume that it is totally your server’s fault, most of the time it is not, it could be due to many factors.
  
  Speak to a manager and you might get a percentage comped off your check, but don’t stiff the server.
  
  We work our asses off whether we’ve had a good day or bad day, and most servers were I live are also full-time students. Think about how stressful that can be.
  
  OH, and whoever made the comment up there about servers not knowing how to use a paper and pen to figure out a bill, I’d like to see you try to take the time to add up the bills of 3-10 tables along with your other duties. Some servers are graduate students, which may be more of an education than you have.
  Servers are constantly multi-tasking, and this just adds on to the already high list of things we have to do while waiting on you. So just don’t go out to eat, ok?
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:00 am rating: 90
- #23.2 server
  
  And as for the computer comment, the computers down causes so many more problems then having to manually figure out bills. The kitchen will be completely thrown off as they aren’t getting order printouts as things are entered into the computer. The bartender will also no longer be getting printouts. This takes a lot more time for your server. And in addition, my favorite is that in the half hour it may take to get the computers back up, no one can pay with a credit card! And trust me when people have to wait for a while because of something like that, no matter how much you try to explain the whole thing to them, and offer them some complementary desserts or drinks while they wait, a lot of them are still jerks about it.
  
  Mar 21, 2008 at 1:00 pm rating: 90
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#24 aliastaken

I want to add that there’s almost nothing worse than a man out on a date who thinks he looks like a big-shot when he’s snotty to the waitress. If my date ever treated ‘the help’ poorly or had the nerve to stiff a server, it would certainly be our last date!

Jul 29, 2007 at 4:47 pm rating: 90

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#25 server

Where I worked (up until I walked out yesterday), I was the only server for up to 500 customers at a time. I was constantly berated, people left nasty notes on their receipts regularly, AND my boss didn’t even pay me minimum wage. I can understand if the restaurant is dead and the service is shitty to not tip, but I was trying to do the job of 25 people and no one would have put up with what I had to unless they were desperate for money. Not tipping is totally uncalled for.

Jul 29, 2007 at 5:13 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#26 eat me

you must have gotten something to have to pay a bill…was the waitress rude or inattentive cause it was busy? wtf?

Jul 29, 2007 at 5:29 pm rating: 90

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#27 Marissa

I have never been a waitress myself, but I always tip well. I only refuse to tip when the waiter/waitress was deliberately rude and the service was nothing short of appalling. Even in those instances I usually leave a dollar.

I loathe people who don’t tip for perfectly satisfactory service, but if you’re an asshole to me don’t expect me to cough up cash for your substandard service and crappy attitude. It’s not my fault you’re having a shitty day.

Jul 29, 2007 at 5:43 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#28 ginger

in the uk tips are a bonus. if i get bad service i have no problem with not tipping. to my mind if i tip someone who is rude or imcompetent i am rewarding them for being shit at their job.
it seems to me that if the folks in the u.s ought to worry about the fact that ppl are not paid a fair wage, rather than going along with the notion that tips are compulsary.

Jul 29, 2007 at 5:59 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#29 M@

I’m not loving this increasingly common phenomenon of people submitting their own notes to this site. Nowhere near as funny and makes me wonder whether the passive aggression is genuine or just contrived for the site.

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:05 pm rating: 90

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#30 M@

Prime example – how much funnier would that first note have been if it was posted by a waiter at the restaurant, who said ‘that note was fucking delicious’?

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:06 pm rating: 90

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#31 Writer, Rejected

Catsup with a mustard underline? Now that is one delicious passive aggressive note!

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:19 pm rating: 90

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#32 Mr. Pink

I don’t believe in tipping.

(Had to be done)

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:31 pm rating: 90

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#33 S.S.

I agree with the person who said that waiters should be paid a living wage, instead of expecting the customers to feel obligated to tip because their waiter is probably earning $2-3/hr.

That way, tipping would be given as an *extra* for a great service, a reward for being a great waiter/waitress.

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:40 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#34 Waiter

Man, the “5″ on the check total looks like a 9 to me.

$4 on $15.34. I’d take it.

“Boo you fail?” That’s probably what all Chris and Katie’s lovers say.

Bitches

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:47 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#35 Melissa

The definiton of tip, or tips is ” To Insure Prompt Service.”

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:53 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #35.1 kalieris
  
  No, it’s not: http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp
  
  Jan 15, 2008 at 10:48 am rating: 90
- #35.2 Ron
  
  I don’t think so. To Insure Prompt Service? Does that Mean the tip is a premium and that if the service isn’t prompt then the server needs to give a settlement? Do you have to file a claim if the service isn’t prompt? If the service is prompt and you don’t leave a tip is that insurance fraud? I believe the proper word is ENSURE but that would make the acronym so much less pithy.
  
  Jan 31, 2008 at 1:15 pm rating: 90
- #35.3 grammarian
  
  Oh my God, Ron. Awesome. I *hate* it when people use “insure” (or worse, “assure”) to mean “ensure.” File a claim indeed. Delicious!
  
  Jul 30, 2008 at 5:47 pm rating: 90
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#36 katie

Whoever posted these pictures should probably blur out the account number on the credit card slip. Just a thought. Unless they are leaving it on in hopes that the waitress comes on here and orders herself some flowers with the number…

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:54 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#37 Devil's Advocate

I’m sorry but why should I pay you extra for doing your job? That’s the restaurant owners responsibility-not mine. I don’t tip the girl working the cash at Walmart for ringing through my items and bagging them, nor the one at the grocery store for doing the same, nor the mechanic for fixing my car, the person at McDonald’s or Burger King, nor the bus driver for delivering me to my stop, so why should I pay a server/waiter/waitress/bartender for doing their job? They applied for the job, knew the job description and wage when they applied then accepted the job so why should I be expected to make up the difference?

On the flip side: I had friends who worked serving jobs through university and no matter where they worked, no matter what they made for tips-at the end of the night, no matter if you gave great service and johnny was a complete asshat-the tips went into one big jar and were divided evenly amongst everyone.

Jul 29, 2007 at 7:56 pm rating: 90

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- #37.1 Alena
  
  Seriously? Why? Seriously??
  
  Well, because the people at Wal-Mart make more than three times the amount than your average server, in terms of hourly wage. Because we can’t live on $2.13/hr and it’s rather expected in this country that the customer tip. Hence the low wage; the government, our employers, and we all expect your tips to supplement that crazily low wage.
  
  You have no idea how insane the whole ‘the restaurant should pay the servers more, why should I have to tip’ argument makes me. I mean, just because they *should* doesn’t mean they do or will, and your not leaving a tip doesn’t further your cause one bit.
  
  I’m sorry, but even if you have this belief, it doesn’t exempt you from the social more of tipping if you go out to a restaurant. That’s just the way it’s done in this country and if you don’t like it, I hope you enjoy cooking! Or Europe! You can try being a one-man army and all, but you’re getting absolutely nowhere by taking it out on the working stiff. That’s selfish and a little bit cruel. If you feel strongly enough about it to want to take some action, why not talk to someone in power in the restaurant, say someone who controls the wages?
  
  P.S. Not every restaurant pools tips.
  
  Dec 9, 2007 at 2:42 am rating: 90
- #37.2 Earfull
  
  If you don’t like to tip, you shouldn’t go out to eat. End of story. If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to go out. You know, it’s never working class folks who won’t tip, either. It’s always the asshat wearing the $300 sunglasses who stiffs you, never the mechanic from two towns over. I’m soooo glad I never have to wait tables again.
  
  Jan 21, 2008 at 5:23 pm rating: 90
- #37.3 Crash
  
  You’re beating a dead horse….
  
  Jan 21, 2008 at 5:38 pm rating: 90
- #37.4 Canthz_B
  
  “End of story!“…that would be soooo f*cking nice!!
  Unfortunately people like you keep coming in here to say the same thing that has been said 250 damned times already!
  Read before you post asshole!!
  
  Jan 21, 2008 at 5:50 pm rating: 90
- #37.5 An Observer
  
  The “B”in Canthz_B stands for Bitter. Bitch. Boring. Too bad “troll” doesn’t start with a B, or that’d be way too fitting.
  
  Jan 22, 2008 at 12:38 am rating: 90
- #37.6 Canthz_B
  
  Yes…But I tip well and have “Word!” of the day six times…and you…?
  Observe more closely.
  
  Jan 22, 2008 at 12:44 am rating: 90
- #37.7 An Observer
  
  Um.. okay. Where should I send your trophy?
  
  Jan 22, 2008 at 3:15 am rating: 90
- #37.8 blahblah
  
  Alena: “I’m sorry, but even if you have this belief, it doesn’t exempt you from the social more of tipping if you go out to a restaurant. That’s just the way it’s done in this country and if you don’t like it, I hope you enjoy cooking!”
  
  Hmm…does the server cook? No. The server SERVES. If the SERVICE sucks, then the server gets no tip. Instead of harassing customers for not tipping bad service, maybe you should…
  
  1.) not apply for a job as a server (knowing what servers don’t make)
  2.) have a nice, helpful attitude
  
  I’m noticing a trend in this thread. The servers with bitter attitudes here are the main ones complaining about getting stiffed. Could this possibly be related? Hmm…We all have to deal with crap on our jobs. It’s not the customers’ job to make our day/wallet better.
  
  If the wages for servers suck (and I agree they do), servers should petition their local/state/federal government to raise wages to at least minimum wage, so the expectation of receiving a tip is what it should be: for a job well done, and not to make up for the low wages in your industry. No other industry has this “Because my boss doesn’t pay me fairly, YOU should.” rationale. I wish I could tell my customers to make up for what my employer doesn’t add to my check. LOL
  
  Here’s an example of why tipping isn’t (and shouldn’t be) mandatory. In my state (CA), when there’s a table of 6 , most restaurants add on an automatic 18% gratuity. I guess this is to ensure that servers get compensated/rewarded for service to a lot of people. HOWEVER, what I’ve noticed is that many servers give subpar service when they know they’re getting an automatic tip. So I think the reason why tipping is such an integral part of the servers’ income is to make sure they give at least standard service, which is defined by the customer (as it should be) – not the server. Of course, there are plenty of customers who take advantage of this by not tipping adequate service, but no system is perfect. I think most servers would agree that MOST customers tip fairly. If a server is repeatedly getting stiffed a tip, then that should tell the server that the service is unsatisfactory overall. Either improve your service or get a new job. It also could mean that the restaurant is so consistently bad, that the customers are always angry, which again – apply somewhere else. Before applying for a server job, I would ask the servers how much tips they average a night to get a handle on whether the job is worth it to me.
  
  I agree with the one guy who mentioned there are now tip jars everywhere – like at the library. Why is there a tip jar at Starbucks (or McDonalds even)? I’m supposed to tip you for taking my order and giving it to me? I’m already paying for overpriced coffee. At least at a restaurant, there’s a higher level of service. Restaurant servers make it possible for customers to not have to go get our food ourselves. But these places where the customers are doing all of their own serving need to stop with the tip jars. As we can see from this board, that makes some people get irate and stiff the people who really do deserve the tips – good servers.
  
  My ex used to be a server (now he’s a restaurant manager) and he never complained about not getting tipped…because he rarely got stiffed. He made good money. You know why? Because he’s very gracious and friendly (and flirty even). He loves to go out to eat at nice restaurants. He was a very good tipper, but he definitely believed in speaking to the manager about bad service.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 1:14 pm rating: 90
- #37.9 Alena
  
  Your comment still doesn’t change the fact that tipping your server is the social more in the U.S. I think I rather eloquently put my thoughts on that elsewhere here, so I won’t repeat myself on that count.
  
  What does it matter whether we cook or not? The cooks are paid a different wage, with the notion they aren’t receiving tips. We actually do a lot for our guests — servers are rarely pampered by the house. Just because you see us breezing through the dining room doesn’t mean it’s a cakewalk; it’s just that we are professionals and it’s our job to make it look easy. We don’t just take your order. We often put a lot of elbowgrease and work into making the whole thing run. Depending on the restaurant, we do prepare things for you in the kitchen. A dessert I brought out that you ooed and aahed over the presentation? Yeah, I did that, not the chef. We polish glasses and silverware, we clean all sorts of stuff, and we run around trying to please you, on top of it.
  
  As for the ‘bitter server’ charge, well, yeah, I feel bitter at times when I bust my ass, give up my holidays to wait on rude people, etc., and get stiffed or an undeserved undertip. You don’t know me, so I will tell you that I generally strive to be warm, sincere, personable, efficient, and to go out of my way to do things for my guests. I know when I haven’t done my best job and I can’t blame people for a smaller tip. This is just to let you know that I am hard-working and reasonable, not somebody whining because they got what they deserved.
  
  In that light, perhaps it is more understandable what some of us feel. You automatically assume that we are uber-lazy liars, as in your example, but I would say the majority I have met work rather hard to please the people they wait on.
  
  This is why it’s so frustrating for us to read some people’s comments here. Many, many of us work extremely hard, so please give us a break. For each of your horrible server stories, I bet I’ve got a hundred horrible customer stories!
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 3:20 pm rating: 90
- #37.10 901redbone
  
  blah blah
  “Hmm…does the server cook? No. The server SERVES. If the SERVICE sucks, then the server gets no tip. Instead of harassing customers for not tipping bad service, maybe you should…
  
  1.) not apply for a job as a server (knowing what servers don’t make)
  2.) have a nice, helpful attitude”
  
  sometimes, that’s not enough. you talk about how when “the service sucks” the server shouldn’t get a tip. i know this was covered earlier, but you have to realize that some of the time, it is not the fault of the server. but since the server is usually the person that is seen by the customer, that’s who automatically gets blamed. not it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. i’ve had cooks who just refuse to make EXACTLY what’s on the printed slip, just because it’s easier. in that situation 1 of 2 things is gonna happen. 1. ur gonna take the meal out to the customer and get bitched at for it being wrong (which i wouldn’t recommend) or 2. you’re gonna spend an extra 15 minutes in the expo, fighting with the cook until the CORRECT order is made and then getting bitched at because the food took too long. and like someone else said. not only do servers just bring you what you ask for, but we have to prepare things as well. that house salad you wanted with extra tomatoes no onions tossed in italian dressing with a side of ranch dressing, WE have to make that! that sundae with extra nuts, double the ice cream and 4 cherries, it’s US again. so while we’re back there making your perfect salad (which takes a little extra time because we have a system for making the standard salad QUICKLY) we still have other things to do.
  and God forbid the busboy(s) didn’t come in. now here we are, bussing your tables, rolling your silverware, cutting up the cucmbers, tomatoes and onions so your salad won’t take so long when you want it, making fresh coffee every couple of hours and cleaning up the expo so when we bring your food out you won’t have butter, syrup, etc (i worked at IHOP) on the bottom of your plate. along with serving people there food in order (don’t bring the salad out in the middle of the meal) refilling glasses, bringing you your bill, taking your bill up to the register and waiting on the cashier/host(ess) to cash you out(who need i remind you is in no hurry because they’re making at least minimum wage), oh yeah, and i forgot, BREATHING! it IS a difficult job. and some people do it because it’s a challenge. that’s why i did it.i could have worked anywhere else, but there’s something about actually getting some REAL interaction time with other people that makes work so much fun (as opposed to bagging their groceries or selling them tennis shoes) i know this has been said more times than i would care to count, but some people are just dicks when it comes to there servers. you just can’t please them. they ask for a lot of ice, then when you put a lot of ice in their cup all of a sudden they don’t have as much to drink because you put too much in it. PHYSICS… DUH! or they lady that says her coffee is too hot. But I’d be a terrible server if I stuck it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. or the ones that occupy your table for 2+ hours and get pissed when you come over every 10 minutes asking if they need anything, because you’re disturbing them. but you’d be wrong for not coming over there at all, right? I agree it shouldn’t be put 100% on the customers to make sure the server gets paid adequately, but that’s just not gonna change. working graveyard shift at the only restaurant within a 15-mile radius that’s open after the club closes can have it’s ups and downs. sure you’re gonna have tons of tables. but at the same time, you’re dealing with a lot of drunk people (who are some of the worst and some of the best tippers)and a lot of very young people(who dont fully understand the concept of why you should/shouldn’t tip). if you feel you should get your food just the way you want it, and not have to tip, GO TO MCDONALDS!!! you can get your refills as often as you’d like without having to wait on someone to get it for you. if you want to order something else, you don’t have to wait for someone to come take it to the back for you. and one of my favorites YOU WILL KNOW BEFORE YOU GET YOUR FOOD what you’re being charged extra for. (i know the menu says “sub steak for extra 2.99) and you pay for your food b4 you get it, so when you get thru eating you don’t have to wait for the “bitter/slow/ lazy-ass” server to bring you your ticket… JUST GET UP AND GO!
  
  May 22, 2008 at 7:28 pm rating: 90
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#38 E

I’ve only not tipped ONCE… and it was because the waitress was so damned rude and incompetent. A bunch of us in college went to a Denny’s late at night – a common occurance in that town. While 4 people were ordering a lot of food, my roommate and I wanted to split a milkshake and an appetizer (something we had done before at that restaurant, and did again)… mainly because we couldn’t afford a nice tip if we ordered more. She INSISTED that we had to order more, or one of us would have to leave. She was absolutely rude to the others, rolling her eyes and asking if that was all they were going to order, etc. I even overheard her talking about that “table over there” in some not so nice tones.

Well, my roommate and I figured out how much we had… and ordered enough food to use up that amount. Then, we made a production after we ate that it was all we had – it was clear why she didn’t get a tip (because she made us order more in the first place!!!)

We just smiled and left.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:05 pm rating: 90

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#39 Anonymous

I’m sorry, but a tip is a reward for good service. It is not mine, nor any other customer’s fault that some employers choose to pay their staff well below the standard minimum wage.

That being said, if a server is incredibly rude or ignores the table other than to drop off your check, then they deserve nothing extra out of your pocket.

I tip on good/standard service, and very well on excellent service, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to add to the already exorbitant price of a meal if the server is unprofessional and rude.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:14 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #39.1 Meghann
  
  Sweetie, try ALL restaurant emplyers. Not some. Legal minimum wage for servers is 2.13/hour. And while it is not your fault that laws are written, it is not your server’s fault that you lack the ability to empathize.
  
  Also, servers do not determine the prices of the food that is served. So if you can’t afford to pay for your meal and a tip, maybe you should consider eating at McDonalds?
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:10 am rating: 90
- #39.2 susan
  
  and what would you do if all the servers who are “dumb enough” to work for less than minimum wage went to other jobs? the restaurant industry would collapse, and other job markets would be flooded with people who are best at something else.. just because you want to be a stingy asshole doesn’t change the economy, asshole.
  
  Jan 29, 2008 at 10:05 am rating: 90
- #39.3 Tjkdg
  
  Oh, but that’s the essence of it all. As long as you or other people accept the general fact, that they don’t need to step up the minimum wage because your tips will even them out, nothing will change. Acceptance doesn’t get anything changed.
  
  Is your primary skill to wait tables….?
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 2:45 am rating: 90
- #39.4 blahblah
  
  susan: “and what would you do if all the servers who are “dumb enough” to work for less than minimum wage went to other jobs?”
  
  That’s the thing. Not all servers would go to other jobs, because most servers understand that tips are directly related to the level of service they provide.
  
  What would YOU do if all the customers decided to go to another restaurant because of the bad service? Which is better? Getting stiffed a tip or getting fired? I know some restaurants that will fire a server on the spot with one complaint from a customer whether the complaint is legitimate or not (this happened to my friend a couple times). Not getting a tip is a far more lenient consequence of bad service.
  
  What hasn’t already been said here is that some servers profile customers. (I venture to guess the servers who don’t particularly enjoy serving do this more than others.) From their previous experience, they learn which people are most likely to be good or bad tippers and then they form a stereotype on which they base their future treatment of customers. It happens with minorities all of the time. I have eaten at the same restaurant and been served by the same server, yet received completely varying levels of service. I think who I was eating with made a lot of difference. That shouldn’t be the case. FYI: When this happens, it’s very obvious, especially when we see other tables around us getting really good service from our crappy server.
  
  Servers are not entitled to our money if we don’t like the job that’s being done. Period. We worked hard to get our money. So should servers. That said, good servers deserve good tips. I look at a tip as a thank you for making my dining experience enjoyable. I also tip extra if the server handles difficulties beyond their control with grace – even if they make mistakes.
  
  Meghann: “Also, servers do not determine the prices of the food that is served. So if you can’t afford to pay for your meal and a tip, maybe you should consider eating at McDonalds?”
  
  I already mentioned this in a previous comment but even the McDonald’s near my house has a tip jar now. We’re supposed to tip for getting hot french fries?
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 1:34 pm rating: 90
- #39.5 901redbone
  
  blah blah
  “What hasn’t already been said here is that some servers profile customers. (I venture to guess the servers who don’t particularly enjoy serving do this more than others.) ”
  
  and at the same time customers profile their servers. being the only African-American server in a restaurant in a predominantly Caucasian-American neighborhood, I have had several instances where i was told “we want Sarah to be our server.” I’ll tell them “i’m sorry Sarah’s not here today, but hopefully you’ll be just as satisfied with my service if not more. ” (with a smile on my face) but after i say that and i’m told “well what about that girl over there?” (yes the white girl whose name they don’t even know) then it starts pushing the limit. so now i have someone serving a table in MY section. PLEASE don’t ask for a table in that persons section to compensate for it, then your cutting back on THEIR tips…
  
  May 22, 2008 at 7:40 pm rating: 90
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#40 dirty mary

Please. If you wait 30 minutes and no one even acknowledges your presence you walk out and let them know why. And if you can let them know in condiments…all the better, my pretties.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:18 pm rating: 90

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#41 agirlie

I’ve only not tipped once. The waitress was rude and not accommodating. I usually tip 20% or more now. If service is really bad and awful, 10%. I don’t want to walk into a place around town and be known as a bad tipper or non-tipper.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:19 pm rating: 90

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- #41.1 blahblah
  
  Why go back if the service was horrible? Now I never go back to a restaurant if the service is so bad that I don’t want to leave a tip. If you leave a low tip, you are definitely sending a message that the service is subpar, but you’re still rewarding them with extra money. From the looks of this board, servers treat 10% tips the same as they would 0% tip – as if you’re robbing them of their livelihood.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 1:50 pm rating: 90
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#42 Nick

Tipping is a cost of eating out. If waiters were paid even minimum wage, menu prices would rise. Some restaurants split tips with kitchen and bar staffs, so by stiffing based on one shitty waitron is fucking others.

And if you are the kind of schmuck who doesn’t even tip minimally for questionable service, you shouldn’t eat out.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:20 pm rating: 90

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- #42.1 blahblah
  
  No, the cost of eating out is the PRICE OF THE FOOD. Tipping is thanking good service. If the tables are sticky when I sit down (which has happened several times), no tip for the busboy. If the service sucks, no tip for the waitress. If the wait staff are noticing lower tips, then they should all get together to make sure that everyone on the team delivers GOOD SERVICE. Peer pressure works wonders.
  
  I used to work as a Sales Coordinator for a nice hotel. It was part of my job to set up conference rooms for meetings and make sure everyone gets served. Now, I could go the route of recruiting the hotel service staff to help me and share my tips OR I could serve them myself and get all the tips. Servers are right. There are really rude, demanding, cheap customers who are unsatisfied with any level of service you provide. That comes with the job.
  
  The way our pay scale for meetings went is there’s the flat cost for renting a room which comes with complementary water and notepads/pens. There are rental charges for projector, easels, etc. There’s an 18% gratuity added to any beverages or food ordered from the hotel – the reasoning being that the servers should get paid for setting up/clearing out the refreshments.
  
  Some really cheap customers used to try to circumvent the 18% gratuity by bringing their own food (or ordering from an outside restaurant) but still requesting help with set-up/trash removal. Well, after doing this a couple times, I rewrote our meeting sales contracts to include separate set-up fees – for setting up refreshments/meals, audio-visual (for those lazy customers who wanted us to set up the audio-visual equipment they brought in instead of being charged for renting the hotel’s equipment), and any other extra service they requested from our limited hotel staff. With the rewritten contracts, I was able to dole out tips more fairly (based on who helped with what) instead of splitting them up evenly based on an overall 18% gratuity on food, which would sometimes amount to each person getting only a dollar for several hours’ worth of hard work.
  
  The point of my story is that I didn’t like my pay situation, so I did what I could to change it. Obviously, servers can’t rewrite contracts like I could, but they can lobby to increase their base pay. Get 2500 signatures on a petition and add higher base pay as an amendment on the ballot for your next local election.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:06 pm rating: 90
- #42.2 Amanda
  
  In Ohio the minimum wage for servers is $3.50/hr – because someone lobbied to get it on the ballot a few years ago (along with the minimum wage for non-tipped workers, which also increased).
  It’s still not a lot of money, but I usually get somewhere between $60 and $100 every 2 weeks (working about 20 hrs a week).
  
  I love my waitressing job, and I enjoy taking care of my customers. I have a college degree and could be doing several other things with my life right now, but I choose to be a server because it is what I like doing. That being said, “do unto others” applies in the restaurant business too. If a customer treats me like crap, the service they receive will suffer. A tip from your table isn’t important enough for me to be treated less than human by you for the next hour.
  
  Jun 17, 2008 at 11:21 am rating: 90
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#43 Cindy Who

I beg to differ, Nick.

Tipping is a reward for good service, otherwise it would be listed as a service charge.

Bad service gets no tip. End of story.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:27 pm rating: 90

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- #43.1 YOU"VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!
  
  where i worked as a server it was written on the menu’s that tipping was mandatory.
  and its always added to the check if its more than 8 ppl.
  these ppl bust thier ass for ignorant fools like you.
  thats why its called an unwritten law., becuase you should be beaten in public if you don’t tip.
  
  Feb 11, 2008 at 2:06 am rating: 90
- #43.2 901redbone
  
  totally agree with that. LMAO! even the worst servers will get SOMETHING! even if it’s just the change from a $20 bill with a $19.26 ticket. yeah it’s not much. but they get the clue that they have somethin they need to work on
  
  May 22, 2008 at 7:46 pm rating: 90
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#44 dangermandownunder

A tip is not a god given right. It’s to reward good service. It do it like this:
Average adequate service 15%
Barely adequate service 10%
Crap service 0%
Good service 18%
Great service 20% +

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:41 pm rating: 90

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- #44.1 blahblah
  
  Very nice scale. It’s close to the one I use. Requires very little computing and it’s fair to great servers. Any server who argues with this is basically admitting that they want to be unduly rewarded for inadequate service.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:12 pm rating: 90
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#45 Mike

I tip excessively for good service. For bad service, I tip whatever would bring them to minimum wage for the hour… a forty minute meal, they make 2.15 (in NC that’s what it is for waiters), they get at least a 3.40 tip. Of course, I also think it’s bullshit to tip on percentage of cost… carrying a steak is no more difficult than carrying a salad.

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:45 pm rating: 90

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- #45.1 blahblah
  
  “Of course, I also think it’s bullshit to tip on percentage of cost… carrying a steak is no more difficult than carrying a salad.”
  
  I never thought about it that way, but you’re right. Tipping based on cost encourages just-ok service on lower bills. That could explain why some servers keep asking whether we want dessert after we’ve already said no more than once. They just want to pad the bill for bigger tips.
  
  I’m gonna amend my tipping scale to tip based on # of ppl at table # of plates carried.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:18 pm rating: 90
- #45.2 901redbone
  
  i thought it was just me that the percentage thing was out of whack.
  
  May 22, 2008 at 7:48 pm rating: 90
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#46 Sara

Anyone else notice how the receipt has the credit card number on it? Mama needs some new shoes!! Just kidding! But seriously, you should probably blur that out..

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:50 pm rating: 90

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- #46.1 Len
  
  Don’t know a lot about credit cards do you? Count how many numbers are in that. It’s only the last 7 or 8 digits of a 16 digit number.
  I am surprised however to see the expiry date there.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:24 pm rating: 90
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#47 Matthew

Just because I keep seeing the argument pop up.

Everyone gets paid at least the minimum wage.
If someone’s hourly wage and hourly tips do not add up to the minimum wage then the employer MUST make up the difference.

If any server/tipped employee does not get paid at least minimum wage their employer is breaking the law.

For Further Reading: The Tip Wage Credit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_wage_credit

Jul 29, 2007 at 8:55 pm rating: 90

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- #47.1 Meghann
  
  Many managers won’t make up the difference, and what server can really afford to take legal action?
  That’s how the system works, and the server is basically screwed.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:14 am rating: 90
- #47.2 blahblah
  
  Not the customer’s responsibility. Take it up with your local congressperson.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:21 pm rating: 90
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#48 Mela

I waited tables throughout my first attempt at college and for a year after that attempt. I never once got zero-tipped, although once a pro football player left me $1.50 on a $300 bar and food tab after I refused to go back to his hotel room with him after work.

I’ve only ever zero-tipped a server myself, once, and that was when we watched her give the most excellent service in the universe to the table next to us, and left our food under the heatlamps for at least 30 minutes, never once refilled sodas, all the while taking pictures with the table next door, giving them booze on the house, and kissing their rears. I wrote a remarkable note on the credit card receipt, but it was before the days of cameraphones, or I would have submitted it here, by then.

Jul 29, 2007 at 9:00 pm rating: 90

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- #48.1 used to waitress
  
  a $300 tab would have at least a 15% tip added automatically to the total….
  
  I’ve only NOT tipped twice. Usually I tip too much, especially for great service, which is unusual (females do not get great service, nor do they tip well in groups). Once was in high school at an ice cream shop with such a rude waitress we ended up leaving about 2 pennies under a glass full of water on the table (yes, you CAN do it!).
  
  The other was a few weeks ago at an I-Hop with such lazy waitresses flirting with the cooks who were using foul language and talking loudly in the kitchen we could hear them in the dining room… long story short, I asked the casier where the “manager” was and he said he WAS the manager and I told him he should try “managing” his restaurant. The manager gave me 50% off the tab and the waitress got nothing! p.s. I worked at I-Hop (about a month). Sad, but true.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 11:14 am rating: 90
- #48.2 Juliet
  
  I worked at IHOP for just about 2 years. There was foul mouthed cooks flirting with the waitstaff there, as well.
  
  People here are extremely defensive about tipping.
  
  Tips should just be added onto the bill, and end of story. If you didn’t like the service talk to the manager.
  
  I see plenty of other people earn their full wage even when they do their job terribly (like the Premier of the province I live in,) so please don’t start barking about how the server was lazy and doesn’t deserve a tip.
  
  If you haven’t worked in a restaurant you have no idea and I can’t take your comments seriously.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 3:42 pm rating: 90
- #48.3 Canthz_B
  
  I worked in an IHOP when I was a college student.
  Some of the things that some of the waitpersons here are claiming as part of their jobs were the jobs of the bus boys at IHOP.
  Not taking sides, I’m just saying.
  Yes, waitpersons filled the syrup, salt and pepper shakers and the like, but that was done between the end of lunch and the beginning of dinner while there were few customers (can you say time on your hands?).
  That is also when the bus boys swept and mopped the floors, topped off the coffee machine, filled the soup and salad bins, filled up the ice bin, made the iced tea, and wiped down all of the tables and booths and cleaned the Ladies and Mens Rooms.
  For all of this we got 10 percent of the tips to split between bus boys, dish washer and swing man. After cleaning your tables all day to assure wait staff a good customer turnover, they bitched every evening over ten percent which we had to split 3 ways!
  I can see both sides on this. I tip because I know other workers benefit even if my waitress sucked. I had a clean plate, so I’m paying the dishwasher. I had a clean table, so I’m tipping the bus boy. I had a poor waitress, so I’m telling the manager!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:26 pm rating: 90
- #48.4 901redbone
  
  WOW! your busboys did all that??? i used to work at IHOP too and ours just bussed the tables, cleaned the dishes, and made sure the floors were mopped in the dish wash area. we had to keep all our own bins topped off. made our own tea and coffee, and cleaned the ladies’ and mens’ rooms. another thing. when you work 2nd or 3rd shift, there’s almost no such thing as free time. so you’re pretty much filling up the syrups and shakers between tables. normally while your other tables are eating or chit-chatting after dinner.
  
  May 22, 2008 at 7:56 pm rating: 90
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#49 BoggyWoggy

What about all of the other service workers out there who get no tips??? I don’t believe waitresses are earning $2-3/hour, as stated above, due to minimum wage laws. However, I could be wrong…and I’m sure someone here will blast a response to me, which is good, since that is entertaining.
I sometimes LIKE poor service, since it gives me a story to share, raises my blood pressure, and gives me a chance to “give feedback” verbally (for example: “I’m sorry. Have we done something to offend you?” That statement is SOOOOOO passive-aggressive and gets a mixed response from waiters.)

Jul 29, 2007 at 9:30 pm rating: 90

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- #49.1 blahblah
  
  I agree! I can be very passive-aggressive with bad servers, right before I get very assertive by talking to the manager.
  
  I like asking if the server is having a bad day. Usually, I get one of three responses:
  
  1. Yes, it’s been really bad. (Proceed to dump all their problems on the table.)
  
  2. No, why? (It’s now my turn to ask “Why I’m getting bad service then?”)
  
  3. No. (“Then why are you trying so hard to ruin my day?”)
  
  Next stop: Leave a low/no tip and then off to speak with the manager.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:28 pm rating: 90
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#50 mosquito bitten

so the ketchup/mustard one is on a counter at a diner?
there must have been No One around who worked there, cuz that type of work takes a couple mins and it would be obvious to anyone around that he/she/they were maneuvering the bottles around pretty differently than if there were fries there.
i’d be afraid of getting caught.

Jul 29, 2007 at 9:41 pm rating: 90

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#51 Umm, what the hell?

Umm… If you aren’t getting paid at least minimum wage, why work there at all? And where exactly is this happening? In Canada it’s illegal to NOT pay minimum wage. Plus, I’m expected to tip, but I do more work and get paid less than most waiters/waitresses, and I’m in a skill based job instead of a “i’m just doing this til I get something better” job…. Oh well, if you do a shitty job you shouldn’t get a tip. If you don’t like your wage, leave.

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:00 pm rating: 90

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- #51.1 Meghann
  
  It is happening everywhere in the US. All corporate restaurants (TGI Friday’s, Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s) where I live pay 2.13/hour. It is legal minimum wage for the food service industry. The restaurant managers do not give raises to servers, no matter how well they do their job. SOME (very few) mom-and-pop restaurants pay a little more, but not much.
  
  Most servers, on a good day, make more than minimum wage, and most are full-time students with many obligations.
  On a bad day, I’ve walked out with as little as $7 in my pocket. Try paying bills on that. It pretty much evens out to around minimum wage, but until I’m out of school I can’t find another job that will work with my hectic schedule the way restaurants do. That’s why most of us still work in restaurants. If we left, we would have no way to pay for out education.
  
  And just wondering, where exactly are you employed that requires you to do more work than a server? I’ve had three other jobs outside of restaurants and NEVER have I busted my ass like I do serving.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:24 am rating: 90
- #51.2 Canthz_B
  
  I would think that any kind of contractor…Plumbing, electrical, landscaping, etc. works harder than you. And let’s not forget the cook that cooks for your tables as well as those of the other servers at the same time. You could always lay brick.
  Stay in school. Maybe having worked for it will help you appreciate it all the more.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:32 am rating: 90
- #51.3 Meghann
  
  And these contractors also make a lot more money and are usually men, not women like myself who are 5’1 and weigh 110 lbs.
  
  And the cooks usually cause us just as much trouble as the bitchy customer.
  
  I am always nice to my customers and 90% of the time I do an awesome job. I was just making the point that it is extremely hard work, and yes I do appreciate having worked hard and my lesson learned is that it is NOT okay to treat anyone with disrespect, whether you are a server or customer. And not tipping is disrespectful.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:35 am rating: 90
- #51.4 Illeanna
  
  Excuse me? Don’t bring the cooks into it. I bust my ass to get your food out on time, I work in a kitchen that in the summer is 125 degrees! I make sure EVERY plate goes out to the specifications of the server, and if your food comes out wrong, then it was your own damn fault for not listening to the customer. Before I ever became a cook, I was a server working at the Elephant Bar, and yes, 2.13 an hour does suck, having loads of sidework and a ton of customers is trying, but TIPS are not guarenteed. You have to earn them. Congrats to you for saying you are a great server. I’m sure you bust your ass and work real hard but on a lot of your comments you have come off as extremely biased.
  
  Not tipping, or tipping poorly is not dissrespecting the server. It is letting them know that somewhere during the time the customer was there, they screwed up.
  
  Jan 4, 2008 at 10:11 am rating: 90
- #51.5 Alena
  
  I think it’s great you’re such a good cook, and I will be the first one to give props to people working in such a hellish environment (extremely hot, high stress, etc.). The heat alone is what has kept me from trying to cook, and I do admire the fortitude of those who do it.
  
  However, I could give you a long list of times the kitchen has messed up my food.. times when they automatically assume (like you) that *I* messed up. Times like that, after being belittled, sworn at, or having to argue with someone when it wasn’t my fault in the first place, I get a small sense of satisfaction showing the ticket that I rang up correctly. If I made a mistake, I will admit it and take whatever comes, but not all mistakes are the servers’.
  
  I try to get along with all my coworkers, and I cultivate a friendly rapport with the people on the line. I have to say that in my years of service, I’ve observed that cooks and chefs often feel it’s their duty to give the servers shit. I can’t count the number of times I’ve asked for something in a polite and friendly manner, only to have bad attitude lobbed back at me. I don’t know why this is, maybe it’s a power trip or ego thing, but I don’t get it because ultimately our goal is essentially the same, no?
  
  Jan 4, 2008 at 2:44 pm rating: 90
- #51.6 you're a dick
  
  the reason they only have this job till they can find one better is because its really is that bad, and they really do get paid that little, but sometimes there isn’t a choice involved, where i live there is a 13% unemployment rate, you can’t leave a job, and you can’t demand better, you have to grin and bear it, all the while praying you make you good tips.
  
  Feb 11, 2008 at 2:14 am rating: 90
- #51.7 Eat a dick.
  
  Few servers are where they are because they “didn’t stay in school”. Most of us are still in school , trying to pay our way and have little alternative to waiting tables. I have two jobs now, my non-serving one I was in training for for over three months. I bust my ass way more waiting tables than I do at my “skilled” job.
  
  Feb 19, 2008 at 6:43 pm rating: 90
- #51.8 Meghann
  
  To Illeana, I am trained as a cook as well, and pick up cooking shifts whenever people call out, so I as well have seen both sides of the equation. If I fuck something up, I have no problem admitting it. But even when I ring in an order exactly as the customer orders it and someone else fucks it up (cooks, expo, etc.), I am the one whose wages are taken away, and I am the one who is punished. So instead of always thinking it is the server’s fault, I do not understand why some cooks cannot admit when they are wrong. Everyone makes mistakes.
  
  Mar 15, 2008 at 2:33 pm rating: 90
- #51.9 blahblah
  
  To Meghann: As a server, you are the liaison between the cook and the customer. If something’s wrong with the food, then it’s the server’s job to make sure the mistake is corrected. I have had wrong food brought out to me. It’s annoying but I don’t automatically assume it’s the server’s fault. BUT when I inform the server about the mistake, I expect to get a more polite response than “This is what you ordered.” The cook didn’t make the server say that. So the server gets docked on tips. If I ask for a straw TWICE and the server never brings it to me, did the cook do that, too? If the server is giving me attitude, is the cook acting as a ventriloquist? If you’re such a great server (how unbiased of you to rate yourself), then your tips will reflect that on average.
  
  From the condescending and argumentative tone in your comments here, I highly doubt you’re as great of a server as you claim to be.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:39 pm rating: 90
- #51.10 Joey's Stinky Foot
  
  Blahblah, you’re only assuming “this is what you ordered” or a like statement has consistently been uttered by Meghan to her customers. Never at any time did she mention that she’d responded to them in this manner.
  She didn’t sound condescending in her comments at all–somewhat argumentative, yes. However, I find your comment both condescending AND patronizing.
  
  Jun 18, 2008 at 4:17 pm rating: 90
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#52 angiedmann

Katie, you are correct it was originally an acronym for To Insure Prompt Service. However, it also came from a time when you tipped BEFORE the meal.

I would just like to say something a coworker from one of the many restaurants I worked in once pointed out. When you’re having a bad day or screw up at the office your boss does not dock your pay. Why should it be considered acceptable to do the same in a restaurant? Granted, if you have a series of bad days you should be fired, but leaving a bad tip doesn’t tell the manager the server is bad and will not get said server fired. Bad service? Tell the manager.

I also think unless you’ve worked in a restaurant you can’t have a full understanding of all the things that can go wrong which are out of the server’s control and can consequently make it look like they’re doing a bad job.

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:03 pm rating: 90

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- #52.1 Len
  
  I’ve replied to previous statements in kind, but I believe it bares repeating.
  The manager pays their wages, not the customer. The customer is already paying enough on one meal to have fed themself for a week if they did groceries, they go out for the comfort and luxury, a rude server is not luxurious.
  You are not docking a persons pay by leaving no tip, you are telling them they have done a lousy job and need improvement.
  
  I’d also like to add you are incorrect about the origin of the word, and I would be interested to know where your etymological research was performed.
  
  Considering that modern English was not even a notion conceived at the time that giving a gratuity or “tip” was conceived, and would therefore not have the same acronym. Nor were they ever paid in advance.
  
  You can find many references to it gratuities and tipping starting in Latin, French and German in the 16th century around 1515-1525.
  
  It is defined, as an unexpected payment without claim or demand for the benefit of one’s services, and is in no ways considered to be mandatory or necessary by a legal sense. Though as pointed out by the Oxford institute is considered poor etiquette to be “stingy” on the tip.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:38 pm rating: 90
- #52.2 schm0
  
  Your statement is not true.
  
  In the U.S., servers make a wage just enough for a server to cover an average amount for tax purposes. Most do not receive a paycheck. I have probably collected several hundred checks with “This is not a check” printed next to zero balance.
  
  Read: Most servers make their money ONLY on tips.
  
  So, you *are* docking a server’s pay by not tipping.
  
  Dec 20, 2007 at 11:49 am rating: 90
- #52.3 Skeltz
  
  Len, It’s actually a little worse than just “docking a persons [sic] pay.” It is stealing, in the same sense that sneaking into a movie theater is stealing. You are stealing the service that they provided you. Furthermore, there is a reason your steak costs 24 dollars and not 30, and that is because servers get paid between $2.35 and $3.25 per hour, depending on the state. I agree with your statement that dining out is more expensive than going to the grocery store–which means if you cannot afford the experience of dining out, then…don’t go out to eat. It’s really not complicated. By your logic, you could go into a Banana Republic store and only pay $15 for a $75 dollar shirt, because it costs that much at Wal-Mart. So Len, if you are so poverty-stricken that you are comfortable stealing someone’s living from them, then please don’t pretend to have the requisite income to dine out.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 1:23 am rating: 90
- #52.4 blahblah
  
  Angiedmann:
  “When you’re having a bad day or screw up at the office your boss does not dock your pay. Why should it be considered acceptable to do the same in a restaurant?”
  
  What part of “SERVICE industry” don’t you understand? When the point of your job is to serve, and you don’t do that well = no/low tip. I’ll put it to you like this. Restaurants are in the service industry. In addition to the food, restaurants with servers are also providing a dining EXPERIENCE, if you will. If the food is provided but is not satisfactory, the manager should cut the bill down, exchange the dish, or add something complimentary to make up for the subpar food. If the service isn’t satisfactory, the service charge (tip) should be decreased. If any part of the dining experience (food, service, atmosphere) is inadequate, it takes away from the total product the restaurant is selling and could lead to disgruntled customers = low sales. Good managers understand this, that’s why they bend over backwards to make the customer happy. Bad word of mouth about a restaurant is the kiss of death. The quickest way to get bad word of mouth is to provide bad service. Therefore, bad service means lost revenues for the restaurant = liability. Every now and then low tipping can be blamed on cheap customers. But receiving consistently low tips is an indicator that the server needs to step the service game up or change occupations.
  
  I am in sales. If I make little or no sales, I don’t get commissions and/or I get fired. Most sales jobs make low base pay because this is supposed to be incentive to earn sales (by treating people well, understanding the customer, etc.).
  
  When most people mess up the main part of their job description, they get disciplined (probation, written up, suspended, etc.). Over time, the mistakes/subpar performance can lead to getting fired…which is way worse than getting pay docked. Try a new job. It sucks for everyone else who isn’t a C-level exec, too.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 2:46 pm rating: 90
- #52.5 Joey's Stinky Foot
  
  Blahblah, obviously you’ve never worked in the food industry.
  
  “When the point of your job is to serve, and you don’t do that well = no/low tip.”
  
  Yeah? well, I’ll tell you what else = no tip:
  1. obnoxious high school students or other young punks that use their last dollars to pay for the meal you serve them and raise hell to boot.
  
  2. Neurotic folks who are never satisfied with anything, ever (that includes those special customers who are meticulously specific with their food order and have to have it “just perfect” or there will be hell to pay).
  
  3. Your regular gaggle of a-holes and douchebags (who DO exist outside of the waitress/waiter business, in case you’ve forgotten).
  
  I’ve waited in the food industry, and that’s how I know. Having said that, I will NEVER wait tables again. Talk about getting crapped on, especially when people like Blahblah go out to eat. As a matter of fact, I was once even sexually molested by some jerk and he didn’t have the decency to tip me, either. Sometimes you can give it your all–be polite, courteous, and readily available–and people will STILL not tip out of sheer rudeness. Oh, but it’s still the server’s fault, right? And the customer doesn’t HAVE to tip, right? Well, the customer doesn’t HAVE to go out to eat and require a waitstaff’s services, now do they? Try waiting tables one weekend night at an Italian restaurant in a town in Jersey and we’ll see how quickly you changed YOUR biased “the customer is always right” attitude.
  
  Jun 18, 2008 at 4:53 pm rating: 90
- #52.6 Joey's Stinky Foot
  
  And one more thing, Blahblah: You say if you don’t like the service industry, get another job. Well, not many people like working in the service/food industry, but if everyone listened to your advice there’d be nobody to cook or serve your food when you want to go out to eat.
  
  Jun 18, 2008 at 4:57 pm rating: 90
- #52.7 me
  
  But there would be people to cook and serve. If all the workers started to leave, restaurants would start to pay more to attract new workers. They might have to increase prices to cover those expenses and maybe people would “eat out” less often. However all things would balance out and supply would meet demand and the free market will figure itself out.
  
  On another note I wish restaurants would just up their prices and pay their staff more. When I buy my gas all the taxes are added into the price why can’t it be that way with expected “gratuities”, just add it in. Just as the above if they add in too much fewer people will visit their establishment and the free market wins again!
  
  Jun 21, 2008 at 2:25 am rating: 90
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#53 der

That’s the point–there was No One around!!

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:07 pm rating: 90

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#54 angiedmann

Boggy Woggy, you’re wrong. In most states it is legal for a restaurant to pay their tipped employees half of minimum wage, and Matthew, I have personally worked in a place that did not adhere to that policy. It is also interesting to note that in any restaurant that works with computer generated checks and receipts a server is taxed based on 9% tips REGARDLESS of what the actual tips are.

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:10 pm rating: 90

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#55 restaurantess

I live and work in a restaurant in Canada, where waiters and waitresses are paid MUCH less than minimum wage. Tips are their income! And to all you assholes who stiff your servers: eventually, they’ll just start adding a 15% ‘service charge’ directly to your bill.

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:23 pm rating: 90

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- #55.1 Len
  
  Many restaurants do add a 15% service charge to the bill here in Canada, mostly places where a single plate will be upwards of $30, but not all restaurants do this.
  
  And servers are not paid less than minimum wage, they are paid based on servers minimum, which is approximately 70% of the standard provincial minimum wage. This means a single 15% tip equal to approximately $3.00 brings them above and beyond minimum wage, and that’s from one meal, at one table.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:41 pm rating: 90
- #55.2 Skeltz
  
  I should have guessed you weren’t American. In America, servers get about $3.00 per hour. From reading your other posts, I really hope you never come to America to dine–although judging by your pathetically cheap practices, you would never be able to afford the plane ticket.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 1:32 am rating: 90
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#56 Mama C

That’s illegal! I do payroll in Canada. All employees MUST be paid their provincial minimum wage, not including tips.
I used to be a server and I considered tips to be a bonus, not a right.

Jul 29, 2007 at 10:48 pm rating: 90

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#57 cam

In Australia, waiting staff get reasonable pay, so I only ever pay “loose change” tips. If I don’t get tips at work, why should I pay any?

U.S serving staff should strike for minimum working conditions.

Jul 29, 2007 at 11:21 pm rating: 90

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- #57.1 Juliet
  
  I agree about the workers striking for minimum wage. Can you imagine? People would spaz if they couldn’t go out to eat.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 3:48 pm rating: 90
- #57.2 Eli
  
  Of course US servers should strike to get fair pay. Why do you think restaurant owners and managers fire any employees that try to organize a union?
  
  Jan 25, 2008 at 11:58 am rating: 90
- #57.3 ak
  
  Then get another job, instead of whining and blaming customers for your lousy working conditions.
  
  Jan 27, 2008 at 6:22 pm rating: 90
- #57.4 Niki
  
  The problem with striking or something similar is any server knows that they can be replaced easily. And their replacement can be trained in a matter of days.
  
  Mar 21, 2008 at 1:24 pm rating: 90
- #57.5 Skeltz
  
  not in fine dining, sweety.
  
  Apr 3, 2008 at 1:37 am rating: 90
- #57.6 f8ra
  
  And working in “fine dining” is the only way a server deserves to make a living?
  
  Jun 27, 2008 at 3:45 am rating: 90
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#58 Devil's Advocate

To: restaurantess-there is a 15% service charge already. Its called GST-ever hear of it?

And I would love to know where in Canada people are being paid less than minimum wage for work-its illegal and the employer not only faces massive fines, but also jail time.

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:16 am rating: 90

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- #58.1 Len
  
  Not to mention they get audited for payments due and back pay to all employees affected.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:43 pm rating: 90
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#59 Michelle

I honestly do sympathize with servers, the work hard for very little money. However, it is a service industry. I tip, and I tip well…so I expect good, prompt service. And I usually get it.
However, I’ve had experiences at wonderful restaurants, that I’m a regular at, where I’ve given less than 5%…
But that was because they forgot about us for an hour. If the kitchens backed up, okay, but you can bring me my drink and let me know how long it’s gonna be.
Then you get bumped up to my everyday 15%

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:42 am rating: 90

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- #59.1 Len
  
  Thankyou Michelle! Someone other than me who can point out that a server is not tipped based on the kitchen’s inadequacies, it’s a matter of how the server does their job and controls THEIR end of the situation.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:45 pm rating: 90
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#60 Melody

I live in Japan and there is no tipping here. The waitstaff or taxi driver is there to meet the customer’s needs and when they are on duty that is their reason for living. Being an American, it was kind of hard to get used to – we couldn’t get over the feeling that we’d stiffed people and were always looking over our shoulders as we left the restaurant wondering if someone was going to approach our table and suddenly look totally dejected and pissed. But, that’s the way it is here and it’s quite nice since the service is always impeccable everywhere. There’s no figuring, no wondering, no discussion about how much to leave. I like it.

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:48 am rating: 90

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#61 Iskander

I’m dutch and I don’t understand…..If there is a minimum wage in the USA, why are there still people being payed LESS than the minimum wage? In my opinion the whole point of having a minimum wage is that that is the least people can get payed.

In Holland waiters get payed far more than minimum wage, and do not have to survive on tips. Tips are only given to people who do excellent jobs, as a bonus.

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:03 am rating: 90

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- #61.1 schm0
  
  The amount servers make is enough to cover the average local, state and federal income tax. Therefore, all gross income is from tips. If nobody tipped, the server would make no money, but still make enough from his or her wage to cover the income taxes.
  
  Dec 20, 2007 at 12:18 pm rating: 90
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#62 lindsay

the only time i have ever left a bad tip was this summer. i went to dinner with some of my fellow interns (i’m an engineer, i’m female, the rest of the interns are male). our server at this restaurant was male. when he was seating us, we were the only people in the lobby area since it was a really slow night (4th of july!) and he addressed all of us as gentlemen. please note that i mentioned i’m female. then when he came back to take our drink orders, i had to wave him down because he started to leave after taking everyone else’s drink order but before taking mine. he not once refilled my water glass even though multiple times i was very obviously trying to drink from an empty glass. the only time he ever looked at me or addressed me instead of only the guys i was with was when he took my plate, which was 10 minutes after he took everyone else’s plate even though i’d been done that whole time. everyone else in my group got great service, but the server acted as if i wasn’t even there. i left a 58 cent tip (rounded to the nearest dollar) and a note as to why i gave him such a bad tip

Jul 30, 2007 at 5:08 am rating: 90

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- #62.1 Len
  
  Shouldn’t have given him anything other than the note sweetie. Average night he serves how many tables at a time? Even if he did poorly at each table, and each table left him $0.60, he’d be up about $6.00 an hour.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:49 pm rating: 90
- #62.2 me
  
  Male server giving good service to the guys and bad to the girl? I’m going to go with “He’s gay.”
  
  Jun 21, 2008 at 2:31 am rating: 90
- #62.3 KR
  
  Len- Notice how you called her sweetie there? It smacks of the same misogyny her server showed her. I’m just trying to help you out, you may want to keep that in check. Women don’t like to be called little pet names by people who aren’t blood related or sleeping with them. Now you know.
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 12:22 pm rating: 90
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#63 Erin

To all you compassionless non-tippers out there, I hope you are 100 per cent perfect at your job at every moment. What if for every ten minutes you slacked at work, or did your work but didn’t do a good job of pretending to be enjoying yourself, you had money deducted from your paycheck? What if your boss was hovering over you at every task throughout your day, with a mental scorecard, deciding what your salary should be, sometimes arbitrarily, for each task? And your boss changed with every task you performed, so you could never really get to know how they want things done?
Dealing with the public can be degrading and emotionally exhausting, and one of the hardest jobs out there.
Have some sympathy, and give your fellow man the benefit out of the doubt when you don’t get exactly what you want.

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:05 am rating: 90

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- #63.1 Len
  
  I do have a boss who grades my every move, and I do get payment based on my performance, if I perform poorly I still have a wage. I must live based on my wage, and if I make more in performance bonuses so be it.
  A tip is just that, a performance bonus, the customer is not your boss, they do not own the restaurant, they are there for a meal, and hopefully an enjoyable time out for something they could have otherwise had for a 1/10th the price at home.
  I’ve never found the public difficult to deal with at any time in any of my jobs. Many of which have been jobs where my only purpose is to take complaints from customers who yell and scream and make a fit over something that was definitely not my fault in the first place.
  In the service and public services industry it’s your job to know how to deal with people, all kinds of people. If you think this sounds too much like being a psychiatrist, well it sort of is. At least you should be a half decent cold reader, or move into a different industry. Perhaps fast food is for you.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 10:54 pm rating: 90
- #63.2 schm0
  
  This is much different than living entirely on tips, like most servers do. You said it yourself, “I must live based on my wage, and if I make more in performance bonuses so be it.” A large majority of servers make enough to cover their taxes, and that’s it. Tips are their ONLY source of income.
  
  Taking complaints is one thing, but basing your livelihood solely on your performance (and hopefully not receiving a complaint in the first place) is entirely different.
  
  Dec 20, 2007 at 12:29 pm rating: 90
- #63.3 Meghann
  
  Amen to Erin!
  
  And to Len… I said before most servers are college students, and as you said, we are doing the job required of a psychiatrist. We don’t get raises, we get tips. We don’t have dreams and aspirations of being a server all our lives, we’re just trying to get by. Not everyone can afford to go to college without working full time. So give us a damn break.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:34 am rating: 90
- #63.4 901redbone
  
  len
  can’t you still live on just your wages though? that’s the big difference. if servers made at least minimum wage, a lot of this wouldn’t be an issue. in YOUR industry you get “performance bonuses”. servers get “actual take home pay” as a bonus.
  
  May 22, 2008 at 8:13 pm rating: 90
- #63.5 me
  
  “Not everyone can afford to go to college without working full time.”
  
  … then don’t go. Or get a loan, or a sugar daddy/momma, or get a full time job for a few years and save money, or get a job that will pay for you to go to school… or suck it up and accept that the job that you accepted to work at pays you crap + (sometimes) tips.
  
  Jun 21, 2008 at 2:39 am rating: 90
- #63.6 johnny
  
  There’s always the Army.
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 12:26 pm rating: 90
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#64 Anonymous

Who waits 30min for service and leaves without ever interrupting a nearby server??

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:10 am rating: 90

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#65 Erin

I beg to differ Cindy Who and others. It’s a simple economic fact that you’d be paying more for your food if servers were paid more per hour. They aren’t because the understanding exists that, in this country, you tip for the service of a live human accommodating your every dining whim.
And I hope you don’t ever go back to a place you’ve left no, or a poor, tip. The reality is, servers always remember and retribution happens.

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:23 am rating: 90

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#66 Jenny

Not leaving a tip is COMPLETELY passive aggressive because more than likely – and I know from experience – the people who don’t leave tips and do sh!t like this are also the ones who don’t bother to speak to a manager and actually complain. I had times where I knew things were going rough (and I apologized every time) but people kissed my ass and never complained, never asked to talk to my boss, and then stiffed me.

My advice? If you get bad service, TELL SOMEONE. Tell a manager – they do follow up with that. On the flip side, I also make it a point to always talk to a manager when I have great service, because that deserves recognition as well.

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:30 am rating: 90

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- #66.1 johnny
  
  Is it really passive-aggressive? If someone leaves you no tip or a penny you should know that your customer was not happy with their service. Would it be better if the customer just came out with it at the end of the meal and said “You were a terrible waitress, you ignored us, our order was wrong, you never refilled our drinks, you were rude, etc. etc.”? Because I generally don’t like to do that in a public place. So what is the best thing to do? I don’t want to talk to the manager, to me that’s passive-aggressive. He’s not the one that screwed up. The server needs to hear it directly. While I don’t think just saying BOO You Fail is enough information, how is someone going to learn from that? They need specifics. So what is the answer?
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 2:17 pm rating: 90
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#67 Annoyed

To all of you that keep using the comparison of having your pay docked at a normal job for making a mistake, tips are BONUS not SALARY. You DO get your bonus reduced if you screw up at a regular job.

Besides which, if you’re not the screw up waiter, it’s the kitchen’s fault, you can talk up the table and let them know that and how long the problem is going to be. It’s not the customer’s fault that their food is late and that the waiter is too much of a jerk to tell them why. If there’s a problem, say so, don’t let the poor customer waiting.

Tips aren’t supposed to be salary, and if you’re getting paid as if you are you should just leave instead of bitching here. There are lots of jobs that deserve tips more than just a person who brings food to your table… I have no idea why waiters get tips whereas teachers, doctors, mechanics, etc don’t. It is known that waiters don’t get paid well… If you don’t like the pay don’t be a waiter.

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:54 am rating: 90

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- #67.1 schm0
  
  Finding a restaurant that pays more than $2.50 an hour is nearly impossible. A lot of people, such as students or single parents or anyone without a 9-5 schedule don’t have any other options. Ironically enough, it is most likely these people (who need all the help they can get) who suffer financially from such behavior.
  
  Dec 20, 2007 at 12:33 pm rating: 90
- #67.2 Eli
  
  “Tips aren’t supposed to be salary…”
  
  If that were remotely true, the government wouldn’t allow restaurants to pay a lower hourly minimum wage to tipped employees.
  
  People who have a problem with paying for being served are cheap, and they cheapen the dining experience by expecting something for nothing.
  
  Such people should stay out of restaurants and stick to places where they are welcome. I.e. carryout.
  
  Jan 25, 2008 at 11:21 am rating: 90
- #67.3 901redbone
  
  wages make up taxes. so a tip is a salary. and oftentimes, no matter how much u chat up the table and tell them it’s the kitchens fault or that the computer is down or whatever, they can only take their anger out ONE way… stiffing or leaving very small tips (i’m talkin pocket change with lint balls) i’m sure that if they had a choice and could pay less for their food and tip the server for being so nice about it, they would. unless they see a manager, what would’ve been your tip is now going toward paying for their food. some ppl could come in expecting to pay 55 bucks for good food and good service say they run up a 42 dollar check but the food was so terrible they aren’t gonna pay but $45. the server could have been Jesus himself. the cooks (who created this monstrocity of a meal) are still gonna get their pay, but the poor server (don’t u just hate being the middleman) get’s left with 3 bucks. i’m sure if they could take 5 dollars off their meal that they WOULD give it to the server
  
  May 22, 2008 at 8:27 pm rating: 90
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#68 PatHMV

Ditto what anonymous #62 said. If I’ve been sitting in a restaurant more than 5 minutes without any server coming to the table, I go find a host/hostess or a manager, or even just another server, to make sure my server knows I’m there. Most of the time, it turns out that the poor server was working 10 other tables and nobody bothered to tell her she needed to work mine, too; sometimes she was working a section of the restaurant she doesn’t normally work, and so again forgot to check my table. When that happens, I certainly don’t hold it against her when it comes to the tip.

To the waiters and waitresses: Hey, most of us know that you’re human like the rest of us. But if you’re having a bad day, at least be AWARE that you’re giving bad service and apologize for it. Do that, and we may have some sympathy for you and bump up your tip to make your day better. But don’t expect the standard tip if you’ve done a sub-standard job. You don’t ask your boss for a raise right after one of your bad days, do you?

And to the managers: You really should step up to the plate and provide discounts on meals when the kitchen staff screwed up. The other night, my medium stake came out completely rare. I sent it back, politely. It came back perfectly done, and a manager brought it out, but the manager didn’t take even the slightest discount, even though my date had almost finished her meal by the time my steak came back.

And I still gave the waitress my usual 20%, even though I was mildly ticked at her for not stopping by immediately after the meal was served to make sure everything was done properly (I had to flag down a hostess to send it back)…. she was polite and apologetic and clearly overextended in her section.

Jul 30, 2007 at 6:55 am rating: 90

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#69 Andie

Around South Carolina, it’s $2.15 an hour and whatever tips you make. The companies around here don’t make sure you get at least min. wage or anything like that, so there are days where you work 12 hours, with no breaks (you don’t get scheduled breaks like every other industry) and end up with only like $20 plus your $2.15. I’ve worked in the food buisness plenty of times but I do agree that if the service is that shitty, then don’t tip.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:05 am rating: 90

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#70 m

i am one who disagrees with leaving a tip for crappy service. why should i leave a tip if the waitstaff is going to treat me like an asshole when i come into his establishement over any other establishment to eat?

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:07 am rating: 90

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#71 Max Roswell

If you didn’t like the service, don’t tip. That’s fine.

You leave me a note like that on the check, and I’m following you into the parking lot and smashing your entitled little face into the pavement. What a douche.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:12 am rating: 90

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#72 stephanie

Unfortunately, tips are not really optional when people make $2.13 an hour. They are factored into the pay in such a way that a person is essentially working for free if they don’t get tipped. It would be nice if they were an extra incentive for good service, but those days are long gone.

If you don’t like the service, leave a small or no-tip and leave quietly or have a reasonble discussion with the server or manager if you must.

This ketchup thing and note on the bill was just unacceptably stupid and mean-spirited.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:23 am rating: 90

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#73 Hannah

I’ve only not left a tip once (and even then, I just left the .63 in change). This woman was awful. Here are some highlights:

- hitting on my boyfriend
- coming up behind us and coughing “gross” under her breath because he was kissing my cheek
- asking my friend where she got her shirt, and when informed it was from American Eagle, responding with a disappointing, “Oh. Nevermind.”
- instead of bringing eggplant, she brought my vegetarian boyfriend, of all things, veal, and when we sent it back, with smiles, she went on a 5 minute tirade about, “Who eats eggplant anyway? I think my MOM eats eggplant!”
-then she brought the veal back AGAIN because she forgot what we had wanted
-when we told her we didn’t want anything boxed up, she told my boyfriend that his eggplant was free, saying, “Anything for you, babe.”

Yeah. No tip for you, chick.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:24 am rating: 90

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#74 T-Bone

I agree, Jenny 64. It’s childish to write on the counter with ketchup and mustard or leave a nasty note on the credit card receipt. For heaven’s sake– just ask for the manager and complain to them. No need to be an ill-mannered jerk.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:45 am rating: 90

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- #74.1 zombieBlanco
  
  901redbone!!!
  
  Stop posting on this note now!!!
  
  It is old and dead!!!
  
  May 22, 2008 at 8:36 pm rating: 90
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#75 Writer, Rejected

Good point, anonymous. It certainly is worth a screaming tantrum or two to get another waitron’s attention before you resort to the big catsup/mustard guns. Who says that’s childish? Isn’t that just a good old fashion capitalistic the-customer-is-always-right American-obnoxious philosophy? Not that I don’t love it, or anything. I do. But I’ve waited on many-a table in my lifetime, and I have never *not* tipped because I know what a horrible job it truly is. But I do think the condiment message is priceless. If I were the waitron and that happened in my station, I would have a good laugh over it.

Jul 30, 2007 at 8:04 am rating: 90

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- #75.1 Caty
  
  As a waitress for the last five years, the ketchup thing would make me laugh. It’s funny. If a guest had the time to do that without getting caught, then more power to him.
  The “notes” left on the tickets however … that makes me so mad.
  I had a table last week. A mother with two adorable little hellions. While waiting for the food, the little cuties thought it would be fun to pour out all of the salt, peper and sugars on the floor, as well as snash totilla chips into the booths.
  I dropped off the check, and went in the back to box up all three of their meals. I returned, and there was no payment. I checked on my other SEVEN tables, still no payment. I stepped behind the bar to help the bartender for about two minutes, when I turn around, the woman was flagging me down.
  I ran her card, and dropped it back off with a smile and a goodnight.
  When I went to finish bussing the table, there was a big fat zero, along with a note that took the entire back of the credit card recipt, telling me that I got no tip becuase I took too long to run her credit card.
  Now, yes, I was away from my table for less than five minutes, but what about the other ten that she was watching her child color on the table?
  It is women like that, I will never understand. And trust me, all of us that were working that night remember her (and the brats).
  
  Feb 17, 2008 at 11:19 pm rating: 90
- #75.2 blahblah
  
  Wow. That’s horrible. I guess there are bad customers and bad servers. It all averages out because there are some customers who tip VERY generously for just okay service (my bf happens to be one of them). He will give a 20% tip for a person who reads the specials, brings drinks, brings food, takes the plates, and brings the bill. That 20% is always based on the cost of the meal which is always high because he insists on getting 2-3 overpriced appetizers, very expensive entree, and then dessert (even if he’s already full).
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 3:12 pm rating: 90
- #75.3 lc
  
  People who bring children into a restaurant should automatically have a 20% service fee added onto their check. Scratch that, children shouldn’t be allowed in restaurants. Period.
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 3:28 pm rating: 90
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#76 aliastaken

To Mike: Carrying a steak could possibly be less work than carrying a salad, since where I worked, we had to make the damn salads in addition to bringing them out to the table.

Jul 30, 2007 at 8:13 am rating: 90

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#77 JoJo Dancer

Those who have pointed out that we are missing the point about the wage issue are correct. It’s ridiculous that servers should be paid less than minimum wage and I think we first need to address this issue in America. Maybe servers would behave better if they weren’t so underpaid.

That said, a tip still shouldn’t be seen as a right because there is not set percentage that everyone tips. So much depends on the diner, the class of restaurant, etc. I’ve been known to tip as much as 40% when I’ve had outstanding service or for some reason our order was particularly difficult. I’ve also “stiffed” bad servers, but only after complaining about the service and getting no result. I agree that if you are receiving poor service you should complain to the management. It doesn’t always make a difference though. Needless to say, those are the places I choose not to return to and I let others know about the bad experience as well.

It’s a competitive economy and if you aren’t going to provide good customer service, you don’t deserve good customers.

Although I am a professional, I also work with the public. I don’t buy the excuse of “having a bad day”. That doesn’t matter to your customers and if you can’t leave it at home, then you should stay home. You’re not entitled to bring your issues to me along with my meal.

Jul 30, 2007 at 8:23 am rating: 90

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#78 vlad

the reciept thing is great

but

if some asshole writes with ketchup on my counter i will use their face for a napkin

Jul 30, 2007 at 9:00 am rating: 90

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#79 the observer

What a lot of comments!

Jul 30, 2007 at 9:02 am rating: 90

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#80 Andy

Acutally, the best thing about these signs is that they don’t make the first thing I see on this site is a rubber floating in a toilet. Whee!

Jul 30, 2007 at 10:14 am rating: 90

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#81 Ace

both of these are classic. It’s always acceptable to not give waiters a tip. A tip is an indication of good service. If the service isn’t good, then they don’t deserve a tip. Honestly, the one with the ketchup container is classic. I have to do that the next time that I go to a place that doesn’t serve me.

Jul 30, 2007 at 10:22 am rating: 90

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#82 Bake Town

If the service is bad I only tip 10% – other wise it’s 20. Servers are taxed on a percentage of their tips, it is inexcusable to not leave at least 8%.

Jul 30, 2007 at 11:09 am rating: 90

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#83 Joey

its called a GRATUITY. I think in this instance it has two meanings – GRATIS – or free, you as the customer give FREE MONEY to a wait staff. As the server it mean GRATEFUL, you provide good service and then you get said FREE MONEY.

I give tips based on service. I don’t think I should ever have to freely part with my HARD EARNED money if the recipient themselves hasn’t worked hard to earn it.

I work on phones, and no matter how shitty MY day is, it is never the fault of the person on the other end of the phone. And I treat people with utmost respect at all times. Its my job to do it, even if I have to do it through gritted teeth.

I often leave without giving a tip – and I never frequent places again that treat me poorly. I also TELL others about poor experiences, in hopes they don’t go there either!

But – when I am happy with services – I’m the type of tipper you DREAM of!!!!

Just two weeks ago, I gave a 150% tip. Yup, more than TWICE the cost of the bill.

She was wonderful, and deserved to be compensated for being polite, courteous, knowledgeable and efficient . . . .

Jul 30, 2007 at 11:11 am rating: 90

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- #83.1 Eli
  
  Tipping $3 on $2 beer two weeks ago doesn’t make you correct, or for that matter, a good customer. It could well be that you just wanted to get the bartender’s phone number.
  
  But anyway, since you insist on capitalizing GRATUITY, consider another explanation of the word’s etymology. It’s the only way a customer can meaningfully express his/her GRATITUDE for good service.
  
  While not tipping for bad service may be acceptable, a tip is never, as you said, FREE MONEY. It is payment for services rendered.
  
  Those who don’t pay for said services deservedly earn the title of PERSONA NON GRATA.
  
  Jan 25, 2008 at 11:30 am rating: 90
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#84 will

Unless the server rapes your dog, leave a tip.

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:21 pm rating: 90

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- #84.1 lc
  
  Nope. Wrong. Shitty service=no tip. Reading all these comments from customers, it should be pretty clear. All you have to do to get a good tip is be friendly, pay a little attention and bring the food we order in as timely as fashion as is possible. Not that hard.
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm rating: 90
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#85 What goes around, comes around

Wow.

First, I love those notes. I’d never do something so nasty as write on the counter with condiments, but it’s still funny in this venue.

I can recall 2 recent occasions where the server got no tip. Both involved extremely poor service and bad behavior on the part of the server. One server never came back through our entire meal. The other refused to come back to our table after we complained about not getting things we requested.

I understand things can be busy and that some things are out of the server’s control. HOWEVER, as far as I’m concerned there’s never any excuse for not bothering to check up on customers for over 30 mins or being rude. It’s a service industry, if you can’t handle the concept, work at walmart.

I also want to point out that servers may be taxed on 8% of their sales, but that figure is an AVERAGE. The government expects that the server got at least 8% on their TOTAL sales. That’s not a requirement that each patron provide at least 8%. If a server doesn’t get tipped by a customer (for whatever reason), it’s balanced out by some other customer who gave 15-20%. If a server is consistently so poor that they don’t average at least 8%, they have bigger problems than the taxes.

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:43 pm rating: 90

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#86 server

If you don’t believe in tipping, then EAT AT HOME. And it’s called a gratuity because otherwise I would be working for NOTHING. I have served people who left me a single penny on the table and that was THE ONLY pay I received for waiting on them for 20 minutes. Not all employers obey the law, and not everyone gets minimum wage. It’s easy to say “just quit” but if it’s the only job you can get, you put up with it and go home and cry every night.

Once again, if you can’t afford/don’t want to tip, then EAT AT HOME.

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:46 pm rating: 90

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- #86.1 blahblah
  
  To servers complaining about low tips (this is for US citizens):
  
  1. If your employer isn’t obeying the law, contact EDD (employment services) and file a complaint.
  
  2. Collect 2500 signatures on a petition to raise servers’ base pay. Get the proposition added to the ballot of your next local election. Wait for the general public to vote on the proposition and accept the public’s decision.
  
  3. Stop expecting customers to make up for your occupation’s low wages.
  
  4. Improve your service. Every diner enjoys a kiss ass.
  
  5. If all fails, get a different job.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 3:21 pm rating: 90
- #86.2 lc
  
  If someone left you a single penny, that is a message. You sucked. Are you seriously telling me you didn’t know what that meant?
  
  Jul 25, 2008 at 3:43 pm rating: 90
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#87 Darren

I ALWAYS tip, but how much is very dependant on service and food quality. My worst experience though i left a $.01 tip…its rude not to tip.

Jul 30, 2007 at 12:58 pm rating: 90

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#88 Mierin

As I am a waitress, I might be slightly biased, but this is what I think

How to Know if you had Good Service
Was your server swamped with other customers?
Did they make an attempt to be cheerful and helpful?
Did they serve your drinks promptly and keep em filled up?
Did they ask how the food is/if you need anything else?
Did they get your check promptly?

Shit You Can’t Blame your Waitress For
If the restaurant is busy, and she’s trying to give everyone equal service.
If your food was slow. take it up with the manager or TELL your waitress what’s up.
If something was wrong with your food that’s not visible. I can’t tell if your steak wasnt done properly by looking at it. Don’t have x-ray vision, sorry.
If your check is slow did you remember to ASK for it? Did fourteen people just walk in or six other people ask for their bill at the same time?
Are you a bitchy group of fifteen who ordered five separate courses and expect separate bills – but you forgot to tell the server at the beginning of the meal?

When to Tip your Waitress Extra
- for having screaming spawn at the table
-when you have extremely difficult order
-when you can’t get your shit together and ask for one thing at a time ie. sending them on separate trips for salt. pepper. lemons. another fork. extra cinnamon on your latte.
-Being drunk or making suggestive comments
- being awesome and remembering every little thing. Nothing worse than hearing “thank you so much! what was your name? we’ll definetely come back.” and then getting a 10% tips. getting our hopes up like that is mean

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:17 pm rating: 90

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- #88.1 Jo
  
  Amen sister!
  
  So true. The restaurant where I work, there are some things that we have to separate ourselves tableside. A lot of times, there are people who will order several meals and we have to separate them tableside cuz the kitchen won’t do it back there. I wish everyone goes by this creed!
  
  Dec 8, 2007 at 9:06 am rating: 90
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#89 loren

I usually divide the total bill amount by 5 (20%) and round up to a nice even amount.

BUT if you give me shitty service, I’ll take it down to 10% or less, if deserved. When I’m talking “shitty” I mean: snotty attitude, only coming over to take the order and drop off the bill (other staff brings the food out), or basically neglecting our table for a long time.

We had service that was so bad once that from the time we sat down to the time we got our food, it was over THREE HOURS later, and we were one of two tables in the bar section! We stuck around because we wanted to see where the night was headed (and we had bets to see how long it would take for the food to come out.) We ended up getting our meals entirely for free because the waitress was a complete beotch. We didn’t even have to complain – the mgr came out and asked us how long we had waited for our food. After the manager brought the bill out with the $0 on it (the waitress was nowhere in sight), we scrounged all of the loose change and dollar bills we could for the tip. We wrote “Great service, thanks!” on the bill with about $5 in tips.

I worked with the public enough to know that if you’ve got a bad attitude with your customers, you don’t deserve their money.

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:32 pm rating: 90

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#90 Goldie

I was going to say it looks like 19 dollars, but Waiter beat me to it. Aw well, he’s a celebrity; I’ll let it slide.
Seriously though, how do you go to a place that costs less than freakin McDonalds ($15 for a meal for two) and somehow expect top-class service? moreover, make a fuss over a $3 tip? Classy.

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:47 pm rating: 90

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#91 Zsa

I’m with Joey-
I have to put up with your obnoxious ass when your internet service is out because you didnt bother to pay your bill, but-its-all-MY-fault. I don’t get one red cent more to be nice to you, but I DO get to keep my job another day.
If I got tipped for being nice I’d be rich.

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:56 pm rating: 90

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#92 Holy Cats!

I can honestly say I have never recived service so bad I didn’t leave a tip. Also, I find it amazing that so many people are so thin skinned as to behave as though their day has been ruined by something as trivial as precived rudeness in service. Do I cry when that girl at 711 does not tell me to have a nice day? If some other waitress brings my food out? If the bagger at the grocery fails to make eye contact? No, I do not(because I have a fucking life) I understand that the sun revolves around the whole planet, not just me.

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:57 pm rating: 90

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- #92.1 blahblah
  
  7/11 girl and grocery bagger don’t feel entitled to tips.
  
  Since you bring up grocery baggers, this is a good example…
  
  A bagger’s job is to bag the groceries. Yes, they are providing an extra service (I could be bagging my own groceries), but that service is expected in that environment (i.e., the grocery store). If the bagger offers to help me to my car and carries bags or unloads bags into my car, the bagger is getting a fat tip. Why? Because doing more than bagging is going beyond the standard responsibilities of the job.
  
  When I don’t feel like paying extra prices, I go to FoodMaxx where I pay less and bag my own groceries.
  
  When I don’t feel like getting shitty service, I avoid those restaurants where I’ve received shitty service and the manager has done nothing about it. If I really enjoy the restaurant’s food and ambiance, I make it a point to remember the server and go out of my way to request a different server. If I get a great server, I tip very well and continue to request to be seated in that server’s section.
  
  Apr 24, 2008 at 3:30 pm rating: 90
- #92.2 901redbone
  
  actually, you’re mistaken about that. i used to bag groceries too. and along with that came the actual job description of taking peoples groceries to their vehicles for them. not every customer. but the ones that needed obvious help. like the Mexican lady (please don’t take offense) that comes in with 4 children and 3 different buggies full of food. i HAVE to help her take her stuff to her car. or the old lady in the walker… another patron that i don’t have an OPTION with. in orientation, we are taught the order in which to put bags in the trunk and the things not to put in the trunk (eggs,bread,chips, etc) so they get a good tip from you because they’re going above and beyond. that’s not a good example.
  
  May 22, 2008 at 8:48 pm rating: 90
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#93 Oedipa Maas

While it’s true that the low wages usually afforded to wait staff are deplorable, don’t express your displeasure with that situation by taking it out on your server. If you truly don’t believe in tipping, then you should only patronize establishments that pay their staff a fair wage and don’t expect customers to subsidize their wages with tips. Leaving a poor tip for a server who has delivered reasonable service, and whose income is mostly comprised of tips, just because you don’t agree with the business owner’s decision not to pay their servers a decent wage is the ultimate in passive-aggerssiveness.

On the other hand, if you’re a tip-dependent server, understand that the tip you receive is based on the quality of the service you deliver. If you can’t be bothered to make an effort, expect to not receive a tip. (And if the customer is having a bad experience despite your best efforts, try apologizing to the customer and explaining what the problem is – most customers will be very understanding.)

As far as the whole “My boss doesn’t dock my pay just because I’m having an off morning” argument – I work with the public, and if my boss were aware of my taking my “off day” out on customers, I’d be in danger of losing my job. Maybe servers should feel lucky that they have the opportunity to receive direct feedback from their unhappy customers without their managers becoming involved!

Jul 30, 2007 at 1:58 pm rating: 90

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#94 Jojo dancer

It’s pretty rare to receive such bad service. But when your server is obnoxiously rude, like making nasty comments that you can hear about you, that person doesn’t deserve anything from the diner. It’s not necessarily a matter of being thin-skinned. I personally don’t really get upset about that type of behavior, but I’m certainly not going to reward it. And I will talk to a manager about it. Find a job at Walmart if you want to be rude to the customers.

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm rating: 90

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#95 Holy Cats!

uh, keep fighting the good fight?

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:10 pm rating: 90

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#96 Randomness

In response to the above definitions of shitty service that includes other staff brings the food out, I work in a restaurant where, during busier shifts, we have a food runner, whose soul job it is to bring the food to the tables. They’re also a busser, and, thus, also get tipped out by the servers.

I mean, granted, if it’s a situation where the manager brings out your food and apologizes for the bad service you got, then don’t tip. But just because someone else brings the food doesn’t mean your server sucks. By stiffing your server the tip, you might have just stiffed the person who was helping them out, and giving you service by delivering the food.

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:40 pm rating: 90

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#97 Moon

If I was a server and I did a bad job, I think I’d go over and say “Do NOT tip me! I am so sorry!”

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:46 pm rating: 90

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#98 Moon

I have to say, though, that if I got tipped for being nice at work, I’d be DOOMED! DOOMED, I say! Doooooooomed.

Jul 30, 2007 at 2:55 pm rating: 90

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#99 server

If you don’t believe in tipping, then EAT AT HOME. Or inform the server BEFORE they go out of their way to take care of you that you are not leaving a tip, so that they can treat you as poorly as you are treating them.

Jul 30, 2007 at 3:12 pm rating: 90

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#100 LuckyMommy

Listen, I don’t know wtf you all are on here beefing about,but I’ve glanced pass loads of BS. I can’t be bothered with keeping up with this argument in detail, but from what I see there are a lot of obviously lazy mf’s out here who can relate to a lazy ass and/or rude waitress. As far as I’m concerned, the shit is a no brainer. 30 min with no service means PISS POOR SERVICE PERIOD. Bitch got what she deserves …nothing but a mess to clean (well, that was prob a bus boy). I don’t care what’s going on, you stop by and simply acknowledge your patrons if you can’t do anything else. That’s crazy for anyone to sit that long with no service. As for the receipt …brava as well! Not only would I not have given the waiter/waitress a damn thing, I would have complained to the manager and got that shitty meal comped. How do I know it was shitty? Because poor service can ruin a great meal. There’s no way my dining experience, no matter how minor, would be ruined by the horrible help and I’m going to PAY for a f’d up meal? Me thinks not. I’m a letter writer and a manger hounder if I’m not pleased with a service that I’m PAYING for. You don’t treat the customers you depend on as if you’re doing them a fckn favor by showing up. These people got there point across and I’m all for it. Don’t reward mf’s for NOT doing what they’re supposed to do.
I swear, there must be a lot of people under 30 on here with that sorry ass “what you’re owed” mentality thinking these people are wrong for not tipping. I bet those sorry servers have that same mentality and feel like no matter what you have to tip their ass so they’re real comfortable treating customers like shit and dragging around like they don’t want to work.

Jul 30, 2007 at 3:40 pm rating: 90

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- #100.1 Meghann
  
  FOR YOUR INFORMATION
  
  Servers BUST THEIR ASSES more than people in most jobs. We are constantly multi-tasking, with sometimes 3-15 tables at a time, along with having to do things in the back, such as rolling your silverware in nice little white napkins that you wipe your nasty hands on, after which we have to pick up.
  NOT all restaurants have a buss boy.
  and Not all servers are lazy.
  If your server doesn’t stop by, GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND GET A MANAGER. (geez!)
  
  Or maybe you should eat at McDonald’s. Since you sound so classy.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 1:52 am rating: 90
- #100.2 Canthz_B
  
  Yeah, napkin rolling is a real hump-buster alright.
  I can see the sweat running down your poor abused brow now! LOL
  You act as though the restaurant is full at all times and you never get a break. That place must be jumping! What type of menu do you have? I may just have to take a road trip.
  Every restaurant I worked in had slow times and rushes.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:06 am rating: 90
- #100.3 Canthz_B
  
  BTW, if the restaurant is that busy and you cannot make good tips you’re NOT a good server. Make up your mind. Is it that there are so many customers that you cannot make money (because you have silverware to roll up)?…Too few customers to make ends meet?…Or are you just not a very good server?
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:20 am rating: 90
- #100.4 Meghann
  
  Actually, I am a very good server, and usually walk out of the place with at least $100 in my pocket. However I do have the occasional customer who has never put themselves in another person’s shoes and refuses to be nice about things.
  
  And the “such as” in my post was referring to the many other things, along with rolling silverware, that we have to do. “SUCH AS”:
  >filling up dressings
  >sweeping the floors in the back
  >helping out other servers (if we don’t have teamwork, we get fired)
  >stocking EVERYTHING in the restaurant
  >making your drinks, salads, and soups (the cooks don’t do that, we do)
  >running back and forth to get you condiments
  >arguing with the cooks to ensure that your food comes out the way it was ordered (they aren’t always the brightest people)
  >seating people if the hostess is busy
  >I sometimes even have to help cook
  
  And yes, when I get out of work, there IS sweat on my brow, because I work my ass off.
  
  Why don’t you get a job as a server and see if you can handle it? You can’t judge someone as being bad at their job if you’ve never seen it from their side.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:31 am rating: 90
- #100.5 Canthz_B
  
  I did my restaurant time as a kid, thank you.
  I don’t know what kind of dump you work in that still nets you $100 a night and you are pissed about it, that has no bus boys or dishwashers who sweep and mop the floors in the back…or are you just full of it?
  Filling salad dressings and putting lettuce, tomato and cucumber in a bowl is NOT harder than roofing.
  And I have NEVER seen a server carry supplies in from the truck on delivery day so on that you ARE full of it!!
  You don’t make drinks, you get that from the machine. You don’t make soup, you fill the bowl…don’t exaggerate so!
  When the hostess is busy she’s seating people. You handle your job, let her do hers and you may not leave work with a sweat!!
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:41 am rating: 90
- #100.6 Meghann
  
  1. I work at Applebee’s. Maybe you should eat elsewhere if you think it is such a dump.
  
  2. Everyone in the restaurant helps everyone out, its called teamwork.
  
  3. Many servers in our restaurant DO help unload the truck.
  
  4. Dishwashers only come in for a couple of hours, usually on Friday and Saturday nights when we are the busiest.
  
  5. I have washed dishes on nights when no one showed up. I am also trained as a host, expoditer, cook and bartender and have worked shifts on all of these positions. When our co-workers don’t do their job, servers have to make up for their slack.
  
  6. Times have changed since you were “a kid”. I am 22 years old.
  
  7. Servers do 75% of work in restaurants nowadays, including being trained in all areas of the restaurant.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:50 am rating: 90
- #100.7 Canthz_B
  
  Oh, wait…you’re just a little liar… little miss $7 a night now makes $100 most nights?
  A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
  
  I do eat elsewhere. Chain restaurants are dumps. And the service usually sucks.
  
  You are further full of it because if you spent the majority of your time doing all of these other job descriptions you would not be paid as a server only. Or alternatively, your job as a server cannot be so hard because of all of the teamwork!!
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 2:52 am rating: 90
- #100.8 Meghann
  
  In case you read incorrectly, what I said was I have walked out with as little as $7 a night, not that I make that on a regular basis.
  
  Servers make decent money most of the time, but my point was that we work hard to ensure that we do. I’m not just bitching about the minimum wage (although it is ridiculous), but some customers fail to realize that they should be as nice to us as we are to them, not treat us as if we are ‘the help’. It is not the server who determines the way we are paid, it is our government, and the social ‘rule’ of tipping was not started by me. I think it’s ridiculous, and I don’t like to tip either. But because I know how hard it is, I never stiff my server unless I see them standing around doing nothing. That’s inexcusable.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:00 am rating: 90
- #100.9 Canthz_B
  
  I read you correctly. You used an amount of $7 as a pity figure deliberately misleading the reader from your usual take home of $100/night in an attempt to garner sympathy.
  
  Pathetic little liar.
  
  Glad that you acknowledge that servers make decent money. Now maybe you can shut your face.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:13 am rating: 90
- #100.10 Meghann
  
  Whatever you would like to believe, sweetie.
  
  So quick to judge and assume and call names!
  
  I am not a liar, but I don’t have to tell you that, I don’t even know you! (thank god)
  
  Karma is a word that maybe you should do extensive research on. I’m a firm believer, why would I lie about something so trivial? You’re right, that would be pathetic.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:19 am rating: 90
- #100.11 Crash
  
  If it were so trivial as you put it than why are you arguing the point ?
  It looks to me that you were read correctly because I can see where you contridicted yourself too….
  But than again, it’s trivial, right ?
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:32 am rating: 90
- #100.12 Canthz_B
  
  No quick judgement by me. You splayed out all the rope needed to hang yourself…Sweetie.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:34 am rating: 90
- #100.13 Meghann
  
  The small detail of me saying I made $7 one night as opposed to usually making decent money was trivial, because it was not the point I was trying to make. I stated my point above.
  Goodnight.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:41 am rating: 90
- #100.14 Canthz_B
  
  It was not trivial because you used it to imply that business can be really light rather than explaining that on that night you did two tables and spent the rest of your time on teamwork in the back…hours for which you were probably compensated at a higher wage rate.
  What happened to all of that Karma?
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:50 am rating: 90
- #100.15 Crash
  
  Ya’….your argument / point is trivial….depending on which one you were sticking to though.
  G’Night.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 3:50 am rating: 90
- #100.16 Crash
  
  Oh, wait !!! You probrably ment to post on the “This is why your server / host / cook / buss boy / girl / delivery / dishwasher / bar tender / expoditer / stocker / janitor / team cheerleader / over worked and under paid Applebee’s employee is cranky” thread…..Sorry.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 4:39 am rating: 90
- #100.17 Thz_Cannot_B
  
  Looks like somebody needs to spend less money on booze and a little more on meds this christmas. Holy fuck you’re an asshole canthzb. If somebody called me a liar IRL I would kick the shit out of them-guess it takes a lot of courage to be a mouthy little prick behind a computer monitor. Try getting a new hobby and stop being such a dickless waste of space on all of these notes. That goes for your wannabe puppy crash too. This site could be great if you would just eat a pile of shut the fuck up. Bet your time as a kid in restaurants was spent cleaning the toilets.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 12:20 pm rating: 90
- #100.18 Canthz_B
  
  I agree, name calling from behind a computer makes one a mouthy little prick.
  
  Happy Holidays…don’t forget to stuff your bird.
  
  Dec 24, 2007 at 12:34 pm rating: 90
- #100.19 lynn
  
  Canthz_B and Crash.
  
  How can you not understand the difference between, “I have walked out with as little as $7 a night” and, “I ususally make $100″. “Usually” is a word that describes what commonly occurs. “I have” decribes something that has once occurred and may recur.
  
  I am also a server and those nights that you leave with $7, you aren’t standing around hanging out; you are stuck cleaning behind refridgerators, stocking everything and anything, dusting, filling things…. getting paid $2 to do all that and then leaving with $7 from a table or two. You’re not going to keep a job by standing around.
  
  Oh, and about seating tables… not all servers bring them to their section. It’s not very fun to be a customer and have to stand at the front waiting for someone. TEAMWORK…… the host is already seating a table…. you help out and seat them in the section on the rotation. It’s not that hard to understand.
  
  Dec 30, 2007 at 12:32 am rating: 90
- #100.20 aprilshowers
  
  As a former hostess I hated it when servers would seat diners at a table that I was trying to save because I had a large party to seat. Not every empty table is really empty. I have a party of 8 to seat. I need those adjacent tables that seat four each and as soon as I turn my back some server is shoving a party of 3 on one of them.
  
  Dec 30, 2007 at 1:36 am rating: 90
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#101 LuckyMommy

and for all you asshole grammar police who like to point out misspellings and improper their, there, and they’re in place of a well thought rebuttal, I’M FULLY AWARE OF ALL GRAMMAR ERRORS, but there’s no way I’m going to edit a fckn post on a silly msg board. So now, I’ve spoke for you. Move on with your life.

Jul 30, 2007 at 3:45 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#102 Holy Cats!

Awesome! Write those letters! Hound those managers! Free time is great!

One day, I am sure you will Change The World.

Jul 30, 2007 at 4:07 pm rating: 90

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- #102.1 Juliet
  
  PASHY!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:03 pm rating: 90
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#103 aliastaken

Who’s lucky? Certainly not LuckyMommy’s kids!

Waawaawaa…

(I’m a well-over thirty professional teacher who waitresses in the summer to help make ends meet. I always try to do my best, smile, be polite, and apologize for kitchen foul-ups, etc. etc. Though I am usually tipped well, I have been stiffed by all kinds of people who really should know better… angry older men, who are really mad at their wives and not me, snotty young women who didn’t care to be asked for ID in order to drink their LITs, asshole hot-heads on dates trying to look like a big-shot, bitter old ladies who wanted their liver cooked some other way, even though I asked the chef on their behalf. Reading through some of these comments has really cemented what I already know about the public. And honestly, teachers aren’t treated much better than waitresses, though that’s a whole new thread.)

Jul 30, 2007 at 4:14 pm rating: 90

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#104 Andy

I don’t want to change the world.

I just enjoy mocking it.

Jul 30, 2007 at 4:25 pm rating: 90

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#105 HotMom

Kudos to the author of ketchup and mustard. HA!
When I served I always remained in sight and averaged 20%, good for me for doing my job. Hey, if the kitchen is backed up or whatever, communicate!!!! with your clients. We all know it’s not their fault but they appreciate knowing what’s up.
There is this guy somewhere in Cleveland who when he goes out to eat lays out 5- $1 bills when he sits down. That is your tip and you work to keep it. If you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to your tip disappears 1-$1 at a time. BRILLIANT!

Jul 30, 2007 at 4:30 pm rating: 90

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- #105.1 blahblah
  
  My friend does this!!! It’s pretty funny when bad service realizes this. I’ve also seen him add $ to his original tip by the end of dinner to reward extra good service.
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:29 pm rating: 90
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#106 DonkeyCock

I tip a minimum of 50% and on most occasions tip 100%… yup that’s right folks 100% of the bill. I feel that even if the waiter is having a shitty day and giving me shitty service my tip may brighten up that person’s day and possibly motivate them to be better to the next patrons. Most waiters get a shitty tip at one point or another during the shift from a variety of people (old people, college kids, etc). I feel that I can make up the difference for those folks. I can afford to tip well therefore I do tip well. Nuff said.

Jul 30, 2007 at 4:57 pm rating: 90

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- #106.1 Vanessa
  
  Super way to pay it forward! Great attitude!
  
  Jan 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm rating: 90
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#107 PS

#91 said it so well. I think the waitstaff would rather I stiff them a few bucks than complain to the manager. I’ve never left no tip because I do feel for the low wage, but twice I’ve walked out of restaurants while waiting for a meal because it took so long and we were being ignored. You get what you earn and when you do a great job (or even a so-so), you can make really good money. I know plenty of people who keep waitressing or bartending because the pay is far better than what they would get in a professional career.

Jul 30, 2007 at 5:11 pm rating: 90

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#108 HotMom

DonneyCock,
On behalf of waitstaff everywhere (previously myself) THANK YOU for sharing and caring.

Jul 30, 2007 at 5:20 pm rating: 90

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#109 Anna

People’s attitudes about tipping are so weird. A big WTF to all these people who think they shouldn’t have to tip.

Regardless of what the staff is paid, you ought to tip because another human being, who I can almost guarantee is getting paid a lot less than you, is cooking your lazy ass some food and bringing it to your table. If you don’t want to tip, stay home.

My mother waitressed as a second job for a few years at a fairly ritzy resort-type restaurant. She waited on politicians, local celebrities, and all kinds of other people who asked for her by name on return visits to the restaurant. I remember a night when she came home crying after spending half the night serving a table of 20 a three course meal and drinks and having them stiff her (this was before it was customary to require a tip for large parties). People need to get a grip.

Jul 30, 2007 at 5:58 pm rating: 90

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- #109.1 blahblah
  
  In what restaurants are servers cooking the food?
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:31 pm rating: 90
- #109.2 901redbone
  
  hell, when i was working at IHOP one saturday night in particular one of our cooks got sick halfway through her shift. with our manager on vacation and our asst manager walking around the restaurant, when the sick cook went home, the only way to keep the rest of our cooks from killing each other was to put a server back there who was trained as a cook a couple of years back. granted she only worked back there for a few hours but she didn’t get cook pay during that time. when she got a chance during slow periods (which lasted maybe 20-30 minutes) she went back out and worked tables in her appointed section. during the night myself and another server took over parts of her section and we both gave her a portion of our tips that night. the 2 of us got extra tables and saw that she was back there (mind u, still makin 2.13/hr) doing what the cooks do (makin 7/hr) so we broke her off a little bit. so yes. servers will get thrown into other positions… don’t think it doesn’t happen
  
  May 22, 2008 at 9:07 pm rating: 90
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#110 Kai

I honestly have little understanding of the “tip or you’re an asshole!” argument. I’ve worked in service. I’ve worked in many different positions. Notably, I worked as a waiter in a retirement home where I was not allowed to accept tips. I also worked at McDonald’s, where they paid me a piss-poor wage, and I was not allowed to accept tips (forced to put them in the donation box, despite the fact I didn’t support it.) I never felt obligated to a tip. In fact, when I recieved a tip recently as a parts person at a marine store, I felt shocked and pleased. It is a gift for me. The other jobs, I smiled and worked hard anyway. The McDonald’s job was the lowest paying and most stressful job I had, and I had to turn down customers when they wanted to reward me for my hard work. I suppose my previous experiences have made me grateful for any tip or recognition. I tip at least %15, more for good service. I have never not tipped, but I am fully prepared to “stiff” the waiter if I’ve been treated rudely. I paid 5% once for substandard service. I could never work at a place where my welfare depended on tips. I see tips as a token of appreciation, and pay accordingly.

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:55 pm rating: 90

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#111 Simon

Ummm…..

With all the bitching and moaning about the rubbish wages etc., why in the US (O, land of the free) don’t waitresses and waiters get paid properly?!

Jul 30, 2007 at 7:56 pm rating: 90

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- #111.1 Juliet
  
  Agree!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:11 pm rating: 90
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#112 todd

i don’t know if this has been touched on yet, but i work in a very busy restaurant (italian) and something like this would never happen. there’s so little a chance that someone could scrawl out a huge message in ketchup AND mustard without being seen/confronted by a member of the staff, or management. i think the first picture is most likely a fake. “let me write this on the counter because it would be an epic photo” etc etc. sorry but i just don’t see that happening in a real life situation.

the second photo is just pitiful berating of the wait staff. if you don’t want to tip, don’t do it. however, telling someone they “fail” is reprehensible. muster up the courage to talk to the waitperson’s manager. that is all.

Jul 30, 2007 at 8:11 pm rating: 90

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- #112.1 Ginevra
  
  Re: the ketchup note being fake because it would be seen before they finished: normally yes, which is the point.
  
  Dec 13, 2007 at 1:29 pm rating: 90
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#113 Kwame

>muster up the courage to talk to the
>waitpersonâ€™s manager. that is all.

There’s nothing passive-aggressive about face-to-face confrontation. That’s no fun.

Jul 30, 2007 at 8:15 pm rating: 90

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#114 Bravewolf

Tips are earned, not deserved. I’m not tipping for shitty service.

Jul 30, 2007 at 9:03 pm rating: 90

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#115 Monika

I’m English and over here it’s not usual to leave a tip unless you get exceptional service. If you want a tip, do something impressive rather than moodily shoving food in someones face.

Jul 30, 2007 at 9:08 pm rating: 90

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#116 M@

So when are you yanks going to join the rest of the world in paying your waitstaff a decent living wage and leaving the decision to tip or not up to the customer?

Seriously, if it’s considered compulsory to tip 15%, just add that to the bill as a service fee – I’m aware some places do this already, I’m saying make it standard – and make tips what they should be – an optional reward for service above & beyond expectations.

Then again, it might leave Waiter with nothing to rant about…

Jul 30, 2007 at 9:34 pm rating: 90

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#117 T

What would you all do in this circumstance:

- 15 min wait to get table, although younger people are sat first.
- 10 min wait for water/menus
- 45 min wait for food – when the plates are slammed down in front so hard the garnishes fall off
- a complaint to the manager done in a quiet polite manner results in the customer being banned
- refusal to fix mistakes on the bill by both server and manager

Would those of you who say to always tip still tip?

Jul 30, 2007 at 10:14 pm rating: 90

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- #117.1 Jo
  
  1. Most good restaurants, if you don’t have a reservation, you have to wait. It’s possible that those “younger” people had to the foresight to call ahead, you prejudicial wipe.
  
  2. The menu is physically handed to you as you sit and the busboy brings the water as you are sitting.
  
  3. The restaurant is busy and you ordered a well done steak, which takes forever anyway. The plates are gently place in front of you but because your hearing aid isn’t working too well, it sounds like the backfire on a shitty old car.
  
  4. If you had talked to the manager in a “quiet, polite manner”, you wouldn’t have gotten banned.
  
  All this being said, the reason you didn’t get a discount is because this is normal at all places like this. You are what we call cheap ass M-F. You probably don’t tip anyway or if you do, it’s usually 5-8 %. Get a grip and go to McDonald’s. You don’t need to tip there!
  
  Dec 8, 2007 at 9:25 am rating: 90
- #117.2 lynn
  
  love it. totally agree!!
  
  Dec 8, 2007 at 3:53 pm rating: 90
- #117.3 901redbone
  
  hell, if that was me, and i spoke to the manager and i still didn’t get anything fixed, i probably would leave like 50 cents down, but i’d probably not even pay for my food. and i’m a firm believer in tipping at least something
  
  May 22, 2008 at 9:12 pm rating: 90
- #117.4 Brinker Corp blows
  
  If the manager protected their server (which most franchise rest. don’t) you not leaving a tip would not matter. Managers are normally former servers and they get it, so if you stiff them, they’ll take a hit to the rest. food costs to give the server at least 10%. So basically they’ll erase your credit card swipe, take off something on your bill and rerun your creditcard number for the same amount, only the price of whatever was taken off has now gone to your server.
  
  and if the manager does that for the server, normally the server gets into a better mood and steps up his/her game and will give good service the rest of the night.
  
  take care of your wait staff and they’ll take care of your customers… common knowledge.
  
  Jul 2, 2008 at 11:05 pm rating: 90
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#118 Katy

Andy (#80) – WORD to that. Eww…

To people trying to compare waiting tables to some other kind of job, like an office job… waiting tables is in the service industry, which includes other “good service” bonuses such as “commissions”. If you give bad service, you’re doing a shitty job–no biscuit for you.

If you’re at a job not related to the service industry, of course your pay isn’t docked when you have a bad day and mope around the office — you’re not pissing off customers if your job constitutes sitting at a desk all day. If you make a serious mistake at work in some other way, though, managers *will* dock your pay.

Trying to compare service jobs to non-service jobs is stupid…GOD!

That being said, I’ve never had a waiter or waitress give bad enough service to warrant no tip. Maybe Illinois is different from other states, though, I dunno.

I once went to a steakhouse with my mother and after we ordered, nothing came to our table for 45 minutes despite the restaurant being half-empty. My mother got unnecessarily pissed (she’s very passive-aggressive), but once the waitress realized that we had no food to eat, she ran to find out why. For some reason, our order ticket got “lost”. The manager came out with our food another twenty minutes later, free of charge, and the waitress apologized.

She got a $10 tip.

I don’t mind if the service is bad but someone explains and then apologizes. Shit happens.

Jul 30, 2007 at 10:27 pm rating: 90

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#119 emily

there is only one time i have basically not tipped. my friends and i were at this stupid eat-in pizza hut restaurant (not exactly high class, i know) and we were the only table in the entire restaurant. there was NO ONE else there. it took her a half hour to bring us drinks and more than two hours to get a pizza. a pizza that was not what we ordered, and pretty gross looking on top of that. so we just left a handful of change and got out.

Jul 30, 2007 at 11:52 pm rating: 90

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- #119.1 Niki
  
  Ha. Pizza Hut i think they only time i’ve never left a tip. But we actually had to write down our own orders and hand them to a bus kid because that waitress after trying to get us to leave, because there were 10 of us and we didn’t call ahead to a Pizza Hut, never actually once came over to our table. We did hand the Bus Kid a tip though..
  
  Mar 21, 2008 at 1:37 pm rating: 90
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#120 BakTAK

M@:
Pay wait people what they’re worth? I know many 6th-grade teachers who make equal to $12/hr. Meanwhile, my cousin is a waitress and cashes in at about $250/day waiting table in a 3rd rate steakhouse.

Why is it people from everywhere else want to yelp at Americans when they don’t have a clue?

Jul 31, 2007 at 3:05 am rating: 90

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#121 BakTAK

I don’t get to go out to eat much. I’m a talk radio show host and don’t make much money.

The times I do, I tip for the service I get, not simply because they are waiters. Had a $90 dinner with my wife awhile back here in Alaska. Tipped the waitress $50. She was not only a good waitress, she was also not at all rude or EXPECTING a big tip because of some rule that says they can be terrible wait “persons” and still get their 15%.

Sidenote: putting a cup of coffee on the counter at a starbucks does NOT earn a tip…just like folding a soft taco at taco bell doesn’t earn a tip…What’s with the tip jar there?

Jul 31, 2007 at 3:10 am rating: 90

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#122 Max Roswell

I seriously do not understand the tone of some of these comments. I understand not tipping bad service, but some of you sound like gilded age playboys bitching about “the help.”

“Here’s five dollar bills – you have to work to earn it!”

Who the fuck is this guy? He probably works at a Radio Shack and he acts like he’s the Monopoly dude because someone drew the short stick and has to wait on him at TGIFriday’s.

Jul 31, 2007 at 3:18 am rating: 90

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#123 Andy

Max:

Great. Now I have a vision of Comic Book Store Guy, wearing a tophat and monacle, saying, “Worst… Service… Ever!”

BakTAK: I have to agree about the Starbucks tip jar. Maybe because the coffee cost is close to an entree at a restaurant, they figure, why not tip, too?

Jul 31, 2007 at 4:29 am rating: 90

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#124 pix

FYI in all of my service jobs if tips fall short of fed minimum wage (what, $5.65/hr?) the EMPLOYER will make up the difference between the $2.13 pay and the $5.65 pay. so being a horrible server or having a super-slow shift AT LEAST pay $5.65/hr. Being great at your job gets you another few dollars, so you will be making $7-15 an hour depending on the restaurant. Doesn’t seem too unfair to me to reward bad service with a bad tip (my smallest being %10, personally).

PS about coffee shops, burrito bars, etc…these people get paid real wages (min. wage to $8) and every etiquette guide i’ve ever read said tipping is not required. Bartenders DO get a low pay ($3 an hour?) and need your tips. I ALWAYS try to consider the person’s wage when deciding whether a tip is appropriate.

Jul 31, 2007 at 6:50 am rating: 90

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- #124.1 blahblah
  
  Are the customers supposed to just KNOW the wages of the servers at different places? I’m not the president. I just want some food and service without a frown, damn.
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:39 pm rating: 90
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#125 laura

that second picture is from my friends chris and katie and patrick didn’t post the story behind it. there was actually a big argument about this where the photo was originally posted. here’s the explanation:

ok so we show up at *********** at like 6:45 at 6:50 (and let me say at the very beginning that ********* is just a fucking taco stand and should really only be a 15 minute affair, and we have a movie to catch at 8.)

their happy hour runs until 7
we wait and wait for a waitress. finally at 7 I go and ASK at the bar “is there a waitress?” and the lady is like “yeah she’s coming”
at like 7:07 a waitress finally shows up
her first words are not “hi guys” or “sorry I took so long it’s really busy” (it’s not) or “can I get you guys some menus” or “I know you were here in time for happy hour so we’ll extend the happy hour taco prices for you”. her first words are “I just want you guys to know that happy hour is over and so we’re gonna have to charge you the regular prices.”
This is only like a $5 difference on our total tab, but still that is ONE-THIRD of the tab and damnit it’s THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING

so anyway, we order (no menus–we know what we want and don’t want to waste the time), but in retrospect maybe we should’ve asked for menus because that generally provides impetus for a waitress to bring you napkins and water. our food came out like 15 minutes later (reasonable), but she still hadn’t brought us the water or napkins or silverware we’d asked for when we ordered (and really, WE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO ASK.) I reminded her “oh yeah by the way we need water & napkins when you get a chance” and she GLARED at me like “DUDE I HEARD YOU WHEN YOU ASKED ME THE FIRST TIME 15 MINUTES AGO”

Anyway I was HUNGRY and we were LATE so I was like FUCK IT and dug into my tacos (if you do a taco right you don’t need silverware, right guys?) By the time she finally brought us water I WAS DONE! Admittedly, I am a fast eater, but not THAT FAST. AND–NO NAPKINS! I asked AGAIN for napkins (and here is the really telling part), and by the time she finally brought us napkins KATIE WAS ALMOST DONE! and you know SHE isn’t a fast eater. seriously katie was like “we’re like READY FOR THE CHECK” when she was bringing napkins to us. BUT she ran off too fast for us to say it to HER, so we had to wait like another 15 minutes for her to amble back so we could ask for our check. She shoots us another rude look like “WHY R U ASSHOLES SO DEMANDING WITH YR WATER N NAPKINS N CHECKS N SHIT CAN’T U SEE THEY ARE PLAYING FOOTBALL ON TEH TV”

finally she brings the check and I am like POISED WITH MY CARD ready to give it to her, and katie and I discuss.
1) this bitch was not only thoroughly talentless as a waitress, but MEAN about it.
2) she already added $5 to our bill because of the happy hour thing, when the PROPER fucking thing to do would obviously have been to extend the happy hour for us since we were sitting idly at a table with our tummies growling for the last 15 minutes of the happy hour.
3) as I said, this thing is supposed to be a 15 minutes affair (we shoulda been gone before the happy hour ENDED!), but all things told it took more like an HOUR (well actually like 50 MINUTES, but still, we had a movie to make, which I very politely MENTIONED at some point after the food had been delivered and we were waiting for water, to no avail)
4) really had she been nice in the slightest or even showed some sign of effort or been like “sorry” about ONE SINGLE THING the entire meal, then I would’ve totally tipped.

but she wasn’t, so we didn’t.
the end.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:08 am rating: 90

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- #125.1 blahblah
  
  Good for you!!! She deserved no tip. She didn’t do any part of her job except bring you the food – with an extra helping of attitude. I don’t tip attitude at all.
  
  If that were me, I would’ve tipped if the waitress had apologized for making me wait or given me the happy hour discount. She would’ve gotten the tip plus $2.50 (half of happy hr. discount) for saving me money.
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:43 pm rating: 90
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#126 laura

oh yeah and…

“not leaving a tip just makes us look cheap. that bitch would’ve thought “CHEAP FUCKERS” and had no inclination that it was related to her PERFORMANCE.
the BOO. YOU FAIL was really 100% necessary to communicate the point”

in this case i think they were right. i am a barista and i make about 75% of my money in tips and it really irks me when i don’t get a tip because like….that’s how i pay my rent. but you can’t just go around treating everyone like shit and ripping people off and expect to get a tip.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:11 am rating: 90

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#127 srah

If I have really bad service, then I leave a very small tip. Not leaving a tip at all could mean that you’re ignorant to American tipping customs or that you forgot, but a small tip is a nice little passive-aggressive dig. On the other hand, for average service I usually leave around 20%.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:21 am rating: 90

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#128 Andy

Wow. I guess there are three party taboo conversation topics: religion, politics and tipping.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:39 am rating: 90

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#129 Jen_

I tip based on service. “Boo you fail” made me laugh.

I also tip at places I regularly go, regardless of a bad night of service. They remember you, and bring you free juices and stuff

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:39 am rating: 90

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- #129.1 blahblah
  
  Yes! Good service and regular patronage gets good tips from me, too.
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:48 pm rating: 90
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#130 PatHMV

To all those who keep wondering how this “servers depend on tips for a decent wage” condition is “allowed” to continue in the good ol’ US of A, the answer is simple: on the whole, IT WORKS. Most servers do a reasonable job, and most customers deliver a reasonable tip.

Customers and servers alike have their share of individual horror stories, but they are remembered because they are unusual, not every day occurrences. The low-ball 10% tipper is balanced out by the 20% guy; the occasional really big tipper (like the 100-150% guy who chimed in above) make up for the occasional undeserved stiffer. If a server really does pull in less than minimum wage after tips, then the server surely has enough sense to find some non-serving job that pays minimum wage. They really aren’t hard to find in this country.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:45 am rating: 90

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#131 the whizzenator

Good point, Pat. I managed a restaurant for years with a company that paid 2.13/hr. By the end of the week, if a server wasn’t making (with tips) at least $10/hr total, well, they shouldn’t be a waiter/ess.

If a waiter/ess can be there for me when I need things (I’m not a very demanding customer), they’ll get 20%. Not getting my order right, not being there for refills of my drinks, or taking a long time to get my check to me usually drops them down to 10%. Any worse happenings (rudeness, etc) gets a manager to my table, usually with just me explaining, “This is why my server is not getting a tip today….”

Jul 31, 2007 at 9:12 am rating: 90

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#132 jason

Usually I’ll tip between 25-30%. Around 20% if it was so-so. The only time I stiffed the waitress was when she was rude to my mother. I gave her a $0.01 tip on a $20 order, and the only reason I gave her that was so she knew I didn’t forget. You’re having a bad day and want to be rude to me? Fine. But if you’re rude to my mom, you’re doing something unforgivable.

Jul 31, 2007 at 10:23 am rating: 90

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#133 Jill

And this, folks, is why I’ve stuck to chef work for the past 7 years. I was a waitress for all of one month, for the glorious wage of $2.13 an hour (yes, Canucks! That’s totally legal here in the U.S.!), and after bringing home $5 or $10 TOTAL in tips night after night, I quit. It wasn’t because I sucked. It’s because nobody tips in this fucking town. (Except my husband, who was a waiter for a number of years and always leaves an OUTRAGEOUS tip, regardless of service.)

And believe me, the waitstaff remembers who tips and who doesn’t. If you bail on a tip more than once, you’d better be prepared for your meal to be fucked with, because your waitress WILL come back to the kitchen and tell us about you. I won’t go into details, but let’s say that it makes the movie “Waiting” look like child’s play.

Even if the service wasn’t stellar, at least leave a few bucks. The waitress may not have sucked your cock, but she did bring you your drinks and meals and take them away when you were done. (And if she didn’t do that, then damn, she DOES suck.) If you don’t want to pay for that service, then eat at home.

Jul 31, 2007 at 10:47 am rating: 90

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- #133.1 me
  
  “The waitress may not have sucked your cock,”
  
  may not? They NEVER do that for me. I need to start going to different places to eat I guess. Talk about service!
  
  Jun 21, 2008 at 3:20 am rating: 90
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#134 Andy

Amen, Jill.

Actually, I worked the back of the house in a previous life, so I have a bit of a natural opposition to the front of the house.

Jul 31, 2007 at 11:11 am rating: 90

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#135 Jill

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I laughed my ass off when I read the comments that said if your tips didn’t make your $2.13 over minimum wage that your employer should compensate you. Again, HA HA HAAAAA!!!! What a riot. Yes, employers probably SHOULD do that, but they also SHOULD provide workman’s comp, health insurance, and sick leave, and they don’t. Those of you who do have such privileges in a lowly food service establishment, count yourselves lucky!

Jul 31, 2007 at 12:53 pm rating: 90

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#136 John

If the restaurant is really busy and I can tell the server is busting their ass, I won’t stiff them on the tip even if the service isn’t great…
I’m understanding like that. My usual tip is around 20% and they’ll still get about that.

If the service sucks, and the server is either chatting with her friends or sucking up to another table to milk them for tips while ignoring me, then they’re going to get screwed.

Jul 31, 2007 at 1:21 pm rating: 90

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- #136.1 rosie
  
  oops – wrong place
  
  Mar 26, 2008 at 4:32 pm rating: 90
- #136.2 zombieBlanco
  
  901redbone!!!
  
  Please stop your long ass boring posts on this really, really old note!!!
  
  901redbone!!!!
  
  May 22, 2008 at 9:13 pm rating: 90
- #136.3 901redbone
  
  if you have a problem with the posts or the note, how bout you quit reading them! DUH!
  
  May 23, 2008 at 3:15 pm rating: 90
- #136.4 claw71
  
  Nobody has a problem with the posts or the note but we draw the line when people start mutilating dead horses.
  
  May 23, 2008 at 3:24 pm rating: 90
- #136.5 901redbone
  
  and at the same time. i put in my notes that what i’m saying has already been said b4. so for the last time. if u’ve read it so many times and are tired of hearing it, STOP READING THEM! i’m not the only person who is beating a dead horse so if ur tired of the repitition go on the the next PA note!
  
  May 23, 2008 at 4:48 pm rating: 90
- #136.6 unholyghost2003
  
  901redbone,
  are you thick? The ONLY reason why people get annoyed is because every time you comment on very very very OLD notes, it bumps new comment on NEW NOTES down in the “Stirring Up Trouble” section. Are you so involved in your self righteousness that you have not bothered to look around the site and see how it works?
  We frequent troublemakers wouldn’t care about you blathering on in here except it pops up when we are trying to check on new posts on new notes. If someone gets feeds, your posts pop up in there too. It is all well and good to say “DON’T READ THEM” or “IGNORE THEM” but that is like saying “ignore the asshole poking you in the back of the head.” good in theory, hard in practice.
  We understand, this thread is a hot button topic. Every noob posts on it at least once. To come back and post over and over is just rude. Esp. when you were asked NICELY (or at least as nice as we get around here) to stop. Sure, it would have helped if zB had explained WHY, but that is neither here nor there.
  
  May 23, 2008 at 5:31 pm rating: 90
- #136.7 901redbone
  
  ok. the fact that they’re so LONG AND BORING! I’m pretty sure you would glance at it and continue on your precious little life. BUT NO, you have to make yourself look stupid and read them… if they’re so long and you know i’m beating a dead horse, SKIP IT! i understand you’ll see it, but nobody’s puttin a fuckin desert eagle to your head and telling u to read it. If there is someone doin that shit, you need to take it up with them. I DON”T GIVE A FUCK WHO I’M PISSING OFF! If i see a topic that’s 45 yrs old, if i wanna speak on it, i’m gonna speak where I want. If there’s a problem with that, take it up with the administrators. suggest that post made on topics older than “6 months ” or whatever the fuck is you guys’s standard no longer be able to post. how bout that.
  
  May 23, 2008 at 6:55 pm rating: 90
- #136.8 901redbone
  
  and for the record. he’s responding to a post i made at 118. what made him wait till he got to 137 to post?! looks like he was reading the old shit too!
  
  May 23, 2008 at 6:59 pm rating: 90
- #136.9 Sundance
  
  S/He is reading it because it keeps popping up in her/his face. It keeps popping up in my face as well.
  
  Do us a favor and go away. Or don’t. Read all the old topics you want, just stop posting all over them.
  
  May 23, 2008 at 7:20 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#137 TL

Having worked in restaurants, I have a lot of sympathy for people working in food service, and I tip *very* well when the service is good, (I’ve been known to leave a 50% or more tip if the service were particularly good) and I generally leave 15-20% if the service is passable. I’ve even tipped the waiter extra because I saw the table next to us was a bunch of fratboy assholes giving him a hard time. I understand it is not the waiter’s fault that my steak was overcooked or that the salmon sauce tasted like ass.

However, if I look over and the waitress is too busy chatting with her coworker by the hostess stand, with their backs turned to the restaurant, and can’t be bothered to come check and see that I need more water for 15 minutes, that tip-o-meter is ticking away.

If the waiter is too busy flirting with the beach bimbo chick with her boobs half hanging out at the next table to see that we’re out of bread, *tick-tock*. And when one of our party, having called the waiter’s name three times to get his attention, eventually yelled “YO, WAITER”, and the boy was finally able to tear his eyes away from Miss Silicone’s chest, he treated us like we were a major inconvenience, and went right back to flirting. I am not going to pay him to stand there and flirt with the customers.

If it takes 30 minutes for the appetizer to come out, I understand the fault may well lie with the kitchen, and not the wait staff. But if in that 30 minutes, the waitress can’t be bothered to at least come by and check to see if we need drinks, and let us know there’s a delay, that meter’s going down fast.

And when you walk past our table 6 times in 15 minutes, have several members of our group politely try to get your attention, and it’s obvious you heard us, but you keep going like we don’t exist, don’t expect that your tip is going to be significant. On one of those 6 trips, you could have at least acknowledged us and said let me finish with table 20 and I’ll be with you.

Mistakes happen, and if you forgot I wanted the steamed vegetables instead of the baked potato, no problem, just bring me the veggies and all is well. Telling me “Well, you can just eat the potato, it won’t kill you” is not an appropriate response, especially since it was obvious you weren’t trying to make a joke.

I know what it’s like when the place is packed and everyone’s running themselves ragged, and I cut the wait staff some slack. Knowing it’s a shitty job and they take lots of crap, I make a point to smile, say hello, and say please and thank you. If the server responds to that by being rude and snippy, then don’t expect me to reward them. I don’t expect them to spend 10 minutes talking about the weather with me, but they could at least smile and say hello, instead of snapping open their order pad, sighing, and demanding “what do you want to eat today?”

Bad service is particularly inexcusable when the restaurant is practically empty. I generally go to lunch early or wait until 1:30 or so to avoid the lunch rush. I understand the wait staff has just been slammed for an hour and needs to sit down and take a break, but if all six of them (and the manager, BTW) are sitting at another table on the other side of the restaurant, and not one of them can be bothered to come check on us, don’t expect a tip. If one of them had bothered even once to come over, I would have asked them to leave a pitcher of tea on the table, and I’d gladly serve myself and my lunch companion so they could rest a bit. I have no problem with that, I’m perfectly capable of pouring my own drink. But even then, they should come over at least once to see if we need anything. I shouldn’t have to get up and walk over there to ask for more bread, or go hunting to find the tea pitcher to refill our glasses. When we were ready to leave, I walked over, requested the bill from the manager, and explained to him that we would not be back, as neither he nor his wait staff seemed to care about their customers. His reponse: “I’m so sorry, maybe it will be better next time.” There won’t be a next time for me.

There have been times when I have been seated, had dinner brought out, and haven’t seen hide nor hair of a wait person until I went searching for them in the kitchen to get the bill so we could leave.

If I have been waiting so long to get service that I have asked a passing busboy to send over the manager, then Houston, we have a problem. If it’s just after we’ve been seated, then I pass it off as most likely the wait person wasn’t notified by the hostess. Not the waitress’ fault. But if she’s simply abandoned us to go have a smoke break and chat with the cute new bartender, forget it.

Shit happens, and I think most customers are fairly understanding if they know what’s up. A couple weeks ago a friend and I tried out a new restaurant, and the waitress seemed kind of out of it. We thought she was stoned. At one point she forgot two of the items we’d asked for, and my dinner companion asked her if she were OK. The waitress apologized, and explained she’d just found out her cousin was in a bad car wreck and she was worried about him. We understood, and she got a great tip.

Is the customer always right ? F*** no ! But to the wait staff who act like they’re doing me a favor by taking my order, you’ve just had your tip.

I have no problems talking to management about poor service, and I also tell management about fantastic service. I know it’s hard work, but you’re there to provide a service and you get paid accordingly. Deal with it, or find a job elsewhere.

Jul 31, 2007 at 2:48 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #137.1 rosie
  
  I realize *you are all* done with this – but the conversation is new to me… and these are comments after all – not technically a message board – so forgive me please.
  
  I HAD to comment on this TL… for two reasons – 1)pretty much my philosophy meshes perfectly with everything you’ve written here. Both my sister and I have done our time, paid our dues as wait staff. She – is awesome and she has made great money at it. To this day (she hasn’t served for some 20 yrs probably – before computers – when pens and papers were used and min wage was less) she’ll rave that if she’s in need of cash – she’ll wait table somewhere – and no doubt she’d rake it in. She’s magnetic that way. I on the other hand SUK as a waitron! No matter how hard I try – because I simply do not like peopel that much! BUT I do awesome in the back runnign the prep operations and clean up areas. Not everyone is meant to be a server and those who recognize this will be better off moving on. I tip based on persormance – I’m not that hard to wait on, and based on my own experiences, I plan ahead in asking the waitrons for stuff and when I leave my table – it’s all stacked, sorted, and almost clean – they just gotta pick up the stuff and wipe it down!
  
  And 2) the part of your post that made me HAVE to comments on a dead thread…. I have the silicone babe issue — I’ve been known to expose these types of problems in restaurants… not too lone ago in a mediocre rest. here in Fairbanks (AK) I caller he waiter over and – very politely (which was actual patronizing) said, “Sir – I realise my boobs aren’t bursting our of my shirt, though I wish they were, and I’m not as attractive as that other lady getting all of your attention, but the money in my pocket is equally green and I have plenty of it and am willing to share – if that is – I can trouble you to pay attention to my table for the next 20 minuted and pretend a little bit that you’re happy to see us.” That may not be a complete exact quote – but it’s real close. The guy took it as I’d intended and hoped he would (I got lucky) – he blushed a bit, thought about it a minute – apologized, and treated us – as I’d asked – like he was happy to see us for 20 min – and I tipped him very well. I just happened to be in a particularly witty, humorous mood that day – else I wouldn’t have said a word. but — I thought it was funny since you mentioned it in your post.
  
  Thank you for your time and efforts in your post – I’m right there with you.
  
  Mar 26, 2008 at 4:40 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#138 M@

BakTak – who said “pay people what they’re worth”? They’re your words, not mine. I said “pay people a basic living wage”. That’s something every first-world country does – except the US.

Why do “people from everywhere else want to yelp at Americans”? It’s because a three-week argument ensues every time someone mentions the word ‘tip’ on a forum. Seriously, would it be so difficult to join the rest of the developed world and pay everybody enough to live off so they don’t have to beg their customers to top up their wages?

Jul 31, 2007 at 4:23 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #138.1 blahblah
  
  It’s not the customers’ job to make sure you pay your rent. IF a customer does happen to care, then GREAT. It is not our duty to make up for your sucky wage. It is our duty to not be asshole customers. I can help make your job easier by not making a complete mess for you or the busboy to pick up after me. I can have a nice attitude. I can help reduce the # of times you need to check up on me by making all of my requests at once.
  
  And I can give you the tip that you earned/deserve.
  
  If you don’t like your wage, get a new job. Period.
  
  Apr 25, 2008 at 9:58 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#139 todd

i’ve worked equal shares in BOH and FOH, and i have to agree with andy. i do despise the FOH a little more than is healthy.

@Jill: if you’re working in an establishment that actually fucks with food in a vindictive way, you should consider changing workplaces. if you’re instigating it, that’s a cardinal sin. people trust you with their health.

Jul 31, 2007 at 7:11 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#140 frazgo

sorry pals, have waited and carhopped but tips are your bonus for doing a good job. End of story.
If the service is horrible and is due to your server not the kitchen not tip is entirely appropriate. Actually I leave 2 cents in an overturned glass to make my point when its purely a server issue.

Jul 31, 2007 at 10:33 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#141 Nickelking

I’m all for the tip what the service is worth concept, but I’m also a notoriously generous tipper.

Lowest tip (3%): I only left 3% because it was about right to pay for the tax on what the server would have to pay for the assumed 9%-15% tip (depending on the restaurant.) We were a couple of kids (late teens) out at a high end restaurant and treated like a tip wasn’t expected. We were ignored, treated disdainfully, and dishes never got cleared (though honestly that last one is not a big deal for me.) The big sticking point was that after waiting about 20 minutes to see the waitress to try and get a refill on my soda I gave up and asked the hostess, who also couldn’t find the waitress. When the bill came all of us pulled out a couple hundreds and started arguing over who would pay. I’ve never seen my change come so quick. We left her with $3 and handed a 20 to the hostess who filled my soda in her absence.

Biggest tip (approx 170%): Waiter for two of us aforementioned kids who acted more like a pal than a waiter, he made small talk, chatted whenever he visited, when I asked him about a button he was wearing he gave it to me, and even sat down and rolled us each a post meal smoke when he found out we were smokers.

Average tip (20%): no muss no fuss, get me my food and offer to fill my glass. (I’m really not a finicky diner)

In customer it doesn’t really take much to impress other than acknowledgment of the situation, whatever the situation happens to be. I’ve often had servers stop me on the way out telling me I tipped too much when the food was late or undercooked which only made me want to tip them more.

I guess I should have a point to this post, It’s all based on service, I try and at the minimum compensate for the tax they’ll have to pay for “helping” me. As in any service industry a little bit goes a long way, and if someone can’t demonstrate that small effort then I’ll estimate my best to make things square.

Aug 1, 2007 at 2:19 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#142 Nickelking

Oh and both pics funny, but not something I could do.

Aug 1, 2007 at 2:20 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#143 SJ

@ Jill: That’s just sick. I’m serious about that. If you’ve done it, instigated it, condoned it…that’s wrong. I don’t care if the customer didn’t tip or was being a complete douche bag to the nth degree. Nothing excuses that kind of behavior.

As for tipping…there aren’t a plethora of nice places to eat here in my “city”. Mostly fast food. I believe that when you go out for a half decent meal, leave a tip to the waitress (provided she wasn’t a complete wench the whole time). I’ve had friends sit down at a restaurant in this town, and sit there for 60 minutes while the staff chit-chatted at the counter. As they left, they told the manager they wouldn’t be back and how long they had waited. And they gave that restaurant a good portion of takeout business (they use to eat there 2-3 times/week and no bill was ever less than $40).

Now, there are some places that I don’t believe in tipping at. KFC/MacDonalds (I don’t eat there because the service is crap and they always get my order wrong)/any other fast food type of establishment. I’m more apt to give my change to the SPCA/Sick Kid Fund before I’d give it to them. I use to tip at Tim Horton’s (Canada’s biggest coffee chain) but after some girl took my money, and stood there and TIPPED HERSELF with the REMAINDER of my change (Which was over a dollar, and I only had ordered a large coffee which isn’t even $2 w/ tax) I stopped.

If I drink at a bar, I don’t believe in tipping a waitress the 50 cents left from my $4.50 beer because she took the cap off. She took 15 minutes to get me that beer, because she was too busy working the guys over with her low-cut top. If the beer came fast, and I only waited a minute or two, I’ll give her the .50. Which might seem like a small tip, but that’s how it works here.

I think the worst service I ever had was at a late night restaurant, where the waitress demanded we pay first before we got our food, or we could get out. Now, I have never dined and dashed, and I understand about paying up front. But explain that nicely, that you are the only waitress here all night. I tip via Interac/Debit. If you were nice about it, I’ll even tip you before you technically serve me. But not if you’re going to be a bitch before I even have my menu open.

I know for a fact that people around here make minimum wage, at least. So, I’m only going to tip if it’s well deserved.

Aug 1, 2007 at 3:59 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#144 aliastaken

OK, I would like to publically apologize to LuckyMommy who took great offense to my stupid reference about the irony of her sign-on name in congruence with her apparently crabby personality. Since she has not-so-passive-aggressively made her feelings clear with hate mail on my site, I want to clear things up: I certainly did not mean to insult your son and I am sorry that you felt I referenced him. I didn’t even know you had a kid. It was just a joke.

Aug 1, 2007 at 7:22 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#145 Health Inspector

@ Jill

I hope you get caught, and are never permitted to work with food again. Furthermore, I hope someone with a horrible disease takes a $hit in your food. Tampering with someone’s food is just one of the many reasons that people in the kitchen need to have background checks done before they’re allowed to work. You’re a perverted, disturbed a$$, and I hope you get what’s coming to you.

Aug 1, 2007 at 9:26 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#146 Maverick

Jill you suck.

Mav

Aug 1, 2007 at 9:58 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#147 loren

randomness, et al:
If you read that statement in its context, you would know she came to the table only twice – once for our order, and once for our bill. Almost every person that’s not a complete moron knows about food runners. And I don’t expect anyone to be Flash if it’s busy. Duh. She was just LA-ZY.

Aug 1, 2007 at 3:36 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#148 Janna

The word “tip” originally stood for “To Ensure Promptness”. I appreciate service, but if you aren’t doing anything extra for me, you don’t deserve anything extra either.

Aug 1, 2007 at 5:07 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#149 Jill

My guess is that the people who are now angry with me are the people who don’t tip. High fives to Andy though!

It’s okay guys, nothing you say can ruin the passive-aggressive satisfaction I get from sliding a hamburger along grill vents that haven’t been cleaned in ten years. Mmmm!

I’m just one of many, many, MANY cooks in the world who do this. Consider it a public service that I let you in on this not-quite-a-secret, so you can perhaps ponder it next time you think about being a dick when you’re eating at a restaurant.

Aug 1, 2007 at 11:22 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#150 Jill

P.S. “Health Inspector,” you ought to know that my boss encourages me to use food that has been dropped on the floor. He gets angry if I throw it in the trash.

How we ever manage to keep from being shut down, I’ll never know.

Aug 1, 2007 at 11:25 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#151 edicius

I’ve told this story so many times, but it’s a classic example of when NOT to tip (plus not paying for food).

My then-girlfriend (now wife) and I went to a Bennigan’s here in Jersey for dinner after a movie. The place was totally dead for an evening and as such, we figured service would be pretty quick (there were literally only 2 or 3 other tables with people at them and maybe 2 people at the bar).

Firstly, it took a while for anyone to actually seat us. This should have been our first hint. So we’re sitting…and waiting for someone to take our drink order. And waiting. And waiting. 30 minutes pass and we finally manage to flag down someone. Drinks come maybe 15 minutes later and our orders are taken. AN HOUR LATER our food shows up – cold and one of the two orders is completely wrong. The corrected order shows up another 30 minutes later (and is actually still not entirely correct). We get a manager and inform him that we have no intention of paying for cold food and bad service. We get up and leave and he doesn’t stop us.

Not surprisingly, that Bennigan’s has since gone out of business.

I’m actually someone who is notorious for tipping too much (according to my wife). Our last two trips to Cracker Barrel, for instance, have resulted in some pretty shoddy service for the first half of the meal – two times in a row we’ve been basically ignored while other tables get drink orders, etc. immediately and are forced to flag down a server and ask, “Do you know who’s supposed to be taking care of us?” Each time it’s been at least a 15 minute wait between seating and drink orders being taken. And I still leave at least a 15% tip like a sucker.

Aug 2, 2007 at 8:17 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#152 Nigel

Check out http://bitterwaitress.com/ to get an idea of how some wait staff actually feel about the customers. Some of the forum posts make me heisistant to eat out.

Aug 2, 2007 at 10:59 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#153 Tarn

aliastaken – LuckyMommy sent you hate mail?
That’s totally out of order!

Aug 2, 2007 at 12:12 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#154 Jen

It’s been mentioned by several people that if we were not REQUIRED to tip that our meal costs would commiserately increase to cover the difference… as though it would be a bad thing. Personally, I like the idea. It would take all of the guesswork out for those of us who wouldn’t dream of stiffing on a tip, and force those douches out there that would ordinarily be cheap to be fair. It would also force the P/A types out there to actually talk to a manager when the service is bad. Though I’m thinking that if servers are paid decently and know their tips really ARE gravy, that instances of bad service would probably be pretty rare.

Aug 2, 2007 at 1:12 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#155 Dingo

Wow, someone obviously slipped Jill a sour cup of cunt this morning !

Aug 2, 2007 at 1:32 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#156 feh

Heh. Its funny to note that NO ONE ever stiffs waitstaff who give good service….and yet ask anyone who has waited tables for more than a couple months and you’ll hear of at least one party of asshats who ran the server ragged with special requests, spliting entrees, seperate checks, dropped silverware and children who can’t make up their minds, which were all taken care of with a smile and not even a finger in the soup, and still recieved a .50 cent tip on a 50 dollar bill.

I was a great waitress who had that same situation from a party of 15 (5 of which were adults), and did every thing in my power to meet their insane requests, short of tongue washing everyone’s dumper. When I saw the two quarters on their table as they were walking out, I picked up the money, followed them to the parking lot and threw it at them with the suggestion that they never return.

On the other hand, Motley Crue left me a $50 tip on a $30 bill, and all I did was bring out their pizza and keep their beers full…I didn’t even have to blow them.

Aug 2, 2007 at 2:03 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#157 Erin

I’ve relied on restaurant jobs for their flexibility and for how easy they are to come by all through my education – so I’ve worked many in the last seventeen years. I have to say, people, that what Jill says is, unfortunately for ANYONE who eats out, that it is reality that food gets fucked with. I serve part time and I don’t like it, either, because I eat out – and while I would never stiff on a tip, I don’t trust anyone’s judgment of whether I am deserving of getting f’ed with. As a vegan I frequently have to ask for special accommodation, and sometimes I know it’s a pain in the ass. Is that enough for some asshole chef (every rest. has one) to wipe my sandwich’s bread up his ass crack cause he’s having a bad day?
Anyway, point being, tip bad and increase the risk, deservedly or not. It’s almost like an unstated culture of fear amongst in-the-know diners. I have witnessed loogies in pizzas at least three times, pizza skins wiped on the bottom of walk-in floors, pubic hairs being placed in food, ball or ass cheese being wiped on pizza skins, and sneezing on food intentionally (I can’t summon a sneeze, no, but I have seen someone who can).

This is just what I remember off the top of my head. Do the math people . Low wage + disgruntled workers + working overtime = workers enacting revenge in the only way they see they can and still keep their jobs (never was anyone found out, and the ball cheese one was my manager).
Restaurants bring out the worst in humanity, from customers and employees. We would all be wise to remember that, and to show a little understanding – whether your role is as customer, server, cook, busser, whatever.

Aug 2, 2007 at 2:18 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#158 April

This is from the National Association of Restaurant’s site (http://www.restaurant.org/legal/law_minwage.cfm#tipped)

What am I required to pay tipped employees?

That depends on your state. The required cash wage for tipped employees under federal law is currently $2.13 an hour. That means employers in states that follow federal law can pay tipped employees a cash wage of $2.13 an hour and apply tip earnings toward the balance of the minimum wage obligation. (This is called taking a “tip credit.”)

To illustrate: Under current federal law, FLSA-covered employers may pay a cash wage of $2.13 and take a tip credit of up to $3.02 an hour ($2.13 cash wage + $3.02 tip credit = $5.15 minimum wage). In all cases, an employer may take the tip credit only to the extent that employees actually receive that much in tips.

Not all states follow federal law, however. Some do not allow employers to take the full federal tip credit of $3.02; some do not permit any tip credit at all. In these cases, the law most favorable to the employee prevails. The National Restaurant Association’s wage chart (in our members-only section) has details on the minimum cash wage you must pay your tipped employees.

****************************

So all those above who’ve argued that people MUST be getting minimum wage can now read through that and maybe wake up a little.

Also, it should be a clue if EVERY waiter/ess who has commented has said the same thing. They MIGHT be correct. sheesh!

Here’s a Federal website that says the same thing: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm

So please, before you leave NO tip for marginal service, please remember this information and think before you stiff them.

That said, the server should also be thinking about this and doing their job to the best of their ability – and with a smile sometimes would be nice. I work in the service industry (not in the food industry though) and I don’t care how crappy my day is going, I still have to smile and be nice to the idiots I help every day. And I don’t get tipped either way!

Aug 2, 2007 at 2:46 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #158.1 rosie
  
  APRIL! Thank you for this! (I’m saving a copy of the wage rates) NOW I’m even more pissed that – on average – we get such shitty service here in Alaska! As I’ve defended myself before – I tip well if I’m served well and I’m not that demanding – but it’s rare I really have a great experience in a rest. here – and I suspect our watrons get paid fairly well + tips.
  
  Mar 26, 2008 at 6:19 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#159 Brett

@Dingo – If someone spits in your sour cup of cunt, do you leave a tip?

-Confused

Aug 2, 2007 at 2:51 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#160 Maverick

Jill,

How do you decide what type of customer behavior deserves this type of response? Do you really think a person that flips burgers is capable of making these calls?

Mav

Aug 2, 2007 at 2:51 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#161 loren

Getting stiffed on a tip after really busting your ass for a horrible table happens how often – once, twice every few months? And how many tables do you wait every day? Exactly.

In the big picture, I bet waitstaff gets overtipped for their actual performance more than they get stiffed, and I think that makes up for it.

Like others have said, if you’re getting stiffed that often, you should find a new profession (or file sexual harassment charges – geez, getting stiffed at work).

Aug 2, 2007 at 5:43 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#162 loren

@Brett – depends on if the cup of cunt was warm and served promptly. too funny

Aug 2, 2007 at 5:45 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#163 Wolf

Jill,

I hope you’re aware that tampering with food in the manner you describe is actually a felony, and I would hope that the administrators of this site would submit your IP address to your local authorities and inform them of what you’re doing, so that you can earn your rightful place as bubba’s bitch behind bars.

Aug 2, 2007 at 9:33 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#164 SJ

You know, Wolf is onto something. Jill should be dimed out, completely. I do tip, when the server earns the tip.

And you know, Mav also had a good point. How the eff does a cook in the back know? Even if your waitress or waiter bitches about a table…what if he or she is just having a bad day. Or perhaps overly emotional. Or a pathological liar who gets sick pleasure watching people eat tampered food.

Seriously, Jill. Grow up. I hope you get dimed out.

Aug 3, 2007 at 2:19 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#165 Elle

Good service isn’t actually about everything happening perfectly, it’s about a server who does the best they can in the circumstances. If there is a problem let me know, mistakes happen.

Aug 3, 2007 at 5:52 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#166 Dingo

LOL @ Brett !

Seriously though, I’m all for wait staff making a decent wage, and I don’t think I’ve ever “stiffed” one. I have, however, not given a tip when they didn’t provide any real service.

If you spent a grand total of 4 minutes taking our order and punching it into the computer, 3 minutes bringing the food to our table, then 3 minutes ringing us out, and I’m supposed to leave a 20% tip on a $50 order, that’s $10 … plus the $2.13 minimum … so $12.13 for 10 minutes of work … that’s 72.78 / hour. Wow, I’m in the wrong damn business ! And to think I paid my way through college as an IT consultant making $30 – $35 / hour, when I obviously should’ve been a shitty waiter instead !

Aug 3, 2007 at 8:31 am rating: 90

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#167 Andy

Dingo: I agree. From a back of the house perspective, nothing annoys us more than whiny waitstaff. We’re in a hot hell-hole of a kitchen, making shit for wages, up since morning, busting ass all night, maybe to make in a 12-14 hour shift what one server can make in a 4 hour shift.

Additionally, regarding swiping a burger along a greasy hood grate: I wouldn’t consider that a felony-style offense, but certainly nasty and I would not condone that.

If you really want some interesting insights into a professional kitchen, check out Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential”. Great book, but a bit disturbing if you’ve never been in the restaurant life.

Aug 3, 2007 at 9:41 am rating: 90

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#168 anon

To the server in comment 86.
The fact that you have been left only a penny tip says everything that needs to be said about your service (at least on the occasions that you received it).
A penny tip means “your service sucked”, a penny placed on top of a good tip means “outstanding job”. This is an old but standard practice.

Aug 3, 2007 at 4:55 pm rating: 90

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#169 skeletontea

Chris’ Visa # is 40376942

Aug 3, 2007 at 7:40 pm rating: 90

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#170 Me

I’m a server…no matter how rude someone is I never contaminate the food.
While I might bitch about rude tables and whatnot, I don’t show it to the customers face.
I bring napkins and refill drinks without asking. I’m polite and customary, yet the other day I was stiffed for no reason. Everyone else gave 20% or more.
Sometimes, it just happens…people who seem nice then seem cheap.

Although, it is not easy to please people who are rude, don’t let you introduce yourself without cutting off your speech to say what they want to drink. Having a large party with separate checks, ect..to maintain a nice outer expression.
We’re only human. There can be nice servers that have to deal with asshole cooks who have it out for them, and forget things on purpose.

Aug 3, 2007 at 10:39 pm rating: 90

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#171 tom

I went to a great restuarant some time ago, had a lovely meal that was served quickly by friendly staff.

When I left, I was paying with credit card. Oddly enough there was literally no provision for tipping on the form. Normally it has a line where you can add a tip, but in this case, by the time I handed back the signed receipt the transaction was already done.

I live in Australia where minimum wage is higher and tipping is usually considered a reward for good service, but I usually tip if the service is okay. The one time I didn’t was in a restaurant where we all ordered at the same time, told the staff we had a certain amount of time (reasonable time though) to eat because we were going to see a show. The last person to eat had to gulp their food to get out on time, everything had been slow, some orders were wrong etc…

As we walked out, one of the staff said `hey, they didn’t tip!’.

Aug 4, 2007 at 5:24 am rating: 90

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#172 temazur

I usually tip waiters and waitresses atleast 15%, up to 30% for good service. Good service, in my book, is refill my drink once in awhile (if I’m paying $2-3 for a soda, I don’t think I’m being unreasonable expecting it to be refilled once, ya know?) and bring the bill if you notice we’re done eating. If we’ve been done for 20 minutes and you still haven’t stopped by to see if we want something else or just the bill, your tip starts to decrease. I’m not a busy person or an important person, but having to wait 1/2 an hour just to give you money is a pain in the neck. Don’t make it difficult for me to give you money.

One of the best servers we ever had hardly said a word. He asked what we wanted, and that was it. But our drinks were always full, our food was prompt, hot, and perfect, and the bill magically appeared after we finished eating. He got paid about a dollar a word for waiting our table. You don’t have to kiss my ass, just do your job.

Now, bartenders, on the other hand…I’m not as tolerant of. I’ve seen too many ignore me when I’ve had cash out on the bar in favor of waiting on something drunk with tits hanging out. If your manager is behind the bar with you and HAS TO POINT OUT TO YOU THAT I WAS THERE FIRST BEFORE THE OTHER PEOPLE YOU JUST SERVED, YOU’RE NOT GETTING A TIP! Sorry, but on a $3 bottle of beer, I tip a dollar. That’s a 33% tip. If you’re going to be an a$$hole and ignore me, you certainly don’t deserve a 33% tip. If I’m out having more than a few beers an evening, that adds up….to your loss. I’ve only run into one or two bartenders who’ve had that happen (though I’ve had a few look at me like I’m an ass when I tip them every drink up to the 4th one, then skip tipping that one…dude! I just gave you $3 for $12 of beer! That’s 25% and you’re cranky!? You’re TAKING THE CAP OFF OF A TWIST OFF and GIVING it to me! Hard work, huh? If I’m getting mixed drinks, I ALWAYS tip EVERY drink, no matter what).

Aug 4, 2007 at 10:59 am rating: 90

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#173 WhatLadder

I find it interesting that there is such antagonism between waiters and customers. It’s funny because isn’t eating out supposed to be, like, a fun or pleasurable thing?

The other night my family and I went to a restaurant where I ended up not leaving a tip. The reason?

We were asked 4 times by 2 different people if we wanted drinks, and while some of the drinks arrived, our requests for water were completely ignored. It was a hot day.

I asked 2 different wait persons for an additional item after our main courses arrived, but the food never came.

For the majority of the time we were eating and trying to get attention, there were 3 waiters standing at the central bar area, chatting to one another.

We had to go to go up to the register to pay our bill because it was never brought to the table.

Someone upthread said you should tip if you get your food and drinks. Looks like not tipping in this case was the right thing to do. I’m sorry I didn’t think of writing a note on the credit card slip, though.

Aug 4, 2007 at 1:18 pm rating: 90

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#174 Erin

temazur:”One of the best servers we ever had hardly said a word. He asked what we wanted, and that was it. But our drinks were always full, our food was prompt, hot, and perfect, and the bill magically appeared after we finished eating. He got paid about a dollar a word for waiting our table. You donâ€™t have to kiss my ass, just do your job.”

To some people this kind of service would mean bad service. Every person walks into a restaurant and wants something different from their server. A server’s job description changes with each new table, and really with each guest. But the server doesn’t get a copy of the rules.

The successful server must learn quickly to assess, the sooner the better, exactly what each diner wants for the time they are there.

If only everyone had to wait tables for a month of their life, this world of customer/worker (server, sales rep, CSR whatever) would be a much kinder place.

Did you ever think the reason it took so long for your check to come was because I’ve been running my ass around trying my best to keep up with the demands of your “perfect 20 per cent dining experience” at the same time as every body else’s?

uuuggghh….this has gotta be my last post on this. People just don’t understand how much it affects servers personally (generally, at least good ones) when they get stiffed or a poor tip when they’ve done the best they can and it just wasn’t good enough.

Aug 4, 2007 at 1:28 pm rating: 90

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- #174.1 Juliet
  
  If only everyone had to wait tables for a month of their life, this world of customer/worker (server, sales rep, CSR whatever) would be a much kinder place.
  
  I completely agree with this. I’ve been out with friends who’ve never worked in a restaurant and they’ve complained the server was cranky… I bet them a bunch of drinks the server was just having a bad day. The next time the server came to the table I asked her how her night was going. She she was having an off-day, but added that she wanted to give us good service. And she gave us great service afterward.
  
  So, everyone was happy: my friends didn’t have a cranky server, the server was happier, and I got some free drinks. Win-win I’d say.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:46 pm rating: 90
add to this thread
#175 Hype-Jersey

Not tipping – not o.k. Does anyone realize that the wait staff is usually not even responsible for “bad service?” Restaurants are frequently understaffed and don’t forget that the wait staff has to depend on cooks/dishwashers/bar tenders and managers in order to provide service.

And if I ever encountered anyone rude enough to leave a ketchup trail like that behind them, I’d be pressing charges for vandalism. Grow the hell up.

Aug 4, 2007 at 4:32 pm rating: 90

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#176 Leslye

There have been 2 times in my life when I have no left a tip. Generally, I’m a big tipper.

Aug 4, 2007 at 7:31 pm rating: 90

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#177 temazur

Erin –
“Did you ever think the reason it took so long for your check to come was because Iâ€™ve been running my ass around trying my best to keep up with the demands of your â€œperfect 20 per cent dining experienceâ€ at the same time as every body elseâ€™s?”

So it’s okay for me to wait 30 minutes to receive a bill? Bullshit. Sorry, I don’t expect it the minute my fork hits an empty plate, but if it’s been 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour, that’s too damn long. I’m very understanding if its busy, but if you can’t be bothered to stop by once in a thirty minute period to see if I need anything, you’re a shit server. If you walk by me 10 times and see that both plates are finished, pushed aside, and we’re just talking, then maybe you should take a fucking clue and ask if we’d like our bill.

As to my “demands”…I’m about as low-key a customer as a server could expect. I almost never have a special request (usually, if something comes with an item I don’t want, I don’t order it…the only time I have a request is if everything on the fucking menu is slathered in mayonaise…then I ask for my sandwich without it), don’t ask for extra crap, and pretty much leave my server alone. My biggest “demand” is for a second soda sometime during my meal. Yeah, I’m a heartless bitch, making my poor server scurry once the entire 45 minutes to an hour I’m there. How dare I.

Get a gripe. No one here is targetting *you*. We’re probably targetting shitty co-workers who you’ve not been able to stand because of their slacking, either.

Aug 5, 2007 at 11:31 am rating: 90

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#178 temazur

Oh and…

“uuuggghhâ€¦.this has gotta be my last post on this. People just donâ€™t understand how much it affects servers personally (generally, at least good ones) when they get stiffed or a poor tip when theyâ€™ve done the best they can and it just wasnâ€™t good enough.”

Yeah, some people don’t understand how it affects someone personally when they don’t get a raise at the end of the year because they sucked.

“Sorry, but you performed badly last year, no annual raise for you”

“But…but…you’re affecting me personally! I did my best!! Wasn’t that good enough?”

“Um…no. Your best kind of sucked”

YMMV

Aug 5, 2007 at 2:45 pm rating: 90

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#179 evilbunnytoo

Just a news flash – in CA waitstaff are suppossed to make CA minimum wage ($7.25 I think, more in SF which has like a $8.50 minimum wage) and tips are on top of this.

This means tips are rewards. This hasn’t resulted in an outrageous food bill at restaurants (like many claim), though eating at a restaurant in CA is more expensive than eating in MI or TX.

This results in better service in my experience because the waiters are there because they want the tips. If they just wanted to make minimum wage they would work at another job.

Aug 6, 2007 at 12:08 am rating: 90

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- #179.1 Alena
  
  Actually, it just means that it’s really expensive to live in California (and SF). And NYC. Etc.
  
  Dec 9, 2007 at 3:19 am rating: 90
add to this thread
#180 Nick

While we’re all pointing out what hour wage “really” is by impossibly compressing time, I’d like to point out that waiting tables isn’t like another full-time job.

There are usually a couple hours of set-up and clean-up involved, and only a couple of hours each day (except on Friday or Saturday) when you can make good tips.

So tips help pay for the few hours when a waiter is being paid $2.15 an hour to get the restaurant ready for you to come to eat at.

Aug 6, 2007 at 9:48 am rating: 90

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#181 ema

The ketchup & mustard is rude ~ someone has to clean that up and it’s probably not the person who didn’t show for 30 min. As for the second, that is completely unhelpful. They should have put how she was rude. I serve for a living (I make $4.50 an hour here in Chicago) and I have had coworkers get notes on how they can improve their service. It sucks, but it is helpful. Putting a sad face in the tip line does not help. If you tell your server where they are going wrong, 9 times out of 10 they will try to fix it (I’ll save that 1 time for the really obnoxious/not even possible demands some people feel they should get ~ i.e. if you asked for no tomato on your burger and it comes with one, I can get you a new burger without tomato, I *cannot* get you a free meal).

Also, please realize that some servers have to tip out, at the end of the night I have to give 5% of my sales to the bussers and food runners and 5% of my liquor sales to the bar. When I don’t get a tip, it comes out of my pocket. And if your server doesn’t have a busser/food runner, think of how much harder they are working (try walking around carrying heavy plates on a tray all day). There are also plenty of times where I may only have 1 table in an hour or when I open, spending my time rolling silverware, cleaning tables and making sure everything is prepped when we are still closed.

As for the comments that we “chose” this job and should suck it up, for the most part we do. I love meeting new people, talking to customers and the people I work with. It’s flexible and allows me to work around classes. Where I work, no ones food gets “altered” due to comments you may make or if you send it back. We fix it properly and try to make you happy

Aug 6, 2007 at 12:29 pm rating: 90

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#182 aliastaken

Nick, good point about side work and clean-up. I’m not sure everyone realizes how much of a server’s day/night is spent not working for tips. Ema, you sound like a good waitress. For the record, nobody at my restaurant would ever mess around with the food to be mean either; the worst might be to steal a french fry off a plate.

Aug 6, 2007 at 5:56 pm rating: 90

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#183 Jen

The only time that I did not tip a waitress was a late night in a small diner. You can see the whole place from the front door kind of place. There was 3 waitresses and 5 customers in the place. It took 15 minutes to get a drink order. 45 minutes for food. We waited for 20 minutes for a check. She never came back. Never came to drop off the check owed. We went up to the counter and a different waitress asked us for our check. We told her that it was given to us. Our waitress stomped over and slammed it on the counter. We put her tip in the container for the animal shelter and made sure she knew it.

Aug 6, 2007 at 5:58 pm rating: 90

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#184 Manuel Rivas

OK, so that’s three people so far who believe, and relayed, the notion that “tips” comes from an acronym for “to insure prompt service” or some variation of it.
It’s just not true. Please help stamp out this nonsense.
See http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp
or any of various language/etymology sites to confirm this.

Aug 6, 2007 at 6:06 pm rating: 90

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#185 courtney

The ketchup mustard sign on the table was the best. Looks like a waffle house. There really must have been terrible service if no one there saw him do it. But I once had a friend who compared waitressing to stripping. You have to work to be paid what you deserve. And being pretty doesn’t hurt either. If your having an off day you don’t get your usual salary. Waiting tables sucks, be nice, but if you hate your job enough to not care, get another job.

Aug 7, 2007 at 10:58 am rating: 90

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#186 Dr. Nona

That’s just mean.

Aug 8, 2007 at 9:16 am rating: 90

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#187 katie

yow. i’m the katie who was along for the ride with the note on the receipt, and just found out this was posted here. i worked in a restaurant for quite awhile and am normally a very generous tipper, even in circumstances of less-than-stellar service. this was the first time i was willing to not leave a tip, ever – though i think the note was pretty crazy to leave. the reason that we didn’t speak with the manager was that the reason we went to this restaurant in the first place is that we were trying to make a movie, and this restaurant was normally a place you could get into and out of in about 15 minutes for a quick bite. after being at our table for 25 minutes, we’d still seen no server – and this was after inquiring at the bar and asking another server. she clearly wasn’t overwhelmed with other tables, as when she finally showed up and checked on the tables around us, it was the first time we had seen her. we had showed up to get a cheap happy hour special and by the time she showed up, happy hour was over, and her first words to us was that we’d have to pay full price. she was rude, only brought our drinks after three requests, only brought us silverware after two, among other issues. the justification for the note was that if we just didn’t tip, the assumption might be that we were just cheap – the note was chris’s snotty way to make clear that the service was appalling.

Aug 9, 2007 at 9:07 am rating: 90

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#188 Nanna

I tip based on how I was treated. To me, that’s good service. So what if it was slow? If my margarita was so nasty I couldn’t even drink it, fine. If my server or food took a while to get there because the place was packed, fine.

But when I flag the server down and ask for a new drink, they should smile, apologize and bring me a new drink promptly. I shouldn’t have to ask where my food is after an hour of waiting and empty drink glasses. My server should have stopped by at least twice in that tim to refill drinks and let me know what the holdup is. It doesn’t take long.

To me, great service is taking good care of a customer when things don’t go smoothly. And great service gets a huge tip.

For really horrible service (attitude, long absences leading to feeling abandoned, dereliction of duty) I leave 2 pennies on the table AND speak to the manager.

Aug 15, 2007 at 5:45 pm rating: 90

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#189 Crystal

A tip should be earned. I’m not going to tip someone who provided horrible service or rudeness just because she doesn’t get paid well. She should be working to earn that tip if she’s worried about getting it. I tip normally but if she is extremely rude or lazy she doesn’t deserve my money. (replace she with he if you’d like)

Aug 20, 2007 at 11:42 am rating: 90

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#190 sam

about 10 years ago or so, i went to pizza hut with my friends and ordered garlic bread without cheese. i made it a point to tell the waiter this multiple times, because 1) i didn’t want cheese and 2) they charge extra for cheese. when they brought my garlic bread out with cheese on it and i said that i had asked for it sans cheese, they basically accused me of lying. i peeled the cheese off and ate the garlic bread underneath. i don’t remember if the tip was decreased or not, but i do remember that we used the cheese to spell out “NO CHEESE” on the plate before they took it back.

Aug 21, 2007 at 10:04 am rating: 90

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#191 chriso

There is a special circle in hell for people who treat food service workers like shit. You do the job for a day and see if you “earn” your tip, Crystal.

Aug 21, 2007 at 8:46 pm rating: 90

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#192 Joe

Making it extremely clear why you didn’t leave a tip = not passive-aggressive. LMAO (and yes, I have had roommates who were waiters, but I also know TIPS stands for “To Insure Prompt Service”).

Aug 23, 2007 at 4:46 pm rating: 90

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#193 Joe

“OK, so thatâ€™s three people so far who believe, and relayed, the notion that â€œtipsâ€ comes from an acronym for â€œto insure prompt serviceâ€ or some variation of it.
Itâ€™s just not true. Please help stamp out this nonsense. See http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp
or any of various language/etymology sites to confirm this.”

You’re fighting a losing battle, Manuel. It may have started out meaning something else, but I’m willing to bet 95% of the population today thinks it means “to insure prompt service,” and that’s what they base their tipping behavior on.

Aug 23, 2007 at 4:50 pm rating: 90

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#194 Chris

In Australia, you give people tips if they do their job well. If they’re particularly courteous, friendly, efficient, whatever – you know, if they do what they’re paid for, and do a good job.

If you suck at your job, expect no tip from me. I’m not giving you more than the cost of my food if you’re just going to be a lazy ass-butt.

And before anyone fires up, I’ve done food service and worked bar. I got tips because I went out of my way to be awesome.

Aug 24, 2007 at 12:25 pm rating: 90

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#195 Mandy

(former server)

The problem here is this: You go to work at the phone company, the daycare, the zoo, the Wal-Mart, the police station etc. etc. etc. you get paid a flat rate no matter what. You can have good days, you can have bad days, you can have mediocre days but the bottom line is you show up for work, you don’t have to worry about not getting paid.

As a server there are many factors involved when it comes to giving good service, many of which are completely out of your hands but not necessarily things the customer could possibly be aware of.

Unless a server has been blatantly rude to you or has completely ignored you (ie. the ketchup and mustard photo) you are a COMPLETE FUCK if you don’t leave a tip.

I would LOVE to see the rest of the non-serving world get paid according to the very fickle whims of the general public for even a day.

You would not BELIEVE the number of times I have been polite, friendly, prompt, and excellent at my job serving and still been stiffed because some bitchy lady thought I was being too friendly with her husband ( I am a lesbian btw) or because some jackass saw a commercial for a different restaurant and became enraged with me because I had the unfortunate duty of informing him that he was, in fact, at Fridays’ and not Chili’s and therefore could not have corny salsa roll things or whatever.

I stopped waiting tables because of jerks like that and because, though I am a very good server, was not getting paid what I earned.

Wow. Rant. Sorry. Just realized how long this is.

Must stop now.

Aug 24, 2007 at 7:30 pm rating: 90

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#196 Mandy

~former Indiana server~
Oh, and just so everyone is aware: John Mellencamp is a total ass as a customer and runs up extremely high bills, makes ridiculous demands (ie “Bring my son some chocolate milk” “I’m sorry we don’t have chocolate milk” “BRING MY SON SOME FUCKING CHOCOLATE MILK!”) and is known notorious among the waitstaff in his home area for leaving less than 10% regardless of the service.

Aug 24, 2007 at 8:13 pm rating: 90

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#197 Pamela

@ #19 Jack:

“btw, the reason (aside from his douchitude) that he left that charming note was that the 6th plate HE stacked on top of the pile while I was clearing slipped and I saved everything but one chicken wing bone which landed on his toe”

If the dishes are left long enough that the customer has time to pile his own dishes, you are giving shitty service.

@ #45 Mike:

“Of course, I also think itâ€™s bullshit to tip on percentage of costâ€¦ carrying a steak is no more difficult than carrying a salad.”

It’s not more difficult to carry a steak, but the server is paying taxes on a minimum of 8% of his/her sales. They are paying taxes based on the cost of the food, therefor you should tip based on the cost of the food.

Aug 24, 2007 at 11:26 pm rating: 90

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#198 One0ne

TIPS
To
Insure
Proper
Service

If you have received sub par service why pay for more than the meal?

Aug 25, 2007 at 12:50 am rating: 90

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#199 Mandy

The problem with the term “sub par” is that there ARE a lot of reasonable people in the world who do appreciate whether their server is trying or not, and then there is everyone else. There is service that is obviously sub par ie. the server ignores you, the server is rude to you, the server completely fucks the entire order up… and then there is regular good service that jerks who don’t want to tip pick apart like crazy.

The bottom line is this: Because you (the general public) are given the POWER not to pay someone, you tend to abuse that power by nit-picking any and every little thing you can so that you can reduce the amount you will give.
I’m pretty sure it’s human nature–but it’s really shitty. You may think your server was dicking around and that’s why your food took so long, but in all actuality it was probably because of the amount of people in the restaurant at the time ordering food at the same time from a very over-worked, very underpaid kitchen staff– OR it’s just a slow kitchen staff, OR (and this happens ALL the time) you change things about your order after it has already been sent back, you order meat burnt to a crisp but want it in five minutes (duh!) or there is a table of jerks next to you that is absolutely running my ass off.

I promise you, I am a very friendly, very efficient, very good server and I have been absolutely butt-ra93d by customers.

The last place I worked I had to tip the rest of the staff a percentage of my sales (sales, not the money I made in tips) regardless of how my night went. I also live in an area where (excuse me but it’s true) there is a specific demographic that is HORRIBLE about tipping. I often had to PAY to wait on people because of this demographic.
The hostesses at the restaurant, if angry with a server that specific night, would FILL their section with these people knowing that that server would absolutely no matter what not be making any money. This included servers that belong to the demographic themselves.

In the instance of the ketchup and mustard I think it is perfectly excusable that they left the message and that they didn’t leave a tip, and I don’t know what’s up with the receipt, but I hope it was something similar.

As far as the rest of the discussion, I cannot believe some of the things you people seem to think about your server.

And for the record: In almost 10 years of serving experience at chain and non-chain restaurants I have NEVER seen food tampered with, Though I have been privy to people’s food taking an awfully, awfully long time should they happen to have not left a tip previously. Yes, we do remember you, and every employee in the building knows who you are and is making fun of you (should you happen to have the balls to come back)

Aug 25, 2007 at 7:08 am rating: 90

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#200 Adam

You want faster service? There is such a thing as McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Burger King…..

Aug 25, 2007 at 8:26 pm rating: 90

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#201 ben

Prep, dish, bus, catering, host, server, fast food in brief spells, been there, done that. Long since, in a different life. Thank gawd. If my knees weren’t crap I’d rather pick berries, even in this day and age.

For that very reason, I make a point of tipping 20% unless I’m being ignored.

Reading this thread reminds me of my last birthday. All of the friends I’d've cared to go out with were either out of town or working, so on an impulse I went by myself to a new Italian fusion place that’s been quite busy from the day it’s opened. It took:

10 minutes for me to get seated, even though there were several available tables.

10 minutes to get a menu.

10 minutes to make up my mind because the waitress could describe neither the menu items nor the wines, and I was forced to wing it.

10 minutes to get the food, but…

I was forced to leave my table and hunt down the waitress for my wine before I finished the food. It turned out she’d forgotten me and the wine both.

I left a decent tip… but any other day of the year apart from Mother’s Day, I’d've probably gone the BOO YOU FAIL route. (A couple of nights later I DID run into the line cook who’d cooked my food, and told him what happened.)

Ladies and gentlemen, PLEASE do not forget your solitary diners. They’re a good sight more likely to complain before they leave, since the only expectations they need to meet that night are their own. If you treat them well, they’re also more likely to become regulars who will both tip well and help you increase your clientele. (Cooking for one sucks BALLS.)

P.S. to non-expo FoH people – BoH don’t like you because they get just as weeded as you do, and in most markets don’t make nearly as much as you. Just sayin’. If you don’t believe me, beg for an expo shift and see for yourself. If your store doesn’t have an expo position, volunteer for prep instead.

P.P.S. to BoH people – the only places I’ve ever heard of that tolerated the practice of mangling asshole customers’ food had strong reputations for being places one wouldn’t want to work at anyway. Just sayin’.

Aug 26, 2007 at 5:00 am rating: 90

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- #201.1 Marge
  
  Just a quick note:
  
  When people complain about it taking a while to be sat “when there are plenty of open tables,” keep in mind that just because there are tables does not mean there are enough servers to cover them! My joint has probably 60 tables, but only has staff to cover that many tables on a Friday or Saturday night. It is when people throw fits about waiting in the lobby and get sat prematurely that servers wind up getting over-worked and providing unintentionally horrible service!
  
  I’m not saying this was your experience, I just wanted to point it out for anyone who has had the “I don’t get it, there are open tables?” thought. I have to explain it to my mom all the time.
  
  Also, “Word” to whoever made the comment about side work. I overheard some jackass a few weeks ago explaining to his lady friend about how he doesn’t tip because “if a server makes roughly $5 off each table, and she has five tables in a section, and each table is there for about half an hour, then she is making 50$ an hour!”
  
  I had to take off my tiara, put down my Gucci pot holders, remove my mink and tie back my salon styled hair in order to tackle him to the floor and kick him in his prodigious gut. No, I didn’t, actually. Maybe if I lived in whatever bizzaro world he lives in I would have. I do roughly three hours of side work on a six hour shift, I have approximately two hours where I have a few tables, and one or two hours of “rush.” Oh if only side work did itself and the customers were always pouring in.
  
  Of course, that same guy told me that teachers (my weekday profession) are underworked and overpaid. Reality is clearly not his strong point.
  
  Feb 9, 2008 at 9:50 pm rating: 90
- #201.2 Canthz_B
  
  Perhaps if they were seated instead…?
  
  Feb 9, 2008 at 10:49 pm rating: 90
- #201.3 An Observer
  
  I <3 Marge!!
  
  Feb 10, 2008 at 5:24 pm rating: 90
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#202 lamp

Insulting someone like that who has your credit card number is a BAD IDEA.

I’m personally against tipping because people don’t tip when the person serving them needs the money, they do it when/where it is expected and typically where it is needed the least. That’s why mcdonald’s employees don’t get tipped… or why the waitress at denny’s gets way less than the waitress at the fancy restaurant for the same amount of work. Nothing succeeds like success–People love giving money to people who don’t need it.

Aug 26, 2007 at 6:21 am rating: 90

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#203 lamp

Americans are continually accusing each other of being lazy. They are ALL lazy.
And few things are lazier than going out to a restaurant. Only if they poured the food down your throat and sucked the shit out the back could people do less work to eat. The servers who get “run ragged” by their customers, instead of realizing that it’s a stupid system to have eaters waited on hand and foot, then go out to eat with the money they made so THEY can order someone around for once. It’s a vicious cycle. Everyone needs to make their own damn food.

Aug 26, 2007 at 6:36 am rating: 90

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#204 Barryke

Blank lines for tips .. on bills?
WHAHAHAHAHA

Where are the times we could laugh because we thought China had mind scarring customs.

Aug 26, 2007 at 7:10 am rating: 90

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#205 JD

Forget tips…
Just pay them a descent salary for god sake!
Real price = Menu Price + Taxes + tips
This is just marketing crap.

Aug 26, 2007 at 7:35 am rating: 90

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#206 Uk Res

I dont get the ‘tip’ thing in the US, it’s basically the customer having to pay part of an employee’s wages therefore allowing the restaurant to make even more profit by not paying its employees fair and decent wages. Its not fair to the employee and could be considered to be profiteering!

Tips in the UK are to reward the server for excellent service above and beyond the basic level of their job. They’re to say ‘thank you’ for making our meal all the more enjoyable. Even though ‘tips’ aren’t expected in the UK, if I get great service, I say thanks with a good tip, try to make it in cash so that goes into my servers hands even if I pay by credit card.

Though ‘gratuity’ (automatically, non-voluntary so called ‘tip’ or service charge) is on the up in the UK and I very much doubt the employee gets it in their pocket, its just the way for an employer to have a customer pay part of their staffs wages.

Aug 26, 2007 at 8:25 am rating: 90

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#207 Andrew

I just don’t get this. Why tip? I mean why not just pay people what they are worth? It is simply unacceptable to not do your job well. I do service, computer service, I don’t get tips. Therefore I don’t tip people just because their job has to do with food.

Aug 26, 2007 at 9:31 am rating: 90

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#208 James

Regaurdless of what your “tipping morals” are, leaving that message on the table with ketchup and mustard deserves a good kick in the balls. I have worked in food service for 7 years now and it’s just not fair to not tip the server or driver whatever the case may be. I mean have you ever had a driver wite bad tipper on your car? I would almost condone it to some assholes.

Aug 26, 2007 at 10:33 am rating: 90

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- #208.1 drew
  
  Your english skills are amazing.
  
  Why is it not fair to tip the waitress? If you add the wages and the tips they’ll get, minus my tip, s/he’ll still be making more than minimum wage. Why is it unfair for a server not to make another 5$ if they do a shitty job?
  
  Jun 15, 2008 at 4:31 pm rating: 90
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#209 kevin

im surprised some asshole thinks that 20% is VERY WELL….. and let me clear something else up… has anyone considered tips for DELIVERED FOOD… your mom teaches you how to tip… when she argues with your father at the restaurant about how he is embarrassing her by leaving such a crappy tip….. but no one teaches children how to tip DELIVERY DRIVERS………….. well here goes…. IF YOU DONT HAVE AT LEAST 5$ minimum TO TIP A DELIVERY DRIVER…. EVEN IF YOUR FOOD ONLY COST 10$ then you should take your cheap fat lazy ass to mcdonalds. and anything OVER 50$ SHOULD BE A STANDARD 10% for adequate service, 15% for excellent service, and 20% if you think… “god id like this person to work for me, if i had a restaurant….. EVEN IF ITS 3,000$ IN FOOD…. delievery drivers use their GODDAMN CARS… gas… insurance….risk death and destruction to bring you your goddamn food or catering….
all a waiter does is…. a waiter carries it a few feet,… gets you an extra drink if you want it, then sits in the back bitching about how your kids were loud and undiciplined…

a well tipped delivery driver will make sure your food gets there …. hot.. fast… and .. unspit in.

Aug 26, 2007 at 12:18 pm rating: 90

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- #209.1 rosie
  
  Oh YES I tip the only place that will deliver to my house – and I tip them very well! 9 x out of 10 – *if* I’m getting somethig delivered it’s because it’s -30 degrees outside and I don’t want to plug the truck in, wait two hours before I start it, let it warm up, all just to drive the 5 miles to the place that will deliver! That’s a lot – but at -30 deg below zero – that’s what it takes to drive to town if your vehicle has been parked outside and started for at least half the day if not a couple days. When I do call that rest. ( a Chinese place – I keep a menu here at the house) I order 2-3 meals (to make it worth their while) – which actually translated into several since they give you so much – and that’s a whole weekend of food! It doesn’t matter what the cost of the order is to me – they just saved me a LOT of trouble and time bringing that stuff to me, in very inclimate weather, and (unless you’ve ever had a delivery job of ANY kind – you may not think of the wear and teat on the vehicle!! Which does add up!) And they get at least $20 – for their time, troubles, gas, vehicle abuse, AND because they saved me the over two hours it would have taken me to get my truck from home to town! Of course – that’s also the only rest. that will deliver to y house! Food delivery has nothing really to do with “food service” in relationship to setting in a rest. and asking someone to wait on you.
  
  I’d rather pay a delivery driver any day – and they do remember a good tipper. IME watrons remember the bad tippers, but never the good ones. But that’s just IME!
  
  Mar 26, 2008 at 7:45 pm rating: 90
- #209.2 Jo
  
  For the love of God, please stop calling us Waitrons. We are not robots. I spend a good portion of my job trying to get people to see me as a human being; you would be surprised at the things we have to put up with because our patrons (and occasionally bosses and/or coworkers) dehumanize us. That may sound dramatic, but it is the truth.
  
  Secondly, I can’t believe people who have never waited tables are STILL speculating on how servers’ minds work. I’ll clear it up:
  
  1) We remember good tippers. If you are a good tipper and become a regular at a place, all the servers will know who you are and hope they get your table.
  
  A server years ago got extremely pissed at me (and was aggressive and insulting toward me all night long) because a regular, good-tipping couple got sat in my section instead of his.. I was on the floor early and he felt it should have been his table. Point being, we know who the good tippers are and we want to wait on you.
  
  If you become a regular, tip well, and you still get shitty service… it’s time to find another restaurant. Obviously, they’re idiots and they don’t appreciate you. There’s one I refuse to return to around here for that reason.
  
  2) Conversely, we also remember the stiffers, the really crappy tippers, and the people who behave in a socially appalling manner. I wouldn’t become a regular at a place if any of the above describes you. You will be remembered, people will not want to wait on you, and you will likely get increasingly poor service.
  
  Servers generally are motivated by cash and food, in a professional setting. It’s our livelihood on the line and we don’t forget the people who cause themselves to stand out from the crowd, good or bad.
  
  Mar 27, 2008 at 1:37 pm rating: 90
- #209.3 drew
  
  This is exactly why the entire tipping system is stupid.
  
  You are paid to hand me my food. This should not be a complicated system. No one should have to worry beyond that. Obviously, everyone should treat a waiter with respect, the same respect that all human beings deserve, but the situation you describe is ridiculous. (I’m not saying servers are ridiculous for acting this way, I’m saying the system is ridiculous for setting the situation up like this.)
  
  Instead of people going to a restaurant to eat, and, if the service is bad, remembering that the service is bad and not returning to that restaurant, you are talking about a system where people carefully court their waiters, and the service changes from meal to meal depending on their behavior last time. It’s a subtle game with rules of etiquette, where if you don’t play right you end up being penalized.
  
  That’s just stupid. I go to a restaurant to relax. Of course I will be nice to a server. In my opinion, if someone is rude to server, the manager should come straight out and ask them to leave their restaurant for treating their employees that way. And I fucking mean that. But it shouldn’t be this game.
  
  And I know, you’re probably thinking “how is this complex? You pay 20%. Not that hard buddy.” Well, it is complex, if the person paying is ALSO making minimum wage somewhere else. When both of you need the $5 just as much, for food and gas and groceries, you get a zero-sum game where each person has opposite motivations– the waiter wants to get the most tip possible, and the customer wants to leave as little tip as possible without negatively affecting the service.
  
  And please don’t tell me “oh, if you’re poor, you shouldn’t be eating out. That’s bullshit, and it’s a quality of life issue. When someone goes out to eat, they should be able to relax and enjoy the meal, and they shouldn’t have to worry about what in effect is haggling over the price of the service.
  
  If someone really likes a restaurant or a sandwich, and really cannot afford much more than the price listed on the menu, they shouldn’t have to worry every time they take a bite that someone spit in their food because they didn’t tip well enough the last few times.
  
  As you say, when it comes to tips, it’s your livelihood on the line– and it should never be that way. Your livelihood should not depend on someone else’s generosity.
  
  Jun 15, 2008 at 4:46 pm rating: 90
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#210 Emily

I heartily disagree with those saying a tip is to be given regardless of the quality of service. I’ve only not given a tip once. That time, the waitresses were insanely lazy, left us with empty glasses and never checked on us after we got our food. Lazy, inattentive waitstaff get jack in my book.

Complaining to management only works in establishments where they give a happy crap. Bad service is usually the bastard child of bad management in my experience. When I get good service, though, I try to find the manager on duty to tell her/him how well the server performed.

Aug 26, 2007 at 12:38 pm rating: 90

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#211 Rebenga

Only time I tip is if service is phenomenal i.e. I got a blowjob as well. In europe we pay normal wages for servers, and thus I don’t feel any need to tip in the US either. If you’re too fucking stupid to work without proper pay, it’s not my problem.

Aug 26, 2007 at 1:56 pm rating: 90

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#212 Ryan of the RSL Music Blog

I have to tell you, since I found this page it has been one of my favorites.

My two biggest pet peeves in the entire world are fake people and passive aggressive people. The images on here are enough to drive me crazy!

Animals leave piss on trees to make a statement – humans should talk face to face and address their issues. Is that so hard to understand?

You have a sweet webpage. Keep it up!

Aug 26, 2007 at 2:25 pm rating: 90

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#213 ddm

i normally give a 20% tip. but there are two instances i will not leave the normal amount.. i will not tip if the server has an attitude (your problems are not my problems, don’t bring them to work). or, i will only leave a few pennies as a tip, if just the service is bad. they still earn something, but it tells them that they should have done much better.

Aug 26, 2007 at 3:09 pm rating: 90

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#214 Keith

Where is this particular restaurant? Anyway, I tend to give tips when I was in the UK and Ireland, but hardly do so when I was in Asia. It’s perhaps that the culture does not require it to do so.

Aug 26, 2007 at 9:30 pm rating: 90

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#215 lea

I used to tip really well, over 15% on a regular basis, but having been a chef for the past few years, I tend to tip the cook/chef directly if the waitress is either : rude ( your problems shouldn’t effect your work), inattentive ( on any day of the week, a customer deserves to recieve plenty of water when they need it), the food is cooked incorectly (usually it’s a server error, not requesting welldone or medium, the cooks usually don’t make that mistake). When i request my own pitcher of water, telling the server that I drink alot of water, and then the server says, oh dont worry, i’ll be on top of that, you wont need a pitcher. And of course that never happens, so i always leave a polite but stiff note stating exactly why they suck and how much. Yeah, it’s rude, but then again, so is ignoring a customer and being rude about simple request and such. Again, I haven’t known a server to be rude for any other reason then their own life working in the field myself.

Aug 26, 2007 at 9:34 pm rating: 90

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#216 Justin

I only haven’t tipped once. That was because the waitress was being a bitch. We had a coupon out before we even order our meal (this meal allows us for buy a meal get one free) and it isn’t until AFTER we get the check she tells us that the coupon couldn’t be used. So I didn’t feel bad stiffing the bitch. Usually I try to tip at least 10% and it gets higher with better service.

Aug 26, 2007 at 9:55 pm rating: 90

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#217 Randy

There rarely has been I time where I have tipped 10% or less…and those were times I felt as I was forgotten about. I would say that to anyone saying they are making below the min. wage, PLEASE go find new employment and report those businesses… that’s ridiculous. The people that are bringing your food and drink also have cooks and management to deal with, so there is alot behind the scenes.

There is something to say about going out of your way… There is one high end steak place I have been to, we took a friend there on her 21st birthday, fantastic!… We actually received a card from our waiter a few weeks later saying “Thanks and hope to see you again”, and I recommend everyone I know to go to this place now.

Aug 26, 2007 at 11:11 pm rating: 90

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#218 Jay

Mandatory tipping is ridiculous at best, and insulting at its worst. The socially-accepted tip amount has done nothing but go up over the years for no reason. 20%? If you’re damned good, sure.

I average something closer to 10-15% at most meals. Why? Because for the amount that “acceptable tipping” has gone up, service has gone down. Even if you end up with a pleasurable server, you still often see very little of them.

I won’t take the Steve Buscemi-in-Reservoir Dogs approach of 12-cups-of-coffee, but if I have an empty glass sitting on my table for 20 minutes, that’s an issue.

All too frequently I experience the “neighbor seated later and still eats first” phenomenon.

Not tipping, or substantially lowering the tip, is not passive-aggressiveness, it’s the way that the industry is designed to work.

Aug 26, 2007 at 11:18 pm rating: 90

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- #218.1 Jo
  
  The “neighbor seated later and still eats first” phenomenon… hmmm, what did they order? If you ordered a well done steak and they ordered, say sandwiches, yeah, they are going to get it first. Get a life or just stay home. We don’t need people like you to come and ruin our day!!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 1:43 pm rating: 90
- #218.2 drew
  
  Haha, I thumbs-upped Jo. Didn’t think that would happen.
  
  I agree with everything Jay said except the “neighbor eats first” part. Do you really think that has anything to do with the server? You think they just decided not to give your order to a chef for 20 minutes, or let your food sit on the counter for half hour after it was made? This kind of mistake takes place in the kitchen.
  
  Jun 15, 2008 at 4:56 pm rating: 90
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#219 chris

“Where I worked (up until I walked out yesterday), I was the only server for up to 500 customers at a time. I was constantly berated, people left nasty notes on their receipts regularly, AND my boss didnâ€™t even pay me minimum wage. I can understand if the restaurant is dead and the service is shitty to not tip, but I was trying to do the job of 25 people and no one would have put up with what I had to unless they were desperate for money. Not tipping is totally uncalled for.”

well, 500 customers at a time, even at a minimum tipping amount, you should not be complanining about less than min wage salary, you should be making.. hrm.. lets go bare minmum.. 10 bucks a head for cheap ass food, 10% tip for ‘poor’ service.. 500 customers at a time? 5000*0.1 is like 500 bucks for that time… say those 500 people are all you even do on your shift.. 500 bucks a day is poor?

Yes, I assume you are exaggerating, but the ‘oh we get paid less than min wage’ BS is absolute shit.

Here where I live, most meals I go out to are 20+ bucks a head, and most people tip 20%. waiters serve a couple tables at a time, say 5-6 tables an hour, with 2-5 people per table.

works out to—> $40-$120 an hour.

even if its slower than that, you cant pull the BS of ‘i only get $2 per hour’

you make out better than working at walmart every day of the week.

Aug 27, 2007 at 12:32 am rating: 90

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#220 ThinkSoJoE

A month or so ago, my girlfriend and I went to dinner at a Perkins restaurant in Niagara Falls, NY. Our waitress was rude and my burger came with tomatoes on it despite the fact that I said “no tomatoes” (yes, I do realize that that wasn’t entirely her fault). I left a tip – a note saying “TIP: Pay attention. I asked for no tomatoes but got them anyway, good thing I’m not allergic to them.” My girl thought it was a pretty bold move on my part but I didn’t like the service, and the tomato on my burger was the last straw.

Aug 27, 2007 at 12:43 am rating: 90

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#221 tricia

I read most but n0t all posts. I do tend to over tip (20-25%) but I can’t condemn the mustard and ketchup, and the receipt. Pretty funny imho.

I do have sympathy for the hard work, but it’s easy to tell when someone is over-worked. It’s also easy to tell when someone just doesn’t care. In that case I won’t tip, or tip only 10% or less. I would hope this gives the waiter/waitress a hint before a manger needs to be contacted.

Aug 27, 2007 at 2:48 am rating: 90

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#222 tricia

OMG tip Kevin a VALIUM

Aug 27, 2007 at 2:52 am rating: 90

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#223 Mandy

Kevin:
“all a waiter does isâ€¦. a waiter carries it a few feet,â€¦ gets you an extra drink if you want it, then sits in the back bitching about how your kids were loud and undiciplinedâ€¦”

You are a fucking moron. Seriously.

“delievery drivers use their GODDAMN CARSâ€¦ gasâ€¦ insuranceâ€¦.risk death and destruction to bring you your goddamn food or cateringâ€¦.”

and do bong hits on the way!

Aug 27, 2007 at 8:46 am rating: 90

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#224 samson

I live in a country where tipping is not used as a way of making minimum wage jobs worth doing. Then again, I travel a lot, and am very familiar of this tipping culture. Instead of answers and opinions, I would like to introduce a few questions:
1: Do you think tipping is a system that should be in place, or should be replaced?
2: Would you want to pay the tip automatically on your bill, and not have to think about tipping or not?
3: Are there other job opportunities for non-educated people?
4: Are there any better possibilities?
5: Do you tip the bus driver?

Aug 27, 2007 at 9:21 am rating: 90

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#225 toby

The ketchup one would take 30 seconds to clean up and if you don’t laugh at that you don’t have a sense of humour. Why take it so seriously, either you suck at waiting or they are bitter people but its hilarious either way.

Aug 27, 2007 at 9:32 am rating: 90

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#226 Robert Aitchison

A tip is by no means an entitlement, while it’s rare for me (much less than once a year) it is most certainly possible to provide bad enough service to get zero tip.

My baseline is 15%, it’s not difficult to get 20% (keep my soda filled and get the order right).

If service is bad enough that you get less than 10% I’ll write a note on the receipt and mention the problem to the manager on the way out.

Aug 27, 2007 at 10:35 am rating: 90

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#227 Hal

Do any of you who suggest that servers be paid a wage and not get tipped really expect the same level of service?

I have 2 jobs right now. One I get paid hourly and the other is serving for tips. I can tell you now that I work way harder for the tips than I do for the hourly pay. The hourly is just there. I only have to work hard enough not to get fired, but for the tips I have to hustle.

Aug 27, 2007 at 10:43 am rating: 90

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#228 milander

I tip around 10 to 20% here in Hungary. The only time you do not tip is if the service is so crap you walk out with half your food on your lap or they buggered up your order. If that did not occur then you tip the minimum. If the service is great (as it often is) then chuck in a bit extra. The problem is that, as anyone who has read the waiterrant blog will know, people now expect superb service and resent giving a tip. Why this is I do not know. It’s probably cultural…

Aug 27, 2007 at 11:31 am rating: 90

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#229 Erica

I was a server for while I was in college. The deal is that servers (in the states, at most places) have to tip out %3 of every one of their table’s meals. By the end of the night, I would owe %3 of at least $800 dollars worth of food. So even if the service sucks, please leave a dollar or two. The server will get the point that the sucked, trust me. It’s common courtesy.

Aug 27, 2007 at 11:49 am rating: 90

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#230 server

hey if u don’t leave a tip whatever ur an asshole servers put up and with the worst of society every single asshole goes out to eat and someone has to wait on them but hey most people can find a way to justify not tipping anyway. i’m a server u know what my paycheck says nothing zero dollars it goes to taxes that im going to end up oweing even more of at the end of the year. so if u don’t want to tip go tho mcdonalds asshole

Aug 27, 2007 at 9:43 pm rating: 90

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#231 sigh

Don’t like living off tips? Get another job. Tips should only be given for above average service. That’s a B or A people. Mandatory (or socially mandatory) tipping is just stupid. Jobs that pay the minimum wage are NOT MEANT to be “living wages”. They’re not meant to buy you dubs and pay your bills. They’re meant to be stepping stones while you improve yourself for a better career! In fact they are mainly for teens who are going to school and still live with someone else paying the bills. How about getting a job where your pay doesn’t rely on people’s attitudes so much? I make mistakes at work everyday, I still get paid the same.

Aug 28, 2007 at 12:16 am rating: 90

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- #231.1 Meghann
  
  Just out of curiosity, did you make straight A’s and B’s in school, the whole time you were in school?
  
  Mar 15, 2008 at 2:40 pm rating: 90
- #231.2 Crash
  
  Did you ?
  …just out of curioity…
  
  Mar 15, 2008 at 2:56 pm rating: 90
- #231.3 Meghann
  
  Yes, I did. I graduated 4th in my class. I now have a 3.8 GPA in college and will be working towards my Master’s soon.
  
  Mar 15, 2008 at 3:05 pm rating: 90
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#232 neonheartjesus

Here’s the thing….
I am a server in the city of Chicago….
I have been a server in Maryland….
I have worked and lived with servers in Florida….
In all of those states, there is THE minimum wage and the service minimum wage.
THE minimum wage is always about $1.50 higher than the service industry minimum wage. So, it isn’t illegal for a bar/restaurant to pay their servers less than THE minimum wage.
I got tired of all the bickering in this thread so I don’t know if anyone brought this up but servers are paid a minimum wage, but it isn’t THE minimum wage non-serving positions are paid.

Also, tipping varies sooooooo much depending on where your from within even a 5 mile radius. I would have to say, people who live in the city (Chicago) tend to leave ~20% people from the ‘burbs leave ~15% which pisses me off because it costs more to live in the city and city folk leave such excellent tips. People from the ‘burbs work in all the same places that city folk do and leave worse tips! Why?! If they are making as much money and not spending as much as the people who live in the city…. why can’t they leave 20%?

P.S. I love to give excellent service. If I don’t, I would expect a poor tip.
P.P.S. If your kids can’t behave themselves, leave at least 15%. Horrible customertude breeds horrible servitude.

Aug 28, 2007 at 9:49 am rating: 90

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#233 Anonymous

I would’ve blurred out the card number and signature…

Aug 28, 2007 at 11:51 pm rating: 90

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#234 bc

Hmm… Long thread. First of all, I have not worked in the food service industry. Second of all I will not BS everyone that reads this by saying I only ever did not leave a tip 1 time. And I am in the US, for reference. That said here is my 2 cents. If for some reason you work a job that pays less than minimum wage that is your choice. It may not be a happy jolly choice that you made, however you made that choice. I for example get paid $0.00 an hour. I work on straight commission. I view people getting tips the same as me getting paid at all. I associate being given a tip the same as me selling a product. If I fail to make a sell, I do not blame the person I tried to sell, i blame myself for not getting the order. So if you give poor service you do not deserve a tip. If you gave poor service you know you did, so you should not be complaining about it. Now THAT said, when you give good service, and you know if you did, and you still don’t get a tip, I associate that with the guys who I send my products out to that never pay me. What do I say about them, “cheap rat bastard” then I move on. As far as a tip being an incentive to good service, I agree it is. It is just a little more long term than the good olden days. When you give someone good service, more than say what you’d get from someone at Macdonald’s, and they don’t tip you, it is incentive for them to receive sub par service the next time. Long story short. If you work at a job where you have to rely on tips so you can eat, you better get good at pleasing people. If not, you need to make the same conscious and willing decision when you applied for that job, and apply for a different one. Because if you going to complain about something you had better be prepared to do something about it, posting on this thread is not it.

Aug 29, 2007 at 9:08 am rating: 90

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#235 Florida Bartender

Perhaps servers shouldn’t expect tips to supplement their income. Maybe restuarant owners shoud pay their staff a livable wage. After all it is not the consumers job to compensate someone who is providing them with a service. If the restuarant owners have to spend more on labor they will transfer that cost to the consumer. The ten dollar burger you have consumed will then be twenty dollars. Maybe that realization will help when consumers are deciding on an appropriate tip.

Aug 29, 2007 at 4:13 pm rating: 90

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#236 Marsha

Florida Bartender, you have described my dream, even if I question your math (why would the price of the meal double, rather than going up 15-20%?). I want out of the performance review business!

Aug 29, 2007 at 6:08 pm rating: 90

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#237 DocZayus

I tip in the 20%.
Rarely do I not tip, but it has happened. I understand that the waiters/waitresses need the dough. But this is real life. I work my a$$ off to earn my paycheck, give almost half of it to taxes, and then when I buy stuff at the restaurant, i pay taxes, and on top of that, I have to pay tips.

Pretty expensive for lunch with crappy service.

Where I work, if I don’t do my job right, I get fired because I don’t deserve my pay.

Aug 30, 2007 at 1:55 am rating: 90

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#238 Jeff

As a server myself, I don’t always get crabby when someone stiffs me – if, for example, I can recognize that I deserved it. There are definitely times when I have to stop and go, “Yeah, I may have been _trying_, but that was honestly pretty lousy service on my part.”

Aug 30, 2007 at 12:58 pm rating: 90

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#239 Angeline

I was a hostess at a restaurant once, and servers would often ask me to watch their tables while they went outside to smoke!

However, it should be noted that many places pool tips so good servers, cooks, hostesses, bussers could be stiffed.

Aug 30, 2007 at 2:02 pm rating: 90

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#240 Crissy

I think it’s great. I’m from the “old” school where you were friendly because you enjoyed your job. People left you a tip because your service was good and the atmosphere was nice. I think customer service sucks today. Either you get someone who could care less if you were satisfied or a “BIMBO” who is more interested in putting her boobs in your face to get a tip. I only tip if service is good. And if it is good, the tip is very good.

Sep 1, 2007 at 4:37 pm rating: 90

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#241 imagol4

I rarely leave comments on sites like this, but tipping is a ‘pet peeve’ of mine. My wife and I are EXCELLENT tippers — if the service warrants. Pete is correct, the tip is earned, not a given.

First, Tip on service, not the food quality.
Second, NEVER stiff the waitstaff, they don’t learn anything from it, they just get pissed off. You can “teach” a poor server a lesson with a $1 tip and a brief note on why the tip was low.

In the US, the tip ‘schedule’ that should be followed is:
10 – 15% for sub-standard service sloppy, took too long, etc.
20% for getting it right.
30% for excellent service. You’ll know it when you get it.

Tips above 30% are not recommended, and should be reserved for truly unusual circumstances, AND exceptional service.

Two things that will lower a tip are disappearing after the food has hit the table, and rudeness.

My pet peeve is the bill, I’m a VERY fast eater, I want the bill BROUGHT WITH MY FOOD, ’cause when I’m ready to leave, I don’t want to wait to pay you. If I want dessert, you can add it later.

Sep 3, 2007 at 8:32 pm rating: 90

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- #241.1 Meghann
  
  “My pet peeve is the bill, I’m a VERY fast eater, I want the bill BROUGHT WITH MY FOOD, ’cause when I’m ready to leave, I don’t want to wait to pay you. If I want dessert, you can add it later”
  
  You seem to be very nice, but other customers get very offended if you bring their check before they are finished with their meal. They feel as if they are being rushed. Servers never know if you’re the fast-eater type or the hates-being-rushed type, so when you get your food, or when you place your order, let the server know they can go ahead and bring the check. Just a thought to ensure better service
  
  Thanks for being a moral, polite, great tipping American! You’re the type of person servers love serving.
  
  Jan 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm rating: 90
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#242 Bob in Atlanta

Let me put my two cents into this. My grandparents were well established caterers and I had several food service jobs when I was younger. Believe me, I know bad service vs overworked.
My system has a scaled response to 70% services and 30% quality of food. The range is zero percent to 100%. The standard tip is 10%, good services is 15% and Outstanding is 20%. For an Outstanding breakfast, I will tip as much as 100%. (It’s worth it to me, I live for breakfast. An excellent breakfast can be hard to find.) If the services is truly bad, zero or even worse, the ultimate insult, one penny!
I will usually make a complaint or leave a note, but not all the time. Sometimes I just don’t want to expend the energy.

Sep 8, 2007 at 2:29 pm rating: 90

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#243 pete

I think we are all happy to leave a good tip for nice food and good service. The problem is when the food is poor and service is bad, the staff get the hump when they receive a very small tip. The truth is in some establishments they should tip us to eat there.

Sep 9, 2007 at 12:35 pm rating: 90

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#244 Megan

For great or even good service I usually overtip, so when I eat at an expensive Japanese restaurant that usually caters to businessmen (and not a group of teens+) and am ignored completely (no drinks, no ‘Hi Hello’ and it is not any busier than usual) then I am fine with not tipping.

Sep 9, 2007 at 2:55 pm rating: 90

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#245 Server

I have been a server for two years. I have worked at a few different kinds of restaurants, and I would never in a million years stiff a server. We work for 2.13/hr. Yes, employers are supposed to make it up to you if you don’t make minimum wage, but I don’t recall that happening anywhere I’ve worked. And you’ll be fired for some “unrelated” reason within a week if you complain to a government agency. Servers work for tips. If a table walks out, managers often give them the choice of paying or quitting. I’ve often been held up because of the cooks refusing to cook tickets when the printer malfunctioned, the cooks took too long, we were understaffed, or I’d been working 12 hours and just couldn’t run any faster. When there’s an issue requiring the manager, it often takes five minutes of searching for the manager, during which all my other tables are neglected. Add to this, the manager is then upset because it must be the server’s fault the ticket didn’t go through, they’re understaffed, after all, servers are all supposed to be superman. The tables are all upset because it *must* be the server’s fault their food isn’t there, and the cooks will now deliberately screw up that server’s food for at least the rest of the night, guaranteeing the server will make not one cent more than the 1.88 an hour (many restaurants take out a non-optional “employee meal” fee whether you eat or not). Often the manager will refuse to take something incorrect off of the ticket, as they don’t want the owner to know something happened on their shift, or will tell the server to pay for a meal because of one wrong button pressed that can’t be taken off without a manager–who won’t.
Servers put up with shit from every side, and all night people are rude to them, don’t tip, run them so they can’t get to another table, run off other tables with their loud and crude comments. Just because the server is the only one you interact with does not mean they are the one you should blame for anything that goes wrong. If I go out to eat and get absolutely terrible service, I leave a dollar, maybe two. It’s just not right to stiff someone who works only for tips.

Sep 19, 2007 at 8:21 pm rating: 90

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#246 tamas

it’s funny to see how mandatory it is for you, americans to leave a tip.

in europe we do as well, but if the waiter/ress is rude, or simply sucks, we really do not make a big deal of not leaving some euros behind.
c’mon, it’s only for the GOOD service, and not for TEH SERVICE…
at least as a european that’s my oppinion.

Sep 21, 2007 at 8:00 am rating: 90

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#247 claw71

It’s not mandatory but since most Americans understand how hard waiting tables is and how low the hourly wage is we tip even when service isn’t as attentive as we would like.

Too often lousy service is the direct result of poor management, therefore it is not the fault of the server. Remember, in most places servers are paid below minimum wage because it’s believed they will more than make up the difference in tips. Too many food service managers exploit that lower wage to their advantage and wait staff is asked to help out in the kitchen and perform menial tasks not associated with service. Why pay somebody 5.75 an hour to make salads when you can have a 2.15 an hour waitress do it? I’ve seen dishwashers get sent home and waiters sent to the kitchen to clean plates when it’s slow.

I worked in a lodge and the GM pulled me out of the dining room to disassemble beds. When I asked if I would be paid the same rate as the maintenance staff he threatened to fire me. So I did it and then I called the corporate office to explain wage and hour laws. He was fired within the week (because he did it all the time) and I got a $500 check even though I was only cheated out of $80. Most people aren’t so lucky. Call Outback’s corporate office and they’ll send a kangaroo out to crap on you.

Instead of not leaving a tip, grow a pair and ask your wait-person why the service is lacking. You might learn something about the shady employment practices of some of the casual dining places we Americans love so much.

Sep 21, 2007 at 8:25 am rating: 90

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#248 claw71

Not leaving a tip is passive aggressive, by the way. There’s nothing stopping you from getting off your fat ass and (politely) confronting the waitress or finding the manager if the service is lousy.

Our whole country is passive aggressive. Eurpoean markets are designed to encoruage interaction between the customer and the vendor but in the states we want prices displayed and minimal contact. That’s because Americans are gutless when it comes to interpersonal relationships.

Sep 21, 2007 at 8:33 am rating: 90

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#249 Ryan

Re: the comments of Claw71 -

“Bravo!”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Have been watching this chain and this is only one of the most intelligible and well-thought out comments.

You see people, there aren’t absolutes – but ultimately we are talking about how little or how much you are paying someone who is serving you. Think about that sentence and realize that many of the variables that come into play during your evening out have nothing to do with the waitstaff.

I have never worked as a waiter and would not want to – I know how nasty and self-centered people can be without doing it myself.

Again, well said Claw71!

Sep 21, 2007 at 8:34 am rating: 90

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#250 JK

I always leave a tip b/c my service me be awful but it may only be that a another table is causing the server to have all kinds of problems i hate when im serving and you go to the table and ask if they need anything and they say yeah you bring it to them and then they want something else and this goes on and is it so hard to remember what you need when i was there the first time or even the second that can totally throw you off your game and put you in a bad mood so just leave something have some compassion

Sep 24, 2007 at 11:14 pm rating: 90

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#251 Secret

i used to be a waiter, and if i would have taken 30 minutes to get to someone or had an off day and not given good service, i would expect no tip, not leaving a tip when the job is done right, very uncool, but not leaving a tip when they suck is fine in my opinion, ya they can’t live off of the salary, mine was $3 an hour, but that means that they should actually work hard to get the tips, not give horrible service and expect a tip anyway, and as far as “they might have a rough customer, or they might be having an off day” suck it up, its your job, if a surgeon is having an off day, and unexpected problems arise during the surgery, they still have to do their job and keep the patient alive and do the surgery right, if you can’t suck it up and do the job right anyway, you’re a horrible waiter/waitress, and you need to find a new job

Sep 25, 2007 at 10:57 pm rating: 90

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#252 Art

I think that all those who are so emphatic that tips should be left even in cases of bad or no service, would do well to write to local authorities to complain that the minimum wage is not being paid, if this is the case, and should write to their member of congress to suggest that a higher minimum wage should be considered, if that is what is required. It is a bit much to expect ordinary customers to know the details of wages paid of any employee, waiters included. In most countries, tips are optional to one degree or another, and in many countries no tips are given.

All the nonsense about ‘passive aggression’ is just that. Direct aggression would not be suitable in such a case.

There seems to be a lot of social pressure to tip waiters-not just any tip either- and to the degree that it is justified by legal oversights or undue employer exploitation, the remedy should be to correct the wrong behaviour, not to punish the customer.

Those who can’t stand to see someone not tip for bad service should not go to restaurants.

Sep 26, 2007 at 9:07 pm rating: 90

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#253 Doug

My only food service job was a short stint at McDonaldâ€™s, but I have many friends who are waitresses. I canâ€™t fathom leaving no tip at all, but if the service is bad I donâ€™t leave a big tip. However that first picture isnâ€™t passive aggressive, itâ€™s just a douche-bag move.

Sep 26, 2007 at 11:02 pm rating: 90

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#254 Jon

You can't earn tips if you're blogging about this irrelevant issue. Go get a new job stupid-ass.

Sep 30, 2007 at 10:40 pm rating: 90

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#255 amanda

I overgenerously tip because I work at a trashier restaraunt I’m a good server and make up for whatever I mess up as best I can. I am appreciative of tips especially if the people think its a good tip and sincerely appreciate my service but there are alot of jerks. The worst part is we have to tip out 3% of our sales so a bad or non existent tip means we wasted our time and it could potentially cost us money to serve you. A server should always be tipped something because they did some work for you. If the service was bad get a manager they will make sure you are happy. and be reasonable if a restaraunt is busy or your server looks busy and rushed they are. If we had 6 arms this job would be alot easier.

Nov 1, 2007 at 1:54 pm rating: 90

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#256 now finish up them taters, i’m gonna go fondle my sweaters

[...] tessa, who works at a restaurant in albuquerque: “the day manager left this note for the night cook, who does spend all night [...]

Nov 2, 2007 at 10:50 am rating: 90

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#257 claw71

Why do you have to tip out 3% of your sales? I know it happens but is this a written policy?

Not that somebody stuck working in a dive has time but if you ever get the notion check your local wage and hour laws. Tipped employees are often paid much less than minimum wage and required to report those tips as income when they file their taxes. Once the patron leaves that tip it is yours. If the employer wants to sweeten the compensation package for cooks, dishwashers and bussers they can’t force you to pay for it. However, if that 3% is going toward some sort of fringe benefit it might be legal.

I believe there are some states that require employers to provide full unemployment insurance to tipped employees and that3% could be making up that difference. Whether that is legal or not is another story.

Nov 2, 2007 at 1:36 pm rating: 90

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#258 lea

“we gave you service, therefore we deserved to get tipped for it”

a common comment to many servers i’ve talked to, know, and work with, whether exact or round about, i’m completely sick of this attitude. you did your job by serving my table. If you go above dropping off the food and getting me my one drink, then i’ll tip deservingly on a scale of how well you did. if you say, forget an entree’ and a member of my party has to wait for his/her food, you get no tip from me or my party. Being a lady of manners, i wait to eat until everyone is served. so if he/she waits, i wait, we wait and you dont wait very well at all.

Nov 2, 2007 at 1:51 pm rating: 90

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#259 lea

btw, if the server is busy, they know what needs to get done, its what they signed up for in food service. they deserve no tip if they give bad service any time of the day or night.

Nov 2, 2007 at 1:53 pm rating: 90

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#260 unholyghost2003

claw71:
This may vary state to state but here in WI the 5% (not 3% here) of your sales IS your tax payment of declared tips. Since tips are so often all cash they leave little paper trail for the Feds and State to prove you neglected to pay them their full pound of flesh. So instead of crossing their fingers and hoping that waitstaff will actually declare all of their tips the powers that be take 5% of what you sold and call your tips declared. Yes, this is legal (like I said at least it is legal in WI) it is part of WI wage, labor and Tax law.

If your employer is AWESOME they write “5% gratuity included” in TINY letters on the menu and any cash left on the table is the waitstaff’s with the taxes paid. I don’t know if THAT is legal, but it IS awesome. If your employer is NOT awesome and you get stiffed a couple of times you can end up having to pay THEM at the end of your shift, which sucks balls. (Friggin Grannies going out for Friday Fish Fry, taking a table for 1 1/2 hours and leaving a dollar while saying “Left you a nice tip sweetie! Thank you!”

Nov 2, 2007 at 2:02 pm rating: 90

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#261 claw71

Lea:

People such as yourself need to spend a few months waiting tables. Nobody really chooses it as a vocation, it’s a job. People who wait tables are either going to school, raising children or working a second job to make ends meet. They get paid well below minimum wage because the government agrees that they are able to make the difference up in tips.

Wait staff is often forced to make salads, prep deserts and even do dishes on top of serving food. They usually have surprisingly little control over your service but yet the people who do don’t depend on your tips.

Before you start whining about having to doll out an extra 15% on top of your bill, try wrapping your mind around why service isn’t better.

Leave a tip and complain later. You’ll get a coupon and the issues will be addressed more effectively.

Nov 2, 2007 at 2:24 pm rating: 90

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#262 unholyghost2003

Claw, hmmm there are times when poor service is the fault of the waitstaff, if slow service ISN’T the waitstaff’s fault then they should say “I am sorry you have been kept waiting the kitchen is backed up/we are short a server/the computer is down” and BIG SMILE. Also, recent days my favorite bar and grill has hired on a horrible little troll who will look at my table of thirsty folks on a Friday night (we have a standing reservation for our window table) or my hungry husband and myself on a Sat afternoon when the place is empty LOOK DIRECTLY AT US AS WE ATTEMPT TO FLAG HER DOWN then sit down and eat/read the newspaper. Sorry some people just SHOULDN’T be servers. Behavior like that makes the job of every other waitress twice as hard because they have to cover HER tables. So we tip the OTHER servers and we do not tip her (AND we tell the owner to fire her ass).

I am both a BIG tipper when deserved and DO NOT tip when service is bad.

and Yes, I have waitressed (arm & tray, Fine dining and diner), short order cooked, restaurant managed, bartended and hostessed.

Nov 2, 2007 at 3:10 pm rating: 90

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#263 WanderingPenguin

I have a better suggestion for people such as Lea and everyone out there like her: stay the fuck home. If you can’t play by the same “rules” as everyone else, then try a different game. Servers rely on tips to make a living. Period. If you are late for a meeting at your place of business, Lea, do you get docked out of your take-home pay? No, of course you don’t. Then why do you take it upon yourself to take money out of someone else’s pocket for a similar mistake?

If you don’t like it, then work to change it. Don’t just decide for yourself that you are better than everyone else in society. Have the minimum wage law changed for waitpersons. Don’t just be a cheap-ass dork and pass it off as “I was taking a stand”.

I hope to God you end up at the same restaurant with the same server you have stiffed in the past at least once in your life. I would just love to be there when they “prepare” your food.

Nov 2, 2007 at 3:15 pm rating: 90

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#264 unholyghost2003

Wandering Penguin: Anyone who isn’t salary DOES get docked for being late to a meeting or late to their work station. Why are servers exempt?

Nov 2, 2007 at 3:43 pm rating: 90

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#265 claw71

Sure, there are times when the lousy service might be thanks to a lousy waiter/waitress.

Earlier in this thread I suggested politely asking the waiter/waitress why the service seems lacking. If they’re the reason you can bet they’ll pick it up, if they aren’t they’ll tell you.

I did this once when I had terrible service and my waitress told me she was covering a large private party in a banquet room as well as several tables in the dinind room. I left her a nice tip and called the GM the next day to complain about the management. I got my next meal comped.

You know what I’d like to see? A restaurant take control of the situation and post a sign at the door reading: our wait staff is paid $10/hr…tip as you like.

Nov 2, 2007 at 3:43 pm rating: 90

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#266 unholyghost2003

sorry, I guess I am just irritated by the stupid waitress at my local watering hole. We started with “hon, please. We have been waiting 20 min looking at empty glasses and begging for a fresh round” ended with “Move your ASS BITCH” and demands that she be fired and now we are sadly about to find a new place for our Friday Drinking club to meet. i would understand if she were cutting us off, but we couldn’t even get tipsy, the wait was too long between drinks!

Nov 2, 2007 at 3:51 pm rating: 90

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#267 claw71

I feel your pain. I just blame the management. If they don’t do a better job of monitoring the service they deserve my wrath. I’ll leave the tip anyway but you can bet I’ll be getting gift certificates in the mail.

Nov 2, 2007 at 4:01 pm rating: 90

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#268 Truth to Power

Having waited tables before I tip well for good service. I also believe that stiffing a server for poor service is perfectly acceptable, but if you’re going to do it, have the guts to complain to the management as well — nobody else wants that shitty service either.

The bottom line is this: anyone who gets stiffed so often that it has a big impact on their bottom line from month to month is probably just bad at his or her job.

Waiting tables is a pretty easy job and, at the end of the day, tips are optional. If you don’t like it, go get a job that pays hourly instead.

Nov 2, 2007 at 4:02 pm rating: 90

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- #268.1 Juliet
  
  Waiting tables is an easy job? Clearly you have NEVER done it.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 5:15 pm rating: 90
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#269 p-oed server

if you dont leave a tip, i have no problem writing it in on your credit card slip for you. if you are an asshole to me, i wipe my finger in my asscrack and around the lip of your glass, and leave without giving you a straw. If you leave a shit tip I copy your name and look it up to find your address and send copies of gay porn adverts to your house. If you are an asshole and make me feel like shit, i’ll throw a rock through your front windows. Seriously, for the avg $8 tip on most bills you can save yourself a lot of grief, and 90% of the time the problems with your experience result from something the server has no control over.

The Lesson: don’t fuck with servers, our jobs are expendable and I WILL fuck your day up, treat me well and I will thank you until you are on cloud 9.

Nov 3, 2007 at 4:14 am rating: 90

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- #269.1 unholyghost2003
  
  If I find out you did that not only will I return to complain that = fraud & theft. I may or may not report it to the cops. Good luck getting another waiting job with “Steals from Customers” following you around.
  
  Dec 10, 2007 at 4:58 pm rating: 90
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#270 Truth to Power

p-oed server:

So “the lesson” is that people should give you money you don’t deserve to keep you from doing mean things to them? You think you’re going to convince anyone like that? Why not just quit your job and go into something more your style, like, say, bank robberies.

Grow up, you’re not as scary or powerful as you seem to think you are.

But I do hope that you actually write in tips for people and that that comment isn’t just some false internet-bravado… I’m sure you’ll get a lot of great jobs with a credit card fraud conviction on your record.

Nov 3, 2007 at 10:09 am rating: 90

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#271 ChaeGyeong

I worked at a Japanese Steakhouse for 2 1/2 years, and I still work there on and off during breaks between school. The tipping system there was pretty decent, at least compared to most restaurants. Like most restaurants, we’re paid below minimum wage. But the tips are seperated by waitress and chef- we don’t have to pool tips. The chefs (who cook at the table in front of the customers- one of the hardest jobs in the restaurant) get 50%, waiters/waitresses 45%, and busboys 5%.

Although most of the busboys don’t even deserve that, because while they’re busy smoking pot behind the building I’m doing their job on my own tables to keep the flow of customers moving while trying to attend to my other tables. But that was a management issue that has since been solved, as far as I know.

Anyway, I usually get pretty good tips. Sometimes, however, after keeping drinks filled and asking several times if they enjoyed their meal, brought out birthday cakes and extra plates, remembered all of their “no mushrooms extra onions” crap, and even made sure that they have a particularly entertaining chef, I’ve picked up receipts that say $0.00 on the tip line on a bill of over $100. What really kills me is after giving them take-home boxes and asking them one last time if they enjoyed the service (to which the reply was a cheerful “yes, it was wonderful!”), they left me nothing. That means they left the chef who busted his ass over a hot grill while throwing knives around and cracking jokes at the same time nothing as well. Ridiculous. I still remember those people’s faces. Although I would never ever ever stoop so low as to mess with a customer’s food.

Another thing that happens occasionally is another waitress’s regulars get seated at my table because she’s not there. I KNOW those people leave her 40-50% tips, and deservedly so. She’s a good waitress that lavishes attention on them and sometimes sees them outside of work too. Because of their expectations of her service, I work especially hard to keep them coming back. But I’m sorry, I just can’t bring it upon myself to sneak them a bunch of free appetizers just because she does and not only make my boss lose money, but also make the other customers at the table feel neglected. And because of that, I get around 5-10% in tips.

Compared to hostessing, waitressing is much easier. Even after becoming a waitress there have been times when I didn’t tip, but like people before me have said: try to take into consideration the whole situation and if you have a complaint to make please make it! I’ve had several times when I thought I did a pretty good job and am shocked to find that I was left little to no tip. In order to perform better at our jobs, you need to let someone know. But writing a vague “bad service” note on the receipt doesn’t tell the waitress anything.

And to everyone that says “if it’s so bad quit” most people working in restaurants are only working there to pay for school, etc. And do you know how hard it is to find a part-time job in a college town?

Nov 5, 2007 at 12:40 am rating: 90

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#272 wickedgirl

I like to leave tips but it’s certainly based on service (speed, friendliness, etc) but I am not heartless… if service was slow, I generally look around first for signs that maybe other servers called in sick (or cooks, for that matter) and the servers that showed up are overwhelmed but trying to do their best. Or perhaps they just started at this new restaurant and are still getting used to it.

If it’s obvious they just don’t care and genuinely act like the customer (who funds their paycheck) is a bother to them, I will not only NOT leave a tip but report it to the manager. Which the server than thinks badly of me (“damn, she’s a bitch”) rather than thinking they have a bad attitude and deserve no tip and to be reported. It’s a funny world.

I work to give the benefit of the doubt first, and fortunately, 99.9% of the servers that might seem like they don’t care are really trying against busier than usual customer loads, decreased staffing or something else.

Nov 5, 2007 at 1:13 am rating: 90

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#273 Sunny Melons

Heh. I’m a server who makes $2.13/hr and rarely make less than 20% in tips ON TOP of the sales tax paid on each check. So our dubiously-evolved system really works quite well for me (I also give a HUGE crap about my customers, and they can tell).
I agree with all those who’ve said that if you can’t afford to tip, you shouldn’t eat out. I hate that we rely on the public to pay our wages, but at the same time, that’s how it’s evolved, for whatever reason, in the US, and anyone eating out should know that, accept it, and automatically add 10-20% to the price of their meal when looking at the menu. I do, and have a hard time tipping less than 15%, even if the service was shitty. I also leave the server a note saying why they didn’t get twice the tip (which I would normally leave for excellent service), and generally don’t return to that restaurant again, depending on how horrific it was and whether the food outweighs the service (which it rarely does). I actually have a hard time dining out, since the service I’ve received in the past year has been crappy, including in the restaurant i work in.

Nov 5, 2007 at 4:39 am rating: 90

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#274 WanderingPenguin

Many comments in here on both sides of the issue are valid and some are pretty lucid. Nothing, however, has been said to make me even consider changing my mind on what I feel is the bottom line here: there’s a societal “norm” in the food service industry which says that waitpersons can be charged under the “minimum wage” with the expectation that they will make it up in tips. There are a great many people who go to a restaurant looking for any reason to not tip and save a couple of bucks – and just as many who won’t even look for a reason: they just “don’t tip on principle”. To these people, I repeat: if you don’t want to tip, stay home. Being a tightwad is not a personality plus. Of course there are no absolutes and you have to take every situation as it comes, but generally the people who are doing the “stiffing” are doing it with little or no provocation and should just not be allowed out in public.

Nov 5, 2007 at 5:33 am rating: 90

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#275 Truth to Power

The “minimum wage” argument doesn’t work. Servers who don’t make the minimum wage after tips have to be compensated up to minimum wage by their employers.

…and nobody realizes this because it NEVER HAPPENS. If it does, you can bet that person won’t have a job for very long, which makes sense because, as I said before, if you’re getting stiffed that often, you are bad at your job.

Nov 5, 2007 at 9:25 am rating: 90

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#276 claw71

Man there are a lot of heartless assholes in the world. So now we mitigate low wage jobs by pretending that people aren’t supposed subsist on them? That’s rich.

Listen, Johnny Beamer, just because you: a. Were born into a comfortable lifestyle subsidized by affluent parents or; b. forgot what it’s like to deposit 85 cents into your checking account at 8:00am so the check you wrote for the electric bill won’t bounce doesn’t mean that life turns out well for everybody.

The reality of the world is that sometimes you don’t get to live the dream. You can bust your ass and still not get ahead. Have a little respect for the people on the low end of the wage scale and TIP YOUR FUCKING SERVER. Jesus Christ, you can blow $35 on a $7 steak but you have trouble parting with $5 tip because you had to wait a few minutes for the bread.

Nov 5, 2007 at 8:23 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #276.1 Kara
  
  I think I frickin love you!
  
  May 16, 2008 at 6:21 am rating: 90
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#277 Truth to Power

There are, indeed, assholes who have trouble parting with the tip.

But there are also people who have waited a lot of tables and know how easy of a job it is to do even marginally well. These people also tend to not have the sense of entitlement such that they feel like they’re OWED 15% regardless of their piss-poor service.

If you can’t make money as a server, go get a job you don’t suck at.

Nov 5, 2007 at 9:59 pm rating: 90

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#278 WanderingPenguin

Amen to #283. Lucidly clarifying the point I rambled through my own self.

My last post on this thread. Some people will never get it.

Nov 5, 2007 at 10:43 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#279 dude

What they did to the table is just wrong. I’ve been a server and sometimes it is busy as fuck and you can’t help everyone. It depends on the type of place the server works at. If you go up to a server and say “hey i’ve waited here for 30 minutes come on now,” you’ll most likely get service. No tips are bullshit unless someone was just a dick. You all have jobs which pay you a certain salary. You’re telling me you’ve never had a bad day? exactly, and you are still getting paid the same amount having a good or bad day without having to kiss ass the whole time. DON’T BE A SCUMMER AND TIP.

Nov 10, 2007 at 2:55 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
#280 TexasVixen

I’ve worked as a waitress…Ive worked retail, customer service and in a corporate setting…I have gone to work with the flu, waited on customers with a sprained ankle, stayed late taking CS calls when my grandmother passed and yet and still I managed to have a smile on my face, be helpful when needed and inform my customers of what’s going on. If we were down a cook I’d let them know. Most people are understanding of unforseen mishaps along the way as long as they are informed. But I’m not going to tip, nor did I expect one if I’m just standing around for the world to see chitchatting it up with my homies. Take that out of the customers site. Dont walk up to the table and say “what can i get ya?” without even looking up and acknowledging who’s there. Be cordial, be helpful and more than likely the tips will follow. Most people dont really want you to bend over backwards for them-just act like you care, even if you dont.

Nov 10, 2007 at 10:00 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
#281 aussiegrrl

All I can say is I’m glad I’m in Australia where we might tip if the service goes above and beyond the basics – at least we know that when we receive good/great/excellent service, the staff member genuinely wants to provide that experience to us and a tip is a bonus for that. I get the impression that in the US good service is provided only in order to receive a tip, if people knew they weren’t going to get a tip they wouldn’t provide the same level of service. Guess it comes back to what people get paid.

Nov 23, 2007 at 4:17 am rating: 90

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#282 Rebekah

I agree that if you suck at waiting tables or if you are rude then you don’t deserve a tip…..and the whole ketchup and mustard thing is pretty hilarious..and if i had left my table there for 30 minutes I would have understood their passive aggressiveness, laughed, and probably take a picture and sent it here! but people need to remember that this is a hard job sometimes…people are needy and rude a lot of the time…and the server is not the cook…if your food takes too long, talk to the manager…get a discount..whatever..don’t take it out on us if the service is good….and girls..don’t stiff me on the tip because your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend is hitting on me…talk to them…it is not my fault… I did my damn job…and I did a damn good job….if you can’t afford at least 15% then you should go to McDonald’s where they get paid a “decent” wage….I am making $3.85 an hour…which is pretty good for a waitress…but at my last job I was making $2.15…and we have to pay taxes on the food we sell to you! so if you are one of those self righteous people who “don’t believe in tipping” maybe you should go somewhere else…or get off your lazy ass and cook your own food.

Nov 26, 2007 at 3:55 pm rating: 90

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#283 Jeebus

The tip absconders need to be careful–the servers can easily give themselves a tip when they process the credit card at the end of the shift. Beware!

Dec 3, 2007 at 8:08 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #283.1 Jo
  
  That’s actually illegal and can get you and the restaurant in ALOT of trouble!
  
  Dec 8, 2007 at 10:34 am rating: 90
- #283.2 Alena
  
  Re: The warning against servers adding a credit card tip..
  
  Please, who does this? I mean, I’m sure there are unscrupulous servers out there that would be willing to try it, but it would be incredibly dumb. First of all, it’s WAY too easy to get caught. I worked at a popular chain and on a couple of occasions during the three years I worked there, the managers would jump all over me if I accidentally entered a tip wrong and the customer called about it, thinking I’d purposely skimmed a little extra.
  
  Maybe I’m just honest, but I can’t see many servers trying this. Too easy to get caught, in addition to it being taken as a serious offense (credit card fraud).
  
  Just based on observation during many years of serving, if there’s a server scam going on, it’s targeting the restaurant through gift cards or coupons, not the customers.
  
  Dec 9, 2007 at 2:07 am rating: 90
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#284 Sundaeg1rl

Americans seem to think that they can give you bad service/be excruciatingly rude and get away with demanding a tip. I don’t care which country you come from – shit service, no tip. I’ve worked in the service industry – I wouldn’t feel right about taking a tip if I hadn’t done my best.

Dec 3, 2007 at 9:16 pm rating: 90

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#285 Jodi Blaze

At least put a dollar for a tip. It’ll show you actually give two cents for their craptastic job that you probably never worked

Dec 4, 2007 at 7:44 pm rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #285.1 Len
  
  Actually, if you wanted to give them your “two cents” you should do just that. Give them two cents, if they’re intelligent enough to understand the reference, perhaps they’re intelligent enough to learn from their mistakes.
  
  Dec 4, 2007 at 11:08 pm rating: 90
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#286 jo

This is for all you people out there who think that tipping is an option or that they should tip for bad service.

Tipping is expected for ANY kind of service. Everyone always blames the server, but most of the time, it’s the kitchen’s fault if food is late. I don’t know from what hick town this picture came from, but if you had to wait 30 minutes for service, then boo on you. You just leave and go somewhere else. Nowhere do they mention if the restaurant was busy at the time or if it was just one server.

I’ve worked in the restaurant business for a long time and even if you kiss ass all night, there’s nothing you can do if the person is uneducated or just an asshole. My service is always excellent, I’m on top of my tables, and generally get told that everything was great, excellent, etc. Then they pay the bill and leave 10%, 12%. Some customers are so tricky that they lull you into a sense of security and then they insult you like this.

Yes, some people do live off their tips. We don’t get paid minimum wage because the assumption is that we will get tipped. We still have to claim at least 15% of our tips and in this day and age of computers, if you don’t put in 15%, the computer will tell you that. So generally, we end up paying taxes on money we didn’t get.

So to all you ASSWIPES out there who think that tipping is an option, go to McDonald’s and don’t waste our time. Don’t ask for special instructions on your meals and then tip like a jerk. Don’t give us $100.oo on a $90.oo check and tell us to keep the change.

Dec 5, 2007 at 4:52 pm rating: 90

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#287 Alena

I’m a server, and I personally can’t not leave a tip.. that’s not saying if my service really sucks and/or the server is surly that the amount is going to be large..

However, I find the ketchup and mustard on the counter and the snarky comment on the credit card receipt to be juvenile and, especially in the case of the latter, frankly unproductive. What does that mean, ‘Boo; You fail?’ If I got that, I would mentally flip the person off and then forget it. It doesn’t make me want to change, nor does it tell me what in particular I did wrong to so offend you.

The no-tip thing? Passive aggressive to be sure, but mostly what I come away with is that the person is cheap and an asshole. Heh.

When I go to a restaurant, my server automatically gets 20%, but what happens in between the greet and street can raise or lower that number. When I’ve had to leave a lousy tip because my server deserved it, I’ve left a note informing them just how much they missed out on and why.

I don’t know.. why be snarky when you can be civil and constructive? But I know that’s just me.

Dec 9, 2007 at 1:57 am rating: 90

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#288 Sundaeg1rl

You know, maybe it’d be a good thing if restaurants in the US raised prices in order to accommodate a decent wage for the staff. It might also make all those fat bastards think twice before going out to dinner and stuffing their obese faces with cheap nosh.

Dec 9, 2007 at 9:36 am rating: 90

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#289 commis chef

I really can’t believe how mean natured some of the posters in this thread are! I’ve been a waitress and restaurant manager in the past in the uk, so it is a slightly different situation, because servers are paid minimun wage. However, in the UK leaving tips is still not obligatory, (unfortunately). On any given night if we got more than 5% of the total sales it was a good night.

I would never go to a restaurant and not tip unless something absolutely exceptional happened. I think it’s totally unacceptable to go to a restaurant and (generally) not leave 10% (in the uk). If you can afford the £30 or so minimum it costs to eat out then you can afford the extra few quid as well. I think most of the time in Britian when people don’t tip it is just because they’re tight, or they don’t tip in principle. Anything to save a few quid. The main problem for me is that, in the uk, when up to 50% of customers might not leave anything for the simple reason that they don’t tip regardless of the quality of service, you’re in a situation where you have to keep on guessing if they’re going to tip until the end of the meal. Perhaps good for service initially, (although they WILL be remembered the next time), but you wouldn’t be human if that didn’t leave you feeling really disheartened.

I think for me, it’s not the money that’s the worst part but the feeling of degradation. You see, the customer/server relationship is not an equal one. The customer holds all the power and the server must obey their every command, (and this is why it differs from working in an office or even other customer service type jobs), serve them hand and foot and generally be at their beck and call for the duration of their stay, (whilst also being equally available for 20 or so other tables), whilst all the time having a smile on your face, (Even when customers have unreasonable expectations or are rude to you, simply because they CAN be). The tip really helps balance out this inequality. It shows the server that you really appreciate, not only the work they’re doing, but the fact that they’re going out of their way to make your experience there a good one and running around after you, in way that really is a bit upstairs/downstairs. There’s no getting around that.

There are so many customers who try to give you advice about how to run a restaurant if they’re disgruntled for any reason, and really it’s usually laughable and you can tell they’ve never worked in a restaurant before. It’s easy to say that there should be more staff working. But what if, usually, on a Monday night you have 15 tables the whole night, and then one freak Monday you have 60? You can’t prepare for things like that, and sometimes staff can’t make it down at that much short notice. You can’t staff the restaurant every night expecting to be completely full when 99% of the time, on a Monday say, you’re not. That’s not cost effective. Restaurants generally struggle to survive. The restaurant I managed was one of the uk’s most successful pan-asian restaurants. After stock, wage costs, rent, electricity etc, the restaurant cost £8,000 a week minimum to run. On an excellent week we could make £9,500 – if we were packed from open to close. Most weeks we just about covered costs. In the summer, when business is slow, we might only take £4,000. In order to survive as a business you must economise on every single expenditure you reasonably can.

As the manager it was me who did most of the meeting, greeting and seating and I always tried to manage peoples expectations. If there was a wait for food, I informed them before they even sat down so they could make an informed decision about whether they were prepared to wait or not. In these situations I find complaining about the wait ridiculous, because they were informed about it. If they weren’t prepared to wait they had the choice to leave, but they chose to stay. Then using that as an excuse not to tip, is really unacceptable. Remember most of what goes wrong is not your servers fault. Yet, if you decide you want to ‘teach the restaurant a lesson’ and not leave a tip, it’s your server who pays for it. Not the restaurant. And that is completely wank.

Dec 10, 2007 at 4:11 am rating: 90

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#290 commis chef

Also, I have to say, when i go out to eat, provided I’ve got a drink in front of me I’m usually too busy having a great time with my friends to even notice what’s happening in the restaurant, or how long it is before I get my meal. Some of you guys need to remember, at the end of the day, its your dinner we’re talking about here.

Dec 10, 2007 at 4:19 am rating: 90

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#291 amy

after sitting here for 40 minutes reading all of these posts i cannot seem to understand one simple thing. there are two minium wages: one for non-tip based jobs, and another for servers, bartenders, etc. rhode island server minimum wage is 2.89/ hr. i work five days a week and get about a 60.00 paycheck after taxes have been taken out. i am friendly, outgoing and work in an extremely laid back, open restaurant. the average table leaves about a 4 or 5 dollar tip.

so: for you out there who think we have constant tables all of the time which compensates for not tipping us… we don’t. how often do you go into a restaurant at 4 pm? we try,and you all must realize it is completely wrong not to tip us! understandable if you are foreign or very young, but the average adult working a corporate job should know better than to stiff a hardworker server.

Dec 12, 2007 at 8:41 pm rating: 90

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#292 Sharon

It’s wrong to not tip?? That’s YOUR opinion. Honestly, why should we tip someone if they don’t do their JOB!?

For the most part, I try to tip 15%, even if it’s mediocre service. There’s been times when I tipped 10%… because that person was extremely rude to me. Then there’s been a couple of times where we decided not to leave a tip at all.

One incidence is because we had a birthday thing for this girl and the waiter ignored us THE ENTIRE NIGHT. Why? Because he didn’t like one of the guys in our party. This guy worked in the same restaurant but it was his night off and he was being a patron at the restaurant. It ended up being that this guy in our party had to do all the servicing. He got us our drinks and had to get us everything. So why the heck should we leave a tip to this waiter who did not want to give us service because he did not like ONE guy? It’s like me saying.. oh I am not going to fix your computer because I don’t like you! Bull crap.

Dec 14, 2007 at 1:54 pm rating: 90

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- #292.1 Jo
  
  You are a cold bitch and a liar. This scenario probably never happened. You are just cheap. Your friend took your order and got you drinks? How did he do that, if he was off. He would not have been allowed to service your table because 1) he was a patron and 2) at some point, someone with brains in your party should have asked for a manager. It’s obvious you can’t tell fact from fiction! Stay home next time!!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 1:22 pm rating: 90
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#293 Jessi V

Before I moved to the Netherlands from America I almost always tipped well. I think there were a few times when I left a few pennies as a tip because of the horrible service, but I know how bad they pay in America (or at least in NJ) servers. And I know that servers depend on those tips because their normal wages suck. ($2.30 in NJ the last I checked.) Then again, I also once tipped a server $27 for a $20 meal because he was excellent and actually went out and purchased something that the restaurant was out of so that we could have a normal meal. (He was horrified actually, and didn’t want to take it, which only convinced me more that he deserved it.)

That doesn’t normally happen here in the Netherlands. You don’t tip people unless you’re at a bar drinking for several hours or the service is really, really good. Even with take out food, if you try to give the driver a tip they look at you funny. Then again, the Netherlands has a tiered system of minimum wage (depending on your age) and most servers will be getting a real living wage.

Dec 15, 2007 at 12:10 am rating: 90

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#294 Sara

First off, I’m tired of all these posts talking about what it is like in foreign countries. Things are different in many ways, but obviously this is a major difference. Deal with it. I mean, most of the people from the UK and Netherlands seem to be very understanding… but Mr. Canada? The conversation is about servers in the US in general… everyone else seems to get that…

Now, there are two reasons why people go to restaurants.

1) So they don’t have to cook something themselves.
In my experience, a nice two-person meal cooked at home ranks about up there with the price of going to a decent restaurant. Think about it… the price of the main course, plus seasonings, plus ingredients for side dishes, plus the actual dishes and cookware needed, maybe adding in a bottle of decent wine? Yeah, it adds up quickly. That, my friends, is what you’re paying the actual restaurant for. That amount is listed nicely on the menu. It goes towards money for food, payment of the cooks and dishwashers, general upkeep of the facility, the itty bitty wage that servers get, and the rest goes to the owner.

2) To be waited on hand and foot.

The wage that servers get from the restaurant is for side work. Believe it or not, Fantasia was fiction. Brooms and mops don’t come to life after everyone leaves and clean the place. Sugar trays, napkin holders, and salt/pepper shakers don’t get up and refill themselves either. Your child’s puke under the table that you forgot to mention to anyone before you left didn’t completely disappear. Those things… and so much more… are the “side work” that is being paid for by the owners. Truthfully, they could care less about how the guests are being treated…if the food is really that fantastic and the atmosphere is flawless, people will come back no matter what the service. Also, no matter how busy it is or how crappy the service, all of that has got to be done. Hence, the hourly wage in general.

Last time I checked, after food was prepared and made it’s way to your plate, to get anything done other than eating meant someone had to get their fat ass up and go get it. Just like those napkin holders, drinks didn’t magically fill themselves up when getting low, and the food didn’t guide itself to the table. No, you have to eat and then work again. Empty drink? Make the walk to the kitchen to fill it back up. Steak cooked at the wrong temp? Go and cook a new one. Then, when everything is said and done, you’ve got to clear the table and take the dishes to the kitchen sink, hoping someone will be kind enough to do all the washing for you.

THAT my friends, is what the tip is. Basically, it is paying someone to do all those things for you. You don’t get served at all? No food, drinks, or even an acknowledgment? Ok, no tip. But did you get everything in general? You’ve GOT to leave SOMETHING. But seriously, to be under the impression that you can just go somewhere, and be waited on hand and foot with absolutely no reciprocation? You better be the fucking Queen of England, because there is no way you are more important than the lovely group at the table next to you with generous pockets and happy dispositions.

Oh, and to all of you that are saying that tips shouldn’t matter because you get less than a server (after tips) and work harder? Be a server for a week, or even just a day, then tell me what you think. However, if you’re in the service industry and currently have the ability to be as kind or rude to a customer as you’d like and still have a guaranteed income but have to switch to a job that requires brown-nosing just to pay the bills, it will be quite the rude awakening.

Dec 16, 2007 at 2:10 am rating: 90

reply to this comment
- #294.1 Canthz_B
  
  You are clearly not cranky.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 2:27 am rating: 90
- #294.2 Xenophobes SUCK
  
  Excuse me, Sara? You’re tired of the conversation being about what it’s like “in foreign countries”? Did you stop to think for a second that for the people on this thread from those other countries you are the one from the “foreign country”? The conversation is not about “servers in the US in general”, it’s about whatever anyone wants to make it about – and clearly there are a lot of people partaking in this discussion with different points of view from all over the globe. If you were even halfway intelligent you would use this opportunity to learn something about “foreign countries” instead of being so narrow-minded. Perhaps you should “deal with it”.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 10:33 am rating: 90
- #294.3 Sara
  
  Unless I am mistaken, and you know, I could be. But I doubt it. Both Oregon Caves National Park AND Kansas City, MO are in the U.S. All of these replies are in response to (or should be) what is seen in the “passive-aggressive” pictures posted, therefore, the discrepancies of the act of not leaving a tip as a passive aggressive gesture and the act of paying the server for the service he/she actually did perform and letting a manager know they need to buck up their performance because you, as a customer, were not completely satisfied. I am very proud of you for using a couple 3 syllable words in your response, but it doesn’t make you sound intelligent.
  
  Actually, I think it’s interesting how servers are treated in other countries. I wasn’t tired of that. But that comment was mainly in response to comment #51, as was my other comment about putting yourself in a servers shoes before saying that it’s easier than your job. I am not xenophobic, far from it in fact. I’m pretentiousassophobic. Just trying to keep people on topic.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 1:54 pm rating: 90
- #294.4 Xenophobes SUCK
  
  Trying to keep people on topic at post number THREE HUNDRED? What are you, the thread police? Get over yourself. And you are calling someone else a pretentious ass? That’s rich.
  
  Saying you’re tired of hearing about things in other countries does not make you sound “interested” in how servers are treated elsewhere, honey. And I love your first two “sentences” in your response: “Unless I am mistaken, and you know, I could be. But I doubt it.” Well, at least one of us sounds intelligent. Guess which one? And it’s not the length of the words that indicate intelligence, dearie, it’s the ability to form coherent sentences and thoughts.
  
  BTW, “intelligence” is FOUR syllables. You’re welcome. Now get out and see the world.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:58 pm rating: 90
- #294.5 Sara
  
  The three syllables I was responding to was “xenophobes” not “intelligence” you prick. I don’t see what I write as pretentious, I was solely responding to the people who just didn’t see the point in tips at all, much less tipping well because in their country… blah blah blah. I don’t care what it makes me sound like to a bunch of people on a website that I will never meet and will keep their narrow minded views no matter what. I just saw the topic and expressed my opinions on the issue. You’ve got the right to your opinions too, and you don’t need to bash someone for theirs.
  
  But seriously, to get as low as to bash someone’s sentence structure on a comment based forum? That’s what is rich.
  
  You’re right. It is a losing battle if you have to resort to a grammar critique instead of an actual point in a debate.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 8:04 pm rating: 90
- #294.6 Sara SUCKS
  
  I know what you were referring to, brainless. Lighten up. Jebus. You come in here with guns blazing but WE’RE not supposed to bash YOU at all? Of course you don’t see what you write as pretentious. People like you never do.
  
  I wasn’t “bashing” your sentence structure, sweetheart. I was commenting that it’s pretty funny that you didn’t think I sounded intelligent and yet you can’t form complete sentences. If you hadn’t gotten dicky I wouldn’t have mentioned it.
  
  *yawn* We’re done here. I wasn’t “debating” you. You weren’t looking for a “debate” you were telling people you were tired of reading what they wanted to write. That’s confrontational and pathetic and I was taking you to task. My work is finished. Have a good life never leaving your home town.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 8:27 pm rating: 90
- #294.7 Kelsey
  
  I think you’re being immature and rude. Sara clearly explained her point, and I don’t think it’s xenophobic to say that how other countries do or do not tip doesn’t really apply to a topic about people who did not tip in the US.
  
  By calling her names you’re just looking childish and have ruined your own attempt to take the high road by painting her as some sort of xenophobe.
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 4:53 pm rating: 90
- #294.8 Kelsey SUCKS
  
  Sara was mouthing off and she had it coming. She also does NOT “clearly explain her point” as you will notice if you read the thread after this one. And other people’s opinions and comments are perfectly valid on this thread no matter where they are from. If you don’t like them, don’t read them. Don’t sit there and say you’re “tired” of them. Tough shit. What are you, Sara’s mom?
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 6:18 pm rating: 90
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#295 Sara

p.s.- who cares what minimum wage is? If you haven’t taken a simple economics course (I had to take 2 back in highschool) it is just a standard set by the government that keeps businesses from paying net-to-nothing to part time employees.

Most of these comments are assuming that minimum wage is something that can be lived off of. Not as a server. As a server, you don’t work as many hours a week as a normal part-time employee anyway. How many of you complaining that minimum wage is sufficient for a server job has actually made minimum wage before, has ever been a server, or make minimum wage now? None? Thats what I’m thinking.

Serving… well, serving properly… is a job that should have a rate far above minimum wage. We work much harder than, produce more sweat than, and have to deal with you assholes who are complaining that “in the end” it all works out to about minimum wage.

Plus, if a server is really that horrible, speak with a manager, because apparently it isn’t their calling and they shouldn’t be working there anyway. Stiffing someone on a tip is just going to make them recognize your face and give you worse service next time, not prove a point.

Dec 16, 2007 at 2:34 am rating: 90

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- #295.1 nina
  
  Who are you to say your job is harder than anyone else’s?
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 9:01 am rating: 90
- #295.2 Sara
  
  I’m not necessarily saying that my job is harder than anyone elses. Maybe if you didn’t take everything at face value, you would understand that I was debating the people who were saying that their jobs (while not actually naming the job service they were in) were much harder and paid less than a servers job. The only way they can say that is if they were to take into account what leisures they get to experience, and that they need to put themselves in a servers shoes before they make that statement. Don’t jump to conclusions, dear.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 1:37 pm rating: 90
- #295.3 nina
  
  “We work much harder than, produce more sweat than, and have to deal with you assholes who are complaining that “in the end” it all works out to about minimum wage.”
  
  That’s not jumping to conclusions. That’s what you wrote. The problem is you wrote it as FACT.
  
  All jobs are hard, save the ones that get you paid more than a million per year for next to nothing work. (But then even things like modelling are hard in their own way. I’ve done this too. Not as a career but something fun to do on the weekend. Loved it but you have to get everything right and that’s not always easy)
  
  I say this with experience in a NUMBER of different jobs (including serving and waitressing).
  
  Not all jobs may produce sweat, but they have their hard times regardless. Whether it be physically, mentally, humiliating or whatnot.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:13 pm rating: 90
- #295.4 Xenophobes SUCK
  
  I think you’re fighting a losing battle. Sara clearly doesn’t read what she writes. See the post previous to this one for further proof. That’s why God invented the preview button, but you know, what the hell. It’s far more fun to talk out of your ass anonymously.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 5:01 pm rating: 90
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#296 Xenophobes SUCK

Posted twice. They still suck, though.

Dec 16, 2007 at 10:32 am rating: 90

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#297 Jo

Ok, I think I’ve had enough! If you are going to go and treat your fellow human beings like crap, you are better off staying at home! To the heartless and cheap assholes who have given their two cents on this subject, go screw yourselves. Sara’s comment in #301 is pretty accurate. There are A LOT of people working together to make your meal enjoyable. Who gives a crap if YOU had a bad day. You are not the President or the Queen. Stay home and drink yourself into the ground for all we care and then pop in a tv dinner, but don’t come into my place of employment and try to make me feel that I could do better than being “just a waitress”. Yes, I chose this job, but it’s good, easy money and it’s in cash. I worked with a teacher and an accountant. I myself was an EMT. The reason we worked there? To make some extra cash cuz we were making just enough to get by. Plus, the ambience was awesome!

Also, there are some people who do depend on this for their livelyhood. I work with fantastic people now and it doesn’t matter that they did everything perfect and the kitchen was perfect. People are going to be cheap, regardless, and to blame their penny pinching on the restaurant or the server is ludicrous. YOU ARE CHEAP MOTHER FUCKERS and you are NEVER going to change. STAY HOME!!!!!!

Dec 16, 2007 at 1:16 pm rating: 90

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- #297.1 Crash
  
  So if I get a job as a waiter, and say I spit in your food and you don’t tip me…..would that make you a cheap mother fucker ?
  Sorry, I don’t tip bad service, if their income does or doesn’t depend on my tip and they want one, they better be atleast cordial.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 4:45 pm rating: 90
- #297.2 Sara
  
  If you were to get a job as a waiter, and spit in someones food you would get fired before they could even get the food much less the check. So what does it matter what they tip? You wouldn’t get it anyway. I see your point, but you need a better example.
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 7:53 pm rating: 90
- #297.3 Crash
  
  Not if you see my point……..
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 8:01 pm rating: 90
- #297.4 Canthz_B
  
  Fired for spit? Ha!
  Only if you get caught!
  And I have seen a lot worse than spit go into food in the kitchen. You can swap spit while kissing. Ever kissed a floor?…The bottom of a shoe?
  And you thought that was cracked black pepper!
  
  Dec 16, 2007 at 8:15 pm rating: 90
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#298 Canthz_B

I agree Crash! If you make me grateful, you get a gratuity.
Piss me off and you can piss off!

Dec 16, 2007 at 4:58 pm rating: 90

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#299 nina

Honestly? You take a job as a server to serve. I don’t care how hard you’re claiming it is. When you take the job you are contracted to SERVE as best to your ability. Here in the UK, we don’t work for tips, so if we’re not nice as hell no matter what, not only do we NOT get tipped but we also lose our jobs. Simple as.

If the job bothers you that much… seriously, find another one. I did. Although admittedly I rock at every job I take. Long list of awesome references to back that up.

Dec 17, 2007 at 5:33 am rating: 90

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#300 p'chick

why are so many of the photos “unavailable,” and then when you click on them, I get, “Oops! You don’t have permission to view this photo.” That’s no fun…. :((

Dec 17, 2007 at 10:09 am rating: 90

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#301 Rhetorical

Eh, I think there is a ton of bent-out-of-shape-ness going on. You know that 9 times out of 10 someone leaves an okay tip. Ive been a server in college, and now I work as a professional (making way more). I didnt mind working as a server. Sure it was hard, but I always managed a tip (so I must have been doing something right).

But seriously, if I was falling behind or didnt quite get everything out smoothly, I made less per table, but more overall due to volume. I didnt hold it against people. Its just the nature of the beast.

If you sit around expecting everything from everyone without putting any effort into it, you deserve to get crap back. Seriously, grow up. Do your job and get paid for it. Let the setbacks roll off your back and quit expecting something from the world due to the fact that your circumstances arent ideal.

If I had a nickel for everyone who expects to get something because they think their circumstances were disadvantuous Id be a rich woman. Freaking “gimme generation”.

Dec 19, 2007 at 3:31 am rating: 90

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#302 Rhetorical

BTW I also held a “minimum wage” job as a second job in retail while in college and some weeks I got more out of my server job, some weeks more out of my minimum wage job.

And Id say they were both equally grueling in the work department.

Dec 19, 2007 at 3:34 am rating: 90

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#303 amy

ok, please. grow up. this is passive agressive, not plain out agressive!!! everyone is getting so personal on this site. you know you are going out to eat– do you think the meal is free? no you have to pay. part of paying involves tip. things are different across the world, people are entitled to their opinions, there is no reason to get person and write in your name box on this site “kelsey SUCKS.” that is just plain rude. if you want to share your thoughts and opinions, do so in a positive, adult manner. nobody wants to validate a person who stoops to such low levels, we learn in kindergarden that name-calling is wrong.

Dec 19, 2007 at 6:59 pm rating: 90

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- #303.1 Busted
  
  Thanks Mom.
  Meals are not free, true.
  Gratuity is not part of the cost of a meal, also true.
  Good service earns a nice gratuity.
  I tip my barber based upon how happy I am with my haircut. Should I tip him if he butchers my hair?
  
  Dec 19, 2007 at 7:17 pm rating: 90
- #303.2 Jo
  
  If you want to go back to him you will!
  
  Jan 10, 2008 at 10:04 pm rating: 90
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#304 schm0

I think it’s a good thing for everyone to state their opinions, but flaming someone because you disagree is just in bad taste. No one ever won an argument by name-calling.

Dec 20, 2007 at 12:59 pm rating: 90

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- #304.1 win?
  
  LOL, no one EVER wins an argument on the internet
  
  Jun 25, 2008 at 7:47 pm rating: 90
- #304.2 Mark
  
  http://xkcd.com/386/
  
  Jun 25, 2008 at 8:00 pm rating: 90
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#305 Becky

I never NOT leave a tip… though maybe I just haven’t had bad enough service yet. I usually tip 15-20%.
However my best friend “doesn’t believe” in tipping, which sticks me to cover the tip of the whole meal. He always say “oh you don’t have to”… and I look at him aghast! If you received good service… why not tip them? Then he says I make him feel guilty. Sorry I’m not a horrible person!

Ok that didn’t really have anything to do with the notes, but I just wanted to vent how frustrating it is eating out with my friend lol

Dec 21, 2007 at 1:39 am rating: 90

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- #305.1 Erik
  
  Wow, that is frustrating. He should feel guilty! ‘”Doesn’t believe”‘ in tipping? It’s not Santa Claus or the second coming. If he doesn’t believe in tipping, he should start believing in karma, or eating in. I’d be embarrased to go out with him. How cheap.
  
  Jan 28, 2008 at 1:13 pm rating: 90
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#306 Terry

Not sure where the person lives that makes only 2 dollars and something a hour, but here in WA State, the min, wage is over 6 dollars a hour. As far as tipping goes, if I get good service I tip good, end of story.

Dec 21, 2007 at 9:19 pm rating: 90

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- #306.1 lynn
  
  The minimum wage is over 6 dollars an hour all over the US. BUT, servers DON’T MAKE MINIMUM WAGE!!!!!!! Hosts do, but not servers.
  
  We make 2 to 3 dollars an hour to cover taxes, we rarely get a paycheck of any amount over $6, and most times it is $0.
  
  Dec 22, 2007 at 12:10 pm rating: 90
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#307 lola

The thread that never dies!!!!! aaaahhhhh

Well, since I can’t stand it any longer:

I’ve worked as a waitress, as a beer bitch on a golf course, as a customer service person and in retail. I’ve had a little bit of experience.

I did my job to make money, but I didn’t focus my evening around whether or not I thought someone would tip. I worried about doing everything I could to be memorable and helpful, and the tips ALWAYS worked themselves out. Sure, there’s gonna be dickhead every once in a while who leaves nothing after they put you through hell, even with a smile on your face. But I found that was RARE, probably because I was great at my job. Dickheads happen in any profession. If you choose a job dealing with the public, you have to just get over it and move on, or FIND A NEW JOB.

BTW, I find it highly unfeasible that EVERY waiter/waitress that has come to this site is a “great” employee with a chipper attitude. Very improbabl

funny (if not necessarily "passive-aggressive") notes from pissed-off people

This is why your server is cranky

July 29th, 2007 · 724 comments

724 responses so far ↓