Stupid Guest Tricks

I don't have a job that generates tips but my other half does, he is a bartender and he works just about next door to Disney World so he gets customers from all over the world.

He has a large number of guests from the UK and he hardly ever receives tips from them, just a "cheers, thanks!"

At first it used to upset him tremendously as his hourly wage is not high enough to pay bills so he depends on those tips.

Then he went through a phase where he accepted it as a fact of life and moved on.

Now he is somewhere in between. He often comes home and says "I would've made at least twice as much if every "cheers" would have come accompanied with a tip." He finds it frustrating, and so do I as we have a mortgage to pay!

This is not just a bartender thing. He used to be a server at a restaurant at WDW, he often didn't get tips from foreign parties.

Syndrome wrote:A question for you servers:

When you know that you gave good service but receive NO tip, and the people didn't seem to have any animosity, be from a country that doesn't tip, or be problem customers, what do you surmise? Do you peg them as cheap? Figure that they made a mistake? Something else?
.

If they seemed to be otherwise satisfied, I try to tell myself that they might have thought that gratuity was included.

Some comments....

My wife and I do tip well. Over 20% to at least 25% for good service. Even more if the service was exceptional.

A pet peeve of mine though is if we pay in cash, the server "sees" a large tip (because there is a huge difference between the amount of cash and the amount of the bill), and the server just says "Thanks." Ah no. IMO, the correct 'term' is: "I'll be back with your change."

Usually the servers that do that are the inexperienced ones.

For the record, I'm an average 20% tipper for good service, 15% for poor. If someone gives me truly abysmal service, however, I will drop below that.

While some of this may be due to unfamiliarity with the way things are done in the states, this isn't necessarily an excuse for people from the US who stiff you or leave poor tips. Unfortunately, the simple fact of the matter is that some people are cheapskates, and don't give a flying frag about the fact that the servers are paid below minimum wage in many cases in expectation that they will recieve the tips. Indeed, some people refuse to tip on the grounds that it simply perpetuates this system. Um, guys, if you're wanting to end this system, hurting the people who are most affected by it is NOT the way. Frankly, while I don't particularly like the system, until it's changed to require all servers to be paid in the same way that every other employee is paid, I will continue to leave tips.

Ironically, this very subject resulted in one of the most legendary, and nastiest flamewars ever seen on another message forum I frequent...

I'm not sure if there is any similar resturant system at WDW, but at the mall where I work, we have a couple of food outlets that are more "deluxe". You order at a register, recieve a beeper, and pick up your food. However, there is NO service at the table. When you pay with credit card, they give you a reciept with a "tip" field on it. I always feel awkward with this, because I don't feel that simple (and ususally substandard) counterservice is tipworthy. Any opinions on to tip or not to tip in this circumstance?

Coastercameron wrote:I'm not sure if there is any similar resturant system at WDW, but at the mall where I work, we have a couple of food outlets that are more "deluxe". You order at a register, recieve a beeper, and pick up your food. However, there is NO service at the table. When you pay with credit card, they give you a reciept with a "tip" field on it. I always feel awkward with this, because I don't feel that simple (and ususally substandard) counterservice is tipworthy. Any opinions on to tip or not to tip in this circumstance?

The amount of service I've received by the time I'm done placing my order -- standing up at the register -- is essentially zero, which is what I think an appropriate tip would be in that situation.

Mind you, if my kids made a major mess or I *did* receive service at the table, I'd feel it appropriate to leave a cash tip there.

On a similar point, at coffee bars or sandwich shops with a tip jar by the register, I am essentially being asked for a tip after service has been rendered, such as it is. And if I haven't received any service at my "table" by that point, I think zero is appropriate here too.

Of course, should one of you tell me these folks are being paid sub-minimum wage and rely on tips for income, I might change my mind.

Your thoughts?

Zazu wrote:On a similar point, at coffee bars or sandwich shops with a tip jar by the register, I am essentially being asked for a tip after service has been rendered, such as it is. And if I haven't received any service at my "table" by that point, I think zero is appropriate here too.

That's why up here in Massachusetts I only go to the Dunkin' Donuts places that have adopted a "No Tipping" policy. Instead, they have donation boxes where spare change can be placed for a local children's charity.

And there's a restaurant where I sometimes get take-out. I call ahead and then go in to pick up the food. The receipt prints out a line for a tip, but I just draw a line through it and carry the total down. (I know it's probably just the default receipt because most of their service is dine-in) Heck, they're now charging a 3% "packaging fee" for ordering take-out which is stupid, I think. Now, if it were one of the places where you stay in your car and they bring your order OUT to you, then I'd give the server a couple bucks...

-Rob

eh, if i call in an order for pickup or something, i tend to throw a dolalr or two down. in my opinion, they take your order, follow up on your food, and if they get it done when they say it will be done, they are still providing a small service to you. not to mention, if its a place you frequent, you might get to know the people that work there. or places like chili's or whatever, usually the take out person is one of the servers taken off the floor to handle that counter, so yeah...they arent going to be making tips form the floor that night. i could be wrong, but good service is good service in my opinion. at a table or getting your order ready in a timely manner. sure a person waiting tables is busting a lot more hump as far as walking and all, so i tend to be mroe giving with table service. my friends and i tend to tip upwards around 20-25% for good service. eh, to each is own. but for the sandiwch places, if they just have a tip cup on the counter, the most they will get is the dime the nickle and the penny i would have gotten back as my change.

Okay, gotta share this -- the one time I ever left a negative tip!

For the record, I'm not a big spender, but I do try to tip as well as I can, usually 15% for bare-minimum-adequate service, and 20-25% and up for good service. I have also been known to leave 10 or less for really awful service, which thankfully is very rare. But once at an Olive Garden, I experience the worst service of my life:

My wife and I had just received our order when we realized that my then-almost-2-year-old son was not feeling well, so we thought it best to get to-go containers and leave. Becky took Brandon out to the lobby while I signaled to our server, who was at another table. She gave me a "just a minute" finger, which is fine, and went back into the kitchen. So far so good. But then she didn't come out again for ten minutes. I'm starting to get a little worried about my wife and son waiting on me, wondering what the hold-up is. Well, when the server returned, I explained the situation (emphasizing its urgency), and asked for to-go containers and our check.

It's another eight minutes more before she returns with the items -- I was definitely checking my watch at that point. Eight minutes is a bit long, but not horribly unreasonable -- it just seemed longer because of my situation. I glanced at the check and gave her my card before she could run off again. (I had no cash on me or I would have been out of there long before!)

When did I see her next? A full twenty minutes more later! (I could see people at her other table getting agitated at her absence, too.) She finally brought the credit card slip. The total bill was $27.01. I was so steamed I wrote "-.01" in the tip space -- just so she'd know I didn't just forget it -- adding "BAD SERVICE" to the side in block letters, and totaled it out to $27.00.

It gets better... A few weeks later we get our credit card bill, which I checked out of curiosity -- what did they do with the "negative penny" tip??? The charge showed up as $35.01!!! Yes, she'd added herself an eight dollar tip!!!!

Needless to say, I challenged the excess amount in a letter to the credit card company and then wrote the restaurant manager with a 2-page explanation. It turns out that this was not the only time this particular server had boosted her tip illegally, and she was terminated pretty quickly. I have to say, also, that as bad as the waitress was, the management handled the "guest recovery" aspect of it very well, not only reimbursing us the overage (which the credit card company didn't make us pay anyway), but supplying a significant amount in gift certificates. It wasn't worth the aggravation, but it went a long way in getting our business back.

CBeilby wrote:For the record, I'm an average 20% tipper for good service, 15% for poor. If someone gives me truly abysmal service, however, I will drop below that.

While some of this may be due to unfamiliarity with the way things are done in the states, this isn't necessarily an excuse for people from the US who stiff you or leave poor tips. Unfortunately, the simple fact of the matter is that some people are cheapskates, and don't give a flying frag about the fact that the servers are paid below minimum wage in many cases in expectation that they will recieve the tips. Indeed, some people refuse to tip on the grounds that it simply perpetuates this system. Um, guys, if you're wanting to end this system, hurting the people who are most affected by it is NOT the way. Frankly, while I don't particularly like the system, until it's changed to require all servers to be paid in the same way that every other employee is paid, I will continue to leave tips.

Ironically, this very subject resulted in one of the most legendary, and nastiest flamewars ever seen on another message forum I frequent...

That's the thing about the United States is that waitresses make below minimum wage, which, in my opinion is ridiculous. I actually don't mind when they just add a 15% gratuity to the bill so then you don't have to worry when I'm in the US.

I live in Canada and here, waitresses cannot make less than minimum wage or else it would be illegal, so tipping here is a little different. If a meal is 20 bucks, then tipping 2 bucks would be fine simply because these waitresses are getting minimum wage or higher anyways. 10%-15% or even lower than 10% is the norm here. In my opinion, I do like US waitresses better because the restaurants I went to, the waitresses actually worked hard for their tips: ie: filling our drinks without us asking, quick, very friendly and polite, not afraid to make conversation. Here in Canada, you always have to ask for a refill, the waitresses are generally friendly as a whole but you rarely see them, the meals are not as quick to be served and they typically never engage in a conversation; take order, is everything alright, bill, leave, is pretty much how it goes. I'm not speaking of waitresses in general but just the waitresses I have noticed in the area of which I live.