Stupid Restaurant Tricks!

[Wizard69]

I always give 15-20% in restaurants when I sit down and eat.

As for take out, I don't leave a tip. But people do bring up a good point about how the people working the take out might otherwise be missing out on tips from table service. Until someone can verify that fact, I still won't leave a tip on takeout. The take out servers probably get a cut of the tips everyone splits at the end of the night.

As for coffee places, I think they make over minimum wage and don't rely much on tips to supplement their pay.

What I don't like, is how restaurants automatically add a 15-18% gratuity to large parties. More than a few times, I have had shitty service when we have dined in a large group and I would not have left that much of a tip (I probably would have left 10% or less). Adding automatic gratuity to bill means the server can not care and give shitty service because they know they are already getting a tip. It's not fair for the customers.

They are still doing the same job. Let ME judge how well they are doing and base their tip on that. I may even be inclined to give them a little more than I would have normally since they have to deal with more of us than a usual "large" party of 6.

[TalkingHands]

There have to be more F & B hosts/hostesses than myself, right?

Here are my top 5 favorite annoyances

#5) Guests who make 75 special requests and then complain that it took too long to get their food. "I need that made with no sodium, no gluten, no PKU, and no dairy"... 15 minutes later, the head chef who just hand prepared their food himself arrives at the table to present it hears, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

Well I do make special requests due to allergies but I am prepared to wait. Last week I wanted the noodles at Cook's and they had to go upstairs to a restaurant to get fresh veggies that didn't didn't include allergens. It took about 20 minutes. Chef got a sweet thank you.

[tacoboy]

i usually chip in about 20% because i have sympathy for them. they work long shifts with low pay.

Hopefully, I will never have to work a job like that


o wait......never mind. :D:

[Coastercameron]

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?

Where I live, there is no tip credit, resturant workers MUST make min wage ($6.15) PLUS any tips they recieve. One of the two resturants I'm referring to is a Johnny Rockets which operates both a full service sitdown and a walk up take out service in the same location. I can understand why they have a tip field coming out on thier POS system, but the other resturant in question is counter service only.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates tip jars too!


I encountered a tip field and another odd place last night... a bowling alley. I'll let that one go assuming they use a unified POS system for the bar, resturant, and lane/shoe rental counter. :)

[Rob562]

Where I live, there is no tip credit, resturant workers MUST make min wage ($6.15) PLUS any tips they recieve. One of the two resturants I'm referring to is a Johnny Rockets which operates both a full service sitdown and a walk up take out service in the same location. I can understand why they have a tip field coming out on thier POS system, but the other resturant in question is counter service only.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates tip jars too!


I encountered a tip field and another odd place last night... a bowling alley. I'll let that one go assuming they use a unified POS system for the bar, resturant, and lane/shoe rental counter. :)

It's kind of like the beer stand at the ball park. I *believe* that they're not supposed to accept tips, but at almost all of the stands there's a paper plate or something with a few dollars and some change on it, "encouraging" you to leave a tip... I'm sure the management looks the other way on those...

And I believe that the minimum wage law here in Massachusetts is written so that a server is guaranteed to go home with at least the regular minimum wage for the hours they worked. The server's hourly rate is lower, but if their hourly wage plus tips received don't add up to the regular minimum wage (like on an utterly slow day with no business), the employer is legally obligated to make up the difference to bring them up to state minimum wage.

Now, how may times does that actually happen? No idea.

-Rob

[bpgstudios]

Theres only been one time Ive had bad service at WDW that I remember- and left a tip that reflected it. It was at scifi. Service was so bad that I didn't want to use my cast discount since he'd get a tip automagically. So, I paid cash- exact change- and as a tip I left a quarter and 2 pennies in Mickey fashon with a note on the check:
You're working for this guy...

The service was that bad. :mad:

[dhcalva]

Here's a horror story for you...

We were eating in a restaraunt in Ocean City MD (The one with the bull with the beret and sun glasses out front). Food and service were good, but the couple + child at the next table weren't. I've never seen a child eat spaghetti that messily before in my life. it was EVERYWHERE. Table, floor, in glasses, on chairs, ON THE POTTED PLANT NEXT TO THE TABLE. You could see the look of horror on the poor waitresses face.

When the conversation at tables around you starts turning to your child's eating habbits, you should know something is wrong! And they didn't even tip the waitress at all. Our meal was $50. We left a $25 tip for the poor girl, cause with all that to deal with, she never once let our glass get less that 1/2 full, or any other tables as far as I could see.

They should put a statue of her out front labelled 'SuperWaitress'.

[kas11]

I generally leave 20% unless I get poor service, then it is 15%. I can somewhat understand why they add the tip automatically when there are large groups as the waitress does not get as many tables due to the huge amount of time she spends on that one group. They want to make sure she gets a tip. My mom witnessed a case where a waitress did not get tipped from a large group and she worked very hard on this group.

She continously refilled thier drinks and such and had only one other table that was also sorta large. My mom said this one big group would constantly call her for something or other. And how did they call her? by snapping thier fingers or whistling to her like a dog. Mom was actually feeling bad for her, she said this group was very disrespectful of this waitress. And what did they leave for a tip? You guessed it, they left NO TIP!!

[Syndrome]

The only place at WDW that I've ever had BAD service was at the restaurant at Wide World of Sports. The food took forever, and instead of warning us, our server disappeared totally. No drink refills while waiting, no warning that it would be a long time...nothing. I don't take it out on the server's tip if the kitchen is slow, but I do deduct if they disappear like that. We probably gave 10 or 15% that time around. Other than that, I can't think of any memorably bad service anywhere at WDW, and we eat on property a LOT!

Conversely, I once tipped way high to make up for a table of jerks. It wasn't at WDW, but rather at a place called Lawry's The Prime Rib in Chicago (a very nice, rather pricey place that is one of my all-time favorite restaurants). At the table across from us were a pack of drunken jerks who were being downright rude to the server. Their initial abuse was because they could not get steak (duh, a$$wad, "Prime Rib" is in the name, the menu is outside the door, and this is what it is famous for). They were so abusive that I really think the manager should have kicked them out. Then, when they decided that she was not responding quickly enough, they started literally yelling "Miss Smith (or whatever her name was), you tip is going down, down down!" I doubt they left anything, and we felt so sorry for her that we tipped her quite a bit extra out of pity that she has to deal withy jerks like that.

[psychomaj]

While this story is a bit off topic the thread seems to have moved to tipping so here I go.

Tiping can be some of the best money you can spend.

When I was in college on the weekends I would order pizza (before I knew I could not have gluten for those keeping score). I would get the best service in the dorm because I usually tipped 40-50%. I could have a pizza at my door in about 15 mins.

Before I move to Orlando I had to get rid of lots of stuff. Well move day came and the pile of stuff I had was about the size of two mini vans with serval things that the trash service would not pick up with out an appointment. The trash truck arrive steped up to the door handed each $40 neatly folded up and said merry christmas. In a 90 second it was all gone and compacting in the truck.

Extrodinary tipping leads to extrodinary service.
Matthew