Talking to guests about a small tip?

Let me start by saying that I waited tables all through high school, supportted myself by doing it in college, and even did it for the past few summers to supplement our income.
I find what she did COMPLETELY inappropriate. What she did was embarass the customers into leaving a bigger tip, no matter what they said. She even states that they counted and recounted the money more than once before leaving it. Perhaps, and I know it isn't an excuse, but perhaps they were shorter on money than they thought they were when they ordered. It's happened to many people.
There is NEVER a good reason to embarass a customer, even a crappy one with a bad attitude, about how much of a tip they leave....NEVER.

J,

So did you want to introduce yourself to us now? You'll find we are a friendly, but occasionally contentious crew...


Deb

I was born and raised in Louisville, worked a factory job for nearly ten years and always wanted to cook (my mother managed kitchens and I worked for her as a youngster). Went to Sullivan and cut my teeth at the English Grill with Chef Joe and after he left with Chef Geroli. I did my intern at Limestone and found Chef Cunha (seems to be underappreciated at least that's my opinion) to be not only patient but a wealth of information. Moved to Virginia and worked at Zoe's; a four diamond independent restaurant, worked their for a few months. Got an offer to work at a Country Club as a cook, worked their for about 4 mts. before I was offered a sous chef position; that was about two yrs ago. I can't wait to get back to Louisville but with the economy the way it is, it could be awhile. Thanks for the interest.

I was born and raised in Louisville, worked a factory job for nearly ten years and always wanted to cook (my mother managed kitchens and I worked for her as a youngster). Went to Sullivan and cut my teeth at the English Grill with Chef Joe and after he left with Chef Geroli. I did my intern at Limestone and found Chef Cunha (seems to be underappreciated at least that's my opinion) to be not only patient but a wealth of information. Moved to Virginia and worked at Zoe's; a four diamond independent restaurant, worked their for a few months. Got an offer to work at a Country Club as a cook, worked their for about 4 mts. before I was offered a sous chef position; that was about two yrs ago. I can't wait to get back to Louisville but with the economy the way it is, it could be awhile. Thanks for the interest.

Absolutely agree about Chef Mike- he's a great guy and a fantastic Chef. I assume you know he's at Sullivan now: can't think of a better Chef to be teaching the next generation of Chefs.

Deb

My only experience with this sort of situation is on the consumer end, at August Moon about 2 years ago. My parents were in town to visit me, so I wanted to take them to this new restaurant I had just discovered. I was pretty proud of myself at the time, because it was my Freshman year, and I had just found it while exploring the city.

So I took them there with a pretty positive attitude, trying to show off a little of what Louisville had to offer.

And the experience was a mess...

We were told that the wait would be about 15 minutes, and after 30 or 45, I asked to speak to the manager. He asked our name, went to the seating chart, asked our name again, went back, and then yet again, and finally said that we would be seated immediately. It finally happened about 20 minutes after that. We were seated in the side room, which since the walls are quite bare (and the minimalist decor was something I liked before), and since we were seated right next to an extremely rowdy party of 20 or so, we could barely hear each other talk due to the sound reverberations in the room.

Service throughout the night was excruciatingly slow, but we eventually got the entrees we ordered, and they were delicious. Next, with desserts, I didn't get the dish I wanted, and after at least 10 minutes of waiting for any wait staff to show up, I decided to walk around the restaurant to find someone so I could get the dish I wanted.

And now comes the clincher:
When we finally got the bill, my parents picked up the tab on the credit card, and I decided I'd chip in by leaving a cash tip. I left around 18%, though in my opinion, it wasn't deserved. The waiter left, came back, and the the following dialogue, to the best of my memory, took place:

Waiter: "Here's your card, and... well...... [very, very obviously he was hinting that he had something to say] ... oh, it's nothing"
Dad: "Wait, what's the problem?"
Waiter: "Nothing, nothing [obviously disgruntled]"
Dad: "Do you think we didn't leave you a tip?"
Waiter: "Well, there sure wasn't anything on the bill." [even more disgruntled]
Dad: "That's because it was a cash tip."
Waiter: "Hmmm" [or something along those lines]
Waiter rummages through apron, finds my tip, mumbles a "terribly sorry" and all but sprints away.

Of course, after having such a hard time with the manager at the beginning of the night, it wasn't really even worth talking to him again, in our opinion... So we just left, and of course, the waiter was hiding somewhere, so we didn't see him on the way out. But the fact that we received terrible service throughout the night, still gave a respectable tip, and then were all but accused of leaving nothing... well, it was a little hard to take.

So yeah, in this case, asking the customer about not leaving the tip would NOT have been the right thing to do.
(But honestly, in about any other case, I wouldn't mind the waiter asking, because if I made an honest mistake and no one said anything, they would probably just discount me as a cheap, heartless college student..... which I don't care for too much.)

And probably needless to say, I haven't been back to August Moon since, which is quite sad in my opinion, because I loved their food, but just thinking about it brings back some stinging memories.

If people want to come to eat and all they can tip is ten percent; well dammit thats ten percent you didn't have at the beginning of the day.[/quote]

??. Here's a true little story.... So I'm working the other day, and I've got a three-table section at Toast on Market (before going to work Basa in evening.... I'm tired. ). When I clock in there are two gentlemen already sitting at one of my tables, from the previous shift. They finish eating around the time I get there, cash out with their server. I then have the joy of seeing my 3-table section become a 2-table section, because they sat there for the next 2-1/2 hours! My point is this, "that's ten percent you didn't have at the beginning of the day" is just not true. If a ten percenter is taking up one of my tables where a 20 percenter might have sat, that's actually 10 percent I'm losing. People just don't understand that poor tips and sitting too long equal COSTING a server money. I've been griping about this sort of thing for years now. As a good server, I don't believe anyone should ever be pressured into tipping more than they think is fair, but c'mon, if the restaurant paid us a full wage, the prices of your food would go up so much to cover payroll, you'd still be spending that money, anyway. Let me make this clear, if the service was so bad as to deserve a ten percent tip, you should be talking to a manager. If you say nothing and walk out having stiffed a server, I'll just assume cheapness.

The point I was trying to make was that if nobody comes into eat you don't get any tip at all, the restaurant makes no money and everybody suffers. Alot of people are having really hard times right now and going out to eat can be a bright spot, a chance to forget how you are going to pay your kids tuition or the mortgage. It is when times get rough that people really need to take a little time and just try to enjoy themselves. If so many other people are making less or having a rough time it only makes since that it trickles down to the people who work on tips.

Again, I will say, I respect the job of FOH. The attitude of if people can't afford twenty or thirty percent tip than they should stay home does not help the industry that I care so much about. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

Let me make this clear, if the service was so bad as to deserve a ten percent tip, you should be talking to a manager. If you say nothing and walk out having stiffed a server, I'll just assume cheapness.

Assume all you want. I'm personally not going looking for a manager every time I get crappy service. If you are working hard and do a good job - you get a great tip from me. If you aren't, then my tip will reflect that. I kind of thought that was how it worked?

Assume all you want. I'm personally not going looking for a manager every time I get crappy service. If you are working hard and do a good job - you get a great tip from me. If you aren't, then my tip will reflect that. I kind of thought that was how it worked?

I agree. It's not my job to make sure the server is doing his/her job. The manager should be paying attention to how the service is going. There are too many fine restaurants in Louisville to waste my time and money in a sub-par establishment.

If the food and service are good, I tip well and will return. If the food or service is bad, I tip a little and don't return. Everyone should stop tipping unless the service is great. This would weed out the poor servers and let the cream rise to the top. Tipping 10%-15% for poor service only keeps a crappy server in a job and could leave other customers with a bad experience. Bad experiences are what keep people from repeat visits. Tipping is an instant job review. I believe most people tip according to the service they receive. Some people are "cheap", but most see tipping as a gift for a job well done and tip accordingly.

I agree. It's not my job to make sure the server is doing his/her job. The manager should be paying attention to how the service is going. There are too many fine restaurants in Louisville to waste my time and money in a sub-par establishment.

If the food and service are good, I tip well and will return. If the food or service is bad, I tip a little and don't return. Everyone should stop tipping unless the service is great. This would weed out the poor servers and let the cream rise to the top. Tipping 10%-15% for poor service only keeps a crappy server in a job and could leave other customers with a bad experience. Bad experiences are what keep people from repeat visits. Tipping is an instant job review. I believe most people tip according to the service they receive. Some people are "cheap", but most see tipping as a gift for a job well done and tip accordingly.

I was at one of the Irish bars on Thursday night and had horrible service. To the extent that when I asked for my check the server said, "Tell me what you had again?" I was honest with her, paid my bill, and left a decent tip (don't really remember the amount). I had watched her working all night (I'm part sociologist and part former-server) and could tell that, although she was trying to do her job to the best of her ability, she was just overwhelmed. Never did I see anyone from the restaurant offer her assistance. My tip, then, was an acknowledgment of her attempt to provide me service. What's wrong with giving in to humanism?

I left before the entire group paid their tabs. Seems the manager stopped by and handed out a few gift cards for the trouble the group experienced*. While a nice gesture to the customer, I'd rather have seen management offer the server some help along the way. Needless to say, I don't plan to return to this establishment anytime soon. Needless to say (point 2), I don't think most bars on Baxter put customer service at the top of the priority list, as, really, there's always another drinker to take my place.

* For those who are going to say that I should have taken my issues to management, I would argue that it's management jobs to be proactive and recognize when a server is just absolutely overwhelmed. I just made peace with the situation, tried my best to acknowledge the server's effort, and plan to take my business elsewhere. Point being, I'll return to a place if the bad service is related to a single server. I don't return to places where the bad service seems more an institutional issue. For me, this situation falls in category 2.

We had some of the worst service, EVER at a chain place we were dragged to on Sunday. Our server was so slow that it was excruciating. It took us nearly 2 hours to get through lunch, and took almost 30 minutes to get our drinks. We didn't order anything out of the ordinary. Between 5 people, we all shared an appetizer, and we each ordered an entree. That was it, and it almost took 2 hours, and the place was EMPTY. There was no manager to be found. Needless to say, we won't be going back. My husband left a tip, despite the fact that the service was awful. (I didn't think service warranted a tip, to be honest.) Needless to say, next time we go out to eat with these folks, we'll be choosing the place.

I hardly ever receive poor service. If it starts out bad and there doesn't to be a reason for it and I haven't ordered yet, I'll put a dollar on the table and just leave. My rationale is if they are too busy to acknowledge me, they'll be too busy to hunt down to tell them I'm leaving. There are plenty of wonderful places who want my business. I would rather see them have it. Plus, I'm not interested in stewing over bad service, so to speak.

If I'm further into the meal before I realize there may be service issues, I'll quietly find the server and explain that maybe a service problem is developing but I know it is not his/her fault and would really appreciate a little more attention or whatever. I've never had that approach resisted or not improve things. Of course, I don't know what is going on with my food in the back, but I find that most servers are very conscientious and prefer to do a good job rather than a bad job, if possible.

If it's worse than that, or unsalvageable, I'll ask for the manager so I can tell him/her in person why I'm leaving.

Life is too short to sit and fume over bad service.