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A new one on me

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Carla G

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A new one on me

by Carla G » Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:32 am

Saturday a bunch of us ladies met for lunch. We were a group of 8 that ballooned to 10 but since we met at 3:30 at a non-typical brunch place and there was only one other table in the entire restaurant (that doesn’t take reservations) we did not expect a problem. After the ninth and tenth lady arrived our waitress told us it was restaurant policy to no longer do separate checks. We were ok with that. Many (if not most of us) had done restaurant work in the past and were expecting that. What we expected was one table check with several (as it turned out 7) separate either register tapes or maybe even hand written tabs. What we got instead was one total check after which the waitress told us she would be around to collect either cash or credit cards. She totaled ALL the checks , divided by 10 and charged us all the same amount after adding a % for her tip. So $22 for each of us.
Whoaaa! My tab was actually only $12. And that was BEFORE I asked her to take off a portion of my order she forgot to bring after being reminded twice. When I pointed this out she sweetly reminded me that the balance was The automatically included tip.
Wait.
You forgot 1/3 of my order, after being reminded twice and took 20 minutes to get me a glass for my beer and for that I’m supposed to tip almost %100?
When I pointed this out she shrugged and said “restaurant policy” .
Anyone else ever hear of anything so....stupid?
"She did not so much cook as assassinate food." - Storm Jameson
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Mark R.

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Re: A new one on me

by Mark R. » Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:45 pm

Not exactly the same but I've seen where they don't even divide up the total for a large party. They just bring you one check and expect the members of the party to split it up however they want to. Actually, I don't remember ever having them bring a separate total either written or computer-generated for each individual.

I understand where it is probably the restaurant policy to not provide individual checks for a large party. I told understand why it would be the restaurant policy to split the total by the number of people and expect that amount from each person.

I wish you would tell us what restaurant this was a with it certainly seems like it's one that none of us want to go to with a large party.
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Robin Garr

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Re: A new one on me

by Robin Garr » Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:06 pm

Yuk! I'd be righteously upset about that, Carla, and I gather that you are, too. Care to let us know where this happened, so we can avoid it?
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Carla G

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Re: A new one on me

by Carla G » Sun Jan 05, 2020 7:42 pm

Had this happened on more than one occasion I would, but in fact I’ve been there on other occasions with larger parties, gotten one check with individual tabs with no problem at all. We love the food, the drinks, and in the past, have had excellent service. I really think this was a one off with a foodsever that simply didn’t know their job or the usual policies. ( She forgot to bring maybe 25% of our orders, took forever to bring drinks . I even asked if perhaps it would help her if we wrote our names on our order Slips? “No, why would that help?” :shock: ) I’ve been away from the industry for so long that I wanted to be sure that the usual habits had not changed that much.
In the future I’ll return to the same restaurant but shun that particular server.
"She did not so much cook as assassinate food." - Storm Jameson
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Willie Myers

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Re: A new one on me

by Willie Myers » Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:44 am

assuming this policy was *not* printed clearly on the menu, IMHO, there are two - - and *only* two - - scenarios in which equally dividing the total amoungst all of the patrons would be acceptable:
1. the server notified everyone *in advance* of the policy or
2. the guests *requested* that the final bill be equally divided.
anything other than that - - like what Carla's server did - - borders on fraud and a manager should have been brought in immediately. Carla's group would have been justified to have simply put the appropriate total in to a pot and then left - - leaving no tip whatsoever.
you don't go out with ten friends to be abused.....
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Carla G

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Re: A new one on me

by Carla G » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:52 am

Wellllll....that’s how I felt Mr. Myers but the rest of the women were having a good time and I think, incorrectly, assumed that everyone had pretty much eaten and had drunk the same amount and thought “who cares were having fun.” The waitress did say that she would be dividing it all up equally and I spoke up then but got drowned out by the rest of the group that really wanted to get on with seeing long lost friends. I thought then no one was listening to what the waitress was saying or how it might effect the final bills. It wasn't until the last woman that arrived NEVER got any of her food and was told her share would be, like everyone else, $22, that what I was trying to say actually came to light. (The curse of Casandra.)

I spoke with the hostess of the party and she has contacted the restaurant manager.
"She did not so much cook as assassinate food." - Storm Jameson

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