Tipping etiquette...what would you do?

[dragoneggs]

Been following this thread for a while now and decided to chime in. First I will say there hasn't been a lot of love shown for servers. I imagine most of the negativity is coming from those who have never walked in their shoes. A lot of broad brushed comments were made too. I would be willing to bet that most servers have served more customer jerks than customers have had jerks as waiters. Nature of the restaurant business transaction I guess.

I eat out a tremendous number of times because I travel extensively for business. Domestically and internationally... I'm on the road about as much as at home. I'm no expert on tipping but I imagine I have tipped more in $$$ than 99% of the people in this world. Not bragging but I do have experience.

Addressing the OP subject, I don't think it was really the servers fault... could they have done better... maybe (remember to keep an eye out for the mayo on the side). I would have probably done about the same as you on the tip and said something. I would've though talked to the manager because ultimately the problem is the manager's fault. If the manager isn't aware he/she cannot correct and improve. So ultimately you did the right thing by addressing it with the manager. :thumbsup:

Depending on the restaurant... and as someone mentioned already, the kitchen folk generally have a lot of power. Sounded like three different servers had the same kitchen cooks not care or follow directions on the order. This is often the case at a relatively cheap restaurants where there aren't a lot of special requests and the servers aren't keen on 'watching out' for the customer. Cooks (not chefs) generally don't have a passion for their creations either. Servers in these type restaurants (in the US) don't generally make a lot of money salary and/or tips. Often they have to split their tip with other staff as well. Additionally, and I am not an totally up to speed on relevant tax rules, but in some cases at least, the server has to pay income tax based on assumed tips so when you 'stiff' them you are essentially taking money out of their wallet.

I don't have hard tipping rules and I don't think one can or should. If I order a breakfast/lunch and get coffee at a cheap diner, I will tip heavy... as much as 30% maybe even more if they are 'on it' depending on the bill amount, say $10. Think about it... many times at breakfast you get serviced as many or more times than at a dinner. Constant refills of coffee, etc. At dinner I might only tip 10% on a huge bill where they opened an expensive bottle of wine that cost as much as the rest of the meal. So it all depends. I have had bills less than $10 and some in the thousands for a large business party. In those cases, the service may be impeccable but not worth more than 20% IMO. In higher end restaurants where special requests are more common, I tend to blame the server more because this is the service I expect.

Yes, some waiters can make good money but they are generally in fine establishments and/or work very long hours. Remember there are slow times and generally they don't get as many hours as they would like. I have no problem with an experienced professional waiter making near $100K if they are excellent at what they do! As a career and maybe working in an expensive city/place to live... why not?

I do like the that I don't have to think about tipping when I am dining internationally where service fee is included... but in America we reward those who work hard/smart... I like that too, regardless of your profession.

 

[Springs1]

Your posts are overly vauge. many restaurants run differently.

If the ones I worked ina nd out of, the printed kitchen ticket in the back printed out on t he line, As the food progressed or palte was built ( multi part orders, dsides, etc.. ) the ticket went from the printer side down a sliding line.. eventually food was ready, when it got handed over the line, the prep cooks or line cooks, pulled the ticket from the 'end of the line' and tossed it into the big thing at the end that had a plastic bag in it.

On the expediter side of the line was a table ticket that traveled with the order to the table.

no surviving kitchen ticket.. and server didn't see or touch the food.

That's just an example of a couple kitchens that I have to work in and around fo rthe last couple of decades.

towards the end, i noticed they were using touch screen ordering and monitors in the kitchen, making me think the printed line tickets no longer even existed.

I have seen fast food places use this too... tickets on monitors..

I agree, in a place where the server takes the food out.. they should look it over to see if it imatches the order.

However in a place that expedites food... you hit a snag... Server isn't looking at the outgoing food, though should be visiting the table at close to the time it hits.

Condiments can be brought it **BEFORE*** the food comes out **REGARDLESS OF **WHO** RUNS THE FOOD OUT***.

As far as other server's running each other's food or "food runners", you **ASK*** to see the ticket. The ticket DOES EXIST. It got thrown, you ask the kitchen staff NOT to throw away the tickets when you work. That's what good customer service is all about PREVENTING the problem, NOT CREATING problems. If it's on a screen, you ask if you can see the order. If I ran food, I would REFUSE to run it until I had 100% FULL PROOF of the order. Now, I couldn't do anything about if the server that took the order put the order in wrong, but if they put it in right, then I would try my very best to notice every obvious detail that was wrong with the food if there were any problems that were obvious.

no surviving kitchen ticket.

There is if you *ASK* people to keep it that you work with, DUHHH! There's a ticket, you ask to see it. I wouldn't EVER run food if I were a server without seeing a ticket order or kitchen computer screen order.

You decide what to do in life.

 

[Springs1]

I don't think it was really the servers fault.

First off, another server ran the food without the mayo, but the mayo can be brought out ***AHEAD OF TIME****. LOTS AND LOTS of servers have EARNED THEIR **OWN** TIP IN THIS LIFE WE HAVE BY BRINGING CONDIMENTS OUT AHEAD OF TIME AVOIDING THAT KIND OF SITUATION. It's called anticipating customer's needs.

Secondly, the OP didn't say in his original post if the 2nd time he was delivered food it was by another server or their server. If it was the original server that took the order, then he shouldn't have messed up again. If it was a different server, the mayo should have still been there.

Also, his wife seems a bit dumb. I mean a side of mayo *IS* ALWAYS NO MATTER WHAT THE SERVER'S FAULT they forgot it. THEY took the order, they KNOW about it. It doesn't take even 5 minutes to get a side of mayo even. If there is no new container of mayo to open, it should take around a minute or two at most. She seems to have zero common sense. Also, if you can *SEE* mayo on the sandwich WITHOUT touching the food, the person that ran the food was at fault ASSUMING the order was put in correctly to begin with. The server COULD have put the order in wrong to begin with. If the server put in the order correctly that took the order, then the other server that ran the food should have noticed the mayo since the OP said that's the first thing he saw. If you can *SEE* something WITHOUT touching food, HOW can you not fault either the original server that took the order and/or the server that ran the food? Either way, a *SERVICE* issue, NOT a kitchen issue. Both issues were not kitchen issues. If it's obvious to the eyes without touching food, then the server shouldn't have delivered it like that. You ask to see the ticket if you aren't given one if you are running another server's food.

In higher end restaurants where special requests are more common, I tend to blame the server more because this is the service I expect.

WHY? The person at fault is the person at fault REGARDLESS of what kind of restaurant it is. I don't understand why you see ANY DIFFERENCE in one worker that is not working hard vs. another? That's just seems stupid to me.

I don't care if you are at Denny's or IHOP, you should get a server that is willing to WORK HARD for their tip REGARDLESS of how much the food is.

Constant refills of coffee, etc.

Not at IHOP, you get to refill your OWN coffee cup, so there's LESS service than most restaurants have for that.

because ultimately the problem is the manager's fault.

NO, the manager cannot be there every second making sure the servers are doing what they are supposed to do, that's just impossible. Also, whatever happened to *SELF-RESPONSIBILITY* for your actions?

 

[Pixguy]

First off,............

Calling the OP's wife dumb? Not cool.

 

[dragoneggs]

First off, another server ran the food without the mayo, but the mayo can be brought out ***AHEAD OF TIME****. LOTS AND LOTS of servers have EARNED THEIR **OWN** TIP IN THIS LIFE WE HAVE BY BRINGING CONDIMENTS OUT AHEAD OF TIME AVOIDING THAT KIND OF SITUATION. It's called anticipating customer's needs.

Secondly, the OP didn't say in his original post if the 2nd time he was delivered food it was by another server or their server. If it was the original server that took the order, then he shouldn't have messed up again. If it was a different server, the mayo should have still been there.

Also, his wife seems a bit dumb. I mean a side of mayo *IS* ALWAYS NO MATTER WHAT THE SERVER'S FAULT they forgot it. THEY took the order, they KNOW about it. It doesn't take even 5 minutes to get a side of mayo even. If there is no new container of mayo to open, it should take around a minute or two at most. She seems to have zero common sense. Also, if you can *SEE* mayo on the sandwich WITHOUT touching the food, the person that ran the food was at fault ASSUMING the order was put in correctly to begin with. The server COULD have put the order in wrong to begin with. If the server put in the order correctly that took the order, then the other server that ran the food should have noticed the mayo since the OP said that's the first thing he saw. If you can *SEE* something WITHOUT touching food, HOW can you not fault either the original server that took the order and/or the server that ran the food? Either way, a *SERVICE* issue, NOT a kitchen issue. Both issues were not kitchen issues. If it's obvious to the eyes without touching food, then the server shouldn't have delivered it like that. You ask to see the ticket if you aren't given one if you are running another server's food.



WHY? The person at fault is the person at fault REGARDLESS of what kind of restaurant it is. I don't understand why you see ANY DIFFERENCE in one worker that is not working hard vs. another? That's just seems stupid to me.

I don't care if you are at Denny's or IHOP, you should get a server that is willing to WORK HARD for their tip REGARDLESS of how much the food is.



Not at IHOP, you get to refill your OWN coffee cup, so there's LESS service than most restaurants have for that.



NO, the manager cannot be there every second making sure the servers are doing what they are supposed to do, that's just impossible. Also, whatever happened to *SELF-RESPONSIBILITY* for your actions?

In reverse order...

I must respectfully disagree... yes ultimately it falls back to management. Training, running the business. The 'inmates' don't/shouldn't run the place. Was the server properly trained? Or should he know how 'right out of the womb'?

At IHOP (been a couple decades since I frequented) I might not tip 'big' if it is self service and machines are doing the work... i.e. Mickey D's.

Have you been in the business... as a teenager or a professional... there is a difference!

Wife is dumb? You have lost all credibility and class. You don't know her or the situation as well as you think to comment they way you have. TBN is a tremendous site for Tractor info and a little bit of life experiences and opinion. But be thoughtful and respectful please and contribute positively. Differing opinions are welcome and ignorance is okay too. But save the insults for somewhere else.

 

[Springs1]

I must respectfully disagree... yes ultimately it falls back to management.

Yes and no. NO matter what, you can't MAKE the employee do what you want them to do. Hire who you want, it's hard to find hard workers and you know it.

Have you been in the business... as a teenager or a professional... there is a difference!

No difference in what kind of service you should receive in the end, the goal is to GET THE ORDER RIGHT whether you are at Ruth's Chris or Denny's.

Wife is dumb? You have lost all credibility and class. You don't know her or the situation as well as you think to comment they way you have.

It's called not having COMMON SENSE! I mean really, if a friend hands her a pen, but she asked for a pencil, her friend can *SEE* the difference BEFORE handing the wrong item to her. Understand what I am saying? Also, it's common sense servers put orders in wrong at times.

I was dumb at one time myself when I rarely ate out like once I remember I was with my mom at Denny's. We ordered all bacon for both grand slams(it comes with bacon and link sausage, but you can have all bacon in the place of the link sausage). So the food comes from OUR waitress(me and my mom(I was probably like 20yrs or 19yrs old at the time), the plate had links on each of our plates. I said it was the kitchen's fault, but at the time, I didn't think with common sense that DUH since our server brought out our food, she could have compared her written order to the food and noticed that DUH links aren't bacon not to serve that to us. Also, she could have put in the order wrong as well, so she could have done 2 errors, not just one. I didn't think about that either at the time. So my point is, I was dumb at one time in my life too. My mom had always cooked, so as a kid growing up, it was VERY RARE to eat at a non-fast food restaurant. Sure we got fast food lots of times or pizza(like pizza hut), but rarely did we eat out in a regular sit-down non-fast food restaurant. I am even calling myself dumb at age 20 or 19. How about that one for ya?

 

[MossRoad]

Condiments can be brought it **BEFORE*** the food comes out **REGARDLESS OF **WHO** RUNS THE FOOD OUT***.

As far as other server's running each other's food or "food runners", you **ASK*** to see the ticket. The ticket DOES EXIST. It got thrown, you ask the kitchen staff NOT to throw away the tickets when you work. That's what good customer service is all about PREVENTING the problem, NOT CREATING problems. If it's on a screen, you ask if you can see the order. If I ran food, I would REFUSE to run it until I had 100% FULL PROOF of the order. Now, I couldn't do anything about if the server that took the order put the order in wrong, but if they put it in right, then I would try my very best to notice every obvious detail that was wrong with the food if there were any problems that were obvious.



There is if you *ASK* people to keep it that you work with, DUHHH! There's a ticket, you ask to see it. I wouldn't EVER run food if I were a server without seeing a ticket order or kitchen computer screen order.

You decide what to do in life.

UPPER CASE IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED SHOUTING!!! :confused3:

This is supposed to be a friendly discussion, not an argument.

 

[downsizingnow48]

All that capitalization is just a waste of good electrons on me, don't read a word of it. Annoying just to see it on the page. I am grateful to the contributors who have offered much wisdom and valuable life experiences.

 

[dragoneggs]

As a manager I rarely blame employees for their actions that I disagree or not happy with unless I have already attempted to teach or correct them to act as I feel best for the company. Rather I take it as my responsibility.

On service expectations, I again think that it is a function of the establishment. I can get a great hamburger at some places where all I expect is the gal to come out with a paper bag and deliver in roller-skates, and I have to tear open the ketchup. If they forget the ketchup I don't get upset. Other places with finer tablecloth, the hamburger costs twice as much, I have a fork and knife and someone places a napkin on my lap. In that case I might be expecting the ketchup to come without asking and in a porcelain dish with a spoon. Just sayin' expectations can and should be different depending on the circumstances.

 

[sailorman]

Calling the OP's wife dumb? Not cool.

Man, ain 't that the truth ! Spring seems like a very angry person in general and certainly does much yelling with upper case type . Not cool. Not cool at all .

He/she could make the points without all that .