Tipping etiquette...what would you do?

[2LaneCruzer]

I am about to the point where I never send anything back if I can eat it at all; lest it pass through the chef's armpit on its way back...or something else similarly unappetizing. My experience has been if there is a problem that they can fix, they will almost always do it immediately if they are sincere. When it is belabored like this, my guess is it's intentional. I had a similar experience; ordered a BBQ pork sandwich, sauce on the side. It came with sauce on; I sent it back. It took a long time; the others were about half done with their food when my BBQ came back, only it was a hamburger. I sent it back, my BBQ arrived just as the others were paying, this time it was a BBQ with the sauce on. I simply left it. They gave me coupons for two free meals, which I promptly gave to someone who would use them. Of course I left no tip.

On the other side of the page, if you ever have a good meal with exceptional service, try calling the waiter(s) over and thanking them profusely for the fine service they have rendered. Tell them they have done very well and their efforts are appreciated. They will almost always be surprised, and exceedingly grateful. Of course leave an appropriate tip.

 

[Soundguy]

I usually start looking for a manage by the time the 2nd problem is cropping up.

If the problem repeats on other trips, that usually warrants a call/email/written letter to owner of the resturant / corporate chain. If a franchise, then a letter CC:'d to the owner and the franchise corp, letting them know their franchisee holder is making them look bad.


It's extra foot work, however very seldom do those type of notifications go unanswered. Sometimes answered at the corporate level, but more often, at the regional or restaurant level, after some higher up has crawled up the backside of someone lesser higher up, and so on till either the regional manager or the restaurant manager was the 'end of the train' so to speak.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Yes, the server gets burned until the problem is fixed...if I was the server, I'd do a follow up with management to get it fixed or go down the road.....and I don't accept an "excuse" for going back.

Here's the original question,

Tipping etiquette...what would you do?

AND here's my answer....again! You get burned and go back?? It's on you!

SR

 

[300UGUY]

I generally tip pretty well, on the 20% end of the scale. But if I can't get what I want, I might not tip anything, and not ever come back. And I'd tell them that, on the way out. I have a couple of local places where I am a regular, and they know my name, what I like, and most important to them, that I tip well. Restaurants are kinda funny, the cooks are frequently very low paid, the servers generally make more than the kitchen staff. The manager is usually the only one makes more than the server's or bartenders.

 

[Soundguy]

in tipping in general.. if my wife and I split a large salad or something, we will over tip a hair as the server is getting a lower total bill. we tip good on good service. And we don't specifically punish a server for a restaurant issue beyond the servers controll.

 

[rtimgray]

Something I should have stated is that while this is the third time in a row that this has happened, it has taken probably 6 months or more to make those three trips. It may have even been longer than that - the restaurant is in a town about an hour away, and most of the time we eat at fast food places like Fazoli's or Chic-Fil-A in lieu of a sit-down, casual dining experience.

It just struck my wife and I odd that this exact thing has happened the last three times that we have been to this restaurant - with different servers each time. My line of thought was basically - 1st time, it can happen to anybody. 2nd time - maybe I didn't make myself clear when I ordered. 3rd time - I couldn't have been more clear, even getting confirmation from the server.

I still suspect that there was a manager on duty (although again, I didn't see anyone that appeared to be management, and there was a group of servers working on the satellite TV system, so maybe there wasn't - who knows). It makes me leery of returning to this restaurant again, because as other posters have noted - "Why do you keep going back?". Again, my only response to that is my wife really likes the restaurant (after all, she will eat mayo on her sandwich) and it was where my son wanted to go (and it was his birthday lunch).

I am going to call the restaurant today and try to speak to a manager so that I can ask them why this is such a problem (for me) at this location.

I appreciate the comments thus far.

Good luck and take care.

 

[LD1]

So, the server pays the price for mistakes made in the kitchen?

IMO, yes.

Since you have no direct interaction with the cook, any complaints (or low tips) go thru the servers. Its not like you can "choose" to pay less on the total bill. The tip is really the only thing in your control. Its not like the servers dont know the cooks, and dont talk or know whats going on. IF there is a bad cook, and results in bad tips for several of the servers, it is up to all of them (servers, cooks, and management) to work things out.

In the OP's case, we have no idea where the blame lies. The server could have very well messed this all up and we are blaming the cooks and tipping the server which could be backwards.

 

[Silvic]

Some establishments make the tips be divided among the staff, server, bus boy, cook. As a result you may be tipping the cook.
Why we refuse to eat out anymore unless it is absolutely required. Food can be prepared at home better, healthier and less expensive. Why pay for bad, unhealthy food and lousy service. As my wife says you can cook that better at home than they did.

 

[Gunny]

Somewhat on the same note - a few weeks ago the wife and I ate at one of the chain steak restaurants. They were pretty busy, but the waitress took our order and brought our drinks. From that point forward, everything we got was delivered by a different person (each time), the service for refills, etc was terrible and the next time we saw the waitress was when she brought our bill (and asked if everything was OK). When I told her that everything had not been OK, that wait times for our order and refills took took too long and that we preferred to deal with one wait person, she got very upset with me and started to recite how many tables she had to cover during our visit. I let it go, but didn't leave any tip, which really torked her up, her actual words were "what, are you too cheap to give a tip for service?".
When I answered that 1- I usually tip anywhere from 15 to 20%, depending on the service we received and 2- since we'd had so many people bring things to the table, I didn't exactly know who to tip, since it looked to met that she'd done less than any of the others.
Evidently, I said the wrong thing, because she went into this spiel about how the table was hers, she was busy and she'd simply asked others to help her out. When I told her that if that was the case, she should have asked others sooner and done a little checking up, because our service was below par, even for that particular restaurant.
Another wrong statement I guess, because she jumped right into a loud verbal rant, loud enough that the manager came over and wanted to know what the problem was. Once I talked to the manager, he also made the statement that they were very busy and implied that it was our fault for coming during peak hours. When I pointed out that it looked like a management problem that the place wasn't staffed during "peak hours", he backed off and offered me a coupon good for one free meal on our next visit.
I told him to keep his coupon since they'd never see us again. Heck, if I'm in that area again and I'm hungry, I'll eat at one of the so called fast food restaurants before I darken that places door again

Rant off

 

[polo1665]

Somewhat on the same note - a few weeks ago the wife and I ate at one of the chain steak restaurants. They were pretty busy, but the waitress took our order and brought our drinks. From that point forward, everything we got was delivered by a different person (each time), the service for refills, etc was terrible and the next time we saw the waitress was when she brought our bill (and asked if everything was OK). When I told her that everything had not been OK, that wait times for our order and refills took took too long and that we preferred to deal with one wait person, she got very upset with me and started to recite how many tables she had to cover during our visit. I let it go, but didn't leave any tip, which really torked her up, her actual words were "what, are you too cheap to give a tip for service?".
When I answered that 1- I usually tip anywhere from 15 to 20%, depending on the service we received and 2- since we'd had so many people bring things to the table, I didn't exactly know who to tip, since it looked to met that she'd done less than any of the others.
Evidently, I said the wrong thing, because she went into this spiel about how the table was hers, she was busy and she'd simply asked others to help her out. When I told her that if that was the case, she should have asked others sooner and done a little checking up, because our service was below par, even for that particular restaurant.
Another wrong statement I guess, because she jumped right into a loud verbal rant, loud enough that the manager came over and wanted to know what the problem was. Once I talked to the manager, he also made the statement that they were very busy and implied that it was our fault for coming during peak hours. When I pointed out that it looked like a management problem that the place wasn't staffed during "peak hours", he backed off and offered me a coupon good for one free meal on our next visit.
I told him to keep his coupon since they'd never see us again. Heck, if I'm in that area again and I'm hungry, I'll eat at one of the so called fast food restaurants before I darken that places door again

Rant off

If nothing else, the behavior of the waitress and manager at that restaraunt should help to solve their "too busy at peak hours" problem.