Your opinion on Resturants..... Please

TimSullivan · Dec 7, 2003

I have been reading the posts and have enjoyed the interaction. When I was a teenager, I worked in my dad's restaurant. The tips varied widely and as a server I was paid far less than the other employees. The boss set the rules and each server earned their own tips and did not pool or share. We also bussed our own tables.

It was along time ago but I still believe that the servers worked harder knowing that the tips were all theirs. The most rewarding was having a repeat customer ask for one of your tables. There was one couple that were visiting the area and came into the restaurant several days in a row. They always asked for one of my tables. They also left very low tips so I was not really happy that they liked my service until they left the tip. However I had a tough boss and tried even harder each day.

On the last day the lady slipped me a pair of twenty dollar bills as they were leaving. All she said was “My husband is cheap, thank you.”

When my wife and I eat out, I tip well and look for servers that have done well in the past. There is a great restaurant not far from where we live. When I call for a reservation I ask who is working that night and request the server I want. Nothing ruins a good meal more than poor service.

itsmecindi · Dec 7, 2003

Back to the subject at hand. It takes a lot of motivation to deal with hungry people on a daily basis. I know, I've done it, and the tips are the only thing that brings you back day to day, and the only way to make decent tips is to be a good server.

You deal with men goggling and propositioning you all day, wives giving you dirty looks for interrupting a 'special' moment that you had no idea was occuring, or because hubby smiled at you one too many times. Getting screamed at because the chef screwed up, or yelled at because he takes too long with the order.

When new at the job, you screw up constantly and forget to bring people their orders, or forget to turn them in, or forget that they asked for steak sauce or that they wanted extra crackers with their soup and that's when the absolute best of humanity comes out in people when they over tip you despite the lousy service to encourage you and laugh off their own inconvenience because they know you are at your wits end trying to learn it all and keep it all straight. They also know that the world needs good food servers or we will all be eating at Burger King.

Anyone who lasts in the job longer than a week is a go getter and should be encouraged. I always tip and I always tip well, unless the restaraunt is SLOW and the service is as well. I've worked ten hour shifts with a grin pasted to my face treating a customer like a king and like he is the only one I care about, and been left with a penny. The so-called ultimate compliment. I don't know who started that crap but needless to say, it is anything but appreciated. I've been not tipped at all by a bunch of teenagers who barely have the price of a meal and never think for a second about leaving a tip.

The worst are the retired couples who still think a quarter is a suitable tip for a four course meal and unfortunately they tend to pay for that with lousy service and complain louder than anyone in the place. They are highly critical, expect the best and leave the least. It's a vicious circle. they tip too little, and get mediocre service so they continue to tip too little so servers focus on the better tipping types.

Tips are the only option for the true food server to advance. The better they get at handling tables and customers, and the more tables they can handle, the better the tips. Forcing a gratuity on a customer, regardless of the service quality is wrong. There is no motivation to improve or advance as a food server. It used to mean something to be a food server for twenty years. It meant that you could balance eight plates in your HANDS and deliver them safely to eight people who were hungry and waiting. It meant that you wore clothing that could hold a variety of items that the customer might ask for on a second's notice and placing it in his hand before his mouth stopped moving. It meant anticipating people by types and almsot knowing in advance what comdiments he would need and how many times you might need to refill his beverage. (A heavy man almost always needs at least two refills.)

Sadly some people don't notice a good server and will tip their standard dollar and a half to the good one or the bad one. I say pay attention and pay for what you get and anyone who asks for a gratuity gets a penny. The ultimate compliment (grin)

You expected an eighteen dollar tip? Bring me back seventeen ninety nine. You can keep the rest. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Docsknotinn · Dec 7, 2003

I know of the Penny and even though I have left nothing I simply can never bring myself to leave a penny. I expect to leave 15% in a normal restaurant, poor service starts at 10 and declines rapidly. Good service gets 18 and excellent service merits 20%. Like DocHeb the biggest Joy I get is leaving a twenty For a waitress at the coney Island or Breakfast. Ive been chased out a few times by those who thought I left it by accident. In my very Best Johnny Depp Pirate accent I say...Thats for you love /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Now what I truelly HATE is waiting 20 minutes for the bill when I am done /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif And as far as difficult try serving Last years Superbowl winners B'fast at 6 am. You can not possibly immagine just how loud a 6'6" 300# football player pumped full of adreneline can scream FUDGE if his Alfredo and Filet is not perfect and to the moment. Thats not a typo...I said B'fast /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

frank_f15 · Dec 7, 2003

( It's a vicious circle. they tip too little, and get mediocre service so they continue to tip too little so servers focus on the better tipping types.
)
i was going to let this topic go, but i just had to respond. if the teenagers don't tip, and the old retired forlks don,t tip, then how does a server determine who are the BETTER TIPPING TYPES?, so let me get this straight. i don't leave a good tip, so therefore the next time i go into that restaurant i will get medicore service (cause i don't tip well) now inorder to get good service i am expected to tip well in hopes i will get better service the next time? SORRY can not agree with that. if i owned an eating establishment, i would expect (demand) that all servers treat all customers with the same respect, and fast service . i tip according to the service i receive NOT according to the service i hope to receive. many may disagree, but that how i see it.

Docsknotinn · Dec 7, 2003

I dont dissagree at all. For the most part the wait staff in the big kitchens is left to another manager ( thank God) but often I have meetings with them, in some establishments a pre service meeting every day before we would open. Each and every time you have to re emphasize good, fast, friendly service. You can not wear a smile or be dissingenuine. Its very difficult to find those who have a true apptitude and love this kind of work. But when you find the right staff, that click and understand good food and good service equals good pay and fun to boot the result is simply magical /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif When I worked for Disney I never considered myself a Chef nor did others consider themselves just as their employed positions. We were all cast members in the Greatest show on earth. Each and every day we helped make magical memories for thousands of kids. Corny ? A bit but it sure felt cool at the end of a long day walking out with the fireworks going off over cinderellas castle. That does not mean that I still dont leave a respectable tip even with poor service if I see the server is new, has been assigned too many tables or is working to the best of their abilitys. It would probably not sit well with many of us if our bosses could simply tap us on the shoulder and say 'ey bub, not quite up to speed, no pay fer you today " . So I try to be kind a reap the rewards of sowing seeds some too. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird · Dec 7, 2003

I've always figured a restaurant would be the last business I would want to own. I don't care what you cook or how you cook it, you cannot satisfy everyone every time.

And who was it that first said you can tell a lot about a person by how he/she treats the waiters/waitresses in a restaurant? A lot of truth to that I think.

Not long ago, ten of us ate at Pappadeux in Dallas. The waiter was a young man (mid-20s, I'd guess) and he took all our orders without ever writing anything down and got'em right, too! Now that kind of memory is a talent I wish I had.

Junkman · Dec 7, 2003

I had a memory like that at one time, but I just can't remember when...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

wroughtn_harv · Dec 8, 2003

( And who was it that first said you can tell a lot about a person by how he/she treats the waiters/waitresses in a restaurant? A lot of truth to that I think.)

But it's not an absolute truth. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif One of my most favoritest persons I've ever known was a terrible tipper. In fact going out to dinner with him and his wife was more dreaded than a trip to the dentist for an impacted wisdom tooth for me and my wife.

They could be depended upon to be extremely demanding, wanting the special with substitutions etc. They couldn't pay a bill without going over it with a calculator first. And they never did any of this in a low voice.

We could be very creative when it came to coming up with excuses for being available for a night out let me tell you.

He's since passed and she still drives me crazy. But for me it's still a puzzle how such an intelligent and warm human being could be such a turkey in a restaurant.

We have three restaurants in north Texas where we've never been disappointed with the service or food. One is Paesanos in east Plano. The other two are both Luigis, one in Royce City and the other in Rockwall.

Docsknotinn · Dec 8, 2003

How about Coopers BBQ in Llano ? You get to be your own server /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

itsmecindi · Dec 8, 2003

Well let it go or don't let it go, it's all the same to me.

It's very simple. Like I said before. Waitresses and waiters have only one way up. That is to improve their skills and techniques and take on a heavier workload. They rarely ever get raises or promotions, unless minimum wage goes up, so any increase in pay they get is by their own design and efforts.

Every time you get truly good service you should tip well because the wait person is trying to to give you a pleasant dining experience, (even if it is for compensation), which not only reflects well on him but also on the restaraunt.

The reason I tip is not because it is expected. I tip because I know that I would not want to be stuck in a job for the rest of my life trying to live on minimum wage, and I know that any extras these folks get come from tips.

My husband is also a dismal tipper. Whines and complains and groans, but he will also whine and complain and groan when he gets lousy service and will leave a shoddy tip if he doesn't like the meal. Never mind whether it was delivered in a timely manner and he was waited on well, he uses it as an excuse not to tip, which really ticks me off and we have had hundreds of arguments over it. Now, we have a system. He leaves his tip and then I will add to it until I am satisfied that the server knew that he or she was well appreciated.

I once tipped five dollars for a milkshake at a Sonics. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif It was a young girl on roller skates that brought my pineapple shake and she bit the dust not five feet from the fender of my pickup. Poor kid. She juggled that cup like it was full of nitroglycerin and didn't spill a drop, but she skint herself up pretty badly and she was trying so hard not to cry. I could just see her quitting at the end of the day, so I tipped her five bucks. So sue me. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif