OT: Tipping Question WWYD

[Mortlives]

A friend and I had lunch yesterday. The bill came to 24.39. We each put in a 20. The waitress brought us back only a 5 and a 10 as our change. That's right, she didn't even bring back all the change. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I dug around in my bag until I found $3 to give her, but in retrospect I think that was completely the wrong thing. What would you have done?

[wayneg]

Personally I would have left a little note saying something like, "Thank you for taking a tip from my change, If you had let me give you it I would have given you a lot more."
If I was not in a good mood I would insist on all the change being brought to me and leave without leaving anything.
I know its only a small amount but its theft.

[bbangel]

If you had wanted her to take the tip out of the change you likely would have told her. I know I let them know how much to take or whether to bring the change back at all. If all of what I was expecting in change didn't come back to me, I would have just requested the correct change and then left the tip I was planning to leave anyway.

[SandraC]

Prehaps she just made a mistake. I would have called her back to the table and politely ask her to make proper change so you could tip her. S

[Tabetha]

Huh, that's weird. In my experience, if they skip the loose change, they do it in your favour - like they would have brought you $16 instead of $15 and coins...

To be honest, I probably wouldn't have even noticed. Or if I did, I would have tipped her a buck less than normal...