Would You Have Tipped In This Situation?

[ronandannette]

Originally Posted by MIGrandma

I agree with this. I've been in the position of working hard but not being able to keep up with the demand and number of tables I was waiting on, mostly on the one night of the week where I was the only waitress in a restaurant that seats 100 people. At times I might have 10-15 tables, 50 or so people, to wait on. It's hard, if not impossible, to keep up with that many.

And I have been in that waiter's shoes before once or twice, forgetting to put the order in as I may have been stopped 2 or 3 times by other tables on my way to do that and being so far "in the weeds" that I thought I'd already put the order in, then realized I didn't! I would go to the table and admit my error and apologize to them, which I found that if you are just honest with your customers and own up to your mistake they would be very understanding. And would still tip.

Had I been in the OP's shoes, I still would have tipped a couple of dollars. Yes, the waiter made a mistake, but who hasn't made a mistake in their job?

Question for you: Do you, as a server that fully acknowledges having provided a sub-par level of service (unintentionally or not), still expect a tip from that table? Do you consider those customers "cheap" or "jerks" if they don't leave a tip? This is not sarcastic or rhetorical; I've never worked in your industry and am genuinely interested in your perspective.

[FlightlessDuck]

No tip.

[sookie]

Pity tip - 1-2 bucks like you did, OP. I usually tip on the pre-discounted amount, so I think what you did was fine.
But I would have been tempted to not tip. I usually tip generously because I remember my days from waitressing. They do not make a minimum $$$ but instead make only 1-2 bucks an hour. So I usually do pity tip unless something atrocious / absolutely awful happens. It would have depended on the attitude on the server - was he or she genuinely sorry? If so, yes, I would have pity tipped. If not, forget it.

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally Posted by mickeysgal

I certainly wouldn't have waited for an hour for a check either. However, when and if I didn't get a response from multiple requests from the server, I would have gotten up to find a manager.

We did look for one, even asked the bartender for help.

I would NEVER do a dine and dash but literally they refused to get us the bill.

And it was just for an appetizer, I think, nothing big because we got our drinks at the bar.

We waited for an hour, no joke.

[BeachGirlFLA]

Originally Posted by sookie

Pity tip - 1-2 bucks like you did, OP. I usually tip on the pre-discounted amount, so I think what you did was fine.
But I would have been tempted to not tip. I usually tip generously because I remember my days from waitressing. They do not make a minimum $$$ but instead make only 1-2 bucks an hour. So I usually do pity tip unless something atrocious / absolutely awful happens. It would have depended on the attitude on the server - was he or she genuinely sorry? If so, yes, I would have pity tipped. If not, forget it.

He did seem genuinely sorry...just didn't seem to be the greatest waiter in the world (and we've had great service at the same restaurant before.)

[kaytieeldr]

Originally Posted by BeachGirlFLA

Yesterday, DH and I went to On The Border for our Friday night date. I went in and ordered a strawberry swirl margarita. The waiter brought me a regular strawberry margarita, but I just went with it. We ordered an appetizer and got that. Then I ordered another Strawberry Swirl Margarita and made sure he got the fact that it was supposed to be Strawberry Swirl. We ate our appetizer and waited a good 15 minutes watching other people who had gotten there after us getting their entrees before us. We finally said something to the waiter. He came back about five minutes after telling us he would check on it to tell us "bad news...it looks like the order didn't go through and I lost the piece of paper with your order on it. Do you still want your food? We'll give you a free meal." Because we had been waiting so long, our appetizer had settled and we were both (me so more than my DH) full so we said no. We also waved down the manager to complain. He knocked my regular strawberry margarita (which I told him was wrong but that I hadn't said anything because it wasn't a big deal) off the bill along with the appetizer and gave us $15 in coupons and offered us ice cream or whatever else we wanted but we said we were full. That took our bill down to $16 from $33. I still gave the waiter $2 but was curious as to whether I really should have given him anything at all since the order not going through was most likely his mistake and the manager seemed upset that the waiter hadn't come to him before telling us what happened.

I would have tipped my typical percentage on the $33.

You received and drank the drinks, even if one of them wasn't the exact version you ordered. You ate the appetizers. It really stinks that your order got lost. It doesn't matter who lost it, or who was responsible for the wrong drink.

Originally Posted by Hrhpd

TIPS - original acronym for To Insure Prompt Service. No service, no tip.

Common misconception. Were it true, the tip would have to be given before any service.

If the word 'afternym' existed, the TIPS legend would be a perfect example of it.

[ronandannette]

Originally Posted by goofyintoronto

I agree with the above. No way would I have left a tip in this situation.

Sent from my Galaxy SII

Originally Posted by sookie

Pity tip - 1-2 bucks like you did, OP. I usually tip on the pre-discounted amount, so I think what you did was fine.
But I would have been tempted to not tip. I usually tip generously because I remember my days from waitressing. They do not make a minimum $$$ but instead make only 1-2 bucks an hour. So I usually do pity tip unless something atrocious / absolutely awful happens. It would have depended on the attitude on the server - was he or she genuinely sorry? If so, yes, I would have pity tipped. If not, forget it.

I'm with Goofy, but then again in Canada servers are paid at least minimum wage plus their tips (lowest in the country, for jobs that receive tips is $8.80), or even more in areas of the country with boom-time economies and labour shortages (my 16 y.o. DS makes $10.00/hr at McDonalds).

At the point where a server (or anybody in any profession for that matter) fails to do their job properly they are not even "earning" their wages, let alone deserving of a tip. How about some "pity" once in a while for the customer that comes in to spend their (likely limited) discretionary income that THEY EARNED doing something perhaps equally under-appreciated and under-compensated? (I realize there is a bit of a cultural divide here.)

[sookie]

Originally Posted by ronandannette

I'm with Goofy, but then again in Canada servers are paid at least minimum wage plus their tips (lowest in the country, for jobs that receive tips is $8.80), or even more in areas of the country with boom-time economies and labour shortages (my 16 y.o. DS makes $10.00/hr at McDonalds).

At the point where a server (or anybody in any profession for that matter) fails to do their job properly they are not even "earning" their wages, let alone deserving of a tip. How about some "pity" once in a while for the customer that comes in to spend their (likely limited) discretionary income that THEY EARNED doing something perhaps equally under-appreciated and under-compensated? (I realize there is a bit of a cultural divide here.)

I would not have expected a tip in that situation as a server.
OMG McD's pays 10 bucks an HOUR?!

[disneydee6]

In retrospect, it makes more sense to not leave a tip, but OP, I probably would've done the same thing you did!

[DisneyFan32WI]

Here where I live, On the Border is a strip club. It would be obvious to bring lots of singles....

[BeachGirlFLA]

Originally Posted by DisneyFan32WI

Here where I live, On the Border is a strip club. It would be obvious to bring lots of singles....

LOL...here, it's a Mexican restaurant.

[ronandannette]

Originally Posted by sookie

I would not have expected a tip in that situation as a server.
OMG McD's pays 10 bucks an HOUR?!

Yep, so do all the other fast-food outlets and retail stores. Mostly staffed by students during after-school hours and retirees and very newly arrived immigrants during the day. This wouldn't be exactly the same in every far-flung corner of Canada, but labour-shortage is a very real deal in many cities and the lowest minimum wage in the country (for jobs that do NOT include tips) is $9.75 - even things like paper routes.

A little OT (sorry, I'm curious) - how much does this type of job pay where you live? When I visit the States I am startled at how many adults work in fast-food stores.

[BeachGirlFLA]

Originally Posted by ronandannette

Yep, so do all the other fast-food outlets and retail stores. Mostly staffed by students during after-school hours and retirees and very newly arrived immigrants during the day. This wouldn't be exactly the same in every far-flung corner of Canada, but labour-shortage is a very real deal in many cities and the lowest minimum wage in the country (for jobs that do NOT include tips) is $9.75 - even things like paper routes.

A little OT (sorry, I'm curious) - how much does this type of job pay where you live? When I visit the States I am startled at how many adults work in fast-food stores.

They're minimum wage jobs - 7-8 dollars an hour - here.

[declansdad]

Originally Posted by kaytieeldr

Common misconception. Were it true, the tip would have to be given before any service.

If the word 'afternym' existed, the TIPS legend would be a perfect example of it.

The meaning may be wrong but you still tip for good service. In this case, it wasn't good service.

OP, I would have left no tip.

[ronandannette]

Originally Posted by BeachGirlFLA

They're minimum wage jobs - 7-8 dollars an hour - here.

OK, why then are restaurant servers not paid at least that much? I've read several times in different threads that they're only paid a couple of bucks an hour as wages, and that's why tipping takes on a whole other dimension.
(Heck, here even salespeople on straight commission need to be guaranteed a draw against their sales that equals at least as much as minimum wage for whatever hours they put in).