Bad, bad waitress.....

[exDS vet]

I think the waitress misunderstood when you said "no change". But that is no excuse for her behavior. She could have asked you to repeat yourself as if she didn't hear you. I'm sorry but throwing the money back at you and making the comment that she made is definately grounds for termination. Even if she thought you weren't leaving a tip or if she didn't deserve one. You are not required to leave a tip, and they know that.

As for the manager's comments. They seem inappropriate too. If the manager asked "well did you say anything to offend her", he/she should be coached by a superior.

If this is a chain restaurant, find out who the area/district manager is and send that person a letter. Be specific and detailed, and don't do any name-calling or say "that person should be fired". Let them know what happened and drop it. Maybe they will send you a certificate for a free meal. That's the best way to handle this one.

 

[Allison]

Maybe she thought that you really meant no change as in, bring back the bills and keep the coins .

The fact that she mentioned the jar made me think the same thing.

 

[JunieJay]

Maybe she thought that you really meant no change as in, bring back the bills and keep the coins . Did she seem really stupid at any other point during your service?

This is what I thought too. Still no excuse for that sort of behavior, and above all, the manager absolutely should have intervened. To dismiss it without offering some sort of restitution was wrong on his part.

Interesting enough, my aunt and uncle had dinner recently and were chased out into the parking lot by their waitress. They left her a 15% tip, as it was not fine dining and the waitress was adequate, but not exceptional. Apparently 15% is an unacceptable tip nowdays, or at least that is what she screamed at them. She said 20% is the going rate. My aunt and uncle are in their 70s, and were afraid of this woman so they gave her the extra 5%. When my cousin, their daughter, found this out she was up to that restaurant in a flash. The manager apologized profusely, refunded their money and offered them a gift certificate to come back and have dinner on the house. That is the way this manager should have handled it too.

 

[phamton]

I'm not a waitress but often sell tickets at a themepark. When someone tells me, "No change" it means they just want the bills back but no coins. It's not a tip. I've never heard that term for tipping. We always say "keep the change" when we tip.

Maybe she brought back the coins and was telling you that if you didn't want them to just drop them in the jar. But even then, I can't imagine why she was rude about it.

 

[OceanAnnie]

It's too bad you didn't say something like, "There is no reason to be so rude just because you don't want the $14 (and change). You don't have to take it!".

Hindsight, I know. I'm sure I would have been stunned and speechless.

 

[ilovejack02]

I would find out who the owners are if it is locally owned/ if it is a chain I would get on the horn with the home office. I would be getting something free out of that bad experience.

 

[agnes!]

She had to have misunderstood you, but *still*...if she's that quick on the draw to get ticked off...yikes! What else will set her off? She's a ticking timebomb!

If I would have been in her shoes, I would have asked the customer to repeat themselves (Oh I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that...what did you mean by No Change?). And if they truly MEANT what she apparently thought (BRING ME BACK ALL THE CHANGE I AM A CHEAPSKATE), then whatever...they would have been talked about to the other servers and made fun of.
But never throwing down change and being nasty in front of the customer. I'd save being nasty for 'backstage' .

agnes!

 

[cinmell]

Maybe she thought that you really meant no change as in, bring back the bills and keep the coins . Did she seem really stupid at any other point during your service?

This is exactly what I was thinking. She probably thought you meant keep the change as in keep the coins. Not too bright on her part but I bet that's what she thought for some reason.

 

[alliecats]

Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall when this rocket scientist gets home tonight & tells her BF/DH/Mom/Whoever how she told the cheap lady off when the cheap lady said "no change..." and tried to stick her with some quarters for a tip and then said companion tells her what that meant...and the dime drops (no pun intended). Priceless. I bet she will feel like an idiot. The manager should be doing something else if that is how he handles customer complaints. Maybe the waittress & he are hookin' up.

 

[phamton]

Everyone but me seems to think that the waitress thought that when you said "no change" that you were only giving her the change for the tip. I don't see it that way. To me "no change" means you don't want her to bring back any coins. She brought back the coins anyway and then said you could put it in the jar. Like I mentioned before, when I sell tickets and someone says no change, they just want the dollar bills back and want me to leave the change in the cash register. It messes up my bank-out at the end of the day, so I just give them the change anyway. They can leave it on the counter if they wish but it still isn't a tip. I don't take the money as we aren't tipped. We may use it when others don't have the exact change but it does not go back into our cash register.

This is my whole take on this: She had to bring back the coins (even though she thought you didn't want them) and told you that you could put the change in the jar. At this time, she is just waiting for you to give her a tip either by giving her the tip right then or leaving the tip on the table after you left. (Most customers just leave it on the table when they leave the restaurant.) I don't think the waitress ever thought that the coins were her tip. I don't think she thought any of the money was her tip. "No change" just means don't give me any coins back. "Keep the change" is the term I've heard if you were planning on giving her all the money for a tip. Since you didn't say keep the change, she gave you all the money back including the coins, then she told you what you could do with the coins. I am assuming that she then would leave and wait for you to decide how much to tip her.

 

[Disney Ella]

Maybe it's a southern thing because I've never heard anyone say "No change." I would have assumed that you wanted the paper bills back and not the coins. I wouldn't have assumed that I could keep any of it, but like I said, maybe that's the way people say "keep the change" where you live. In any case, she was very rude and could have easily have asked you what you meant if she didn't understand. I wouldn't have left her a tip either.

 

[Yardbird]

Let me preface this thread by saying that I always, always leave AT LEAST a 20% tip unless the service is just terrible....and then I always speak with the manager.

I just got back from a week long vacation in Gatlinburg TN and we usually have the most phenomenal waitresses and waiters while dining....but.....not this time.

Here is the story:

My hubby and I took my parents and our kids to our favorite pizza/microbrewery restaurant in Gatlinburg. We ordered two large pizzas, 2 pitchers of beer and cokes for the kids. We had a great time laughing at all the karaoke folks ....and just being together. The bill came and it was 70.32. I gave the waitress 85.00 when she came back to the table and told her "no change". She left with the money and then came back and THREW my money at me and told me there was a "mason jar for muscular dystrophy downstairs and why don't you just throw your change in there?!"

I uhhhhh....pretty much freaked and demanded to see the manager. He came out and listened to the story and asked us if we might have offended her in some other way...***?!! We were sitting there eating, listening to bad karaoke and drinking beer. We were not loud at ALL and were very nice.

I took my damn tip and left....I just can't believe what happened at this freakin restaurant!! NEVER, EVER going back and I have been patronizing this place since it OPENED!!

What's the name of this place? We will be visiting Gatlinburg in June, and I want to stay away from there!

By the way, the baby in your siggie is beautiful.

 

[phamton]

Maybe it's a southern thing because I've never heard anyone say "No change."

It's not a southern thing as I've only heard "keep the change" when leaving a tip. I'm a native Texan living in Florida. "No change" means "don't give me any coins back." I use "No change" if I'm at a convenience store and don't want the pennies back. They usually just put my change into the "take a penny, give a penny" change box.

 

[piglet too]

Don't know what she was thinking (her reaction, and that of the manager was kinda rude) but some other posters bring up good points. When we pay with cash, and we don't want anything back, we tell them "here you go, we are all set, keep what is left, that is for you."

 

[MareQ]

Let me preface this thread by saying that I always, always leave AT LEAST a 20% tip unless the service is just terrible....and then I always speak with the manager.

I just got back from a week long vacation in Gatlinburg TN and we usually have the most phenomenal waitresses and waiters while dining....but.....not this time.

Here is the story:

My hubby and I took my parents and our kids to our favorite pizza/microbrewery restaurant in Gatlinburg. We ordered two large pizzas, 2 pitchers of beer and cokes for the kids. We had a great time laughing at all the karaoke folks ....and just being together. The bill came and it was 70.32. I gave the waitress 85.00 when she came back to the table and told her "no change". She left with the money and then came back and THREW my money at me and told me there was a "mason jar for muscular dystrophy downstairs and why don't you just throw your change in there?!"

I uhhhhh....pretty much freaked and demanded to see the manager. He came out and listened to the story and asked us if we might have offended her in some other way...***?!! We were sitting there eating, listening to bad karaoke and drinking beer. We were not loud at ALL and were very nice.

I took my damn tip and left....I just can't believe what happened at this freakin restaurant!! NEVER, EVER going back and I have been patronizing this place since it OPENED!!

My guess is the idiot took your "no change" to mean you didn't want any coins in return and that somehow offended her - hence the response to put your change in the jar

 

[chobie]

Even if she misunderstood you, that is still really rude. I waited tables for years and would have been so fired if I ever said anything like that to a customer.

I've been stewing over a waiter for the last week myself. My DH and I, our two kids ages 12 and 9, and a 12 year old friend went out to dinner to a moderately priced steakhouse last week. We were very well behaved, didn't ask for anything special or run the waiter around, didn't complain about anything, spent about $150 and the waiter apparantly decided we were non tippers and added an 18% gratuity to the check. Now the policy at the restaurant, as per the menu, says they add it on for parties of 8 or more, but were only 5 people. Fortunately my husband examined the bill and found it because the waiter did not tell us he did that. Otherwise we would have never suspected and tipped another 20% on top. I'm really irked by it because I'm wondering what made him think we would not tip, was it the way we look? Because we have kids?

 

[Chattyaholic]

DH and I are leaving for Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg next Saturday and we'll be eating out often, hope we don't encounter anything like that.

What we do, if the server takes the check up for us, is tell her "it's all set" that way they know the rest of the money is for their tip. We've never had any problems doing it that way.

Lately I've been thinking we should always give the server his/her tip personally, if they don't take the check up for us and it's the way of the restaurant for patrons to go up to the register themselves to pay. Like the other day, we left a restaurant and we had been the only ones in the back room and left $5 (bill was $20) on the table. The server who waited on us checked us out, and while we were paying a man came in and went to the back. Got me thinking, since nobody else was around would he take the tip off the table? Probably not, but you never really know and I would hate for it to happen and the waitress goes back to clear the table and it's gone. At least giving it to them personally, you know they got their tip.