DDPers of "the world" unite, have the tip removed for bad service.

[andrea2289]

After reading this entire thread a few times, as a former server for many years, here's my take on this:

You might think that as a former server I would 'side' in that direction, but it is actually just the opposite. All too often, I receive bad service, service that is not deserving of 18% gratuity, or even 5% at that. If I receive bad service I have NO problem leaving a low tip. It is there job, it is NOT that hard, they CHOOSE it, and therefore if they want that gratuity, they need to earn it by providing good cheerful service.

A server has a huge influence on the whole experience. My family is scheduled to use the DDP for the first time. We are very excited about it; we will be very excited at each restaurant we visit. IF our server is rude or gives us bad service, and we are not deserving of it, that WILL negatively impact our experience...and that server WILL then deserve no tip...period.

AS A SERVER….why would I be derserving of a good tip if I have just given bad service and/or been rude to you? I wouldn’t…period!!

I am 100% for taking the tip off the plan, as a server that provides bad service doesn’t deserve 18% gratuity. If I am unfortunate enough to experience this myself, I WILL speak to the manger before leaving the establishment.

Bad kids, rowdy kids, rude people, bad tippers…I have experienced it ALL in my years of serving…but the bottom line is each customer is a new customer and deserving of GREAT service, and if I don’t provide it, I deserve a bad tip in return.

 

[The Sweetness]

Let’s just say it is possible from an accounting standpoint to deny the tip when using the Disney Dining Plan. Where do you think the allocated money goes instead?

IMO it doesnt matter where the $ goes. The point is that if the server didnt satisfy the guest, than they deserve no tip. Ofcourse, some people are impossible to satisfy. But I believe that these are the exception, not the rule. Tips should be earned, not garunteed. I also feel, however, that by opting out of the %18 included tip, the guest should be visited at their table before they leave by Mgmt. Whatever the server didnt do, or did wrong, the Mgmt team should know (just MHO)

 

[The Sweetness]

My rationale when waiting on miserable and unsatisfiable guests was that at least I only had to deal with them for an hour; they have to live with themselves forever!

I dont know how many times, at various retail and or food service jobs, that I have said to myself, about an unpleasant guest **thank god they arent part of my family** Always makes me feel better. Sometimes this works for co-workers too

 

[rentayenta]

I dont know how many times, at various retail and or food service jobs, that I have said to myself, about an unpleasant guest **thank god they arent part of my family** Always makes me feel better. Sometimes this works for co-workers too

Ain't that the truth!

 

[andrea2289]

If the worst thing about my day was that I had to wait longer than the quoted time or my water glass was empty, I would consider that I pretty good day.

Waiting that long for a glass of water, when a server is clearly not busy, is inexcusable. If you watch the server, you know when they are busy and when they have just chosen to not bring the water. A good server will explain the delay to their guest...Tip Deduction #1

If people keep experiencing bad service, at some point they have to ask themselves what part are they playing in that equasion?! The common denominator is the patron, not the server!

Your absolutely right but each customer is a new customer. I am not going to let the jerk I just waited on influence how I treat the next table. In this case, it doesn't sound like he did anything to deserve the treatment he received.

My rationale when waiting on miserable and unsatisfiable guests was that at least I only had to deal with them for an hour; they have to live with themselves forever!

Who says he was miserbale and unsatisfied...maybe he just had a RUDE pissy server...there are alot of them out there and those servers do not deserve 18% gratuity.

 

[surfergrl31]

I don't know if I am for them taking the tip out or leaving it because either way it is a no win situation.

Take out-Service might improve, but this is a very sneaky way to raise the price of the dinning plan without looking like they are doing that.

Leave in-bad servers will get tip regardless of attitude, but less cash I have to carry around DW.

There is going to points to every side of the story, but the only complaint I have is the fact that the price is still going to go up this year. If they are taking the tip out, why are they still raising the price? This to me looks very sneaky. If they are going to do this then I think the price should stay the same or lower, not be raised! Maybe there could be an alternative like ddp Cast edition so people who want to pay in advance for tips can and people who don't can just have the regular dp.

I'm climbing on my soapbox for a minute to respond to a few comments I have read about hopefully clearing out resturants for regular fine diners. I think this is bull my dh and I aren't poor, but we aren't loaded either. We save our hard earned money just like everyone else to go and have a good time at the most magical place on earth. I'm sorry if it ruins the regulars dinning experience, but we have a right to be there just like everyone else. We don't frequent lots of dining establishments because that would take away from our disney money, so while I do know how to pronounce Filet I may not know exactly how something is prepared and have questions. That is the servers job to answer questions and not be rude or snobby about it.

This is why we love disney and splurge on premium plan so we can dine at places we normally wouldn't go or try things that are different for us. While I agree about parents NOT letting their children run around everywhere, I think people should get over the fact that the ddp is crowding resturants. If middle class famlies like mine didn't go to disney, there would probably be no disney world.

Sorry for the long post, but off the soapbox now if someone else wants to borrow it.

 

[andrea2289]

IMO it doesnt matter where the $ goes. The point is that if the server didnt satisfy the guest, than they deserve no tip. Ofcourse, some people are impossible to satisfy. But I believe that these are the exception, not the rule. Tips should be earned, not garunteed. I also feel, however, that by opting out of the %18 included tip, the guest should be visited at their table before they leave by Mgmt. Whatever the server didnt do, or did wrong, the Mgmt team should know (just MHO)

Ditto! If the server gives bad service to an undeserving guest they deserve no tip! As a former server myself, when I walked into work, my game face was on and I left my problems at the door. I'd slap a smile on my face and give great service because I liked great tips and the guests deserved it!

Now my Italian temper sometimes took over when I had a crappy guest....but I had already kissed that tip goodbye anyway

Taking the tip off is fair to servers because a good server shouldn't be adversly affected. However, the other issue is the price of the DDP. All service debates aside, the price of the plan is the real issue when and if they remove it. Those tips add up!

 

[just another guy]

Its hard to judge "bad service" unless you have been a server before. Lets say you are sat for 10 minutes, and your server hasn't been there before. Some would be quick to scream bad service. Maybe they are in the back area getting drinks for a party of 15, and not just 15 cokes, I'm talking water, sodas, juices, coffee, alcohol, etc. Maybe the computer system crashed, and they are waiting for it to reboot, and then have to run through credit cards for a family of 9, who insist on paying with 5 different cards, instead of just one check. The "better" servers are the ones who try to predict the future. The Peterson family of two mentioned how hot it is today, are about half way through their cokes, and a party of 10 is about to be sat. The server will be busy with that new large party, so dropping off 2 cokes right now, while not 100% needed would be a smart thing.

Almost 90% of "bad service" can be explained from a servers point of view as out of not just that.

If the tip is removed, the company is responsible to supply it to the cast member anyway. It's part of their union contract. Its called a guest inconvenicnce and the tip is added to the cm's paycheck.

BINGO!!

If I server isn't good, they simply won't last at disney. If guests keep complaining, they will get canned. Yes, servers do half off days, but so do guests. The servers will still get their grat.

 

[wilde_oscar]

As a former server, ask yourself if your self respect is worth 18 percent of someones dinner bill. Mine never was, "smile through it" this coming from someone whose vacation was "colored" by having to wait to long? How are you affecting other peoples day w/ that attitude? I do not look at being a customer as a position of power.

UG... again a former server who makes my point for me. You took away from the post what in your mind was nothing more then a complaint that I "having to wait to long" am basically blowing it out of proportion.

My attitude was great till the server blew it making me wait excessively for water, so that I could take medication, that I have good reason to believe she intentionally forgot, because I didn't order an alcoholic beverage to fatten up her tip. She cleared zero plates. She took an aggressively long time to bring the bill. If you were there, you would have seen the same thing.

Being the customer is absolutely a position of power, that is how the system works... you want to color me with a brush that I am rude, arrogant and elitist. Not even close to what happened. As I figured would happen, two people read the same story and only take away from it that which reinforces their world view as it already is... The union made a great deal for the servers, when was the last time that a union made a great deal for the customer... never. At the face value of this argument, the fact that the union created a system where someone on DDP is forced to tip 18% tells me that the servers are more lax in providing service to those customers... it is human nature, it is economic reality. And the opposition to the argument thus far has been by folks that refuse to acknowledge the entirety of the situation.

Again to reiterate… at no point have I said all service is bad, in fact twice in that trip service was outstanding. But when we discuss that trip, the topic of how bad that one meal was jades all the good meals. One aw shucks wipes out 10 attaboys.

 

[wilde_oscar]

As a former server, ask yourself if your self respect is worth 18 percent of someones dinner bill. Mine never was, "smile through it" this coming from someone whose vacation was "colored" by having to wait to long? How are you affecting other peoples day w/ that attitude? I do not look at being a customer as a position of power.

The folks such as you, who provide outstanding service, are in a way being hurt by the 18% rule as folks that would tip 20% think eh, well they put 18% on the bill that’s fine... and when I see a preset gratuity on a bill, I am apt to no go above and beyond, as that usually means that tips are being pooled anyway. In those cases I wait to catch the server no where near my table and give them cash if the service was truly exceptional.

But I am willing to bet the overwhelming response by servers is that, given the type of customer that DDP usually attracts, the 18% is a good thing vs. a cheap guy like me tipping 100% for exceptional service once in a while.

 

[wilde_oscar]

What is being lost here is that "good service" does not have a universal definition. Even the most miserbale and cheap souls wouldn't and don't recognize good service when it's presented to them. For some people, you can never be good enough. The wait is never short enough, their glass is never full enough, their portions are never large enough, and the server doesn't kiss their **** enough.

Servers are real people folks not mindless entities. They deserve your respect.
The lack of humanity here saddens me.

how did you know I am miserable and cheap?

 

[wilde_oscar]

Totally o/t and I know that a message board is different than writing for a newspaper but "What you were not, is there" is just bad writing. Seriously.

forgive me, I am dashing off responses quickly between meetings and my fingers are not keeping up with my brain. If I was proofing, I'm sure I would have come up with something more whitty like "Either the wall paper goes or I do" and promptly died.

 

[wilde_oscar]

What is being lost here is that "good service" does not have a universal definition. Even the most miserbale and cheap souls wouldn't and don't recognize good service when it's presented to them. For some people, you can never be good enough. The wait is never short enough, their glass is never full enough, their portions are never large enough, and the server doesn't kiss their **** enough.

Servers are real people folks not mindless entities. They deserve your respect.
The lack of humanity here saddens me.

Much like art, I may not know good art when I see it, but bad art is obvious. Same with service.

 

[rentayenta]

how did you know I am miserable and cheap?

I don't do passive agressive and I did not mean you specifically.

 

[andrea2289]

wildoscar


I agree...it does seem like the main point of your post has been lost...

The bottom line is...IF you waited excessively long for a simple glass of water that you politely asked for, the server wasn't busy and she offered no explanation for the delay...SHE was wrong!

IF, you waited excessively long (45 minutes??) for your bill and the server offered no explanation for the delay...SHE was wrong!

I could go on and on...

One bad server does not take away from 10 great servers, but that was not the point of your post and I agree with you 100%.

If a server gets held up with anything that prevents them from providing prompt service, they owe it to the guest to provide a brief explaination and apology...

I will repeat...as a former server, if I gave bad service to an undeserving guest and had no valid excuse or explanation, then I most certainly did NOT deserve a tip!

 

[KKB]

I applaud that the tip is being removed from DDP, and further I am excited that the majority of people think it will no longer be worth it and will dine off site. Guess what, that will thin the heard of the bad servers. That is really how the economics of the situation will pan out. Ask an economics professor at your local community college.

Let us not be misinformed....they are not 'removing' the tip from DDP--that would indicate a price decrease to the consumer. They are not longer including the tip in the DDP for the server...that extra expense is now the consumer's repsonsiblity.

I agree that there is certainly has been some servers who slack as they know they were getting 18% on DDP customers no matter what. And I am sure that was very frustrating to customers of those servers. AND I do agree that service in theory should be better if the tip isn't a guarantee......

Ya know, if they would just lower the price nominally, consumers would probably not find this to be such a difficult pill to swallow.

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

They could set tip levels 8% 15% and 20& then you could cross out the two you don't want. That way servers would learn good service.

 

[wilde_oscar]

If the worst thing about my day was that I had to wait longer than the quoted time or my water glass was empty, I would consider that I pretty good day. Let's face it, some people take out their miserable and cheap existence on the easy and available victim.

If people keep experiencing bad service, at some point they have to ask themselves what part are they playing in that equasion?! The common denominator is the patron, not the server!

My rationale when waiting on miserable and unsatisfiable guests was that at least I only had to deal with them for an hour; they have to live with themselves forever!

Again, not all service at all locations was bad. I did not keep experiencing bad service, this stems from one bad experience which caused me to consider how the system was put together in the first place and I believe that forcing the customer to tip is bad policy, bad for service and bad for the economy. Again, I have good reason to believe that by attitude and inflection she "forgot" the water on purpose. Again, as I was observing her while waiting to take my meds, she was not in the weeds nor too busy. Was I tired, yes, was it late, kinda, did she then proceed to treat us like second class diners the rest of the night, yes. I didn’t complain nor make a fuss that it took so long to get that first, last and only glass of water, I never got a chance too, we didn’t see her again till she brought the check after we had been done eating for quite some time. Was service great at other locations, yes. Did I leave an exceptional tip at Le Cellier for outstanding service, yes.

I was neither miserable nor unsatisfiable (I don’t think that is a word, but you catch my meaning), if she was having a bad night, that’s fine but taking it out on me is not acceptable. Again, I am amazed at the number of type of people that will defend this server's lack of professionalism and blame the customer. Sounds like someone never had a great customer... put the shoe on the other foot as I had some great servers

 

[wilde_oscar]

They could set tip levels 8% 15% and 20& then you could cross out the two you don't want. That way servers would learn good service.

great in theory but in practical implementation, the server, when they go back to input their tip, could scratch up the bill and make it say pretty much what ever they want as they would have last word and the customer would have no way to check. Also as has been pointed out, trying to have the tip removed is pointless the union contract dictates that the server gets 18% of the check total.

 

[3jsmommy]

"Being the customer is absolutely a position of power, that is how the system works... you want to color me with a brush that I am rude, arrogant and elitist."

I don't think I had to, you did that yourself by the second paragraph of your OP. The comment about the server smiling while you trained your dogs yelled at them.. etc.. didn't help either!