New 18% Mandatory Tip Trial

[Art 1]

I'm a waitress and the other day I served two ladies and a baby about 12-15 months old. Everything is going great when the baby gagged on a piece of bread and spit/threw up on the floor in front of her highchair and I'm assuming on herself. I saw it happen and brought the mother a bunch of napkins. She used them to clean the baby and put the dirty ones on the table and went back to eating and chatting with her friend ignoring the puke on the floor. I certainly didnt want to touch the vomit napkins and most definitely wasnt cleaning up the stuff on the floor, so I brought a plastic bag and more napkins and politely said "Here's a garbage bag so you can put the napkins in and more napkins to clean the rest". She looked at me with a blank stare and had no idea I expected her to clean up after her baby. Her friend seemed uncomfortable during it all because it dawned on her that the mother was just going to leave it so she wound up cleaning it.

I dont mind cleaning a random Cheerio or two that got away, but its so incredibly disrespectful when parents leave a big mess on the floor.

I agree. I can't understand why the staff is expected to clean vomit. The person or family should be the ones who take care of that. A month or so ago I saw someone vomit in the line to Maelstrom. The group just left it there without asking for cleaning materials to clean it up.

 

[allerobed]

I agree. I can't understand why the staff is expected to clean vomit. The person or family should be the ones who take care of that. A month or so ago I saw someone vomit in the line to Maelstrom. The group just left it there without asking for cleaning materials to clean it up.

Nasty! People are so rude, they should have at least attempted to clean it.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I spoke to our union rep Jeremy yesterday and he gave me a copy of the contract and the email he sent in regards to the change. He told me they are fighting this. Policy cant be changed mid contract.

There was a meeting this morning though so I dont know the outcome

1) Thanks.
2) Good to know they are fighting it.
3) I think it would be detrimental to the servers.

 

[rentayenta]

As a former server I'd hate this unless I worked at Disney. Some kids are slobs and some parents don't care. And some people think 10% is acceptable. People who generally tip more will continue to do so. I rarely tip under 20%, even for horrible service. A mandatory 18% won't bother me. The servers are simply the messengers of whatever decisions corporate makes.

 

[reiella]

Yup, waiting on a table with a baby not eating is much harder than a table of adults. Poor servers

And the baby isn't ordering a plate either, so the cash total is less. However, I understand the perspective, and I imagine it's mostly to ease the conflicts the managers may have crop up from infant triggering mandatory tip.

Largely, leave it to see how the trial goes, and how it actually impacts the workers. And in terms of impacting the CBA, well, Stewards get to enjoy that fun mess, yick.

 

[lillykat]

Nasty! People are so rude, they should have at least attempted to clean it.

Not sure what disney's policy is. DD#1 (then 2) got the stomach flu the last night of our last trip. We got to the front of the line about to be assigned a boat at IASM and DD vomited. Before I could offer to clean up or say anything. The cast member said take her out this way so you can clean her up and ushered us out. I asked if I could stay and help and was told no they take care of it.

I couldn't imagine going to a restaurant and not cleaning up after my child if they got sick. Not happened yet but I wouldn't want to make anyone else do that.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

many times an infant leaves a huge mess that the parents do not clean up. Not sure why they don't but they don't. So an infant can mean more work for the staff.

ita

 

[BGK]

I wish mandatory gratuities were universal. There are two local hotel restaurants, admittedly higher end, where I got regularly though not frequently. Both add a 20% "service charge," i.e. gratuity. Both have outstanding service and I've never felt the tips were out-of-line.

As for the counter-argument that it takes away a server's incentive, that's the manager's problem. If you're allowing a server to give consistently poor service, you're permanently damaging your restaurant's reputation. As for guests reluctant to complain, again, as a manager you're falling down. A manager and his or her assistants need to be working the room constantly to ensure diners have a good experience. A location at WDW gives no exception to this.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I'm always happy to give a tip when the serve has done a good job. If they do an amazing job, I'll tip more. I hate tipping when the service is bad, especially when it's the servers fault (they were rude ect)

It is very different from Australia. Here, if you're over 21, wait staff get $22 an hour so tipping is not expected at all. We still tip when they've done a good job and more if they've been great.

 

[Tricia1972]

Please see the tipping sticky. Read the first post for guidelines