Poll: Have you ever left NO tip?

[lindsmom]

I've left no tip before but we really enjoy leaving a penny

I've been a waitress, and most of my family have waited tables. One time my husband and I left a penny, dropped in the water glass. I don't feel that servers are entitled to a tip - it ensures more attentive service. However, my DH and I are fairly generous (20 - 25% for good service) tippers. Minimum we give 10%. I am also very aware of problems with the kitchen, servers in the weeds, etc.

The penny incident was on our vacation to Jensen Beach, FL for valentine's day. Other stuff happened that wasn't this servers fault. But once we were seated, we were HIS responsiblity. We were getting frustrated with his lack of attention, and I began to closely observe how he handled other tables, whether he was just a lousy waiter. His other tables received two revisits each, their meals came with silver covers (yeah, it was that kind of place), they received ice water without asking. For some reason, he wrote us off as a young, non - tipping couple (most of the others were well - dressed four top senior citizen tables). We had wrong food, water begrudgingly provided after two requests, no covers. Not even a single revisit to our table. I was personally offended by the service. We made a point of telling the manager on the way out why we dropped a single penny in the water glass.

Ironically, the place was out of business the next year we went.

I firmly believe that tipping is a "scorecard" of how you're doing as a server.

 

[Brian Noble]

Sometimes slow service is not the fault of the server, but rather of the kitchen or the fact that they have been overburdened with tables.

And that's fine. If the server comes by periodically, and says something like "I'm really sorry, the kitchen is backed up, I'm bugging them to get your meal out" then the server's tip does not suffer.

My rule of thumb. If a server is trying hard, but not perfect, that's still fine. If a server doesn't much care, but is still adequate, that's fine too. It's those who don't care *and* screw up that deserve a "message tip" of a quarter.

And, as I mentioned, I've only done that once, maybe twice.

 

[sandym718]

And that's fine. If the server comes by periodically, and says something like "I'm really sorry, the kitchen is backed up, I'm bugging them to get your meal out" then the server's tip does not suffer.

I agree - if it's Just the food that takes a long time (this happened to us tonight at Applebee's), I do NOT lower the tip. If, however, it takes forever to get are order taken AND forever for drinks AND forever for the bill - then I'll leave a lower tip. That was not the case tonight at Applebees, it just did take a long time (probably a good 20 minutes After we Finished our appetizer) for the food. Our waitress got over a 20% tip - I just rounded up to the cash I had on hand.

I used to waitress. For a while I worked in an Irish Pub.

One night we had a new singer booked. I was the only waitress on that night.
Who knew he had a huge following? Before I knew what hit me, I had a full house.

As much as I would love to say I gave great service, I must admit that it wasn't true. I ran my legs off, but I know the service was awful. (The one chef in the kitchen was as overworked as I was.) People waited for everything from bread to drinks to dinner.

The people were great though. They did all in their power to help me, and were incredibly generous with their tips.

I remember a situation like this long ago - again back when I was in school (I don't know why I keep remembering these things!!) It was after some speical event and a very LARGE group of us went to Denny's. Several parents were there, sitting separately, letting us enjoy ourselves. It was fairly late and there were only 2 or so servers on. So the parents got up and helped - they got drinks, carried plates, etc. And they made SURE everyone left really good tips. It was a fun evening, I remember us all getting a big kick out of parents doing some serving (not like they didn't do it at home, LOL). We all still got to enjoy ourselves, and it took a load off the servers.

 

[Native NYer]

Never! Even if the service is awful. I'd feel terrible not leaving a tip after a meal.

 

[DOOM1001]

I used to wait tables and the only time I would say you shouldn't leave a tip is if the server was rude,insulted you,ignored you and so on.These things I would understand but if he's busy and you're getting slow service or the food takes forever to come out,even if he gets an order put in wrong, none of these are reasons not to tip.As long as he's trying and is overall nice you should leave at least 15%.You also have to understand he has to tip out other staff members such as bussers,food runners, bartenders so for example if your bill was a $100 and you didn't tip,it's not like he didn't make any money from your table,YOU'RE BASICALLY TAKING ABOUT $5 FROM HIS POCKET SINCE HE HAS TO TIP ON HIS SALES WHICH INCLUDE YOUR CHECK!!!!

 

[HappyLawyer]

If service sucks then i will not leave a tip at all, no question about it.

 

[marivaid]

You also have to understand he has to tip out other staff members such as bussers,food runners, bartenders so for example if your bill was a $100 and you didn't tip,it's not like he didn't make any money from your table,YOU'RE BASICALLY TAKING ABOUT $5 FROM HIS POCKET SINCE HE HAS TO TIP ON HIS SALES WHICH INCLUDE YOUR CHECK!!!!

If the server didn't get a tip because he didn't do his job, then maybe losing $5 will teach him a lesson. In most jobs, when your work is not satisfying, you get fired.