Poll: Have you ever left NO tip?

[mom2my3kids]

There have been many times that I wanted to leave no tip at all, in cases of bad service, but even in the worst dining experiences that we have had we have always tipped. I just can't not tip!!! I feel too guilty about stiffing someone. I definately believe in Karma , not tipping would be creating some bad Karma for me!!!!

I have to laugh because at work when we get stiffed or very poor tip and you know you gave them good service, we always say KARMA. Bad things are going to happen to them..

 

[distherapy]

As a former server, I usually tip very well and am especially forgiving during busy times (my old restaurant was U-shaped and I know that my tables on one half always thought I was ignoring them when I was on the other half when it was busy). However, one night when I was in college, I had the worst service, well, it doesn't even qualify as service. We left a quarter, and that was generous, since he never brought one friend's meal - ever. Poor thing just ate of others plates while we asked over and over...

 

[jenfur]

Wow, a post about not tipping....on the DIS. I figured this would have gotten ugly by now! I have not tipped twice, once when I went to the car to get some cash (I hate writing it in on the check) and the server chased me down. The second time, I was eating with my mother and DS and my server was chatting very close by with her fellow servers and using very explicit language.

I would rather restaurants just go ahead and raise the price of the food and do away with the tip system. It works so many different ways in so many different restaurants. In some places the servers make just around min. wage with tips. However, there are many other places where the servers make more than my husband with a college degree does on most days. I also cringe when someone says that the tip is part of the price of the meal, no the menu has the price of the meal, and the state sets the amount of tax charged on top of that. My brother and I argue about this all of the time. If I have $40 and I want to eat at Applebees and the total would be $38, he would say I did not have enough money to eat there, I should go to McDonalds instead. I disagree.

I also want to add that I know many people (my brother included) who way over tip on every occasion. Its like a status symbol to leave a big tip or an ego boost to feel super generous. Well, thats nice but I have kids to feed too!

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

My brother and I argue about this all of the time. If I have $40 and I want to eat at Applebees and the total would be $38, he would say I did not have enough money to eat there, I should go to McDonalds instead. I disagree.

I think your brother may be right. The reason servers make less than minimum wage is because it is a tipped position. For good service there is never a reason to not tip. If one cannot afford to tip, one should not go out.

 

[Brian Noble]

Nope, never zero. I have, in one specific situation, had such terrible service that I left precisely one quarter---that says "No, I didn't forget to tip. This is all you deserved."

 

[loco4dis]

As a former waitress, I could never, ever leave no tip. Frequently, bad restaurant experiences are the fault of cooks, hosts, etc., and the wait staff — at the front lines — takes the heat. However, for truly bad service from the waiter/waitress him/herself, I have left a smallish tip (10-12%). I think if you leave no tip, the waiter says you're just a cheap jerk. If you leave a smallish tip, the waiter thinks, "Man, I screwed up that table."

 

[caroline1851]

ONe time. It was at a Rainforest Cafe. They seated us near the bathroom in a near empty restaurant. I asked to be moved, they gave me an attitude but did it. Then we waited another 15 minutes for our order to be taken, then forever for our food then we had to hunt down the bill. And......no one ever came and asked us how our food was or asked if we needed anything the entire time we were eating. (oh, i should add, the restaurant was not busy at all-about 1/10 full) 1 penny tip. I then emailed the restaurant and complained and received a gift cert in the mail.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Once at a friendlys that wasn't so friendly.

 

[michellekl]

only once did i not leave a tip. this was at one of my favorite restaurants back home on the cape. we had very unusually awful service. to the point i was ready to walk out during the meal. i stayed to see if perhaps it would get better. but when it didn't i asked to speak with the manager & we told him our issues. our server was much more interested in the party of 6 & the gallons of margaritas they were consuming at a table nearby.

i leave 20% as a standard for good service. 15% for less than stellar, like having to ask for refills on drinks. & obviously more than 20% for the server that goes above & beyond. super friendly, makes suggestions, etc.

 

[sarcasticblonde]

As a former waitress, I could never, ever leave no tip. Frequently, bad restaurant experiences are the fault of cooks, hosts, etc., and the wait staff — at the front lines — takes the heat. However, for truly bad service from the waiter/waitress him/herself, I have left a smallish tip (10-12%). I think if you leave no tip, the waiter says you're just a cheap jerk. If you leave a smallish tip, the waiter thinks, "Man, I screwed up that table."

I would agree. I would never go to a restaurant and not leave a tip, no matter how bad the service. I might leave a crappy tip (no lower than 10-12%) but that is it.

 

[Kath2003]

Nope, but I once left three cents in Washington DC. The waiter was useless - didn't bring drinks, screwed up the order, wasn't friendly, couldn't answer any questions about any of the dishes or drinks, didn't even do the basics; it took forever to get our meals which were terrible anyway but it was the bad service which resulted in my poor tip. Which was a shame because we were out to spend a LOT of money that night - we ended up at the most awesome bar instead where we spent an obscene amount of money and the waiter got a very generous tip.

 

[java]

Once I left 2 pennies so they would know we didn't Forget.
Our waiter at a Friday's was AWFUL. Really awful. So bad that they even comped our meal. We were regulars there. (this was pre kids when we could go out )

The waiter kept us waiting 30 minutes after he came over for drink order to bring them to us. He got our orders completly wrong. Brought wrong food out. And had actually written down wrong items. Just wasn't paying attention at all. By the third time of the wrong things coming out I had enough.

Now I understand a mistake and a simple "oh sorry I'm new" or something would have gone a long way. But his attitude like it was our fault he was getting it wrong really ticked me off. So he got 2 pennies.

I was a waitress and tend to overtip. But this was the one and only time I was ever shocked by the horrible service.

 

[kimsuenew]

If service is bad (and we have had a few incidences, not many (less than five in my adult lifetime) and not at WDW as we were on the DDP and tip was included), and we leave a mere 10%.

We always tip 20% plus (sometimes way more, for exceptional service), never less than 20%, except only the 10% in the very few instances mentioned before.

 

[jenfur]

I think your brother may be right. The reason servers make less than minimum wage is because it is a tipped position. For good service there is never a reason to not tip. If one cannot afford to tip, one should not go out.

1. That is why I believe servers should be paid minimum wage, even if the price of the food increases.

2. If one cannot afford to tip, one simply orders it to go- and there is no way one should tip the person who hands them the bag.

 

[Ohiomomof2]

I have not tipped a few times. Not a real tip anyway - I have left a couple pennies and a note that says something like "Here's my 2 cents - you should look into a different profession" I only have done it for truly horrible service. I used to waitress myself but do not believe that a tip is mandatory - it is a bonus for a job done well. When I waited tables if my tips and base pay did not equal minimum wage then my employer had to pay me the difference to ensure I did get minimum wage. Of course those wait staff that had that happen more than once did not stay at the restaurant much longer.

I do normally tip 20 -25% for OK service and more for great service.

 

[NMW]

I have left small tips-10-15%.

Only one time did we have a truly horrible experience with a waiter. Like 10 years ago at a TGI Fridays. I complained to the manager on the way out. He comped the bill and gave us a business card that he signed and wrote "meals on the house" or something like that and begged us to come and give their restaurant another shot. They had only been open about 6 months. We did go back, but I have to admit it was because of the business card. We lived near a ton of restaurants and I would not have chosen to go back there after the really terrible service we had. We had plenty of others to chose from.

Our second trip the service was great, and when we "paid" with the business card that manager came over to our table and thanked us for giving their restaurant another chance and asked if the service was good. We assured him it was, and left our waiter 20% of the check we didn't have to pay. WE had a baby and a toddler at the time and that TGI Fridays became a regular place for us. We ate there almost every 2 weeks until we moved from New Jersey.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I actually double tipped last week. No, the gratuity wasn't automatically added. I had a $50 check at Dan McGuiness....I tipped our wonderful waitress $15.....added to the CC, hubby didn't have his glasses to total out the tab. My dear husband left $20 on the table for our wonderful waitress. I guess we made her night!

 

[cjsmith]

Last night I didn't leave a tip.

We went to our local Uno's for a quick meal in the bar area with our son. Quick....try 2.5 to 3 hours! First the waiter didn't want to clean off the dirty dishes on the table left by someone else even though we told him we wanted to sit here. (It was grab a table when available.) Someone else finally cleared the table off after 10 minutes of waiting standing at the table. It then took the waiter another 15 minutes to give us our menus and take a drink order. We placed our order and told him 3 times, "Do not bring our appys out with our main course, we won't eat our dinner this way so please don't do it". Out came my soup in 2 minutes, my son's appy came out in another 10 minutes and my husband's never showed up! Dinner came out finally and my husband said "I never got my soup, I asked you 3 times not to bring me my main course until I had my soup so we don't want this yet please. We took the burger for my son and had our dinner's sent back and asked to bring them after my husband got his soup. Again, we sat and sat. Drink orders were never retaken or refilled. Finally we got the manager and he found out they had now run out of the soup my husband wanted! Had a quick appy made for him and out it came in 5 minutes along with a ice tea for me and a new beer for my husband. We waited, waited, waited, waited and the waiter finally came back over and asked if we wanted our bill! We said we never ate our dinner to which he informed us he had "Comped us our dinner and it was off the bill"! I told him that he obviously didn't understand what comping was because that's when you take the charges off the bill for some reason even though the person received the food! He then said he decided we didn't want it and it was our fault, so he canceled our dinner. If we wanted, he would put it back in and it would take 15 to 20 minutes! The manager got involved again, our meals came in about 5 minutes and we were really comped this time around. We got to the restaurant and sat at 6:30 and we finally got our main courses at 8:45 pm! The guy still never gave my son a refill on his soda and when ever a plate was finished it sat the entire time on the table, he never cleared anything away.

Needless to say, the fellow did not receive a tip. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with the manager and he's the one who told us not to leave anything. He has asked us to return once again and give them another shot.

 

[iggbees]

i voted no, but then i remembered in high school friends of mine and i had gone out to lunch. our waitress could not get anything right and we waited FOREVER for our food. she ended up bringing out my milkshake after i had finished eating!! we left a 10¢ tip. the restaurant wasn't even that busy and she had someone helping her with her orders.

 

[mickiecake]

I voted yes because I DID stiff a waitron ONCE. I spent 3 years waiting tables in my 20s, so I am a very good tipper. This waitress was HORRIBLE. It wasn't that she was new, or anything like that, I can excuse being new. She just did not care. That I CAN'T excuse.

Oh, wait, you know what? I DID leave her a tip.

A penny.