Question about tipping with a breakfast voucher

[KEH]

Last year we had vouchers for a free character breakfast which we showed to our server at Cape May's before we began our meal as stated on the voucher. We fully intended to tip as though we were paying cash for the meal. However, as soon as she saw the vouchers, our server, who had been perfectly pleasant and friendly up that point, became decidedly distant and was hardly seen for the rest of the meal. We had to catch her as she passed by if we wanted more coffee or juice and it was done with a very bad grace. I don't think she was just having a bad day as she was perfectly fine with other guests around us. It was just us that seemed to be avoided.

The end of the story is that she didn't get the tip she was going to get because the service she gave was non-existent. Now her attitude may have stemmed from the fact that she had previously been stiffed for tips when people had vouchers (and yes, I know we probably just reinforced her view but in my book poor service is rewarded accordingly) who knows but it leaves me with a dilemma for my forthcoming trip.

As we have to show the vouchers early on, how do we communicate the fact that we are not cheapskates who won't leave a tip short of actually saying so to the server? How has anyone else handled this?

By the way, before anyone says that we should have compalined about the server's attitude, we did. My issue is not with her in particular but with the general situation.

Any advice please?

 

[KCMiller]

If you're talking about the breakfast voucher that you can buy from places like Hotwire and the like, the gratuity is included when you use the voucher - so not only did she know she wasn't going to get stiffed, it was in her best interest to take good care of you so she could double dip!

She just sounds like a lousy server. We had a similar experience when we ate at Rose and Crown last NYE - I knew that we were going to sit for a couple of hours extra, and didn't want the server to think that she would be stiffed for her time, so I led with a $20 (figuring that, for 2 people to sit for about 2.5 hours, that was a good starting point), and she was useless. After the first 45 minutes of waiting for our first drink, I had to go find a manager to help us. Not our fault, just a lousy server...


KC

 

[CarolAnnC]

Since the vouchers include tax and tip, I think there must have been some other underlying issue there. There are folks who do leave an additional tip, but the vouchers do already include one as I said, so perhaps she was just having a bad day?

Hope your next experience is a much better one! BTW, are these Hotwire SAvings Club type vouchers?

 

[KEH]

I probably didn't explain this properly. These weren't Hotwire vouchers that we paid for. They came"free" as part of the package we bought for our theme park tickets. Would the tip be included in this type of voucher as well? Not that I wouldn't tip anyway if they deserved it.

 

[KCMiller]

Even if you didn't pay for them, there is only one kind of breakfast voucher, and tax and gratuity is included.

I could be wrong, of course - but did you pay the tax? And was there a list of places you could use the voucher printed on it? If you didn't pay tax, and there was a list, then it was the usual breakfast voucher. We got those last year when we bought our park tickets through Paramount - we ate at Chef Mickeys.


KC

 

[KEH]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't realised that tips were included. Still, no reason to behave like a grumpy wotsit. I hope our server in a couple of weeks will be better.