Tipping -- I've never seen this happen

[sweet angel]

So my friend and I head to the mall today for Christmas shopping and lunch. We decide to go to Applebees and get drinks. Then we decide to get appetizers. Then we decide, screw it, we're having early dinner.

So we get our drinks and our dinners. The waitress is like "like oh my god!" -- valley girl -- dopey girl. She brings us one round of drinks and takes our order and we don't see her til it's check time.

Another waiter brings our meals and our 2nd round of drinks.

Bill is $46.00. Friend puts her debit card out, I give her $23. We put a $10 on the table intending to leave it as a tip. Waitress brings her the receipt to sign and then takes the receipt, and reaches ACROSS THE TABLE AND GRABS THE $10, says, "Thanks!" and walks away.

We just sat there for a minute like did that really just happen? That was rude! She really had no way to know that the $10 was for her or if we planned to get change. We were dumbfounded!

Is this the new norm?????

 

[bettyann29]

I agree that was rude.. I've never had this happen.. how would she know that was really all for her??

 

[N&B'smom]

We just had a very interesting experience at Applebees too. It was a brand new one, just opened up a few weeks ago. Was this a new one for you too? Our waitress didn't grab money off the table but she kept messing things up. She took our drink order and we didn't see her again for quite some time. She went to get a refill of my dd's chocolate milk and came back with white. My son ordered a Shirley Temple w/ EXTRA cherries, it came with ZERO cherries. Then he asked for a refill, we stressed the bit about extra cherries and this time she brought him white milk. We finished eating and she finally came over to our table to take our order AGAIN! We had to tell her that we'd already eaten. This girl is not destined for a career in waitressing.

Shelby

 

[bicker]

I've never had anything like either of those two things ever happen to us at Applebees.

 

[inaminute]

That was just plain rude.

You know, the mood I've been in lately, I probably would have complained to the manager. Then, I would have left zero tip.

I think it's PMS.

 

[MushyMushy]

I don't usually have good experiences at Applebees. We love their food most of the time, but the service leaves a lot to be desired.

One time, though, we were kind of glad for the usual bad service. We were doing a mystery shop there and we kept saying it would be just our luck to have good service for once.

 

[sweet angel]

We just had a very interesting experience at Applebees too. It was a brand new one, just opened up a few weeks ago. Was this a new one for you too? Our waitress didn't grab money off the table but she kept messing things up. She took our drink order and we didn't see her again for quite some time. She went to get a refill of my dd's chocolate milk and came back with white. My son ordered a Shirley Temple w/ EXTRA cherries, it came with ZERO cherries. Then he asked for a refill, we stressed the bit about extra cherries and this time she brought him white milk. We finished eating and she finally came over to our table to take our order AGAIN! We had to tell her that we'd already eaten. This girl is not destined for a career in waitressing.

Shelby

Nope, not a new one. It's an established one in a mall location. I've usually had really good service there with friendly waiters/waitresses. We were totally stunned when she just grabbed it and left. I probably should've said something to the manager, but we didn't.

I hope you didn't leave a tip after all of that!

 

[M 'n C]

wow. that was rude of her to assume all of that was for her.
I usually have pretty terrible service at the applebee's back home and at ruby tuesday. I have never waited tables but I don't get why the waiter/ress assigned to the tables doesn't serve the food or take care of the tables the whole time you are dining. Half the time I never know which person to flag down when I need something.

 

[Buckalew11]

My BIL and sister had a similar experience at Appleby's in SC. He left the tip and the waitress made some rude comment that it wasn't enough $$ !!! She had already picked it up and had it in her hand and he walked over to her and asked her for the money back. Her jaw dropped and he told her next time she should be grateful for the 20% tip. BIL is a generous tipper but not someone to mess with like that!

 

[dmslush]

I've never had that happen, but once while at applebees, I have a waitress keep my coin change. She brought back the bills to the table, but kept something like 60 cents. I found that incredibly rude and pretentious of her. That was all the tip she got from me that night.

 

[tiggersmom2]

My BIL and sister had a similar experience at Appleby's in SC. He left the tip and the waitress made some rude comment that it wasn't enough $$ !!! She had already picked it up and had it in her hand and he walked over to her and asked her for the money back. Her jaw dropped and he told her next time she should be grateful for the 20% tip. BIL is a generous tipper but not someone to mess with like that!

Bravo to your BIL!!! I would have loved to see the look on her face.

 

[Poohnatic]

I have never waited tables but I don't get why the waiter/ress assigned to the tables doesn't serve the food or take care of the tables the whole time you are dining.

I can answer this one: some restaurants REQUIRE servers to run food to all but their own tables. Otherwise, some servers stand around the kitchen, waiting for only the food for their tables while other meals get cold.

How rude of that server, though! Buckalew, your BIL had the right idea!

Suzanne

 

[sweet angel]

I'm not trying to bash Applebees. This could've happened anywhere, I guess.

We were dumbfounded.

 

[Hedy]

I can answer this one: some restaurants REQUIRE servers to run food to all but their own tables. Otherwise, some servers stand around the kitchen, waiting for only the food for their tables while other meals get cold.

How rude of that server, though! Buckalew, your BIL had the right idea!

Suzanne

Interesting. I might dash an e-mail off to corporate re the OP's deal, though.

 

[N&B'smom]

Nope, not a new one. It's an established one in a mall location. I've usually had really good service there with friendly waiters/waitresses. We were totally stunned when she just grabbed it and left. I probably should've said something to the manager, but we didn't.

I hope you didn't leave a tip after all of that!

We have two near us, one is a new one and the other is in a mall location, The Hamilton Mall. The problem we had was at the new location.

Shelby

 

[sweet angel]

We have two near us, one is a new one and the other is in a mall location, The Hamilton Mall. The problem we had was at the new location.

Shelby

I thought it was Ruby's at Hamilton Mall? I love that mall BTW! The one I'm talking about is Ocean County Mall. I'm thinking maybe I'll call the manager tomorrow and just advise him that perhaps he should instruct his servers not to do that.

 

[Banzai]

Another reason food is not always run by your server is that if the food is up, the Expo has it run to you so it is fresh...rather than having it set for eight minutes while your server runs food to their other tables, gets drinks, ect...

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am a snot and would have chased her down to get it back. You're more restrained than me

 

[jennyf917]

wow. that was rude of her to assume all of that was for her.
I usually have pretty terrible service at the applebee's back home and at ruby tuesday. I have never waited tables but I don't get why the waiter/ress assigned to the tables doesn't serve the food or take care of the tables the whole time you are dining. Half the time I never know which person to flag down when I need something.

As a Ruby Tuesday bartender/server, I feel compelled to explain why you see different people. We work in teams of 2 in a section, and each treat the whole section like all of the tables are ours. That way if your drink is close to empty you don't have to wait for your specific server to notice. Also, there is a policy when it comes to running the food to the tables that it has to go to the table immediately when it's ready, regardless of whether the server is there to take it or not. Hopefully this means that you don't have to wait for the things you need. Since we all are supposed to follow this policy, it benefits all of us. Obviously, it doesn't always work this way. So if you're in a Ruby Tuesday and you need something, feel free to flag anyone down for it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That is not the norm--I would have had fun making the scene though.

"Excuse me--I had that out so that I could get change, run to the store next door..." whatever.

Servers should wait to receive their tip--not steal it.