What are your tips based on??

[Fishbone†]

I went out to eat with my parents tonight, and we had any interesting experience:

If you are Jason Lyons, please go straight to Section B. Do not pass Go.... do not collect $200.

Section A:
We were seated by the host soon after arriving, but unlike what I am used to, he didn't give us menus, rather he just showed us the table. We sat for no less than 5 minutes while others were seated and given menus, AND had their orders taken before my mom stopped the effecient waitress and asked if she was our waitress as well. Of course she wasn't, our waitress (here on after to be referred to as "Jo") was no where to be found, but the nice waitress (here on after to be referred to as "Ann") would go find her for us. Some task that must have been, because soon "Ann" returned with some menus and said someone would be right with us. "Jo" came right behind her, and murmured something about seeing us with menus, so didn't know..... blah blah blah. My mom (normally equipped with the patience of a saint), said in a tone reserved for those moments of exasperation......"we just got these menus 5 seconds ago".... fact was, I hadn't even had a chance to open mine. She asked what we wanted to drink, and promptly disappeared into her cave. We checked the menus..... read them two or three times, and when they began to yellow from age, we set them on the end of the table and waited. We waited while tables that arrived after us got their food. We waited while "Ann" serviced all seven of her tables to a tee...... we waited to even see "Jo", and then she came...... to put silverware on one of her 3 (and I'm not exaggerating) tables...... we waited while she disappeared only to emerge again to clean off the other of her three tables. My mom cracked.... she got up and asked if we could please have our order taken (we have now been at the restaraunt for 17 minutes). She comes over... very timid.... obviously scared of my mom. "Yes, ma'am", "No ma'am"...... I order a tuna melt.... HOLD THE TOMATO.... this is VERY important. It comes with a choice of soup or salad. I order the soup. Everyone orders. We wait a couple of minutes.... she comes back and tells my mom they are out of rye bread, but she can choose any bread she wants.... my mom orders sour dough..... "You can have any bread you want, wheat, white, sourdough" Again, my mom: "I'll take sourdough". Jo: "You can even have a croissant". Again, my mom: "No, sourdough will be fine". She disappears. Comes back a few of minutes later. Says to me "What kind of bread would you like?" I'm good with the sourdough it comes on, but "Jo" was just checking. *sigh* It has now been 26 minutes and our orders have yet to be started!!! My water glass is empty, and will remain as such for the remainder of the story. She brings my dad's malt which resembles an upside down Sundae.... maybe their mixer was broke?? No soup yet.... the meal finally comes... soup at the same time as the dinner...... My tuna melt curiously resembles a turkey sandwich with bacon. I can't eat turkey and chicken at restaurants.... I'm allergic to the preservative in "store" chicken. My mom offers to trade..... no thanks. This could be a long night..... I send it back. She brings me another...... she thought I said "Turkey Melt". A turkey melt, is not one of the menu choices.....all this time, she has served our table (if that's what you call it) and one other couple (poor things), so it couldn't be the pressure.

Section B:
So, here's where the question comes in..... my dad tipped her $3.00 on a $21.10 bill. I would have thrown a buck on the table for a "token" tip..... my mom didn't want to tip her at all. She barely did anything right, and there was little effort put forth. How would you have tipped, and what criteria do you use for tipping.....a solid percentage no matter what, or based on the service?? I'm just curious.

 

[JasonLyons]

someone call the long post cops

 

[Fishbone†]

I did it just for you Jason......

 

[Planogirl]

I would not have tipped at all based on what you posted. I tip 20% for truly good service (and even higher when outstanding) and 15% for just enough service. I could see going down to 10% for some flubs but this sounds like really bad service to me.

 

[kejoda]

Your Dad tipped her too much. Maybe a talk with the Manager, not so much to complain but to tell them she is having a off night.

I just have to know was this at a Perkins?

 

[Fishbone†]

I just have to know was this at a Perkins?

LOL - No Kejoda, but I know why you ask. Our waitress, by the way, was not young.... not old, but not young..... maybe late 30s??

My mom did fill out the food/service survey at the bottom of the slip, and I doubt she got a "satisfactory" rating.

 

[kejoda]

Would of bet money it was Perkins. I guess they haven't cornered the market on service then.

 

[cgcw]

Normally, we tip 15-20% depending on the service. Excellent service gets more.

In this case, I would have left a couple of coins on the table. That's more than she deserved. I'd never leave without leaving something on the table....they may think they did a good job and I just forgot.

 

[Granny]

We ran into a similar service problem about a year ago...and no, it wasn't a Perkins.

What we did was give the girl one dollar. But more importantly, we quietly went and found the manager and reported on the extremely poor service. He was very apologetic and wanted to give us a gift card for the restaurant. I told him I only wanted to let him know that the girl was losing business for him.


One follow up note. Some months later we were at the same restaurant. And we got tremendous service from the waitress. She got a healthy tip, and I quietly went and found the manager and reported on the excellent service. He was very appreciative...said people rarely take the time to pass on compliments.

Normally, I overtip a bit since I used to work for tips. But in the case of such poor service, I think any amount is fair.

 

[jfulcer]

So why was the "Hold the Tomato" important?

I think the tip was ok. I always figure people have bad nights, and a little is better than nothing. I certainly would have mentioned it to the manager, too...

 

[philaround]

I would not have left any tip and I also would contact the manager the next day and file a complaint about "JO"

 

[Jeff in BigD]

I would have probably just asked for a manager or asked "Ann" to go ahead & wait on you. "Jo" might have been mad that her table got jacked, but it happens. Idealy what should have happened was that "Ann" should have gotten your drinks (assuming they weren't from the bar) for you & then tried to find your waitress.

There is a chance that there was something else going on & "Jo" had to take care of something. Regardless, when there were problems, "Jo" should have sent a manager by to smooth things over.

As far as how the food looks, that's not something a waiter really has control over. I'm guessing it's not a restuarant you frequent often. Even if the food looked "a little off", it's not something the waiter is going to reorder for. Considering the explination to the cooks, refire & cook times, a restuarant tuna melt probably takes a good 10-15 minutes. While 10 minutes doesn't seem like much, try to wait 3 minutes before eating next time your out & the food arrives to the table.


A final bit of advice - don't leave less than 15% if it's a place you plan to return to. Waiters do remember good tippers, bad tippers & PITA, high maintenance customers. And like the saying goes - don't fool with someone that handles your food.

 

[JohnTBap]

You CAN leave restaurants, you know - BEFORE you eat or order....

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I probably would have left when I saw tables that arrived after me get their food.

My tipping criteria -- 15% as a base for adequate service, and go up or down depending on how the service was. That percentage includes drinks and tax (some people may or may not count drinks or tax in tipping).

Your dad's $3 tip on a $21 bill is 14% -- WAY more than what I would've tipped. I would have probably done $2 or about 10%, and had a talk with or sent a letter to the manager.

 

[believe]

We had very similar service just 2 Saturdays ago. Our waitress brought us someone else's appetizer and then tried to tell us we were lying and she did no such thing....I told her to ask the guy, I believe it was the manager, that I gave the appetizer back to. Then she returned with that appetizer and gave it to the people who had been waiting on it. I personally would not want an appetizer that had been given to someone else. I know we didn't touch it or sneeze on it....but they wouldn't know that.

In your case I definitely would have spoken to the manager. There is no excuse for bad service when the restaurant is not busy and she only had a few tables to wait on.

Bad service is 10%, excellent service is 20%.

 

[bumcat]

I once left one penny and also reported everything to the manager. Was told that they were having trouble with this waiter. He was extremely rude. He went nuts when we asked for more bread, water, etc. When my food came he acted like he was going to drop it on my lap and some of it (lasagna) ended up on the table. Thankfully they eventually fired him!

 

[RUDisney]

The last time we went to Red Lobster, and I mean LAST TIME, we left 2 cents for the waitress. When I told the manager about how rude and inefficient she was, he said that maybe it was because we had our kids with us.

I told him about the great service she gave to every child-filled table around us, but she had something against us. We tried to be nice to her, right from the start, but she came to our table with her horns on.

I knew that she would have figured that we were rude if we didn't leave a tip, and by leaving 2 cents, we were making more of a statement.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

If I have specific requests that require more work, I'll tip the server more than I otherwise would.

It always trips me out when a family comes in & the kids are in an unruly mood (tossing the sugar all over the place, spilling their drinks, running around the restuarant, etc) & only a portion of them tip for the extra work the server will have to do to maintain that table during & after their meal.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Jeff, I agree with you about some families with unruly kids not tipping well. I have been a waitress in a family-oriented restaurant for almost 7 years, probably about 75% of our customers are "regulars" and most of them tip great!
But, there are a few people with children that we just cringe when we see them walk in the door. Nobody wants to wait on them because we all know their table will be more work for us, and not a bigger tip for it.

And customers with no patience annoy me too. There is one elderly lady that comes in every Sunday with her friend. The friend is fine, very sweet, polite, etc. I don't mind waiting on her at all, but the other woman, yikes!! She has absolutely no patience! One time she was finished with her meal, and didn't want anything else so I gave her her bill and thought that was it. She stayed awhile longer, sipping her coffee, no problem. A few minutes later, just as I was going to my back table of 8 to see if they wanted drink refills she motions for me, I told her I would be with her shortly. I refilled the table's drinks, then stopped back at her table and asked "what can I do for you?" She got all huffy and said "well! I changed my mind and wanted a piece of pie but you wouldn't wait on me so I don't want it now!" I really had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her what I thought! Then, last Sunday she comes in again with her friend and lucky me had to wait on her. Believe me, I'm always polite and I smile and ask how they are, etc. but I still hate waiting on her, she's just so crabby all the time. This time was no different. I don't see how the other lady stands her actually! Anyway, when they were nearly done she asked me for more coffee and I said "I'll be right back with that." But as I approached the coffee machine there were customers waiting to check out. The hostess was busy seating other customers so I checked the people out. I turned and grabbed the coffee pot and went back to her table. It couldn't have been more than 1-2 minutes that I was gone, and she said "Oh, I thought you forgot me!" I just looked at her, smiled and said "I'm sorry, but I was busy with other customers." It's like she thought she was the only customer I had to take care of. Geesh!! Sorry this is so long, but I guess the "moral of my story is"....I think everyone should have to wait tables for awhile so they can really see what it's like. My Dad has absolutely no patience when we go out to eat. If the waitress doesn't come over to the table the moment he's seated, he's getting angry! It's ridiculous. Even if your waitress is "nowhere to be found", she could be in the back making salads for the table next to you, or she could be making a milkshake (yes, we use machines to mix them but the waitress dips the ice cream and has to stir it while it's mixing and just one shake alone takes about 5 minutes to make), or she could be on the phone in the kitchen taking a to-go order, or she could be in the bathroom because she's "had to go" for two hours but had no time and now she has to make time even though she's already behind...we sometimes work 5-6 hours straight with no break whatsoever. I'm sorry, I could go on and on, well I guess I already have....but this is a sensitive subject....so I'll just shut up about it now!

As far as the original question, how much would I have tipped her? Well, every waitress has an "off night" now and then just like anyone else with any other job they don't perform at 100% all day every day, right? I probably would have tipped her 10%.

 

[Cinders]

No way would I ever leave a bad waitperson 10%. I'm with bumcat....I leave one penny and usually a note saying why I left it. When a person is at work their personal life should not effect their job performance. If they're having that bad of a day they should have found a replacement. I'd have also asked Ann to get the manager.