Well, it's rerolled so I am ok with being considered a guy, or as the case seems to be these days, a tranny.
It probably works out in my favor if you just assume I have a wang for all the aggressive ranting about MMOs I do.
Should you tip the waitress and how much thread
- Thread starter Izo
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It probably works out in my favor if you just assume I have a wang for all the aggressive ranting about MMOs I do.
This must be the new hipster topic.
I'll toss my hat in the ring.
A tip isn't suppose to be mandatory. If you think your waitress performed well then tip them accordingly. If I didn't enjoy my meal because of something they did (or didn't do) I wouldn't tip them.
I can understand telling somebody why you aren't tipping them, constructive criticism might help but for the most part I'd imagine a waitress would just ignore it or call you an asshole.
If it's just some sort of philosophical bullshit as the reason you aren't going to tip them, just leave the tip with zero and don't say anything. Standing at the cash register (or writing on a receipt) isn't the place for some sort of abstract or metaphysical debate. Keep that shit on your bumper stickers.
I'll toss my hat in the ring.
A tip isn't suppose to be mandatory. If you think your waitress performed well then tip them accordingly. If I didn't enjoy my meal because of something they did (or didn't do) I wouldn't tip them.
I can understand telling somebody why you aren't tipping them, constructive criticism might help but for the most part I'd imagine a waitress would just ignore it or call you an asshole.
If it's just some sort of philosophical bullshit as the reason you aren't going to tip them, just leave the tip with zero and don't say anything. Standing at the cash register (or writing on a receipt) isn't the place for some sort of abstract or metaphysical debate. Keep that shit on your bumper stickers.
Yes it is and if the server fucks the customer with shit service, the patron should reasonably respond. I'll come to terms with it a good while after you come to terms with being an ignorant fuck, deal?
You may want to refer back to the FSR where it began where my whole argument was not tipping shitty service, judging by your nasty ass bathroom pic from FoH. I'd say basement living was a better description of your lifestyle.
Dis
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Sithes, your problem is you don't articulate or in this case write your opinion very well. Maybe the fact that everyone is arguing with you, but as it turns out agrees with you when you simply say "don't tip shitty service" is a problem with your posts, and not so much a problem with the people who are calling you a dumbshit.
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Thought I'd respond and poke the retard some more ^_^ I tip good service well. Odds are better than most. But the key word is "good" service. Average service? Means you did not go above and beyond the call of duty for me or anyone with me, and for that servers deserve nothing above and beyond their wage. Do something worthwhile and I'll make it worth your while; refill my water and take my order? That's your job. You already get paid for that. If I don't tip a server for bad service, that is the server's fault, not mine. I've been doing this long enough to know when I'm getting the run around by a server or a bartender. Mediocre service deserves a mediocre response.
You sound like a server I would fire the first week =| Your manager did a terrible job letting you hang on for 6 months.
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Correct! It pays well enough, and it also means I know infinitely more about this topic than you do. =)
Agenor
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Would love to hear what people here define as "average" or "bad" service. Yes there are plenty of terrible servers out there, and have no business in the industry. That aside. I have a feeling most here believe slow service = bad service.
There are plenty of slow ass kitchens out there too. Bad bartenders, hosts, bus boys etc. A good server isn't going to intentionally give you slow service, they want you in, and out to clear open another spot. When the kitchen fucks up your rare steak, and sends out medium who do you think suffers? You haven't gotten that free refill asap, thank the 3 year old who trashed the hell out of your station, that your stuck cleaning for 10 minutes, and the genius parents just let them do it. Or my personal favorite the customer who has no clue what they want, or have a thousand questions about the product even though it's clearly stated in the menu.
Can't say it any better then everyone else here, it's simple. Just reward good service.
There are plenty of slow ass kitchens out there too. Bad bartenders, hosts, bus boys etc. A good server isn't going to intentionally give you slow service, they want you in, and out to clear open another spot. When the kitchen fucks up your rare steak, and sends out medium who do you think suffers? You haven't gotten that free refill asap, thank the 3 year old who trashed the hell out of your station, that your stuck cleaning for 10 minutes, and the genius parents just let them do it. Or my personal favorite the customer who has no clue what they want, or have a thousand questions about the product even though it's clearly stated in the menu.
Can't say it any better then everyone else here, it's simple. Just reward good service.
Bad service is getting orders mixed up, not bringing drinks after being reminded a few times, forgetting things like napkins or silverware, arguing with the customer over something trivial, not knowing the basics of specific foods - if I ask what it means by "mojo Caribbean flavor" you should be able to tell me. Don't know what kind of oil shit is fried in? wtf.
Average service is getting relatively what you ordered, in a decent amount of time (but not as fast as they probably could have). They don't check in often, and aren't too concerned with you once your food is brought to you, but they were careful enough to get your order right and made sure you had the essentials.
Best service is getting everything right, recommending foods/additional things like specific sauces, drinks etc (which is ridiculous, because this upsells so why you would not do this is beyond me) refilling drinks or asking if you want another without you having to flag them down, bringing extra napkins if they see your kid went through the cloth/paper ones, informing you of anything "odd" with food. (Allergens or weird takes on specific recipes that people might not be used to). If something is wrong, apologizing without excuses and simply making it right, etc.
There's shit tons of things you can do really, to be considered a good server, you don't have to do all of them, so if you're leaving them all out, you suck. Being in the weeds doesn't constitute a complete and utter lack of regard for a table who is relying on you for their service.
Average service is getting relatively what you ordered, in a decent amount of time (but not as fast as they probably could have). They don't check in often, and aren't too concerned with you once your food is brought to you, but they were careful enough to get your order right and made sure you had the essentials.
Best service is getting everything right, recommending foods/additional things like specific sauces, drinks etc (which is ridiculous, because this upsells so why you would not do this is beyond me) refilling drinks or asking if you want another without you having to flag them down, bringing extra napkins if they see your kid went through the cloth/paper ones, informing you of anything "odd" with food. (Allergens or weird takes on specific recipes that people might not be used to). If something is wrong, apologizing without excuses and simply making it right, etc.
There's shit tons of things you can do really, to be considered a good server, you don't have to do all of them, so if you're leaving them all out, you suck. Being in the weeds doesn't constitute a complete and utter lack of regard for a table who is relying on you for their service.
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Customer questions are great, but it takes a fairly decent server to get descriptions out of people that match items a restaurant actually produces. Nothing is more confusing than a person asking if salmon is white and jumping immediately to what 100+ bottle of wine they should purchase to compliment it. The good servers can convey an item and -still- sell that bottle, while the bad ones will make people look stupid and end up botching what should be a 200+ tab into something with zero apps/deserts and a camp session.
Average service I would describe as thus:
You greet your table, explain specials(if applicable. If not applicable, Denny's need not apply here) and then ask if people are ready to order. If no, head back to the kitchen or another table and repeat. Come back to table in 5-10 minutes (depending on business, of course) or faster if flagged down and get orders. Take orders back to kitchen, tend to another table/hang out/wrap silverware/whatever, wait for meal to pop. Take meal to table, refill water, ask if they need anything, vanish for 10 minutes. Come back, ask if they are done, refill drinks/ask if they want anything. Repeat till they are mostly done, then push desert if applicable. Be pleasant the entire time.
That is average service. If you are getting paid x dollars an hour to wait tables, that is the bare minimum you need to do to be considered average and simply doing your job. Prompt your table for ideas; make little appropriate jokes; compliment people on attire. Shmooze. Try and upsell everything while making it seem like it is far better than it is. Come across sincere and not "I am doing this so you give me more money" and for god's sake, if you fuck up apologize immediately and find a way to fix it right away, don't wander off to the kitchen and ask them to recook a steak and stay gone for 12 minutes while they speed-rush a medium. Stay available so if they change their mind you can get it moving immediately.
That? Is good service. Better than that? Make me forget money is an object in regards to the meal and you deserve 20%+. I've tipped $50 for a 20 dollar meal because the dude was on top of his shit, kept the atmosphere light and was obviously juggling a shitload of tables and they were -all- happy. I wanted that guy to come out ahead even if his other tables weren't going to break the 10-20% range.
Like I've said before. Reward good service, don't reward people for just doing their job.
Average service I would describe as thus:
You greet your table, explain specials(if applicable. If not applicable, Denny's need not apply here) and then ask if people are ready to order. If no, head back to the kitchen or another table and repeat. Come back to table in 5-10 minutes (depending on business, of course) or faster if flagged down and get orders. Take orders back to kitchen, tend to another table/hang out/wrap silverware/whatever, wait for meal to pop. Take meal to table, refill water, ask if they need anything, vanish for 10 minutes. Come back, ask if they are done, refill drinks/ask if they want anything. Repeat till they are mostly done, then push desert if applicable. Be pleasant the entire time.
That is average service. If you are getting paid x dollars an hour to wait tables, that is the bare minimum you need to do to be considered average and simply doing your job. Prompt your table for ideas; make little appropriate jokes; compliment people on attire. Shmooze. Try and upsell everything while making it seem like it is far better than it is. Come across sincere and not "I am doing this so you give me more money" and for god's sake, if you fuck up apologize immediately and find a way to fix it right away, don't wander off to the kitchen and ask them to recook a steak and stay gone for 12 minutes while they speed-rush a medium. Stay available so if they change their mind you can get it moving immediately.
That? Is good service. Better than that? Make me forget money is an object in regards to the meal and you deserve 20%+. I've tipped $50 for a 20 dollar meal because the dude was on top of his shit, kept the atmosphere light and was obviously juggling a shitload of tables and they were -all- happy. I wanted that guy to come out ahead even if his other tables weren't going to break the 10-20% range.
Like I've said before. Reward good service, don't reward people for just doing their job.
At the same time, I can appreciate partly where people are coming from. A desk job, even if I have to talk to customers, will generally pay the same amount whether I decide I want to browse rerolled all day or if I actually get work done.
It's not so for servers, and requires them to always be on top of their game. However, that's true for any job that is commission, the only difference is that not everyone has intimate knowledge of a restaurant, and your server can get fucked for something not their fault. (Admittedly, I find it's just about always the servers fault, but ymmv.)
It's not so for servers, and requires them to always be on top of their game. However, that's true for any job that is commission, the only difference is that not everyone has intimate knowledge of a restaurant, and your server can get fucked for something not their fault. (Admittedly, I find it's just about always the servers fault, but ymmv.)
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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For bare minimum service? Yeah, if that's all they do, they are already getting paid for that. If they can't pull a tip from a table, they deserve the $8 an hour they are going to get for doing a mediocre job. And odds are they aren't going to be waiting for very long (here) if that is all they do. Like I said, after dealing with them for awhile, I have literally zero empathy for the majority of servers who give average service yet expect tips above and beyond their pay. Cali might be a bit different from DC when it comes to wage minimums and state law, but if servers don't get tipped they make minimum wage here. The restaurant ends up footing part of the difference if they sell lots of food and report zero tips, which means the server doing that is looking for a new job fairly quickly.
I'll definitely say this: we generally don't get people who tip shitty by principle. Coming into my restaurant in the area I live in means you are generally middle class+ or trying to impress someone. So if someone doesn't get a tip/bad tip? It is 99.99% because they did a bad job. Or they got the Armenian guy who comes in and orders six lobsters and tips 8.25% on a 500 tab. The new guy/girl always gets that gentleman.
General Antony
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See on paper that sounds good getting to the table as much as possible of course. Everything Vex, Rezz is dead on accurate on what great service should be.
There was no way in hell though at our location where servers on the busiest nights of the week are spending that much time at one table. By the time you got their drinks, bread, salad etc all the stuff before the actual entree, and schmoozed on top of it, other tables would hit the exits. We did way to much volume, and our servers were dealing with 6-8 tables per station.
If it were slow, shit yeah you would get amazing service. This is the only type of restaurant I've worked at though, so I'm sure it's different everywhere, but we were dealing with 1200-1500 on fri/sat nights.
There was no way in hell though at our location where servers on the busiest nights of the week are spending that much time at one table. By the time you got their drinks, bread, salad etc all the stuff before the actual entree, and schmoozed on top of it, other tables would hit the exits. We did way to much volume, and our servers were dealing with 6-8 tables per station.
If it were slow, shit yeah you would get amazing service. This is the only type of restaurant I've worked at though, so I'm sure it's different everywhere, but we were dealing with 1200-1500 on fri/sat nights.
Minimum wage for tipped employees here is $2.13 I believe. If the reported tips for the total pay period don't add up the the normal 6 or 7 per hour, then the restaurant is required to pay the difference. People who are so bad at their job that this scenario comes into play though are out of the industry so fast it doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure we're on the same page on a lot of things here. Your definition of average and good service sounds pretty much like mine, you just tip less than I do for average service. It's the people who tip 10% or less for decent service but with one mistake, by the server or kitchen, that I have a major problem with. Them or the mouth breathers who don't tip because "why should I have to pay their wages".
There's always times where you are crazy busy, most customers are understanding though. There's a definite difference between "You are busy, but the customers see you at other tables and know that you will get to them" and "Your tables don't know where the fuck you are".
There's a definite "rhythm" that a good server gets into; you can do a lot in a small amount of time - just seeing the server every once in awhile will go far.
Like I said, there's a lot you can do to be considered "good", you don't have to do all of it. Give them what they expect, be polite, offer a few tidbits here and there and that generally counts. Even when you're in the weeds and juggling shit tons of people, you should be able to toss a few things to every table.
If you're just getting started, you probably are just adjusting to time management, because that is the #1 thing that is often an issue in restaurants.