restaurant service

[daniwong]

Things that annoy:
The "I hate that guy" waiter like in Office Space. Leave me the fuck alone dammat.
Not refilling my drinks on time. Especially when I ask.
Putting pickles on my burgers. I like them on the side thank you.
Forgetting the ranch. When I specifically ask for it. And then when you bring the food and I ask for it again and you still don't bring it and I am stuck sitting there staring at my food.

Tipping - always do 12%. In my state - that is the amount they get taxed whether you tip or not. I will always do bare minimum. Normally its higher.

[Razorfish]

Attitude, drink refills, and attentiveness all determine how well I tip. I also understand how frustrating it can get when a restaurant is very busy.

A good friend of mine told me some horror stories of his waiting job. Everything from people throwing food at him to sweet elderly couples who don't seem to tip at all. And when it was busy, the rude people come in droves.

Some restaurants now work the tip automatically into the bill. An example would be Dave and Busters, a chain restaurant/entertainment center. Even if you thought the service was poor the server still got their 15%. Maybe it does good at stopping cheapskates but is something like this really neccessary?

[wolf]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Actually a little more due to another transaction downstairs. Well, she was....ah...perky.

You go, Bruce!!!

Case ... I think that rather than younger people tipping more, I perceive this as a case of older people thinking that the amount they are leaving is worth more than it really is ... old people tend to think in 1958 dollars. Everybody had an aunt that sent the two pristine one dollar bills in the Christmas card, right? She considered that a lot of bucks. Old folks tipping a dollar or two is an extension of this same effect. Got my mom to stop this one by giving her one of those tip calculator cards. And a magnifying glass.

In my universe, the gratuity is provided only in the face of decent (15%) to exceptional (20%+) service.

If the service sucks there ain't no tip coming -- it does have to suck MAJOR ass, or involve a serious problem on the part of the waiter. This is not something I pull cavalierly.

Real Life Example: Friends of mine and I were at a SciFi convention at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philly. We decided to treat ourselves to a REALLY nice lunch in the Atrium restaurant in the hotel, rather than heading out into the streets. The waiter still holds a place in my mind as the worst possible waiter in the universe. We were able to compare his behavior with OUR teeshirt clad group with that of some business-suit and tie MFers at the next table. THEY got great service. We got cold food, missing side-dishes, coffee slopped into the saucer and onto the table, and no offers to view the dessert tray. When the time to settle up the bill came, he got exact change. No tip. And we let him know the reasons why verbally, along with advising him that our usual minimum tip starts at 20%, which he blew, because he treated us poorly solely because we were there for the con and he figured he wasn't getting the tip from us that he would the expense account asswipes at the next table.

I have also been known to leave tips for bad wait staff undearneath an overturned glass of water. Surface tension is our friend.

Over the years there have been a few restaurants that my friends and I have gone to that resulted in a "special" relationship with the (usually night) staff. We amused them, and tipped well. They would aid us in our endeavors sometimes, like by providing us with all the plastic creamer buckets in the restaurant just to see how high a tower we could build. Little did we expect they'd held some back, and then attempted to destroy said construction by throwing the remaining creamers at it until it collapsed. We'd also occasionally end up with free food ... "Yeah, some dude in nonsmoking said we put too much whipped cream on this Sundae. You want it?" We spelled out "THANK YOU" in assorted change for one of our favorite waitresses. At the same place (Denny's - West Chester Pike in West Chester)

Ah, those were the days ...