And Dave has served me quite a bit of Patron. How can you NOT tip him well?!!

8/23/2010 3:03:20 PM

Patron has nothing on Avion

8/23/2010 3:04:58 PM

I'm a Don Julio man myself.

8/23/2010 3:06:18 PM

corazon is that fire

8/23/2010 3:06:36 PM

Quote :

"ITT - McDanger exposes his lack of understanding on how the real world works."

ITT - GGMon exposes his lack of understanding of how the "Post Reply!" button works.

(You should press it 0 times as opposed to 2.)

8/23/2010 3:45:23 PM

Quote :

"If a bartender can't remember how to make a drink, then they look like an idiot that can't do their job."

No no no no no. I have been there. Bartenders, when faced with making a drink they are unsure of the ingredients to, throw some shit in a glass and make sure to meet the vague requirements the name my imply, and hand it to whatever adult asked for it with generally no negative consequences whatsoever.

And those people who want to talk about their shitty lives at the bar, really do all the talking in those situations. All you have to do is show some empathy, and let them pour their hearts out, and make $Texas in the process.

8/23/2010 3:56:13 PM

Even buildings know how to tip

8/23/2010 4:11:29 PM

8/23/2010 4:12:02 PM

Quote :

"The reason why servers/bartenders make a decent amount of money is because they pretty much work a demeaning job and have to deal with assholes (like yourself it seems, at least after reading your posts) to perform their job."

Boo fucking hoo. Having to serve a few assholes is no reason for $10-12/hour. Plenty of people have to work demeaning jobs and deal with assholes (people in fast food for instance), yet they're not bringing in that type of money. So don't give me this sob story bullshit.

Quote :

"They are waiting on someone hand and foot."

Sounds like most other jobs, where you are waiting on your employer hand and foot. Sure, maybe you're not taking their lunch order, but you are doing everything that is asked of you. So again, spare me the bullshit.

Quote :

"They are doing the job of a maid, butler, servant (or what a slave would do back in the day)."

First of all, I'm sure the mexican maid at the Marriott who can't speak English gets paid less than $10-12/hour, and seldomly do they get tips. A butler/servant are often required to live with the people they serve, and they do a hell of a lot more work than you do, and they probably get paid less than you do. They literally have to devote much of their life to serving the people they work for. And don't even bring in slavery. There are so many more jobs out there that are more similar to slavery than a fucking waiter or bartender.

Quote :

"IMO, someone that has to serve another person should get paid more than minimum wage."

Depends on what you're doing and how many people are capable of doing it. The only reason why waiters make a lot of money is because of tips. The employer has made the customer the one responsible for paying the waiter, but unlike the employer, the customer has no idea how much the waiter is being paid.


Now lets talk about you jbrick83. You said you made $350 in one night. Would be a fair assumption to say that you probably worked 8 hours that night? You realize that comes out to be $43.75/hour. Right? Not including a base pay that your employer has to give you ($2.13/hour minimum). You realize that out of all the examples you gave (servant, butler, maid), you are paid the most, and out of those examples, it seems as though you were implying that they do a similar amount of work that you do. I mean, they do serve people, right? You serve people as well.


But the thing is, you are unable to step back objectively and say, "hey, I'm being overpaid for what I do." That's not a bad thing. More power to you! I know you want to hype up your job to make it seem like it's this backbreaking, demanding job. When in reality, you need to be a people person. You need to be able to interact with people and make them happy. It's not really hard for a lot of people. But you should at least be able to sit back and say that the system of tipping sucks.

It's no longer functioning the way that it was originally designed to be used. A tip used to be something that you was a bonus. If you went beyond the duties of your job, or you did an exemplary job, you should get a tip. But all to often I hear of waiter's and other people who get tips act like they are entitled to tips, and it's bullshit. You do the bare minimum of your job, or even if you do what's simply expected of you (refill my drink, take my order, bring my food), you people think you deserve a tip. No. You deserve a decent and fair wage for what you do. Because when it comes down to it, it's unskilled labor that you could train anyone to do. The only reason you guys get an ass load of money is because of some asinine custom from years ago that is quickly losing popularity in the world.

And to think that you need to tip for good service, that is just false. In many other countries (China for example, or Australia, and parts of Europe), tipping is not customary. Yet people still get great service. If you think we need to tip for good service, then that really speaks volumes about America's work ethic.

Even shitty waiters in the US still get their 15% of a paycheck. Hell, I had a shitty waiter at Denny's (my first mistake, right?). He was serving other people ahead of us (taking their drink orders and getting them drinks before us, and all we asked for was soda), we were there for almost an hour and a half, and all we fucking wanted was breakfast. When it came down to pay the bill, I believe my friends left him a tip, although I contributed nothing to the tip and told them I'm not tipping some asshole for shitty service. I think we ended up leaving him $1 on a 30 dollar bill. Go ahead, think I'm a bad person. I don't fucking care. I'm not going to tip someone who does a blatantly shitty job. They didn't earn it.


So go ahead and tell me, "you've never been a waiter/bartender/ect RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE" bullshit. It still doesn't invalidate my point about you guys being undeserving and overpaid.

8/23/2010 5:02:11 PM

I was going to be a waiter - then realized I had an IQ over room temp.

8/23/2010 8:21:23 PM

its not that complicated

Tip 0% for awful service
Tip 1-10% for bad service
Tip 10%-20% for good depending on location
Tip >20% for excellent

if they want a better pay they can do a better job or get a better job.

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

[Edited on August 23, 2010 at 8:29 PM. Reason : ]

8/23/2010 8:29:37 PM

Starbucks charges $5 for coffee and now I have to tip those assholes? Fuck that.

8/23/2010 8:42:23 PM

They get payed more than waitors or waitresses though, right?

They probably have a tip jar or something is what your talking about probably.

[Edited on August 23, 2010 at 8:46 PM. Reason : f]

8/23/2010 8:44:18 PM

Quote :

"No no no no no. I have been there. Bartenders, when faced with making a drink they are unsure of the ingredients to, throw some shit in a glass and make sure to meet the vague requirements the name my imply, and hand it to whatever adult asked for it with generally no negative consequences whatsoever. "

Depends on what you're making. You can do that for a fru-fru shot...but you can't do that for Judge Soandso who loves his Manhattan.

Quote :

"(people in fast food for instance)"

Fast food is completely different. You're showing your ignorance. Taking a "I want a #1, biggie size that, and an apple pie" is completely different than waiting on someone. In addition to food and drink orders, which can have many variations (the "dirtiness" of a martini, the type of garnish, a beer in a cold glass, the temperature of the steak, a burger cut in half, etc...that's 5 examples of a million that you get a server or bartender), you also get "could you tell someone to turn the air down", "can you get the Cubs game on?", "could someone sweep under the table", "could you turn the music down, it's too loud", etc." You can not even remotely compare a server to a fast food cashier. That alone bumps it up to the $10/12 mark.

Quote :

"Sounds like most other jobs, where you are waiting on your employer hand and foot."

Completely different again. Most office people are doing a specific job. They aren't serving their boss food or refilling his Coke at his desk (with the exception of a secretary refilling their boss's coffee). Again, you're arguments are continuing to hold no weight.

Quote :

"First of all, I'm sure the mexican maid at the Marriott who can't speak English gets paid less than $10-12/hour, and seldomly do they get tips."

They also can't speak English, so they disqualify from being able to serve tables and bartend. Let them learn the language and maybe they can get that bump in pay and work in the service industry.

Quote :

"A butler/servant are often required to live with the people they serve, and they do a hell of a lot more work than you do, and they probably get paid less than you do."

Considering that they don't have to pay rent/bills/etc., they probably end up with the same amount of money that a server does when you take into account the cost of living. And I'm doing something 95% of the time for the 8/9 hours I'm working. Probably about the same as a butler or maid.

Quote :

"The employer has made the customer the one responsible for paying the waiter, but unlike the employer, the customer has no idea how much the waiter is being paid."

I would say that a majority of customers know the low wages of a server. And the employer makes the customer responsible for paying the waiter because THEY HAVE TO. This again shows your ignorance of the restaurant industry. If restaurants were forced to pay their servers and bartenders minimum wage or higher, then the majority of restaurants would not be able to stay open. If you don't want to tip, then I hope you're okay with going to a nice restaurant and ordering your $40 steak at the front desk then going to pick it up when it's been cooked. Then going back up every time you need your glass of wine refilled. Because that's what would happen if restaurants had to pay their servers and bartenders minimum wage or higher.

Quote :

"But the thing is, you are unable to step back objectively and say, "hey, I'm being overpaid for what I do.""

Because I don't really think I am. There are probably over 500 bars and restaurants in Charleston (extremely rough estimate). Which means there are probably 10,000 servers and bartenders, with there being at least 1,000 bartenders, probably more. I have probably one of the top 20 bartending jobs in the city, maybe top 10. And I was handpicked for this job, partly because I know the general manager and partly because of my background.

I've worked my way to where I am. I waited tables when I was in college. The summer in between NC State and law school I moved to Wrightsville beach and bussed tables in the morning and was a door guy at a busy bar at night. Then I moved up to being a barback, then I bartended for a few weeks before moving to Charleston.

From there I was hired as a bartender at the busiest bar on Folly Beach. I worked there over the summer and then got hired at a Spanish Wine and Tapas Bar, one of the busier bars downtown. We had a wine list 150 bottles and 30 wines by the glass. I read and studied two different wine books and went through extensive tasting tests to learn the menu and understand wines better. During the two years I worked there we became the best bar downtown. Our wine list got recognized as one of the best in town, we were in several national magazines, including Southern Living, and got voted best downtown bar by the local paper. The bartenders worked their assess off. We got in at 3:30pm for every shift and usually didn't get out until 4am.

I quit that job to study for (and pass) the South Carolina Bar exam. After working small law jobs, I helped open up another high end bar. I made the beer, wine, and cocktail list for that place and was working 60-70 hour weeks for the first two months it was open. Unfortunately, I butted heads with the owner and left for my current job.

When I started working at my current bar, we had 4 bartenders and a barback working on Friday and Saturday nights. After one month I was made the bar manager, I fired three bartenders, and we were down to two bartenders with the occasional barback on the weekends...and our sales numbers were up.

In general, I don't think bartending is an extremely difficult job...but I do think it takes a certain type of person to do it. And at the highest level, it takes an above average level of intelligence and the type of personality that is not very common. I practice law part-time and charge $175 an hour for my services, and I feel like that's ridiculously overcharging. I sometimes make $500 an hour on a Saturday night bartending when I work 9 hours (over $50 an hour) and I feel a lot better about that number than I do about charging my clients for my attorney services. And it's an extremely "wearing" job. If you meet a bartender in his low to mid-30s, he's more than likely "burnt out", because he's had to deal with drunks and ass holes for the past 10-15 years. I'm 27, and it's starting to wear on me. But you've never worked in the industry, so I don't expect you to understand this. And I'm rambling, so I'm going to hit on maybe one other point in your post and then finish up.

Quote :

"And to think that you need to tip for good service, that is just false. In many other countries (China for example, or Australia, and parts of Europe), tipping is not customary. Yet people still get great service."

I've traveled all over Europe and the service there is HORRIBLE..and it wasn't because I was American. I met up with restaurant owners in France and Greece and we went to top-notch restaurants and got extremely poor service...and they thought it was normal. I think you go to mostly shitty restaurants (you did mention Dennys...). You go to a nice restaurant and bar and you usually get adequate to above average service from at least moderately intelligent people who know what they're doing.

Yep..that's about it. Go to nicer restaurants and quit being a cheap prick.

8/23/2010 8:45:37 PM

Starbucks is the fast food of coffee. There's A LOT more automation happening in making a drink there than at a traditional shop.

A Starbucks latte to a craft latte is like using margarita mix instead of making an actual margarita.

8/23/2010 8:47:57 PM

this thread sucks, why wont you people let it die


If you feel like reading:

as I've likely said multiple times ITT, I'll be the first to tell you that most bartenders make much more money than they probably should. Routinely making $200-400 a night (often more) for relatively easy work is nothing to bitch about. I'm quite happy with the income and very thankful for it. Sure it can be extremely stressful, certainly quite difficult at times, and dealing with the drunken scum of the earth is never something I look forward to, but at the end of the night I can leave work at work and sit down on a fat wallet. And besides, all gripes aside, it's generally a fun job.

My (initially unstated) drive in making this thread was not to whine about not making the money I "deserve," I certainly do plus some. It was more a statement of interest in the type of person that feels it justified to leave little or no tip. When it happens I'm rarely if ever mad about it, more just interested in knowing what goes through the mind of that kind of person.

I'll also be the first to tell you that you could train a monkey to pour a drink or change a keg, that's not the hard part. What requires intelligence is the ability to relate to, engage, pre-empt, and satisfy a gauntlet of different types of people. A good bartender can identify with almost anyone and make each individual feel important and attended to, even if the bar is packed. For that reason alone I wouldn't sell good waitstaff short by calling them unskilled or bottom-tier. There are many forms of intelligence and interpersonal skills, while not implicitly taught in any recognized institution, are skills nonetheless. Not everyone is cut out for bartending, not everyone is cut out for cooking, not everyone is cut out to play guitar or build a rocket.

Life takes all types, and all I ask out of people that willingly patronize a full-service bar or restaurant is that they simply consider their overall experience and tip accordingly, using tipping guidelines as only the suggestions they are.

8/23/2010 9:22:49 PM

I always tip well (15-20% + for food, sometimes 100% on a drink order)...unless they do something really bad, like set me on fire

The thing about being a server or bartender where I think the wages are fair, is because usually you get paid more for working harder. While much of that depends on how crowded a place is at a particular time, you're incentivized (is that a word?) to take on more customers, and therefore have more tips. A bartender might make $500 on a Saturday night at a crowded hotspot (or even more at some places), but sometimes a server at a slow place on a Tuesday might only make $20 in a day.

Plus hot chick servers make more than other servers, because all they gotta do is smile and male customers think they want to fuck them if they play their cards right, so they tip them extra

8/23/2010 9:35:59 PM

I had one of the worse waitress experiences. First, we sit down and she complains that the management did not let them know about the online lunch special (that should of warned us it would take forever, but we have a hour, for sure it would not take a hour to get the burgers). Well, she had a look on her face the whole time like she was mad, never smiled. First, it took her like a couple minutes for my drink, but for the other three coworkers it took long enough for our conversation to go to why she hasnt brought them the drinks (10 minutes at least). She finally brings them and then we wait another 40 minutes for the burgers (one of the coworkers finally told her that we only have a hour for lunch). So, we have about 10 minutes to eat and it wasnt even anything great (all the while she has the upside down smile going on, never once smiled). After we ate, we have to wait another 10 minutes to pay, this brought the conversation to what we should tip this sorry ass no smiling (even fake would of be better) complaining waitress. Two of us put $0 (I was one of the two), one gave her like 80 cents and the fourth, she is always generous, gave her more than she deserved (along with a note that explained why she got a terrible tip, saying a smile never hurts, that coworker is like that, she has to explain it, she is also the one that asked where our food was after I mentioned to her we had like 10 more minutes, I knew she would ask based on past experiences, she will go hunt down the waitress, lol).

8/23/2010 11:33:30 PM

Where does jbrick83 waitress?

8/24/2010 9:39:03 AM

tipsters are worse than hipsters.

8/24/2010 10:02:33 AM

lol at "tipsters"

8/24/2010 10:06:08 AM

what do managers usually say to their waitstaff when they complain about their tips?

8/24/2010 10:18:40 AM

Some version of "Fuck you", I'd imagine

8/24/2010 10:20:31 AM

what do managers usually say to their waitstaff customers when they complain about their don't leave any tips?

[Edited on August 24, 2010 at 10:28 AM. Reason : ]

8/24/2010 10:28:15 AM

My bosses have always given me the green light to question a customer about a tip. It's usually okay if you phrase it in a form to better your service, like:

- "Excuse me sir, was there something wrong with my service, or your meal, or maybe your cocktails?"

- "What??"

- "I'm just trying to figure out why you left a $3 tip on a $71 tab. I'd like to know if I did something wrong so I don't make the same mistake again."

- "Oh...omm, there was nothing wrong with the service."

- "Gotcha. Was just trying to make sense of a less than 5% tip."

- "I'm sorry, I must have written down the wrong number" [proceeds to write down a "13" instead of "3" and changes the total]

I've never had a bad confrontation using that method and the person ALWAYS puts down extra money. I have had some fellow bartenders get in arguments, but they usually take an aggressive or sarcastic tone when using this approach...so they usually invite it.

[Edited on August 24, 2010 at 11:06 AM. Reason : .]

8/24/2010 11:00:33 AM

see that sounds reasonable.

but im more interested in what a manager would say to one of his staff that complains about someone leaving $3 on $20.

8/24/2010 11:11:28 AM

My GM would probably just laugh. He constantly makes fun of our servers. I've got an annoying bartender that comments about EVERY SINGLE FUCKING tip we get...complains about the small ones and busts a nut over the big ones. JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY...IT ALL EVENS OUT.

8/24/2010 11:13:26 AM

jbrick83, where do you work?

8/24/2010 12:16:39 PM

if I left you a $3 tip on $71, then it's because you gave me exceptionally shitty service. If the first time you give me any worthwhile attention is to question me about the tip I left, then you are going to be in for a serious confrontation.

8/24/2010 12:34:47 PM

^If I had given him shitty service, then he wouldn't have added the $10. He added the $10 because I served him every beer and shot that added up to that $71 tab in a matter of 45 minutes. We had slowed down towards the end of the night, so it was even easier to give everyone full attention, and that particular customer got a new beer before he had finished the last one. I don't think he even had a chance to ask for another beer...I pretty much asked him if he wanted one, he would look at his current beer at its low state, then say, "yeah, thanks."

I wouldn't ask someone that question if I knew I gave them shitty service. He was just a cheap fuck, got called out on it, and proceeded to do what he should have done in the first place, which was tip appropriately.

8/24/2010 12:40:31 PM

Quote :

"Fast food is completely different. You're showing your ignorance."

Looks like you are showing YOUR ignorance.

Sure, a cashier doesn't go into as much detail as a waiter, but they still take your order, will get you drinks and refills (depending on the store's setup), as well as change the TV for you (especially since many fast food places are putting in TVs). Yeah, they don't come to you, you go to them. But you're still unable to objectively say that waiters get paid too much money. You are unable to separate your emotions from rational thought. Whether you like it or not, cashiers are in the service industry.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't make that money. I think CEOs are overpaid too, but I'm not going to try and dictate their pay as long as I have no say in it. But when it comes to a waiter, if they simply do their job, they'll get a tip from me, but it won't be some big fat fucking juicy tip. They will get 15% and I will round down. I don't go out to restaurants much, so I don't care if they remember me or not.

And if you have a problem with it, or anyone else for that matter, tough shit. If your employer is going to let me, the customer, decide how much your service is worth, then that's the risk you take. Who the fuck are you guys to tell me that you deserve a full 15-20% tip? If you're going to treat your customer differently, or treat them poorly, then it is you who is an ungrateful spoiled brat who lacks work ethic. And rest assured, if you do run into me, and you provide me with shitty service, I will have no problem complaining to your manager, and if you decide to fuck with my food, or if I think you fucked with my food, I will ensure you get fired. Your motivation for doing your job properly should be no different than any other person's job, the threat of being fired. Unemployment is a pretty good motivator, and a hell of a lot cheaper.

Quote :

"Completely different again. Most office people are doing a specific job."

LOL! No. It's not. You are serving your boss. A lot of office work isn't tied to doing just one thing all day, but rather taking on different types of projects, paperwork, ect. The difference is that most people who are doing office work may actually have times during the day when they have to make a judgement call and think for themselves, unlike a waiter, who is told what to do.

Quote :

"They also can't speak English, so they disqualify from being able to serve tables and bartend. Let them learn the language and maybe they can get that bump in pay and work in the service industry."

*sigh* There are also people who know English who are maids too, and you know that. You also know they're making the same wage as the non-speaking Maids.

Quote :

"Considering that they don't have to pay rent/bills/etc., they probably end up with the same amount of money that a server does when you take into account the cost of living. And I'm doing something 95% of the time for the 8/9 hours I'm working. Probably about the same as a butler or maid."

Perhaps, but you don't have to devote your entire life to someone. You actually have free time.

Quote :

"I would say that a majority of customers know the low wages of a server. And the employer makes the customer responsible for paying the waiter because THEY HAVE TO. This again shows your ignorance of the restaurant industry. If restaurants were forced to pay their servers and bartenders minimum wage or higher, then the majority of restaurants would not be able to stay open. If you don't want to tip, then I hope you're okay with going to a nice restaurant and ordering your $40 steak at the front desk then going to pick it up when it's been cooked. Then going back up every time you need your glass of wine refilled. Because that's what would happen if restaurants had to pay their servers and bartenders minimum wage or higher."

*sigh* Again, you seem ignorant of the fact that many other countries around the world don't make their waiters work for tips. Don't even sit here and tell me that restaurants have to. They could easily pay them a fair wage and put a sign in the restaurant telling the customers to not tip. But THEN, the waiters wouldn't be making the overinflated wages that they are used to. I would actually be fine if food prices in a restaurant were increased by 15% and given to the waiter. And if the waiter does a shitty job, I have no problem complaining to the manager and having them canned.

And unlike most people, I'm not lazy when it comes to getting my food. I really don't mind refilling my drink (don't most waiters leave the bottle of wine on the table anyway? ) or getting my steak. And yet, somehow, Hardees (or one of the fast food places), has no problem bringing your food to you while not requiring you to tip the employee. It's quite remarkable.

But go ahead, think I'm "ignorant." You're only saying that because you know what I'm saying is true. you know you are making an overinflated wage, along with most other servers/bartenders. I said you make about 40+ dollars per hour. That's over $75,000 per year, assuming a 40 hour a week work schedule. Obviously, you said that was on the low end, so it could be as high as $80,000/year.

Yeah. You're overpaid. The only problem with your job is the lack of mobility. Since your wage comes from tips, I doubt there really is any kind of "bonus" for most bartenders.

Quote :

"And I was handpicked for this job, partly because I know the general manager and partly because of my background. I've worked my way to where I am."

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

Quote :

"as I've likely said multiple times ITT, I'll be the first to tell you that most bartenders make much more money than they probably should. "

That's all I'm saying. And from what I gather, paerabol, you're a bartender? I'm not saying that you have no right to make that much, or that you or jbrick83 are bad people for making that much.

But from what I gather about jbrick83, is that if he started bringing in $200/night, he would probably bitch and complain about how the people in the bar are cheap bastards (assuming the amount of people in the bar didn't fall off), and I wouldn't be surprised if he started doing a shittier job and started dumping his nuts in people's drinks. And just for the record, $200/night equates to $25/hr, DAMN fine money for a bartender.

There's nothing wrong with making an overinflated amount of money. I wouldn't complain about it, but I also wouldn't complain if I started making a more realistic and fair amount of money per night. But that's because I'm not ungrateful with an over-inflated ego.

8/24/2010 1:21:52 PM

I was going to start to dissect your post to point out all the wrong things AGAIN, then I read this:

Quote :

"I don't go out to restaurants much"

SHUT THE FUCK UP. You're like the dumb girl in Sports Talk talking about hockey when she's only watched two Stanley Cup games five years ago when the Hurricanes won. You have no clue what you're talking about.

8/24/2010 1:26:50 PM

yeah because eating food and paying for it is about as complicated as hockey

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/24/2010 1:32:22 PM

Its complicated when the person on one side goes to Denny's a couple times a year and the person on the other side has been working in bars/restaurants for 10 years and goes out to a nice restaurant at least once a week.

It's like two guys arguing about money when one guy manages a hedge fund and the other balanced his checkbook for the first time last week.

8/24/2010 1:39:41 PM

these threads aren't even entertaining anymore

8/24/2010 1:49:17 PM

TOTALLY dick move jbrick83, confronting a customer about their tip.

I agree with whoever said it up there, that, when I left a tip it was for a god damn reason and I don't have any problem telling you what it was if you asked about it. I hope you run into some bitches who have no problem telling that $3 is what they think your service was worth.

I'm AstralAdvent and I approved this message

[Edited on August 24, 2010 at 3:10 PM. Reason : ]

8/24/2010 3:10:14 PM

jbrick83 DID NOT call out someone on his tip. Its just something he wish he had the balls to do.

8/24/2010 3:31:12 PM

I only do it when I know I've given good service and the person is being a cheap prick...like a lot of the posters ITT.

I wouldn't do it if there was a possibility that person got bad service. And none of you internet bad-asses would do anything if you got confronted like that at a bar (except for maybe eleusis), you would stand there stammering like that idiot did Saturday night, and then you would throw down some extra money...that is, if you had it.

8/24/2010 3:38:37 PM

so recap (don't feel like reading the whole thing)- is 20-25% tipping bad?

i mean, is 4-5 on 20 bad? in the grand scheme of things, it isn't much more than 3...

8/24/2010 3:41:42 PM

Neither one is bad. But not tipping $1 on a $9 beer at a concert is bad.

8/24/2010 3:42:22 PM

I do 15%, unless the chick is hot.

I have tipped 0% and told the waiter how epic his level of suckatude is.

8/24/2010 3:43:45 PM

Lol, jbrick83, time for my favorite going out story of all time:



Some buddies and I (about 8 of us in total) walk into an otherwise completely empty restaurant, except for another table of four (people we also knew) who were there. We walked in and were told by the hostess(?) to pick wherever we'd like to sit and our server would be with us.

After a couple of minutes, a server comes and takes our drink orders. About ten minutes later, she actually comes back with those drinks. Then she tells us she'll come back and take our order. We're still having fun sitting around and talking, so we don't care that she doesn't come back for another 15 minutes. She takes our food order, then we don't see her or our food for about 75 minutes. We understand it should take a little time, but what can we do? We've not gotten a single refill this entire time. We ask for refills when she comes with our food, she responds, "You know you only get one free refill, then they cost extra?" to which we respond, "well, bring us our free refills." Then we turn our attention to our food. Oh, we notice, about six of us need eating utensils, and we all need napkins, and we need ketchup, etc. We wait for about 5 minutes for her to come over, or at least look at us so we can get her attention (we don't want to wave our arms around like douche bags) but she never does, so we send one of the group over to the bar where she is to ask for some silverware. THE WAITRESS POINTS MY FRIEND TO THE KITCHEN, TELLS HIM TO KNOCK ON THE DOOR, AND ASK WHOEVER ANSWERS TO BRING OUT A TRAY OF UTENSILS FROM WHICH HE IS SUPPOSED TO PICK WHAT WE NEED AND TAKE IT TO US. Yes, the server tells us to get our own silverware. Then we start eating, and about 15 minutes later she brings our refills. We eat our dinner, fuming at this point, and we pay her as close as we can to exact change in cash for our meals. She has not added the auto gratuity to the tickets because we got our meals separately. As she is taking the money and our tickets she is counting it and remarks, "What is this? None of you guys are tipping me." To which I exploded with a rant about how awful her service was and how long we had to wait and that we had to get our own silverware, and she's lucky we're even willing to pay for the meal. Hell no she is getting no tip from us. So she storms off and we leave, and as we leave she comes out of the kitchen with a guy dressed as her manager, and she mentions that we didn't tip to him, but I heard her, so I lodged a formal complaint with him on the spot. Not that it did any good... But it made me feel better.


I have absolutely no problem telling bitches that they don't deserve anything extra than their 2.70/hr if they don't provide me with good service.

I also tip well when I get good service, though.

8/24/2010 4:01:18 PM

^That sounds horrible, yet funny at the same time. She was justified in not getting a tip. I've fortunately never had a bad experience like that. I've had long waits for food, but they're at places that are extremely too busy and I usually cut the kitchen some slack (if your food is taking a long time, its either the kitchen's fault because they're in the weeds or the waitresses because she didn't put in the order...I'd say 95% of the time its the kitchen...so don't take that out on the waitress). Sounds like this lady might not have put in your order...then realized it half an hour later and decided to put it in.

Where exactly were you eating?

8/24/2010 4:30:07 PM

burgers and salads mostly. I think one guy had a philly cheesesteak... Nobody had anything more complicated than that

And it's not that we didn't get our food for 75 minutes. We didn't even see her, not one time. So after about 40 minutes, when we were finally like, "fuck where is our food." She never came and assured us it was coming, or gave us an ETA. And then it was constantly like, "well, surely it'll be out in the next ten minutes or so." and when it wasn't, well surely it was almost done THEN, we'd already waited this long, we might as well just wait for it to come out... To no avail!

[Edited on August 24, 2010 at 4:36 PM. Reason : ]

8/24/2010 4:34:56 PM

"Where" not "what"

8/24/2010 4:36:08 PM

oh, hahahahaha


I forget. Some restaurant in Florida, in a big mall type thing on a pier. I was travelling with my high school band at the time, so I don't remember where exactly we were at that point

8/24/2010 4:37:42 PM

I get the feeling that most of these bad experiences are happening at really shitty places...Denny's/Applebees/Strip Mall type joints.

I think I'm spoiled because there are so many people in Charleston where the service industry is their life blood and they take it seriously and do the job the way it should be done. Most high school/college students who do it just for beer money or just people in general who don't need it to pay their bills...usually do a shitty a job at waiting tables...as with any job for that matter. Down here, it's almost everyone's profession.

8/24/2010 4:42:27 PM

Honestly, the best service I have gotten has been in not so upscale average restaurants managed by smart owners/managers.

In my opinion service at the so called “premium” restaurants tend to be too intrusive a lot of times which I do not like. I don’t like it when they try to make fake small talk, etc, to show off good service. I consider these as wannabe premium restaurants which have a long way to go.

In a real good high end restaurant, good service is experienced by the customer, not forced upon him, the provider of service is not noticed until you actually think about the service you got.

[Edited on August 24, 2010 at 4:59 PM. Reason : a]

8/24/2010 4:56:30 PM

I just want to point out that I generally tip whenever someone does me a service. If that's a server, a tow-truck operator, a bartender, or what have you, I like to tip. It's a thank you for doing me a service regardless of how much you're being paid as a base.

To me, it's like saying, "Hello, human. I, too, am a human. Thanks for that lift."

8/24/2010 11:53:24 PM

I had a smiliar expeirence to the one above...that really long one...

Well we had the tip added to our checks and we were pissed, cause that bitch didn't deserve it at all. We were the only ones in that resturant and she couldn't even refill the water. We only got one refil the whole time we were there.

Anyway, we called up the manager and was like "we know she was giving us shitty service because we are young and she was going to get a tip from us anyway since we were in a larger group" the manager took off the tip and we all gave her much smaller tips than what was added on our checks.

8/25/2010 12:04:57 AM