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I just read an article of disgruntled waitresses saying how
they deserve a tip for service, even when service is the worst? They voiced the
opinion that tips should be mandatory. That got me to thinking since I don’t
feel tipping should be mandatory, not when servers and service vary from one
place to another.
How do you feel about that? Do you believe a waiter/waitress
deserves a tip even when they offer horrible service or no service at all? Do
you leave a tip when the service is horrible? Why or why not?
Here’s my take on the subject…
When I go out to eat, I go out to escape the humdrum of
cooking and eating at home. When I go out to eat, I expect to receive good
service; excellent service if I eat at a fine dining establishment. I have no
trouble tipping the wait staff accordingly when I can sit and enjoy my meal
without fuss and muss. Over the years of having resided in thirteen different
states and three countries, I’ve eaten in a great deal of restaurants, small
and large, café to fine dining, dine in and dine out, take out and take away,
etc. You get the idea.
When I go out to eat and the service is minimal or adequate,
but nothing above what is expected, I’ll leave a small tip to reflect the small
amount of service given. When I dine out and get lousy service or no service,
the server gets no tip and rightfully so, as far as I am concerned. When the
service is excellent, better than I could have hoped for, I have no problem
leaving 15% to 20% of the bill.
I define lousy service such as when the wait staff takes too
long to serve us, and when they finally do they’re rude and inattentive, or
display an attitude that they’re doing me a favor. On top of that, the order is
incorrect or unsatisfactory, such as cold food or missing sides. Further, when
the wait staff doesn’t check on us during the meal to see if we need something,
such as condiments that aren’t on the table or they forgot to bring; that is
another minus. My biggest pet peeve is when our meal is finished and the server
doesn’t take away our plates, passing by our table several times without
clearing the table and neglecting to ask if we want anything more like dessert
or coffee. As far as I am concerned, no tip is warranted. They didn’t earn it.
If they wanted a tip, they should have done better by me and my table. Tips are not mandatory and should never be. In
Europe, they’re definitely not, and I have no idea why in this country why wait
staff believes it is or should be. I hear how wait staff earn about $3.50 per
hour, which is supplemented by customer tips and that is why we should tip.
Sorry, I don’t agree with that. Wait staff know what they are going to earn
when they take the job. No one forced them to do it. And if they want customers
to tip and supplement their paycheck, then the wait staff must earn their tip.
No one tips me for doing my job. Why should I be obligated to tip you,
especially when you provide lousy service? Being a waiter or waiter is not an
easy job, but one does not need a degree in rocket science to be a waiter or
waitress. They couldn’t have a much simpler job. I tell you what I want to eat
and you ensure I get what I ordered, hot and prepared the way I ordered it.
Adequate service for me is when the wait staff provides the
minimal service to get by: they take my order and serve the meal. They’re not
rude, yet they’re not friendly either. Everything is provided for me to eat my
meal and I have no complaints, until the plates are not taken away and the
server neglects to ask me if I would like to order dessert or coffee. In this
instance, I subtract an amount that I would have given and instead I provide a
small monetary tip and tell them why, in person or on the bill.
Excellent service is above and beyond what I expected. The
food is delicious; the service is friendly, yet professional, and we didn’t
have to complain about anything and everything was perfect: it was a fine
dining experience. In that case, I tip anywhere from 15% to 20% the amount of
the bill and voice our appreciation to the server.
We know a person that whenever he dines out, he places a sum
of cash at the end of the table and tells the server that the cash is their
tip. They’re also told that if they get excellent service, they get the entire
tip. If they don’t, some cash is subtracted from the amount on the table. This person
always gets excellent service.
While in college, I had a friend that provided tips in
compensatory to the level of service provided. I’ll never forget it. I admired
her gusto. She was the type of person that when she saw someone throw litter
into the street, she didn’t hesitate to give them a lecture to pick it up and
they did. One afternoon, we went out to
a diner for lunch. Service was horrible and the server was rude. When we left,
we paid our bill and my friend gave the server a penny from the change. The
server gave my friend back the penny saying it was her change. My friend handed
it back to her and simply said, “No. It’s your tip. That is all you deserve for
the lousy service you provided.” The server, of course had nothing to say. She
had merely earned that penny and not a penny more. I’m sure that after we
departed she had a few choice words to say how cheap we were, but seriously,
the service was horrible.
Sure, some people are cheap when they go out to eat. They
expect excellent service and don’t leave a tip. So what? This is America. This
is a free country. That is their right. Tipping is not mandatory. I’m sure not
every one of your customers is just being cheap to be cheap. Perhaps, money is
tight, yet they deserve to eat out. They can’t afford the tip, so they don’t
tip. Should they feel guilty about it? Absolutely not. Perhaps, those other customers that didn’t
tip, is because they tipped before for servers that didn’t deserve
it and swore never to tip again because of it. I know. I’ve taken that oath a
few times myself and kept it. I only broke it when I was presented with an
excellent dining experience. If a customer doesn’t want to tip, they don’t have
to and they shouldn’t feel badly about it. To wait staff out there, don’t like
the tips or lack of tips customers don’t give you, get another job or provide
better service, but don’t act as if it is owed to you when it is not. Most
people now days are just getting by. They shouldn’t have to stay home when they
can afford to eat out just one night a month or less simply because they can’t
afford to tip. To tip or not to tip, is a question and the answer is entirely
up to you the customer. Don’t tip if service is lousy; it just enables the
server to continue to provide lousy service. Don’t tip because you feel guilty
about not leaving a tip. You don’t have to leave a tip.
Anyway, that is my take on it….So, tell me what you think
about the entire concept of tipping. Do you think it is mandatory, even when
you receive poor service? Do you tip even when you really don’t want to? Why or
why not? This is your place and time to vent; positive or negative…let’s hear
what you have to say.
Regards,
SSilva
