Thursday, February 14, 2013

Eating out and Tipping:Should I or shouldn't I?


Hello...hello....hello, and how are you today? Should we get started with this week's topic? A consumer's blog isn't just about your experiences with big business. Here, you can share anything you want to discuss; If it is about you and money and the means you spend it, here is the place to discuss it.
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, cafĂ© 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

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