How many of you leave a tip in a Restaurant even if there service was not very great?

Question

I was wondering. I've had a bad experience with one place and my brother in law insisted in leaving a tip.~Okay.

Okay, well our plates were all over our table,never once offer more drinks or coffe!And when we wanted to get her attention, we never could~

Answer 1

In the situation you described (not getting seconds on beverages) I'd probably leave a lowish-end tip. When it comes to the plates being all over the table I think customers usually have a couple of hands and could arrange the plates as they like.

In general, when it comes to tipping, I take the principle of tips' being associated only with the quality of service more seriously for high-end restaurants where one pays a good price for a meal but where the restaurant tends to "promise" excellent service as well.

When it comes to lower end/"family" type restaurants, where you pay about $8 for an adult's meal and are given the choice of fries or cole slaw with your selection, I kind of figure the customer shouldn't be looking for much beyond a server who isn't rude and a bill that is correct.

Many times someone server or a couple of them will call in sick, leaving the place short-handed. Sometimes a bus load of people shows up, obviously without warning. These places pay their servers far less than minimum wage because they get tips. I, personally, think they should be paid minimum wage and still get their tips.

These people are usually either young kids with their first job, people who need extra money to pay an electric bill or buy their kids' books for college, and sometimes even people who are not able to get better jobs because they may have "personal limitations". They usually do as good a job as they can within the context of what is going on at the restaurant. Sometimes they're new to the job and just haven't gotten a "system" down. In any case, if I'm paying $8 for a meal I'm not looking for any particularly "la-di-da" service at this type of place. Etiquette-wise, I think there's something to be said for being an understanding patron a good part of the time. Also, no meal that one gets at this type of place is ever so special it matters all that much. There's always tomorrow's lunch if today's isn't great (most of the time).

At this type of place, if the flatware isn't clean I'll hand it back. If there aren't enough napkins or creams for my coffee I'll ask for more. If I had to wait too long and couldn't get someone's attention I may even go ask the cashier to send someone over. If the meal is cold I'd probably live with it. If I don't get my salad I'll probably just ask for it to be removed from my bill. If too many crummy things go on related to the "dining experience" I'll probably leave a 10% tip because 10% sends the message while still showing that I'm reasonable enough and decent enough to sort of understand the situation. There is, however, something very mature and understanding about being someone who tries to have a "these-things-happen" attitude when some of the relatively minor things go on.

I kind of think this way: If someone is wealthy enough to hire his own servants and request they do things the way he wants, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, someone sees the servers at the local Applebees as their only shot at being "pampered" or "catered to" that attitude, itself, is not proper etiquette. When servers are not our personal servants and we, instead, must share them with everyone else at Applebees there is a certain amount of "catering to" we aren't going to get with our quesedillas.

If I think things (at any type of restaurant) are really nicely done, I'll leave a particularly decent tip. If things are "normally ok" I'll leave the 15%.

When you go to lower end restaurants you're pretty much paying for dishes that don't have food chunks on them and ending your hunger pangs or sitting down with someone and having a conversation. When you go to a higher end restaurant you're also paying for service.

Is it "ok" etiquette-wise to leave no tip? I believe that's what "official" etiquette rules say would be ok. Is there, however, a higher level of etiquette involved in showing a little understanding and decency when things weren't quite the way we would have preferred? I think so. There's something very gracious about a little overlooking once in a while.

Answer 2

Actually, the best way to handle extremely bad service is to ask for the manager. This might mean that you have to get up off your keester and find an employee instead of waiting for the obviously absent staff to come to you. It is NOT a requirement to leave a tip -- it's a way to let your server know that he/she did a good job. If he/she simply did his/her job, that's worth a tip, if he/she did an excellent, above board job, that's worth a larger than normal tip. If a server and the staff in general doesn't do their job at all, that means NO TIP... but did you get your food? Was the order correct?

They still get a paycheck -- a crappy one, but the service you received seems to match the lousy base pay they receive. The people responsible for your table obviously didn't care about getting a tip, so you shouldn't leave one. But again - if service is that bad, you really will get the message across much more clearly by seeking out the manager.

The funny thing is -- I usually receive the best service in restaurants where one might not even expect any decent service. It's often the snotty expensive restaurants where the servers act like they're doing you a favor.

Just remember -- if any of the expected service is rendered (like did they bring you your order and was it correct), you should leave something, even if it's a small percent.

Answer 3

I have waitressed for 26 years. There are those customers that do not tip well, but then you also have some that tip wayyyy beyond what is normal so the day is not at all a loss. If I have three tables tip badly, you can bet I had 5 tip really well, so it all makes up for itself. Now ( gere) apparently you have never waitressed!! You can NOT compare a waitress to a cashier!! Give me a break please!! Employers that have employees that make below minimum wage, have to make up the difference, if their tips do not bring up their pay to minimum wage.In other words, if your tips and your hourly pay is not averaging minimum wage then the employer pays the difference this is a law. Now that being said MOST waitresses make and bring home WAY above minimum wage. I have now opened my own cafe. I pay my servers 4.00 an hour. Waiting tables is one of the top hardest jobs out there. If you are a server my hats off to you!! If anyone disagrees with me then I say you go wait tables for two weeks if you can last that long then come back and tell me different. For the low tipping patrons, a server does more then just bring your drink and take your food order then bring it back out to you. A server has a list of duties to fill before the doors are even opened to the public. There is all kinds of prep, stocking, cleaning, coffee to make tea to make and so on....then when it is time to close up there is another long list to be done. So please take all that into consideration when you are getting ready to leave a tip. I have to say this again a server has a very hard job. If our customers had to be a server for a day not even a handful would make it. So from a retired server turned owner to all of the servers out there. My hats off to you all!! Keep up the good work, and don't ever be afraid to ask your boss for a raise. If you are doing a great job, then they will know it and be ready to give you one.

Answer 4

I always leave a tip, but it depends on how well they do. At the beginning of the night I plan on giving then 15%, but if they are really bad I will take it down to either 5% or 10%, but if they are really good I make it like 20% or 25%. I have been known to also leave 100% tips for extreamly good service!

Answer 5

When the service is poor, pull out a stack of bills and place them on the table. Inform the server that that is their tip, as long as the service is good, the tip will stay, if my glass goes empty (or something to that effect) I will remove some money until the service improves or the tip is gone. This works for me.

Answer 6

Well, unless the tip is mandatory don't tip the waiter if you had really bad service. But sometimes just to be polite leave a small amount and leave a mess at the table

joking about the last one

Answer 7

A tip is a special thanks for good service and not to be given compulsorily. If the service was lousy I speak up with my mouth and with my pocketbook. I judge whether the waiter or the cook was at fault. If the waiter took care of the problem with my meal by addressing the cook I will tip him. If my waiter was inefficient, even if the food was great, I will not tip him.
I don't believe in eating at restaurants that make tipping mandatory.
That is the long and short of it.
Mr. M on "tipping."

Answer 8

The thing to keep in mind is that most waiters only get paid $2.13 an hour. They rely on tips to live. And everyone has a bad day now and then. If they walk up to the table and spit in your food or something, that's different. But forgetting to refill drinks or writing down your order wrong is something that is always going to happen. Leave a tip anyway. Just reserve the GOOD tips for good service.

Answer 9

I think it's an insult to people who provide good service to leave a tip when the service is bad. I was treated horribly by a waitress (probably because she took our over-niceness as weakness) and I did not leave ANY tip.

Answer 10

I usually leave SOMETHING unless it is extremely terrible service! There was a time that my husband actually had to get up and get a refill himself along with other issues with the service...needless to say, we didn't leave a tip, AND we filled out a comment card (we did get a $10 gift card in the mail as an apology).