is it ok not to tip a lousy waiter/waitress?

Answer 1

Absolutely! If everyone continues to tip out of feeling it is mandatory, there is no reason for wait staff anywhere to try to improve or care about the service they give.
When I waited tables I never expected a tip I didn't deserve.

Answer 2

I am a waitress and I think there are a few things you have to consider...
1. We make less than 3 dollars a hour, this means when I get a two week paycheck for 45 hours, it averages around sixty dollars. I know its not your fault but that is the way it is because the tips we make allow for us to be paid about half of what the minimum wage is.
2. What is your definition of lousy? If they are making mistakes, it is probably because they are busy and trying to remember 20 things at one time. People don't appreciate how hard that job can be, we don't get breaks, we work up to 12 hours at a time without eating, we get screamed at by the cooks all the time, and customers can be really rude to us and we can't do anything about it. Even if it doesn't look busy, sometimes I am still running my *** off because I have a high maintenance table or because we aren't fully staffed and I have too many tables, etc. There are a lot of extenuating circumstances that can affect how well a server can do their job. We only have two hands.
3. The only time that I wouldn't tip is if the server is EXCEPTIONALLY bad or negligent. I went to a diner one time and we were the only table in the restaraunt, we were there for quite awhile and we only saw our waitress twice, once to take our order and once to bring our food. We were drinking coffee and we usually need refills very often. I literally sat there for 45 minutes without seeing our server. In a case like that, I wouldn't leave a good tip, although I might still leave something. That's just ridiculous. Also, if they are really rude, i'd leave a bad tip. one time we were at Eat-n-Park and we were there for a long time and our server was annoyed and made the hostess tell us to leave. Now we weren't going to tip anything at first because she assumed that we weren't going to compensate her for the extra time we sat there (which you should consider when tipping, if you were there for four hours, you should tip a lot more than if you were there for 30 minutes, regardless of the check total) which we had definately planned to do since we are all servers. But we figured that a better thing to do would be to tip her really well so she would feel stupid for making assumptions, so we left her like 15 dollars. And i bet she felt really bad about it, I would.

My point is, you should try to be understanding, especially if you've never had to serve before. It's an exhausting and extremely stressful job. I've only had maybe one or two servers in my life who were so bad that I wouldn't tip them and those were extreme cases. I think you should always tip, even if your server is bad because then you are the bigger person. That's my opinion being a server and a customer.

Answer 3

Depends. Was she lousy because she is the only waitress there, after all the others flaked, and it's a Saturday evening and busy as heck. Then no, consider the situation. If she's just lousy because she's a rude, miserable, snotty hag, than by all means still tip her with a penny, that will get your point across.

Answer 4

it is common cuertosy to tip a waiter/waitress however... if you are not 100% satified with the service then you shouldnt tip... its a human right. also report bad service to the management

Answer 5

I like to let them know that I was not pleased witht he service by leaving a very small tip (fifty cents maybe?). I would hate for them to think their service was fine and I am just a non-tipper.

Answer 6

Yes, but let the manager know of the terrible service that you received.

Answer 7

yes they are suppose to work for a tip i mean its not that hard to smile and tend to what they customers need...now if she was really busy and wasnt able to get to your table that often then it is a bit of an excuse.

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

NEVER HAD ONE BUT IF I DID { NO TIP}

Answer 10

NO!