Really poor food and sevice....left a negative tip!

Great movie. Not a big fan of his other movies, but Reservoir Dogs was really good.
 
Deelee said:
Great movie. Not a big fan of his other movies, but Reservoir Dogs was really good.
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There are a few good ones he directed. Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Once upon the time.... Reservoir Dogs is the original
 
So, how do you deal with the situation when the restaurant owner is also your server?

The local pub I hang out at to have a late lunch with wine is normally staffed by one person during the day, who doubles as the cook, and three days out of the week it is the owner himself. I still tip as I would otherwise.

Different places have different ways of handling tips. Some places collect all of the tips and distribute them out equally afterwards. Which, makes tipping according to the level of service pointless anyway.
 
Been so long since I've seen that movie that I forgot the reference.
 
Dana said:
Uh... no, they don't. They make less than minimum wage; their tips are expected to make up the difference.
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See #43. But to your point. That's not exactly accurate. In some states you have "tipped minimum wage" in other's you don't(so you make minimum wage without any tipping, tips are extra). But even in the states where you have tipped minimum wage, your employer must insure that you always get at least regular minimum wage. Even if you don't make any tips that period. So, in essence, by law, they should make minimum wages. Whether that always actually happens or not is another matter entirely(it doesn't) and it's in the same category as "do waiters report all their tips to IRS(they don't)"
 
I always leave a tip. Might be only a quarter if I consider the service bad. I also ask if tips are shared.

If something is not right, talk to the manager.

Years ago after a race in Louisiana we stopped to eat in a well known restaurant that is popular in the south and is famous for it's waffles. Our waitress's stick boy druggie boyfriend showed up. He did not like her working at night and tried to make her leave with him. He was very loud and physical in his demands. Well, in the process of his voicing his displeasure our order got knocked on the floor.

Our buddy Allen*, who I have described here on PoA before, had enough. He jumped up and grabbed stick boy, folded him in half and threw him out the door. Stick boy didn't like being treated in that way and proceeded to vent his displeasure verbally. Allen is also as fast as he is ugly. He grabbed stick boy again and took him across the parking lot and dumped him in the ditch that happened to be full of water. And had a short conversation with him.

Stick boy eventually got out of the ditch. He looked around, then got in an old beater druggie car and left. Other customers took Allen's actions as night time entertainment and applauded as Allen walked back in. The manager on duty, who looked very nervous at this point, was very appreciative of Allen's actions and comped us for the meal.

However, stick boys girlfriend, our waitress, did not appreciate Allen being physical with her loved one. She came back during our meal to fill water glasses. After filling glasses she spilled the rest of the pitcher of water on Allen. All we could do at that point was laugh.

The manager was mortified. Allen looked like he was ready to clear the joint, but finally started laughing as well. On our way out we talked to the manager, who by now was sweating profusely and really white faced, and left a 20 dollar tip with instructions to share it with the kitchen crew.

Point of the story, when it is time to eat, don't mess with Allen's food. Oh, and tell the manager on duty if something is not right with the service or food. It also makes the manager happy to hear good things about the staff so I will do that as well.



*I should write a book, ''Adventures With Allen''....
 
My worst experience ever was last month. I waited tables all through college and am pretty easy going. Completely ignored by waitress at steak place, order messed up, manager trying to help by bringing some of her order out. He within a foot of me when she dumps a full glass of ice water. No "I'm sorry", "oops" or anything. They half arsed the clean up leaving most of the ice on the carpet and the booth seat wet ...:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
steingar said:
The OP is a thief and is bragging about it. I find the behavior reprehensible. The service could have been poor for reasons out of control for the server. If things aren't to my satisfaction I may forego a tip, but I also let the management know my beef. I've never been comped anything in the very few times I've done this, but it is a service to the management. Just because they didn't make me happy doesn't mean the staff didn't earn their keep. Most of these folks are poorly paid wage slaves as it is. And recent events haven't made things any better for them.
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The negative tip notwithstanding, if the server was experiencing a problem they should have got the manager involved and the manager should had advised the customer of the problem.
 
I spent many of my younger years (high school - through college) working in many different parts of the restaurant industry. I cooked, bussed tables, served, washed dishes. I ended up marrying a pretty little gal that put herself through college serving tables. We have both moved away from that line of work, but the experiences have stuck with us. We have learned to truly appreciate great customer service when we get it. We have learned that when the service isn't up to par, it's likely out of control of the server. We almost always tip 30% because we know many don't and the extra $5 means a lot more to that server than it does to me. We both have good careers and we both knew how much it meant to us when someone would leave us more than we expected. As others have said, it's always good to tell the manager if your service was good or bad, and be specific.

No one gets into being a server because the minimum pay is $4.33 per hour, they do it because they know they can earn tips, and likely take home more than many other entry level jobs. You can blame whomever you choose, but it's certainly not the servers fault. For those posting that its not their problem the restaurant doesn't pay enough, you are correct, it is not your problem. Without systemic labor reform, law changing, etc this "problem" isn't going away and those attempting to earn a living have to earn when and where they have the opportunity to do so. I'm not saying we need to hand out hugs and sing kumbaya but it doesn't hurt to give a little extra to those that could use it. Maybe they don't deserve it. Maybe the company could be paying them more but the owner has a vacation home to pay for. Maybe the service actually did suck. Rather than maybe this, and maybe that, and government shoulda, business shoulda....... You can honestly make someone's day at most sit down restaurants (aside from fine dining), for less $$ than it costs you to taxi, run up.

I have never given someone a great tip and not felt better on the drive home.
 
Deelee said:
That whole post was a big quote from that movie... Steve Buscemi
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Reading it and sort of voicing it with a internal voice, I pictured a complete douchebag saying it. Not a suprise that it is a scene of Steve Buscemi playing that character.
 
1SGBrokePilot said:
I spent many of my younger years (high school - through college) working in many different parts of the restaurant industry. I cooked, bussed tables, served, washed dishes. I ended up marrying a pretty little gal that put herself through college serving tables. We have both moved away from that line of work, but the experiences have stuck with us. We have learned to truly appreciate great customer service when we get it. We have learned that when the service isn't up to par, it's likely out of control of the server.
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Food coming out cold from the kitchen: Not servers fault.
Plates for different members of the party 10 minutes apart: Not servers fault.
Drink orders messed up by the barkeep: Not servers fault.
Not writing down an order and getting it wrong: 100% servers fault.
Not paying attention to your table or ignoring a guest trying to get your attention: 100% servers fault.
Having a snippy comeback if the guest asks for something: 100% servers fault.
.
.
.


While 'poorly managed restaurant' and 'bad server' often go together, there are certainly times when in an otherwise good place you end up with a slug or scatterbrain for a server.
 
Deelee said:
Uh uh, I don’t tip. No, I don’t believe in it. … Don’t give me that, if she don’t make enough money she can quit. … I don’t tip because society says I have to. All right, I mean I’ll tip if someone really deserves a tipping, if they really put forth the effort, I’ll give them something extra, but I mean this tipping automatically, it’s for the birds. I mean as far as I’m concerned they’re just doing their job. … She was okay. She wasn’t anything special. … Look I ordered coffee all right? Now we’ve been here a long [darn] time, she’s only filled my cup three times. When I order coffee I want it filled six times. … The words “too [darn] busy” shouldn’t be in a waitress’ vocabulary. … [gosh darnit], these ladies aren’t starving to death. They make minimum wage. I used to work minimum wage and when I did I wasn’t lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tip worthy. … You know what this is? It’s the world’s smallest violin playing just for the waitresses. … So is working at McDonald’s but you don’t feel the need to tip them do you? Well why not? They’re serving you food. But no, society says don’t tip these guys over here, but tip these guys over here. That’s [rubbish]. … [screw] all that. … I mean I’m very sorry the government taxes their tips. That’s [messed] up. That ain’t my fault. I mean it would appear that waitresses are one of the many groups the government [screws over] on a regular basis. I mean show a piece of paper that says the government shouldn’t do that, I’ll sign it, put it to a vote, I’ll vote for it, but what I won’t do is play ball. And this non-college [rubbish]... I got two words for that: learn to [gosh darn] type, ’cause if you’re expecting me to help out with the rent you’re in for a big [darn] surprise
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What do you mean you don’t believe in it? C’mon you! Cough up a buck, ya cheap
bastard, I paid for your ******n
breakfast.
 
I’ve said it before, I dislike the entire practice. The money isn’t really the issue, if every place just tacked on a 15-20% server fee to the bill I’d be fine with that.

I just don’t like having to rate someone’s performance and decide how much to pay them every time. If I tip too little I feel like I’m a jerk, too much and I’m being wasteful or ostentatious somehow. It’s not a huge thing, just a moment of feeling awkward but it’s there.
 
cowman said:
I just don’t like having to rate someone’s performance and decide how much to pay them every time. If I tip too little I feel like I’m a jerk, too much and I’m being wasteful or ostentatious somehow. It’s not a huge thing, just a moment of feeling awkward but it’s there.
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I agree. I’ve always tipped based on service. I don’t feel obligated to give a higher tip than they deserve just because their base pay is low. If they’re attentive and show effort, I’ll tip them generously, but if they’re not, than their tip will reflect their level of service. Of course you’ll have those who are overtly cheap and quite frankly, shouldn’t be going out to dinner in the first place if they can’t adequately tip their server.
 
cowman said:
I’ve said it before, I dislike the entire practice. The money isn’t really the issue, if every place just tacked on a 15-20% server fee to the bill I’d be fine with that.

I just don’t like having to rate someone’s performance and decide how much to pay them every time. If I tip too little I feel like I’m a jerk, too much and I’m being wasteful or ostentatious somehow. It’s not a huge thing, just a moment of feeling awkward but it’s there.
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Its a mechanism that incentivizes good performance. Also creates a mechanism for the restaurant to have staffing proportional to the amount of work available.

You haven't been ignored until you have been ignored by a salaried austrian waiter.
 
Sac Arrow said:
So, how do you deal with the situation when the restaurant owner is also your server?

The local pub I hang out at to have a late lunch with wine is normally staffed by one person during the day, who doubles as the cook, and three days out of the week it is the owner himself. I still tip as I would otherwise.

Different places have different ways of handling tips. Some places collect all of the tips and distribute them out equally afterwards. Which, makes tipping according to the level of service pointless anyway.
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You are not supposed to tip the owner of a business, but there are plenty of customers who do because they don’t they don’t understand tipping customs.
 
Clip4 said:
You are not supposed to tip the owner of a business, but there are plenty of customers who do because they don’t they don’t understand tipping customs.
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Why not? If they’re acting as your server, than they’re every bit as deserving of a tip as any other employee.
 
RyanB said:
Why not? If they’re acting as your server, than they’re every bit as deserving of a tip as any other employee.
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Because under the custom of tipping the proprietor is not tipped. This is an example of how things have gotten out of control in the US.
 
Clip4 said:
Because under the custom of tipping the proprietor is not tipped. This is how the tipping has gotten out of control in the US.
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Meh, whatever, I think it’s only fair.
 
cows-cafes-coffees-take_aways-barista-professions-CX909358_low.jpg
 
weilke said:
Its a mechanism that incentivizes good performance. Also creates a mechanism for the restaurant to have staffing proportional to the amount of work available.

You haven't been ignored until you have been ignored by a salaried austrian waiter.
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We spent a couple weeks in Australia where tipping isn't the custom. I didn't notice a big difference in service and I've been ignored in plenty of US restaurants too. I think it has more to do with work ethic and how short staffed they are. It's expected here, so unless the service is particularly bad where's the incentive?

Clip4 said:
You are not supposed to tip the owner of a business, but there are plenty of customers who do because they don’t they don’t understand tipping customs.
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Unless they specifically identify themselves how do I know they're the owner? Granted sometimes it will be obvious but not always. While we're at it does this place redistribute tips to the kitchen staff? What if it's a franchise? What if the owner is the waiter and barely scraping by? Aside from that do I tip when I'm picking up food to go? I've heard it both ways... but if yes then why don't I tip the fast food employee? This stuff is built on assumptions and a lot of it doesn't make sense in a lot of situations.

A better question yet though is why is it my responsibility as a customer to figure all this stuff out? I just wanted to exchange some currency for a meal.
 
weilke said:
The waiters compensation is typically 10% (less in expensive restaurants) and already built into the price listed on the menu. At the end of the shift, the waiter 'buys' everything rung up on his printout at 90% of the list price from the restaurant, whatever the overage is his to keep. The tipping expectation has increased in recent years, its not at US levels but it would be typical to leave a few percent extra, not just the few cents to round up to the next full euro. If you give a 10% tip, you have now doubled the waiters take from that table.
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Based on my experience- I've been guided by our dealers.
Germany- 5 to 10%
Spain- just round up
Canada- same as the USA
Turkey- 10%
India- 10 %
Asia- no tips in the places I've been. 你不需要付小费
 
Yep, if it's so bad that I'm inclined not to tip, you're damn straight that the management is going to here about it.

About the only time I've done otherwise was when we were so ignored we just walked out on the dinner (before we ate).

You can gripe about how tipping shouldn't be necessary or is a bad institution all your want, but you don't change that by stiffing the waiter. There's no laws that mandate most polite activity, but you have to do what is socially expected in the situation.

Yes, it's a far cry when I'm travelling when I'm in Europe vs. Asia or Australia when it comes to tipping, but you have to follow the local customs.
 
cowman said:
I’vel
I just don’t like having to rate someone’s performance and decide how much to pay them every time.
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It’s really easy 99% of the time. Know the local hourly pay for service staff, and tack on whatever gets you to what you feel is a proper per hour rate for that line of work.

We all do it every time we buy any service. Three quotes on a construction or remodeling job? Remove materials cost and you’ve got hourly rate. Same deal. Same math.

Only time it’s awkward is when you know you’re paying way too little for the job, to me.

I had a dude quote so far below everyone else on a multi acre fenceline I literally walked inside after meeting him and listening to his description of the work and such that I knew he’d do it right but he’d be butt bare broke halfway through the fence build.

I looked at my wife and said, he knows what he’s doing but he’s going to ask for another $1500 in materials in a week if he starts tomorrow — once he figures out he’s losing money. That still puts him equal to the guy I didn’t like and 20% lower than the expensive guy. I think I’ll hire him. If he panics and leaves the second guy can finish it with half of it done as an example and supervision.

Haha. Just how it goes.

But anyway, don’t worry about rating them. Just pay them a correct hourly wage. Makes tipping a whole lot easier.

And no, I didn’t say “livable wage”. That phrase has connotations that make it a moving target. Some large number of restaurants are dead businesses walking from the day they open. The servers can be perfect (impossible) and the place will still be gone in two years.
 
cowman said:
Unless they specifically identify themselves how do I know they're the owner? Granted sometimes it will be obvious but not always. While we're at it does this place redistribute tips to the kitchen staff? What if it's a franchise? What if the owner is the waiter and barely scraping by?
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While the custom says not to tip the owner, I have never encountered one who was offended by receiving a regular tip.

Aside from that do I tip when I'm picking up food to go? I've heard it both ways... but if yes then why don't I tip the fast food employee? This stuff is built on assumptions and a lot of it doesn't make sense in a lot of situations.
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The fast food employee is an hourly employee and receives whatever restaurant offered when he was hired. Clock in, work, clock out, friday is payday.

The waiter who handles your take-out order in a full-service restaurant (unless it operates a separate take-out counter) is a tipped employee. If he receives a guarantee from the restaurant, it is at whatever ridiculous $3.52 'tipped minimum wage' the state and feds require. If he spends time on entering and ringing up your order, it takes him away from his tables or bar-stools that make him the tips that are the bulk of his income. While he doesn't have to bus tables or make several trips, its still work. Deserves some tip, not the full amount, but otherwise you expect him to work for free.

A better question yet though is why is it my responsibility as a customer to figure all this stuff out? I just wanted to exchange some currency for a meal.
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You dont need to figure out anything. You have atrocious service (caused by the waiter), leave no tip. You have acceptable service, leave an ok tip. You have outstanding service, leave a generous tip. The invisible hand of the market will do the rest.
 
I know someone that used to tip a penny if the service was really bad. He thought it sent a meassage - one time the waitress chased him down and confronted him.
 
Yeah but when you're a regular and you tip well, man, you get some perks when you show up. Tip well, as a regular and you show up and there is a 1 hour wait? Nope, not for me, front of the line. Free drinks on the bill every once in a while? Yep. Dessert tossed in gratis? Yep. Heck, yeah I tip well.
 
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