The Lord giveth ~ Chris Rocks' mom refused service at Cracker Barrel

If you spend 50 or more at a restaurant, then you're getting something in return for the service they put out. Waiters get less than minimum wage. Having the pleasures of a restaurant means paying for the tip.

 

No matter how crappy the service is, I don't tip less than 10%. People have bad days. I've had bad days at work so I don't expect someone else to be perfect 100% of the time.

I usually start at around 15% and work up and down from there. Very rarely do I give any less. I know tons of people who rely on tips for their wages so I can never understand the whole 1 penny tip. Why be an a-hole about it? If you're the type of person who leaves a 1 penny tip, you're probably the type of person who would deserve poor service.

 

That Al Sharpton dude really needs a new haircut.. Its been a while and I'm tired of it for him. Him and Don King.

 

How about celebrity makeover: Al Sharpton, Donald Trump and Don King.

 

If I spend $50 in a restaurant, I'm either expecting spectacular food and good service or good food and great service. Either way, if the service is bad I'm not going to throw good money after bad.

 

When I have a bad day at work and piss off a customer, I'll get dinged. I might not get fired but something bad happens. If your jobs relies on customer service and you don't provide customer service, then expect to not get rewarded. Being able to do a bad job and still get rewarded is called being in a union, something else I'm not a fan of.
I think I've left a penny tip twice. The one I can remember clearly was dinner on New Year's Eve. We were still eating but since they had people waiting in the lobby they felt it was okay to interrupt our dinner 3 times to hurry us along. Right after we finished eating they came again and of course I got into it with them. I left right away but left my penny tip. You can throw good money after bad service, but not me.

 

It's not throwing away money. The people there depend on tips to make a living. Most of them make 2-3 dollars an hour and rely on tips for the rest.

If you really aren't satisfied with the service, why not just leave no tip? Leaving a one cent tip just makes you look like a jerk. Do you really need to rub it in the face of the waiter/waitress? It probably wasn't even their idea to hurry you along, they probably had pressure put on them from a manager who doesn't rely on tips.

Do you really mean to say that the waitstaff didn't deserve anything higher than a one cent tip?

 

I worked as a waiter for 2.5 years at Kim Son, near Toyota Center, when I was college. I know what's it like in the service industry. And yes, I still say they didn't deserve more than a one cent tip. If you work in an industry where your pay is based on your performance, expect at times not to get paid if your performance is lacking. Just like any other commission based job, if you don't perform you don't get paid.
Is leaving a 1 cent tip petty? Yes. But it's probably better than me taking it up with their manager.

 

Several times I was going to chime in on this your post about your tipping practices. But this post endeared me to actually post.

I have never been a server, never would be, but my wife has been for several years. Let me help break it down for you man.

Your dining experience should be pleasant based on quality of food, ambiance, ect ect. Why should someone serving your plates have to parade around like a monkey with a smile in order to get their pay check. And yes tips are THEIR paycheck. Thats why most servers make around 2 bucks and hour. As long as they give you your refils, bring you your food WHEN its available, and remove your plates, what do you have to beef about? Leaving a penny tip is about an ass move. You do realize that maybe you were taking a little long at the table and that the Resturaunt managers were moving you along right? I HIGHLY doubt the server made this decision to move you along. So why should you punish the server? Did you decide not to pay part of your food bill?

Also do you realize the longer you sit at that table, the less money that person able to make right. Lets say you had a large party, so that server has to give up her ability to take two other tables for the time your there. The server runs around gets everyone served, drinks, salads, hears your whining about bread refills, soda not tasting right, food sent back, watches you suck the last drips of soda loudly in an attempt to get another refill. So all this time this server busts their hump to please you for your "experience" has no other tables to make money off of, and because management was trying to get more customers seated, might of pushed you along? As you were probably looking at the 50 people waiting to eat, while you scoffed how you didnt have to move and decided to tip this server 1 penny for something that wasnt their fault? Well congrats. That person just made 2 dollars and 1 penny for their hour of running around for you and your friends. Because for some odd reason you think your uncooked food is the servers fault. Or being hurried along on a busy night is the servers fault, or that the flat soda is the servers fault, or if the server has 5 tables and is doing the best they can, its the servers fault for not scheduling more staff.

Do yourself a favor next time. Since your so proud of offering your 1 penny tip and seem to have no remorse about it. As your leaving it, proclaim it for the rest of the resturaunt to hear about your amazing duductions of how it was the servers fault and how they deserved their one penny tip. Or better yet, offer up that little tidbit before you order. Then you might see how much better your food comes out. You talk about having bad days, and how you can get zinged at work for it. Do they take poor performance days from you and decide to pay you 1 penny for that hour of poor performance?


Get real.

 

I did it for 2.5 years. You never have. Have your wife break it down for me instead.

I never said they need to parade around like a monkey. I specifically said in my post that if I don't notice the waiter (for good or bad) that they'll get 15%. If they are good they get more, if bad then less.

If they think that way then they need to treat their bosses better. But I'm not their boss. A salesperson's commission is their paycheck and it's not automatic. Neither should a tip be.

I don't have a beef with that. If they do all what you said above, it fits into what I've already said in my posts. They get 15%.

How do you show anger? Do you cuss? Do you argue? That just happens to be my way of letting a bad waiter know I think they suck.

I was still friggin eating. I'm not going to scarf down my food just so they can make more money. I left as soon as I was done and not any sooner. And perhaps their manager made them do, but they can have better ways to explain it to me than they did.

You get real. I actually get 0 pennies for that hour of poor performance. Because I work commission. And I happen to realize not everything in life is given to me.

 

The penny tip is bull****. No, I'm not a waiter, but if I saw someone do that, I'd go over and give that waiter a decent tip.

I guess I'm sympathetic since I've never really had a waiter horror story, but I guess I'm just naturally a generous tipper.

Homeless people are another case though. I'm liable to getting into fist fights with homeless people WWJD

 

Dont need to, I get her breakdown of people like you everyday. Leaving a penny tip is no better then running out without tipping at all. Hope you were happy proving your coolness in your One penny tips.

Since you worked in the food service industry, you probably should know that its now more standard to leave 20 percent being that 15 percent was the standard mmmmmm 10-20 years ago, for good service. Lets focus on this then

The fact that you associate 50 dollars in food bill to tipping shows me all the character I need to see from you. I guarantee your the type that goes to Denny's and figures you dont need to tip or leaves a dollar maybe. You associate "bad" service and decide to PUNISH the servers for things that are not in their control. IE, being hurried out. Yeah, the servers were all hanging out figuring out ways that they can get no tips, and one way was to rush their customers...

Wow, Im flabbergasted. Once again, you appoint bad service, and like to show your control by tipping a penny for things that arent the servers fault. How cool of you.

Unless a manager wrongs you. Then the Server MUST pay her with her wages. Or maybe next time if your food is wrong, or cooked incorectly. Then that server will learn the meaning of your tyranny.

I just dont go back there. Or maybe I give the server the benefit of the doubt for that day. Worst case scenario, I dont ever ever not tip at least 10 percent. And thats WORST case scenario.

So because their explaination of something that they knew was going to cost them money, probably disagree'd with the manager over, and probably felt bad about, wasnt sufficient, you still decided to punish the server based on this? Why instead would you of just refused to pay your food bill?

The fact you think that a server is being Given money for their service suffices this entire conversation. Maybe you shouldn't eat out then. Good day to you.

 

You really stopped in Mississippi? Man, when I was in grad school my wife and I refused to stop there. We just did Mobile.

 

i dont think race and tipping practices have any correlation. I DO think economics and tipping practices are connected.

 

i dont think race and tipping practices have any correlation. I DO think economics and tipping practices are connected.

 

I've worked as a server and my wife currently is. Neither one of us has ever been pressured by a manager to rush a table along. If anything, they know that doing that will result in bad customer service and at least where I worked (an Outback type chain), one of the main things they harped on was not rushing guests.

 

He said it was NYE...many places will do prix-fixe meal & multiple scheduled seating times on occasions like that (and Mother's Day, Valentine's, etc...). The restaurant management expects (almost demands) that the floor gets turned over in a set amount of time, and it can cause problems if patrons don't recognize what the restaurant's doing before they choose to dine there.

Don't know if that was the case here, though.

 

Race and economics are also connected, so it is all connected. Nobody is saying that it is genetic and that it applies to all black people etc. And I don't blame people at all when it is cultural. But the study does confirm it. I'm sure in time that in time it will change.

 

20% is only for high end restaurants. The standard is still 15% generally.

I associate $50 in food with the total atmosphere of the place. I expect good food and good service. If you think that the waiter should get paid a certain amount of money no matter how much the food costs, then I'd like to see you give a $10 tip for a $10 meal at Denny's. The waiter there works just as hard as the one at Vargo's.

I generally have very good service at Denny's and I give my customary tip, which is 15-20%. Is that as much as I tip the people at Fogo de Chao's? No. That's just how it works. You want to make more money. Go work in a high end restaurant then where the food is more expensive.

How about the servers were figuring out ways to get more money by running more customers through over the period of their shift? But no, the wait staff can do no wrong simply because your wife is one.

My fault for not being clear. I mean to say that if the waitstaff is going to consider tipping their PAYCHECK, and I am doing the tipping, that essentially makes the customer their boss. And they should treat their 'bosses' better.

Go cry me a river. I don't have time to dissect the politics of a restaurant. The waiter is my single point of contact. My single point of accountability. Everyone in life is accountable for their work, despite the fact that sometimes other things are beyond their control.
If they come to me properly and explain things, I have no problem taking those things into consideration. But if you come to me and tell me I have to leave, I'm not going to sit there and play FBI and figure out if the manager is the a-hole or the waiter.

Just don't go back there... but before I go I'll give you some money for your crappy service? Sure.

There was no explanation. There was 'you need to go because we have a big crowd now'. See how you like it the next time you get kicked out of a night club because there is a line outside. Or the next time you get kicked off a full bus, because there are people at the next bus stop. Or the next time you get fired because there are some new people applying for your job. Extreme examples but this shouldn't be happening at a restaurant either.

Because my food bill is for my food. The tip is for good service. I ate my food so I paid for my food. I didn't receive good service so I gave no money. If the food was bad, I would have returned it.

I think you're exactly right. You think a tip is a paycheck. But it's not. A tip is for good service. It is To Insure Prompt service. I don't understand waiters with attitudes ot entitlement.

Here are some other people who think the same.

The Original Tipping Page

International Tipping Etiquette

 

That's fine. Leaving no tip is acceptable. Leaving a one cent tip is just petty. If the service really sucked (and I'm not saying it didn't) just leave no tip. I'm sure the message will get through loud and clear.