Tipping & Etiquette
STIFFED BY BRITS
This is for a great number of Brits out there, travelling the world, dining out, and just being so mean. I am 100% sure that they are not as unaware as they pretend to be about tipping practices in the countries they travel to. I am of course a waitress who has been the receiver of such meanness for the past 12 years. I live and work in L.A., and even people who regularly come to the restaurant I work for, friends of the owner, most of the time getting free stuff, will still at the end put down max 15% of the check. If they had a free bottle of wine, which I opened and served for them, or I brought free desserts, or the owner picks up the whole check for them, they do not feel compelled to make sure I am taken care of. What's up with that Jerry would say!
Finally what brought me to write this was last night's five English and one American wife. One couple who are regular patrons comes in with two other couples, slow night of course (is Jewish New Year Holiday). They sit at one of my patio tables, they order, everything is fine, they order three bottles of the expensive Brunello Di Montalcino wine, food is fine, they are happy, except for having to fan themselves with menus since diners next to them are smoking. I tell them that since the other diners (who are nice tippers) are finished with their food, I will drop off the check in the hope they will leave and by so doing please them. I do and after not too long they leave. After a while the person at the table who had ordered the wine asks for the check and when I pick it up, thanking them, I noticed that on $664.... he has left $44...which is barely 15% on the food. I was really distressed, how rude is that, and on a slow night, and even if he is fresh from British Airways, why didn't our regular customer or his American wife make sure I was not stiffed like that? What's up with these people? Plus I did open the wine, brought our best glasses out and poured it! I think that if you can afford to buy $360.00 + tax worth of wine you should be able to tip on it. 10/08
Signed, Distressed Waitress
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TRAILER TRASH STIFFS WAITRESS
My wife and I saw this in the early 90's, and we still shake our heads about it.
We went to a moderately upscale restaurant in coastal California and were seated next to a party of four, two men and two women, who were in their late 30's. They had finished their appetizers and were getting their entrées as we ordered. As we worked through our meal our neighbors finished up with coffee and dessert. Then the fun began.
A fifth person joined their table just before the bill arrived. From what we could overhear, he was the boyfriend of one of the women and planned to take her out after she'd eaten. However, the other diners persuaded him to order his own entrée. As this delayed their departure by at least another half hour, their waitress was obviously upset and we overheard her tell them she had another party ready for the table. They went ahead with their extra order anyway, and added a dessert for him, too.
At the end of the meal, we overheard the principal instigator of the extra meal claim that the waitress was “rude” and didn't deserve a tip. The other original man at the table said no, she deserved something and put a significant amount of cash on the table, but the host ended up gathering all the money and leaving it to the penny – no tip on a meal close to $150! Since her other party was put elsewhere she lost two substantial gratuities. And to top it off, the second woman at the table, who had had chocolate mousse for dessert, threw up her meal on the table just before they left.
I assume they went back to their trailers for the evening.
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BASEBALL DINERS STRIKE OUT
This is a quick tipping story, meant more as an admonition to those attending
sporting events than to trash anyone. If you happen to attend a major league
baseball game where in-seat wait service brings food from a menu, as opoosed to
the usual vendors selling one item, please realize we servers are working for
tips, even though we're not quite the same as waitresses in a restaurant. I was
a server in such a ball park for a number of years. A fellow server of mine had
a group in his section who ran up a tab of $130, charged it to his corporate
AmEx, and left a tip of...$0.
Now, it's true that the policies are different in different ballparks. For
example, at Safeco Field in Seattle, the tip is automatically added to your bill
(19%), and pooled among the wait staff, just to prevent situations like this.
And at Oriole Park in Baltimore, the lady that takes your food order and the guy
that brings it don't share, pool, or split tips. But folks, those people (beer
vendors too, for that matter) are running up and down stairs all night, in the
summer, in blazing heat (except in Minneapolis), working their buns off. A $0
tip is just gauche! 5/08
Signed, Robin
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