| Sunday, November 05, 2006 |
| Don't Tip the Waiter! |
The blog post title is from a vintage board game from the early 80's I had where the waiter would hold up a tray and he'd be able to wobble back and forth and you had to stack little cardboard 'food' on his tray and the one who made him drop anything would lose, while the one who stacked the most won. Too much info? Just wanted to give you some backstory on the title is all, and mostly because that was one of my fav games as a youngun, I played it often with my sister.
Now, on to the meat of the post. I went to Applebees today because my mom wanted to go to Walmart, so I decided to tag along for company. Before you can say, Applebees? Why, god whyyyyyyy? or 'What were you thinking?' or 'I can't be friends with you anymore' I have to add that there was no where else to eat near Walmart, besides the food court in the mall across the street, thus sealing our fate for Applebees since they at least serve you.
Well, the restaurant is really nice and cozy. Plenty of crap on the walls, nice booths, nice TV's, etc. But our waiter was not worthy. He was nice enough, but he never brought us water, we almost had to trip him several times to get drinks, bread, and what have you.
I don't know about you, but I get plenty irky when I don't get my water refilled, not just because I drink a lot of water, but because I usually don't order a drink, either liquer or pop and so water is my drink and when I finish one glass then I don't have anything else to drink, so then I'm angry.
He never once asked us how we were doing and the food was okay to say the least. We both had sirloin steaks, but my mom got ribs with hers and I got salmon. The salmon was good if they hadn't put all this honey sauce crap all over it like it was steak. It's fish people!
At an rate, my mom said just leave him $2 for a tip, which is my normal rate. Cheap? Probably, but I think you should tip according to service.
I know, I know, waitstaff makes shit, and I'm not saying they have to shine my shoes, or do a dance for my entertainment, but I want to feel like you haven't forgotten about me and I don't want to have to flag down the waiter for EVERYTHING
Listening to the radio a couple of days ago they were talking about tipping and that on a bill of about $30 for one person a 20% tip was six dollars. Isn't that a lot of money for a tip? I feel that tipping just because it's standard or whatever is bullshit and I wholly feel that tipping is optional.
I always tip, but I tip what I want, and only once did I want to tip less than a dollar, but out of pressure I just gave a dollar when my sister was ready to give a quarter in this Chinese restuaurant we went to where the Dim Sum was a miniscule selection, cold and overpriced.
Still, I tipped.
Do I feel embarassed spending $40 or more and tipping no more than $4? No. What do you think? As always, I want to hear from my fans, and by fans I mean those of you bored enough to stop by here every now and then. Heh. What's your take on tipping? Let me know I'm not alone! Or set me straight, whichever you choose.
I hope to do a midweek blog. (Jeeze! is it back to Monday already!?) Take it easy everyone, especially Beady with her Baby in tow, and I'll try and see you guys later.
Pics of Halloween are coming... |
Gunngirl believed The Truth is still Out There at 9:16 PM  |
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| 9 commentst: |
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here in Calgary tipping is not as general as i remember say in Miami..there i was tipping everyone it seemed..any service-tips..
here, it is only waiters/waitress..but i do strongly feel that it should be according to service. i feel that if they did a lousy job than why should i leave them a nice tip..
i know they don't make much..but bad attitude and bad service is there option.
just my thought...
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I am part of the tip based on quality of service. When I get excellent service I tip 20% or more, depending on the state of my checkbook. Average service gets 10-15%. Lousey service? Well, I have left a tip of a quarter, inside my never refilled water glass. And when the person serving me has been particularly snarky and just a bad server, I've left all pennies.
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I definitely believe you should tip according to the service. If it is bad service where they have to be lassoed and hog tied to get them to fill your glass, I am not leaving anything.But if its a nice friendly waiter or waitress and they come back and see what you might need often I overtip. On a 30 dollar meal I would have left 6 dollars, providing I had a good waitress. I dont feel that I owe them anything if the food or service is lousy. I would not tolerate a rude waitress, I would call the manager. They chose to work with the public....they need to be friendly and pleasant...as most of them are.I had one waitress one time that I thought was going to sit down and eat with us...lol. I really dont want to hear their life story, I just want to have dinner in pleasant surroundings.
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To me, the standard tip is 20% for good service, but then again I'm from the East.
Since moving to Cleveland, I've noticed that the Midwest still tends to tip between 10-15%. I didn't realize that people still tipped at 10%. The last time I thought that was acceptable, I was in junior high.
Has anyone else noticed these regional differences?
Personally, I would never tip <15% unless the server was particularly rude or incompetent.
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I carry this lil card I got in a wallet and it tells ya how much to tip. On the rare occasion I go out to eat I always check it to see how much. For $40 it says 15% is $6 and 20% is $8! But that is not what I tip I look at it first to see what to tip then if and only if the service is great I will give them what it says.
Customer service has gone down hill lately even waiters and waitress have a bad attitude.
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I'm going to put this under the umbrella of replies to the comments, and say that I agree with all of you, and I got a chuckle of out of Steph who said the 'state of [her] checkbook' and that may be what it comes down too. If you make more, you may be inclinded to tip the normal 20% because it won't hurt you to leave $7 or $8 dollars.
I have never had a rude waiter/waitress, just forgetful and or lazy ones. If other people at the table chips in for a tip, then I'm glad to leave more, like if 10 people kicks in a dollar or $1.50 then that's great.
But a special comment to EH I'm in the midwest, as you know and I don't know but I think that we don't tip the standard I think the majority tips what they want.
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Have a great weekend. I hope you get plenty of rest and relaxation!!
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Tips depend almost entirely on the quality of the service. Of course at times even if the service isn't that good but I can see the waiter/ress is really being run ragged I'll leave a bigger tip. I need all the good karma I can get.
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here in Calgary tipping is not as general as i remember say in Miami..there i was tipping everyone it seemed..any service-tips..
here, it is only waiters/waitress..but i do strongly feel that it should be according to service. i feel that if they did a lousy job than why should i leave them a nice tip..
i know they don't make much..but bad attitude and bad service is there option.
just my thought...