[john1953]

Their is no tipping in New Zealand,I was their a few years back and took some people out to dinner and was already to leave a good tip and was stopped by the people I was with.We don`t tip here they all told me.I got the server anyway and left him a nice tip he was kind of shocked I think.

[asianthree]

One of our kids is in the restaurant biz. When we eat out he tips. Have you ever been out to eat with a server? I have seen him tip upwards of 30% if the service is up to his standards. His comment is he is just making up for those who can't afford to tip. Servers usually tip more than anyone even if they make less than most

[redwitch]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

Do you know for a fact that restaurants automatically assume a certain amount of tip for the purposes of meeting the required $8.05/hour figure for salary plus tips? In other words, can they just say the gap between $5.03/hour and $8.05/hour was met without some documentation? If so, the law would essentially have no meaning.

Sadly, I do know this for a fact. My daughter works for Olive Garden in Ocala, used to work here in TV but requested a transfer because of the poor tipping. Rarely does she truly make minimum wage since she has to tip out the busboy, bartender, bar back and hostess. This is figured at the eighteen percent of food and beverage totals regardless of the actual tip amount. The same is done for IRS purposes, which is where the calculations for minimum wage are done as well. The only time she has ever received minimum wage on her paycheck was one day when they were exceedingly slow. Her hourly salary, with tips and pay, comes to seven to ten dollars a day less tip out amounts, depending on how people are tipping. She is a good server, not great, but definitely tries hard to keep her customers happy. She would do much better in an Olive Garden out of Central Florida but really wants to remain in this area.

So, folks, please tip your servers well. If under eighteen percent, put it on your credit card. If over eighteen percent, leave it in cash if possible. Do NOT tip for poor service.

[tuccillo]

Thanks for your insight into this.

Originally Posted by redwitch

Sadly, I do know this for a fact. My daughter works for Olive Garden in Ocala, used to work here in TV but requested a transfer because of the poor tipping. Rarely does she truly make minimum wage since she has to tip out the busboy, bartender, bar back and hostess. This is figured at the eighteen percent of food and beverage totals regardless of the actual tip amount. The same is done for IRS purposes, which is where the calculations for minimum wage are done as well. The only time she has ever received minimum wage on her paycheck was one day when they were exceedingly slow. Her hourly salary, with tips and pay, comes to seven to ten dollars a day less tip out amounts, depending on how people are tipping. She is a good server, not great, but definitely tries hard to keep her customers happy. She would do much better in an Olive Garden out of Central Florida but really wants to remain in this area.

So, folks, please tip your servers well. If under eighteen percent, put it on your credit card. If over eighteen percent, leave it in cash if possible. Do NOT tip for poor service.

[Springs1]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

Once you've been a server, you realize that the servers take all the flak out on the front lines, when the problem is often the cooks and/or spineless shift managers.

Actually often times the SERVERS are the reasons for the problems GETTING to our table. You are there to make sure *BEFORE* you hand us something there's no OBVIOUS ERRORS such as wrong side dish, missing sides of condiments, wrong prices, bartender didn't put salt on the rim but bring it to me anyway my margarita when I ordered it with salt and you took my order, etc.

Most of the issues HONESTLY are because servers JUST DON'T CARE! They are TOO LAZY to even WRITE DOWN things you ask for and then forget them, then most of the time not even say they are sorry even in most cases.

I have had a waitress once where there was a dollar difference in a price on me and my husband's check. Instead of just going to get her manager to fix it, she was trying to out of it saying "Oh the newer menus aren't out yet" it's like I wanted to say to her "What if someone took YOUR DOLLAR from EVERY TIP YOU MADE at EVERY TABLE, HOW YOU'D FEEL THEN?" I didn't tell her that, but I did tell her about if she was at a store, would she not say anything if the price didn't ring up correctly when she went to the register to check out? I mean really, servers are SO SELFISH today in most cases. They can't even think about WE ARE PEOPLE TOO and OUR MONEY IS JUST AS IMPORTANT as theirs is. It is her fault since she can compare the menu prices to the check prices PRIOR to handing us the check and when she would have found the problem she would have gotten her manager to fix it BEFORE she gave us the check, so yeah, it was 100% HER DOING, NOT anyone else's doing since she was the LAST PERSON to see the problem that she could see it. This isn't something like an undercooked steak, this is the difference between $3.99(this was a cup of queso at a mexican restaurant) and on our check was $4.99 when we ordered it as it exactly came off the menu with no modifications to it. We have tipped 25%-30% and upwards as well as stiffed servers, because it all depends on the service. Because of the lazy and uncaring way she handled the issue from the start just by not even TRYING to catch it, then REFUSING to fix it, then not apologizing, she got stiffed over a dollar overcharge. She should have tried to catch this issue. That was only our second visit and didn't order that item the 1st time there, so she had MUCH MORE TIME than us no matter what. It was very slow like 11a.m. on a Saturday lunch, not 8p.m. on a Saturday night either.

If I don't have utensils when I am served food(btw that waitress did just that, so we had nothing to eat with when we were served food.) That's a server issue. Refills forgotten server issue. Bags, boxes, containers for condiments missing server issue when most servers don't write things down that they should be, because they are TOO LAZY to. Also, the servers that you want to give them a list of things at the end like boxes, bags, etc. they walk away so you can't even tell them everything, because they are TOO LAZY TO WRITE DOWN A LIST. It's like they'd RATHER be ran.

There are times servers put in orders wrong, forget to put in orders, bring you out the completely wrong item, etc.

Especially when another server runs the food, 99.99999% of the time, that other server doesn't give a CARE AT ALL about anything since it's not their table, they didn't read the ticket, they don't offer to fix the mistake, they don't offer you refills or anything else, etc.

In general today, in a good 70% of cases, service just sucks. There's not a whole lot of hard worker servers that actually "CARE" about people. It's like they think about the money, but don't realize how they are treating us will GREATLY effect their money.

Most issues come to the customers because of lazy and uncaring servers. THAT IS THE GOD'S HONEST TRUTH and you know it!

[Springs1]

Originally Posted by goldseekur

I habe nothing against leaving a nice tip. What I DO NOT like is when the staff assumes that I do not want any change back from the cash I pay the bill with. This happens many times when I pay in cash. Just last night, the bill was $29.87 and I left $40 cash. The waitress did not bring any change back and when I asked, she seemed surprised that I would ask for the change!!.

That is NOT their decision to make, but mine unless I say, "Keep the change."

We have stiffed before when they did that, because that's STEALING! It's ILLEGAL! Did you REPORT the theft? We did. My husband and I rarely pay with cash or gift certificates. Once, back in 2004, we used (2) $20 gift certificates to pay a $34.69 check. Our waiter gave us back a $5 bill, which our change was $5.31. So I go up to him to tell him. Instead of fixing it, he goes to serve a side salad. He finally gave back the change and did say he was sorry, but this was intentional, because he was TOO LAZY to get the change from the bar OR could have gave us OVER if he didn't want to rather than *SHORT US*, he could have shorted HIMSELF, but was TOO *SELFISH* to do so. I don't expect a server to short themselves, just to give the 100% CORRECT amount of change back, NOT to TIP THEMSELVES part of *OUR MONEY* to themselves. So I reported this to the manager and we left NOTHING, NOT ONE PENNY. There's no way it's not intentional since you aren't going to miss 3 coins and 99.99% of the time people's checks aren't exact amounts. I can count on one hand how many times exact where there's no cents on a check amount and we eat out VERY often.

It's OUR job to tip and if they are that selfish and lazy, they should get nothing. I made sure I waited to get the change just so the waiter could get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING so he couldn't steal ANYTHING from us.

What if the customer shorted the bill, would the server want to pay the 31 cents on every customer's bill plus the tip outs? That would add up and NO, they wouldn't.

I can't take 31 cents out of someone's purse or register without getting arrested, WHY can THEY get away with it?

They ARE SO SELFISH. I mean really, when once we got 10 cents over at a place that was a small town restaurant that only accepted cash payments about a couple of years ago we had gone to(our bill was $38.10, paid with (2) $20 bills, got back $2. So because she gave us OVER we tipped her MORE over the 10 cents and it was cool to not have 90 cents in change.

The only reason that happened probably was that because that was closer to the next dollar, but in our case with the $34.69, it wasn't, so that's why he did what he did, due to LAZINESS and SELFISHNESS. He could have given us $6 or $5.50 if he didn't want to get change. Also, it wasn't that busy the time to do such a thing.

Well anyway, my point is, it's a common practice among servers since they don't have a register they have to get the money from their own change bank in their apron pocket or go to the bar to get change. The thing is, STEALING(SHORTING THE CUSTOMER) is ILLEGAL and MORALLY WRONG!

So for 31 cents being selfish, he got stiffed. Does that make ANY SENSE to risk getting a crappy tip for 31 cents you servers out there? Why not just either not be SO LAZY to go to the bar to get change or bring some on you(exchange during non-busy times at the bar) or give us the next dollar then. If he would have given us $6 in change, if the service would have been good otherwise, he would have had over 25% tip. Because of stealing, he got his tip stolen back in a sense. The reason why I say that is because what we did was VERY LEGAL, what he did WASN'T. Stealing is illegal and wrong. He should have been fired on the spot and been arrested for what he did. As I said, I can't go into Walmart take 31 cents out someone's register and not get handcuffs put on me, WHY servers can do this and get away with it? It's a DOUBLE STANDARD! It's not fair.

Most servers are JUST SO SELFISH and LAZY! It's really both. They are too lazy to get change from the bar or bring change on them and they are too SELFISH to think "If I risk giving some of my few coins away maybe I might be stiffed from a cheapskate, but I could get more." No, all they think about is THEMSELVES! Every penny is about THEM. They NEVER can think about OUR MONEY. Then they wonder why they don't get a tip.

While I understand sometimes it may be about that they don't want to make the customer wait 10 minutes for the bartender to get the change, so that's when you short yourself as the server if you want a better tip.

Servers are JUST SO SELFISH today. It's sad. We have been through some mean servers. One at a Denny's said when I had a wrong price "I don't do prices." It's like we don't work here, so if we can see it, SO COULD HAVE SHE. I know she can't fix the price in the computer, but most managers can't either, they take it off the bill at the end. The difference is, if the server CARES about our money, they would have tried to find this issue BEFORE check time and gotten the manager to fix it BEFORE it came to us. It's not our job to check every price against the menu since we aren't earning a tip to do so. They don't care about our money, but they expect us to care about their money. THAT I DO NOT GET WHAT-SO-EVER?

[Springs1]

Originally Posted by Gerald

Who makes up the rules for tip amounts? Why not give 50%?

I feel it should be on the amount of WORK they gave you, so if a couple has a $30 check but only gets 2 pasta dishes as they come and 1 refill each that's it, if the service was good 20% at most. If a couple has a $30 check, but has 2 very heavily modified orders such as 2 sandwiches with lots of condiments, modifications, etc. Also, 3 refills a piece. 25%-30% if the service was good.

Most I have ever tipped 34% or so, maybe a bit more, but that's it. 50% would be if the bill was small amount like if I eat by myself, get food service, I have tipped on a $14 something cent check $7 because I asked for lots of things and the service was excellent.

Normally though 50% is a bit steep on most bills amounts though and very unrealistic to think you'd get that normally unless you are dealing with people that are drinking heavily or something.

I only agree with you on certain levels of this. I feel the amount of price does no equal work. As I said in my example, hardly any work, server receives 20% for 2 pasta dishes and one refill a piece. I think that's a lot for hardly doing any work personally. $3 a person tip that would amount to.

On the other hand, if I order a lot of modifications, I am making my server do loads of work, so I should pay them much more, but I wouldn't go to 50% unless it's a small bill amount. Who says the thing I am ordering is worth that really? For example, let's say a steak would have lots of modifications(just pretend), and the steak is $30 just the steak, not counting side dishes. Do you think that makes any sense to tip SOLELY on the price? NO, I wouldn't tip 50% on that. The price of the item is really irrelevant to the service. It's not my server's fault the price of the steak is so high. She or he didn't do anything DIFFERENTLY just because it's a higher price.

It all depends on the situation. Normally I nor most people would tip 50% in most cases. That is the truth. As I said, if their bill is under $20 or if they have been drinking alcohol, maybe then.

[Mleeja]

Wow, you are still upset about something that happened 11 years ago?

[tuccillo]

If it was me, I would have told him to keep the change from the 2 $20 gift certificates for the $34.69 check as the change would have covered the tip at 15%. I am sure his thought processes were that you would probably leave the change as a tip so why bother putting 31 cents down on the table just to pick it back up. The fact that he gave you a $5 instead of 5 1$ bills (bartenders and wait staff learn quickly to always give change in small denominations as it is easier to tip) indicates to me that this was his thinking. Is this a bit presumptuous? Sure. But from a pragmatic point of view it makes sense. I round up all tips to an even dollar amount so I really couldn't care less about the change, but that is just me. I have bartended but never waited tables. Most bartenders and wait staff work pretty hard and have to juggle a lot of things. You might want to consider cutting them some slack in the future. I really don't believe there was any malevolence.

Originally Posted by Springs1

We have stiffed before when they did that, because that's STEALING! It's ILLEGAL! Did you REPORT the theft? We did. My husband and I rarely pay with cash or gift certificates. Once, back in 2004, we used (2) $20 gift certificates to pay a $34.69 check. Our waiter gave us back a $5 bill, which our change was $5.31. So I go up to him to tell him. Instead of fixing it, he goes to serve a side salad. He finally gave back the change and did say he was sorry, but this was intentional, because he was TOO LAZY to get the change from the bar OR could have gave us OVER if he didn't want to rather than *SHORT US*, he could have shorted HIMSELF, but was TOO *SELFISH* to do so. I don't expect a server to short themselves, just to give the 100% CORRECT amount of change back, NOT to TIP THEMSELVES part of *OUR MONEY* to themselves. So I reported this to the manager and we left NOTHING, NOT ONE PENNY. There's no way it's not intentional since you aren't going to miss 3 coins and 99.99% of the time people's checks aren't exact amounts. I can count on one hand how many times exact where there's no cents on a check amount and we eat out VERY often.

It's OUR job to tip and if they are that selfish and lazy, they should get nothing. I made sure I waited to get the change just so the waiter could get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING so he couldn't steal ANYTHING from us.

What if the customer shorted the bill, would the server want to pay the 31 cents on every customer's bill plus the tip outs? That would add up and NO, they wouldn't.

I can't take 31 cents out of someone's purse or register without getting arrested, WHY can THEY get away with it?

They ARE SO SELFISH. I mean really, when once we got 10 cents over at a place that was a small town restaurant that only accepted cash payments about a couple of years ago we had gone to(our bill was $38.10, paid with (2) $20 bills, got back $2. So because she gave us OVER we tipped her MORE over the 10 cents and it was cool to not have 90 cents in change.

The only reason that happened probably was that because that was closer to the next dollar, but in our case with the $34.69, it wasn't, so that's why he did what he did, due to LAZINESS and SELFISHNESS. He could have given us $6 or $5.50 if he didn't want to get change. Also, it wasn't that busy the time to do such a thing.

Well anyway, my point is, it's a common practice among servers since they don't have a register they have to get the money from their own change bank in their apron pocket or go to the bar to get change. The thing is, STEALING(SHORTING THE CUSTOMER) is ILLEGAL and MORALLY WRONG!

So for 31 cents being selfish, he got stiffed. Does that make ANY SENSE to risk getting a crappy tip for 31 cents you servers out there? Why not just either not be SO LAZY to go to the bar to get change or bring some on you(exchange during non-busy times at the bar) or give us the next dollar then. If he would have given us $6 in change, if the service would have been good otherwise, he would have had over 25% tip. Because of stealing, he got his tip stolen back in a sense. The reason why I say that is because what we did was VERY LEGAL, what he did WASN'T. Stealing is illegal and wrong. He should have been fired on the spot and been arrested for what he did. As I said, I can't go into Walmart take 31 cents out someone's register and not get handcuffs put on me, WHY servers can do this and get away with it? It's a DOUBLE STANDARD! It's not fair.

Most servers are JUST SO SELFISH and LAZY! It's really both. They are too lazy to get change from the bar or bring change on them and they are too SELFISH to think "If I risk giving some of my few coins away maybe I might be stiffed from a cheapskate, but I could get more." No, all they think about is THEMSELVES! Every penny is about THEM. They NEVER can think about OUR MONEY. Then they wonder why they don't get a tip.

While I understand sometimes it may be about that they don't want to make the customer wait 10 minutes for the bartender to get the change, so that's when you short yourself as the server if you want a better tip.

Servers are JUST SO SELFISH today. It's sad. We have been through some mean servers. One at a Denny's said when I had a wrong price "I don't do prices." It's like we don't work here, so if we can see it, SO COULD HAVE SHE. I know she can't fix the price in the computer, but most managers can't either, they take it off the bill at the end. The difference is, if the server CARES about our money, they would have tried to find this issue BEFORE check time and gotten the manager to fix it BEFORE it came to us. It's not our job to check every price against the menu since we aren't earning a tip to do so. They don't care about our money, but they expect us to care about their money. THAT I DO NOT GET WHAT-SO-EVER?

[Springs1]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

If it was me, I would have told him to keep the change from the 2 $20 gift certificates for the $34.69 check as the change would have covered the tip at 15%. I am sure his thought processes were that you would probably leave the change as a tip so why bother putting 31 cents down on the table just to pick it back up. The fact that he gave you a $5 instead of 5 1$ bills (bartenders and wait staff learn quickly to always give change in small denominations as it is easier to tip) indicates to me that this was his thinking. Is this a bit presumptuous? Sure. But from a pragmatic point of view it makes sense. I round up all tips to an even dollar amount so I really couldn't care less about the change, but that is just me. I have bartended but never waited tables. Most bartenders and wait staff work pretty hard and have to juggle a lot of things. You might want to consider cutting them some slack in the future. I really don't believe there was any malevolence.

WOW, you are condoning THEFT, WOW! So you don't get that what he did was ILLEGAL? He should have gone in handcuffs to JAIL. THEFT IS THEFT.

Can I get something to-go from you as the bartender(let's say you are taking my to-go order in person) and the check amount is $12.30, I give you only $12? Would you still accept it knowing *YOU'D* have to come up with the 30 cents out of YOUR OWN POCKET or would you REFUSE to serve me that item telling me I'd have to have the right amount of change?

If so, what if EVERYONE did that, would you be OK with giving away 30 cents to every customer that came in?

If it was me, I would have told him to keep the change from the 2 $20 gift certificates for the $34.69 check as the change would have covered the tip at 15%.

At the time, we had never experienced this since we paid with credit cards ALWAYS or gift cards, so everything was electronic, no actual money was involved, so we never thought about doing that.

Also, why would I do that? The server's job is to work as HARD as they can for their tip to *EARN* it, so it's their job to get your change for you, NOT for you to make their job easier. If I am paying you, I expect you to do the 100% FULL ENTIRE JOB, NOT to SHORT-CUT the job to do it half-fast.

After having that stealing done to us, whenever we rarely paid with cash again, even if we wanted to leave everything, we made sure we got it all back.

Every customer should TEST the server for their HONESTY by getting the change. I will do this the rest of my life to make sure that who I am paying actually is a GOOD person that isn't a thief.

I am sure his thought processes were that you would probably leave the change as a tip so why bother putting 31 cents down on the table just to pick it back up.

That's ENTIRELY the point, it's being ***********ENTITLED************************ rather than ***************EARNING THEIR TIP***************! IT'S LAZY AND IT'S STEALING.

Also, why not bother to put $6 on the table rather than shorting us?

You can still do the same by adding an extra dollar bill. There's not much extra work to include an extra dollar. It's actually only shorting the waiter 69 cents of his own money since 31 cents was our money.

The fact that he gave you a $5 instead of 5 1$ bills (bartenders and wait staff learn quickly to always give change in small denominations as it is easier to tip) indicates to me that this was his thinking.

But WHY act like you get to tip yourself before you even get a chance for the CUSTOMER to actually TIP YOU?

The CUSTOMER TIPS, NOT THE SERVER and it WASN'T "HIS" money at that point.

Why should he have thought he'd get a tip at all? He should be doing his job, then wait and see what the *CUSTOMER* actually leaves the table for you.

His mind should be like a cashier, giving change, that's it. It shouldn't be on "What will the customer leave me" at that point.

Is this a bit presumptuous? Sure.

NO, it's A LOT presumptuous and it IS ILLEGAL. I can't short the restaurant, WHY can you short me?

But from a pragmatic point of view it makes sense.

NO it doesn't. It would have made sense more to put $6 of change on our table if he wanted a bigger tip honestly. Most people don't want the coins, so by ALWAYS giving more than owed, not only will you see the server is caring and not selfish, but it's almost like they are giving you a gift, so just like when servers have purposely not charged us for things we gave more in the tip, it works the same way.

So he would have forfeited his 69 cents, gained a dollar or two more in the tip. This is more pragmatic. It makes less sense to short the customer to **** them off and end up getting less or nothing or getting written up or fired or arrested for stealing.

So ALWAYS give more than the change. It works a lot better than shorting the customer.

I round up all tips to an even dollar amount so I really couldn't care less about the change, but that is just me.

That's not what the waiter did though. That's my point. Rounding up, not down so the customer isn't shorted.

Most bartenders and wait staff work pretty hard

In all honestly, a lot of them are LAZY today. They don't want to write down your order at times(then get it wrong), they don't make sure the prices are correct on your check, they don't check the food in the kitchen before they leave the kitchen with the wrong items or forget your side dish or condiments, etc.

Most are lazy.

You might want to consider cutting them some slack in the future.

Some slack for THEFT. NO. You act like servers are holier than thou like their money is above ours in this life. NO, I won't cut slack for selfish, lazy, and uncaring human beings. How dare you say I should cut someone slack for stealing. I bet you wouldn't want someone to take any of your tips away from you if you were still a bartender.

I only cut slack to people that try to make-up for their mistakes if it is even one. This was INTENTIONAL. You act like the waiter didn't intentionally steal. I mean if this had been an accident like they forgot something that's one thing, this was 100% PURE INTENTIONAL to steal.

I only give slack to people that *TRY* their best, show they care, etc.

For example, after asking for our 31 cents back, he could have fix it right away since it was OUR TURN BEFORE that person's side salad since HE messed up, NOT US and could have given us 50 cents rather than exactly 31 cents to make-up for this. He was TOO SELFISH to do that though. What a JERK he was. I mean really.

He didn't want to have any tip. If he would have, he would have given us 2 quarters(shorted himself only 19 cents and he couldn't do that the SELFISH JERK).

So NO, there's other ways he could have tried to show us that he didn't want to steal and act so entitled.

After I had asked for our coins back, he should have given us over the amount to show how horrible that was to do that to us to STEAL.

HOW can you say give people slack that INTENTIONAL did something as so horrible as to STEAL from you? Maybe you should go with Winona Ryder, because you are all into thinking it's OK to steal kind of thing. I don't care if it's just a penny, theft is theft.

As I said before, he could have forfeited 19 cents of his own money and was TOO SELFISH to try to make-up for it, so I made DARN SURE he got NOTHING at all and A REPORT to the manager.

What is wrong with this world of you entitled service industry workers? I don't understand how you can say I should give someone slack that did a CRIME? This wasn't a mistake like he INTENTIONALLY didn't give us back the change. I don't care what his way of thinking was, it wasn't *HIS* money to TIP with. TIPPING is a thing a CUSTOMER does, NOT the WORKER. A tip is also *EARNED* by doing the WORK of getting change. He was just a SELFISH JERK! I won't give money to anyone that steals. I don't care if it was a penny owed, if they do that, they deserve to go to jail for it just like EVERYONE ELSE that steals in this world. Stealing is wrong, morally and legally.

[Springs1]

Originally Posted by redwitch

And please tip on what the tab would have been before specials, comps, two for ones. Our servers work just as hard for your discounted meal as they do for those who pay full price.

I disagree on specials and two for ones. When the menus are made with increases in prices due to inflation we all tip more based on those increase prices, so why when the OWNER wants to DECREASE the prices that the customer can't tip in the same manner? It's ONLY FAIR.

Also, comps, it depends on the issue, if it was a server issue why I am getting the comp, was it because the SERVER OFFERED to ask the manager or was it that the CUSTOMER had to complain to the manager, so the MANAGER gave the comp for the bad service?

If the comp was not for bad service, I agree with you, but only that.

The reason why you get more customers in is because they have the two for ones and the specials. You aren't doing ANY "MORE" work for the customer just because it's more expensive during non-special pricing times, so I don't get why you think people should tip based on the non-special prices? Now maybe you have to get the manager to take the coupon off, but that is it that you are doing more. What's the point of the coupon if you can't get the let's say $4 off 2 entrees and get the ENTIRE $4 off? It's cheating the customer out of their coupon.

It's not fair. For example, back in 2005 Chili's Full Rack meal of baby back ribs was $13.99, now in 2015 it is $17.99 due to INFLATION. My server isn't doing more work now for the SAME dish, is she or he? But she or he receives more. HOW IS THAT FAIR OR RIGHT? Zero more physical labor should mean we give the same, but nobody does, therefore, when customers have specials or two for one deals, they should tip according to the CURRENT PRICES that the OWNER set. IT IS ONLY FAIR. So now at 20%, they earn 80 more cents at least per customer for that item, but they are doing the *SAME* WORK.

Our servers work just as hard for your discounted meal as they do for those who pay full price.

That's why I don't get why you think the customer should tip more based on that if they are doing the SAME WORK? If the owner wants to make the prices lower, then it's only fair to tip on those prices since we all tip based on the higher prices due to inflation. Be fair to ALL in this world. We don't have to bow down to servers like their money is all more important than ours.

It's UNFAIR to just tip ALWAYS in the server's favor. Our money counts too.

[Springs1]

Place like IHOP, what you all think about coffee refills? They have it for you to refill your own, therefore, in my opinion, why should the server get as much tip for it. I don't dine at IHOP nor do I drink hot coffee very often anywhere honestly, but when I see that the CUSTOMER has to do their own work, it makes me mad. The staff should be doing the refills, not the customer if they want more money the old fashion way.

[tuccillo]

Unless you were planning on entirely stiffing him on a tip, he essentially pre-collected the first 31 cents if his tip when he brought back the change. There are a lot of things that I have worried about in my life but 31 cents was never one of them. I shanked a sand wedge the other day - I worry that I might do it again ;-)

Originally Posted by Springs1

WOW, you are condoning THEFT, WOW! So you don't get that what he did was ILLEGAL? He should have gone in handcuffs to JAIL. THEFT IS THEFT.

Can I get something to-go from you as the bartender(let's say you are taking my to-go order in person) and the check amount is $12.30, I give you only $12? Would you still accept it knowing *YOU'D* have to come up with the 30 cents out of YOUR OWN POCKET or would you REFUSE to serve me that item telling me I'd have to have the right amount of change?

If so, what if EVERYONE did that, would you be OK with giving away 30 cents to every customer that came in?



At the time, we had never experienced this since we paid with credit cards ALWAYS or gift cards, so everything was electronic, no actual money was involved, so we never thought about doing that.

Also, why would I do that? The server's job is to work as HARD as they can for their tip to *EARN* it, so it's their job to get your change for you, NOT for you to make their job easier. If I am paying you, I expect you to do the 100% FULL ENTIRE JOB, NOT to SHORT-CUT the job to do it half-fast.

After having that stealing done to us, whenever we rarely paid with cash again, even if we wanted to leave everything, we made sure we got it all back.

Every customer should TEST the server for their HONESTY by getting the change. I will do this the rest of my life to make sure that who I am paying actually is a GOOD person that isn't a thief.



That's ENTIRELY the point, it's being ***********ENTITLED************************ rather than ***************EARNING THEIR TIP***************! IT'S LAZY AND IT'S STEALING.

Also, why not bother to put $6 on the table rather than shorting us?

You can still do the same by adding an extra dollar bill. There's not much extra work to include an extra dollar. It's actually only shorting the waiter 69 cents of his own money since 31 cents was our money.



But WHY act like you get to tip yourself before you even get a chance for the CUSTOMER to actually TIP YOU?

The CUSTOMER TIPS, NOT THE SERVER and it WASN'T "HIS" money at that point.

Why should he have thought he'd get a tip at all? He should be doing his job, then wait and see what the *CUSTOMER* actually leaves the table for you.

His mind should be like a cashier, giving change, that's it. It shouldn't be on "What will the customer leave me" at that point.



NO, it's A LOT presumptuous and it IS ILLEGAL. I can't short the restaurant, WHY can you short me?



NO it doesn't. It would have made sense more to put $6 of change on our table if he wanted a bigger tip honestly. Most people don't want the coins, so by ALWAYS giving more than owed, not only will you see the server is caring and not selfish, but it's almost like they are giving you a gift, so just like when servers have purposely not charged us for things we gave more in the tip, it works the same way.

So he would have forfeited his 69 cents, gained a dollar or two more in the tip. This is more pragmatic. It makes less sense to short the customer to **** them off and end up getting less or nothing or getting written up or fired or arrested for stealing.

So ALWAYS give more than the change. It works a lot better than shorting the customer.



That's not what the waiter did though. That's my point. Rounding up, not down so the customer isn't shorted.



In all honestly, a lot of them are LAZY today. They don't want to write down your order at times(then get it wrong), they don't make sure the prices are correct on your check, they don't check the food in the kitchen before they leave the kitchen with the wrong items or forget your side dish or condiments, etc.

Most are lazy.



Some slack for THEFT. NO. You act like servers are holier than thou like their money is above ours in this life. NO, I won't cut slack for selfish, lazy, and uncaring human beings. How dare you say I should cut someone slack for stealing. I bet you wouldn't want someone to take any of your tips away from you if you were still a bartender.

I only cut slack to people that try to make-up for their mistakes if it is even one. This was INTENTIONAL. You act like the waiter didn't intentionally steal. I mean if this had been an accident like they forgot something that's one thing, this was 100% PURE INTENTIONAL to steal.

I only give slack to people that *TRY* their best, show they care, etc.

For example, after asking for our 31 cents back, he could have fix it right away since it was OUR TURN BEFORE that person's side salad since HE messed up, NOT US and could have given us 50 cents rather than exactly 31 cents to make-up for this. He was TOO SELFISH to do that though. What a JERK he was. I mean really.

He didn't want to have any tip. If he would have, he would have given us 2 quarters(shorted himself only 19 cents and he couldn't do that the SELFISH JERK).

So NO, there's other ways he could have tried to show us that he didn't want to steal and act so entitled.

After I had asked for our coins back, he should have given us over the amount to show how horrible that was to do that to us to STEAL.

HOW can you say give people slack that INTENTIONAL did something as so horrible as to STEAL from you? Maybe you should go with Winona Ryder, because you are all into thinking it's OK to steal kind of thing. I don't care if it's just a penny, theft is theft.

As I said before, he could have forfeited 19 cents of his own money and was TOO SELFISH to try to make-up for it, so I made DARN SURE he got NOTHING at all and A REPORT to the manager.

What is wrong with this world of you entitled service industry workers? I don't understand how you can say I should give someone slack that did a CRIME? This wasn't a mistake like he INTENTIONALLY didn't give us back the change. I don't care what his way of thinking was, it wasn't *HIS* money to TIP with. TIPPING is a thing a CUSTOMER does, NOT the WORKER. A tip is also *EARNED* by doing the WORK of getting change. He was just a SELFISH JERK! I won't give money to anyone that steals. I don't care if it was a penny owed, if they do that, they deserve to go to jail for it just like EVERYONE ELSE that steals in this world. Stealing is wrong, morally and legally.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by JoMar

Good for your wife......she understands life isn't perfect. You must drive her crazy.

I wouldn't eat out with a person like that. Too much entitlement/me,me,me and not enough humility. But then I wouldn't be hooked up with someone of that sort either.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Halibut

This rankles me, to be honest. The cleaning service we use charges $75 for our two-bedroom place. They send 2 people who are done in about an hour. I know those 2 women are only getting a small percentage of my $75, but feeling obliged to throw in an additional $10 tip irks me. I do it, but I feel kind of ripped off since I think cleaning service fees are outrageous as they are.

And what about someone is works for her- or himself? Their prices are generally lower and it takes them longer, but if they want more money they should increase their fees instead of relying on me to beef up their income out of the goodness of my heart. I don't tip anyone who is self-employed. (Same goes for those who drive people to the airport in their own cars. No tip for you! I do tip the shuttle drivers.)

My cleaning person works for herself and charges more than yours but much less than the crew we had that worked for a business. And she does a better job. I don't tip her because she keeps the full amount. Actually, I will no longer use a cleaning business for the reasons you gave. Plus there is a high turnover rate, and you rarely get the same people.