Should you or do you tip even for shoddy service?

[sputnikgirl]

What do you do when a service isn't exactly up to your standards, whether in a restaurant or elsewhere? I'm divided about this issue. On one hand, I know waiters/waitresses don't make that much money. But on the other hand, I don't want to reward service I feel was unsatisfactory. How do you resolve the problem?

 

[Facial_King]

None of the poll results really fit my approach (the "your standards" part makes it complicated - some people's standards are simply unreasonable and absurd), I think, which is this:

Unfortunately, in the U.S., the tipping system is what the waitstaff rely on just to get up to normal minimum wage. If it's a slow night a waiter/waitress can make less than minimum wage (as the standard minimum doesn't apply to tipped waitstaff). I don't think that's right.
Thus, if the service is reasonable and at all acceptable - and I'm NOT that hard to please - then I'll tip at least the 15%, probably more like 20%. If it's really good to excellent, then I'll probably go from 20-25% If they're asking me every 10 seconds how my food is and if I need someone to talk to about life's problems, then that's a bit much, and they're starting to annoy me and not gonna get a bigger tip.

But if the waitperson is downright rude, snotty, snappy, etc., or quasi-hostile, then, depending on how bad it was, I might just skip the tip.

Incompetence or bungling is a harder call. Everyone has bad days or even really bad days. If my cold drink gets dumped in my lap, but I get a sincere apology, I will probably still tip. Hot drinks are a different matter, but hey, if I don't lose my ability to reproduce (or, more importantly, FUCK), then the tip is still possible...
But if the person just seems really incompetent and inept and not cut out for that line of work at all, then giving little or no tip might encourage them to consider other work...
But I'm saying it would have to be quite bad.
After all, if I'm paying for part of this person's salary, and not just for the cost of the meal plus the owner's expenses and profit, then why shouldn't I have some influence on personnel matters?

So, I find that I give a tip about 97-98% of the time, and I try to be generous. Excellent service brings out my generosity. Adequate service will get me to do my duty and give 15%

 

[Marlo Manson]

I alway's leave a tip; but if I see the waitress or waiter roll their eye's or become agitated or they become vague; rude; coy; or any way unbecoming from what you'd expect from somebody who is trying to make and keep you happy; I just leave an embarrassing tip to let them know I have class and I know I am supposed to tip them; but when they treat me like shit; they pay the price when their tip is left.. I usually leave 20% of the total.. but depending how bad I was treated; I remember leaving some servers a couple of cents.. if they were extremly rude.. :hatsoff:

 

[Galactic]

Simple equation for me......every server automatically starts off at 20%.......based on their service throughout the dining, it can go up or down from there.

 

[Facetious]

If I sense that the server is honestly busy and not just slacking, yes, I'll drop 20 %. I understand how the business works and servers are challenged.

If the server arrives with a crappy attitude when receiving my order, I know precisely what the evening will offer but you know what ? I still try to hit exact fifteen %.

Great service is 25 %.

NOW - If I sense that we're being hurried throughout the visit (to make use of our table for the next party) 8 - 10 % tip. Without embarrassing anybody, I might quietly make mention something about the hurried service, nearest the server while on the way out. :2 cents:

I don't dine out that frequently, all due to poor quality, in both service and culinary.

 

[Bigoldowls]

Register your disgust by complaining to the manager. :thumbsup:

 

[jumbo_jim]

It depends on how bad the service is. Sometimes leave no tip, yet on other occasions I will just leave a small tip. It all depends on how bad service is as well as what kind of mood I am in.

 

[No_Man]

With reasonably good service, my general rule is 20% for typical restaurants and 10% for buffets (you're doing half the work, you get half the tip). Reasonably good service includes: recording my order correctly, bringing it out promptly after it is finished (i.e. still hot), checking my status at least once while I am eating, and bringing my check within 10 minutes after it is obvious that I am finished. I don't think that's asking too much.

Failing to do any of these will result in a lower tip, usually no more than 5%. An accidental blunder (spilling a drink, forgetting part of my order, etc) should be accompanied by at least a sincere apology, and preferably some attempt to rectify the situation (i.e. free drinks, free dessert, etc). Whether or not I lower the tip for that type of situation is basically up to my mood at the moment and whether or not the waitress is flashing some cleavage.

I've left no tip at all only once or twice in my life. The one I remember was at a restaurant that was completely empty, yet I watched my food sit on the counter for 10 minutes before the waitress stopped chattering with another employee. She then never checked on me once, and then made me wait 20 minutes after I was finished before she showed up with the check. Basically, she wasted half an hour of my life so that she could discuss her sister's baby-daddy with the bartender (I could hear the whole conversation). You deserve far less than minimum wage if you're going to treat your customers like that.

 

[Quagmire33]

I woulsn't bother leaving a tip maybe they will charge you the 10% on ure bill anyway. But if the service sucked why should you tip them.

 

[tartanterrier]

I never tip because i'm a stingy bastard

 

[TunnelOfLove]

Luckily we don't have tipping culture in Finland, but of course you can leave tip if you feel like, even tho no one expects you to tip them.

 

[Ravenholm]

If the person expects a tip then I will say: get a better job. That is the best tip to give someone.

 

[Becks...poamr]

Simple equation for me......every server automatically starts off at 20%.......based on their service throughout the dining, it can go up or down from there.

Same here.

I even tip well to the pizza guys. Ask them. They LOVE coming to my house.





Shut the hell up, pervs. I know what you're thinking. :tongue:

 

[hiropro]

If the service is really bad,then no.Just go and find somewhere better.

 

[loveakirayui]

i work in a service industry -hotel to be exact-
hotel tips suck... except for the doorman who just open the door for ppl or wave a cab over and yet you still are suppose to tip them. yet the bellman do 5x the work with the bags and get less tip then doorman go figure.
the whole tipping system is broken
tipping is just a way for businesses to cop out of paying employees respectable wage and for the consumers to pick up the tab literally

and for all you people who drop 20-25% for restaurants.... dont feel sorry if you dont tip them because in a good quality sit down restaurant they are most likely making 200$+ a shift...

does any1 really know wut a waitress does? they dont do anything but refill ur drinks.. the food runner brings your food, the busboy cleans your table, the cook makes it. waitress dont do anything xcept refill your drinks and bring the bill.

and dont worry about the tip being split because cooks usually make salary only the busboy and food runners get a share of the tip, but guess how much 5-10% of the waiter/ress total tip. and guess who decides hwo much to give? The waiter/ess!

because of the system and the tipping culture, the people who do the most work and deserve it get to see very little of it

tipping should just be done away with in general

 

[sputnikgirl]

^That's another issue. I don't feel right giving the waitress all the tip money, because generally a different person brings your food, and a different person buses the table. Once I worked in a restaurant where the manager made everyone split the tip money. I worked in the kitchen so I was exempt - thank goodness, because the staff was constantly bitching about how so and so didn't do any work, didn't deserve the money, etc.

 

[dave_rhino]

If I don't recieve good service, I do not tip. Hell, if I recieve mediocre service I do not tip.

I only do when someone goes beyond the call of duty.

 

[BlueBalls]

I dont tip, its not that big a deal. Is it?

 

[senob44]

As Becks mentioned, we usually tip 20% and then go down or up from there. For poor service, we might leave as little as 10%. Another thing is that if we are in a diner or some other place where the bill is only $10-$20, we generally throw out the rules and just leave at least $5 regardless. This comes out to something like 25-50% tip, but I think in those cases, leaving a set percentage is kind of a lousy policy. Is the waitress' job in a diner that much easier than in a fancy restaurant? I think not. I think anyone who leaves 20% on a $10 bill is silly.

 

[gunslingingbird]

If the service was bad, I do leave a tip, but I leave something insulting to show the server that the service was bad. Anybody could forget to leave a tip, but it's not too many people who just "happen" to leave one or two pennies on the table when they leave.

None of the poll results really fit my approach (the "your standards" part makes it complicated - some people's standards are simply unreasonable and absurd), I think, which is this:

Unfortunately, in the U.S., the tipping system is what the waitstaff rely on just to get up to normal minimum wage. If it's a slow night a waiter/waitress can make less than minimum wage (as the standard minimum doesn't apply to tipped waitstaff). I don't think that's right.
Thus, if the service is reasonable and at all acceptable - and I'm NOT that hard to please - then I'll tip at least the 15%, probably more like 20%. If it's really good to excellent, then I'll probably go from 20-25% If they're asking me every 10 seconds how my food is and if I need someone to talk to about life's problems, then that's a bit much, and they're starting to annoy me and not gonna get a bigger tip.

But if the waitperson is downright rude, snotty, snappy, etc., or quasi-hostile, then, depending on how bad it was, I might just skip the tip.

Incompetence or bungling is a harder call. Everyone has bad days or even really bad days. If my cold drink gets dumped in my lap, but I get a sincere apology, I will probably still tip. Hot drinks are a different matter, but hey, if I don't lose my ability to reproduce (or, more importantly, FUCK), then the tip is still possible...
But if the person just seems really incompetent and inept and not cut out for that line of work at all, then giving little or no tip might encourage them to consider other work...
But I'm saying it would have to be quite bad.
After all, if I'm paying for part of this person's salary, and not just for the cost of the meal plus the owner's expenses and profit, then why shouldn't I have some influence on personnel matters?

So, I find that I give a tip about 97-98% of the time, and I try to be generous. Excellent service brings out my generosity. Adequate service will get me to do my duty and give 15%

Actually, at the restaurant where I worked, the servers made minimum wage plus tips. I worked at a Japanese seafood all-you-can-eat buffet place, so I don't know if it's different at other restaurants, but at Todai you do get paid something regardless of how slow a certain shift is. The downside to getting tips was the fact that each person wouldn't get was was left on his table; the tips were collected in a tip jar at the cash register, and were summed up at the end of the night. From the total, 15% went to the kitchen employees (who rarely, if ever, saw any money), 5-7% went to the busboy, $15 dollars went to the cashier, and the rest was divided amongst the servers on the shift. On a slow lunch shift the least I made was $14 dollars in tips. On a busy dinner shift the most I ever made was $140 dollars.

Same here.

I even tip well to the pizza guys. Ask them. They LOVE coming to my house.

I'll bet you $2 dollars that delivery guys like coming to our house more. My roommates and I always tip them with a bottle of whatever beer is currently residing in our fridge.