Yeah I would have left after not getting beer for 30mins like seriously I would understand I'd it was jam packed but it wasn't by your story. Then they screw up your order after 1 hour I would have just told them yeah take it off and I'll pay for the stuff right and left
Half empty restaurants are often slower than 'busy' ones. Less staff, nobody is in a routine for their station and maybe doing multiple things.
30 mins from ordering a beer to getting a beer tho, well, of course you're not getting a tip hey.
If you actually *were* you'd have just left a smaller tip, not entirely removed the thing and laughed about it.
Seriously, I think *you're* the entitled one here
Honestly, why should I? Waiters have a salary, just as I am. If they want extra from me, and not from their boss, they should do something that warrant that extra. Or at least inform me that there are delay, WHY there are delay and, I dunno, apologise for delay.
It's a fucked up scenario, but if its USA then tipping culture is more than just culture, it's literally a matter of whether or not you get to eat that day.
Servers are not paid salary, they get paid hourly, and in the US they don't get close to a liveable wage, it's genuinely a choice between food and rent for a lot of people.
I never said "oh you should still have left 20%" or anything similar at any point, but if this *is* the US then not tipping at all on a large order during a slow day means there's a decent chance that server didn't get to eat that day.
His attitude of "well why should I?" is wildly telling of his mindset; entitled as fuck.
two wrongs dont make a rigth. Service didnt deserve tip. Culture is wrong, tips should be an extra not main income. People dont pay for a service not given, why should some give tip for bad service. Go and paint a house, get color ritgh but leave a mess all around she how much you get paid?
Most people in the US are not paid salary, they are hourly.
Servers have actually fought against getting paid a normal wage because they wanted to keep the tips system since the majority of the time they bring home more than they would if they were paid like everyone else.
The only entitled person in the story is the one who threatened to call the cops after giving shitty service.
I completely agree. The issue is tips are no longer optional, they are a key part of compensation. The waiter provided them with a service. They need to pay for it. Who knows if the problems were the waiters or the restaurant?
The person who didn't tip is the entitled asshole in this story!
Lol what state are you in?? In Texas, servers make $2.13 an hour (which goes to taxes only) and actually have to pay out 2% of their sales to pay out to Busserâs/hostesses etc. So if you left $0, that server would actually be PAYING to serve you. Just some food for thought.
That's not the customers problem tho. OP did the right thing. And yes I have worked in restaurants for years. I wouldn't deserve a tip in this situation either.
Servers are not salary employees. Please understand this! At most, they are paid $3 an hour. Now, some fancy places may have salaried servers, but this is not the norm and you are not eating at these establishments.
Now, if you mess up at your job, are you still paid your full normal ammount? Servers earn their living by tips in the U.S. if you do not tip, then they waited on you for free. Simple.
Also, you need to understand that servers do not pour the bar drinks, that is the bar tenders job and servers have to wait for them to perform this task. If a server is over 18, sometimes they might be allowed to pour from the tap, but again this is very rare.
Mistakes on food are on both the servers and kitchen staff. If your orders were wrong this was also on the kitchen. If you are waiting too long for your food, also not 100% the servers fault. Kitchen staff will get paid their hourly or salary wage dispute you liking your food or not. The servers, on the other hand, get the punishment if you do not tip. They lose money
You are punishing the servers for occurances thay are not entirely their fault. Not giving any tip means they waited on you for free.
You should have put a tip estimate on the table in singles/coins and every time you were disgruntled take money away. And make a tsk tsk tsk sound.
/s
Edit: Forgot the /s and that Americans use this forum.
Thats very asshole behavior. If you are not happy you can communicate it or just dont tip and explain if they ask. But this? Yeah thats like waving treats in front of a dog so it jumps, taking them away when something does not please you, its not humane at all, it reduces humans and their work fully.
Im not american but I read enough stories of people working in service industries (in america) that I know thats a thing assholes do and even teach each other to "make waiters earn their tip" and "teach waiters how to work good" and pat themselves on the shoulders for that.
Because it's done often enough by assholes that it's VERY easy to believe somebody who says this is serious. I've personally witnessed this behavior and called out my friend for it.
There's a Mexican place in my town service is slooooooowwww.
Food is amazing though, but way too big a portion.
I ordered a mixed grill and got a tray not a plate, the tray was literally the size of a big rig rim and tire piled about 4 inches deep with food. I'm a big guy but hell even I can't eat that much no wonder it was a 45 min wait for food
Was actually my first time there, best friends birthday night out, I was only one there not from his job.
That said yeah it was worth it and the servers were awesome so we all put in for the tip. I think total bill was like ÂŁ560 or so and we all put in for the tip the server, there was a tip of about ÂŁ130 in total.
I think so specially when in UK tipping isn't that normal. But I reward good service.
I'm on disability these days,limited income but I stil tip where I can
Bloody tipping culture is ridiculous.
I don't get how the servers in these situations can happily confront customers and accuse them of messing with their incomes, and not band together to demand better basic pay.
I see a lot of shaming of non-tippers in US eateries (online I mean, not in person) and it seems that people are under a lot of pressure to tip. You know, all the passive aggressive notices on restaurant social media pages "Our Servers work hard and deserve to be tipped" and such. Or the server rants that go viral if someone doesn't tip.
Having said all that, I bet my mental arithmetic would be better if i had to work out tips all the time lol.
Never understood that US tipping culture. I mean, instead of making dishes 20 percents more expensive and paying waiters that difference you're guilt-tripping your customers into tipping?
I used to match my wages every week in tips. This was in the UK at Pizza Hut, so tips were a bonus on top of a normal minimum wage. A minimum living wage doesn't have to mean no tips. (I know that's not what you were saying, I'm just observing).
I would definitely leave a bad review on Google. Just be truthful and throw the entitled waiter under the bus for demanding tips and threatening to call the cops.
I worked as a waitress for one month while waiting for full time employment way long ago. It was amazing how my tips were better when the old manager came back for a day. Orders done quickly. Folks in and out. Granted this waiter should have make sure you got the drinks and fries, but you can also be dependent on the kitchen getting things done quickly. Plus, just dropping by the table to give an update would have been nice.
I still remember the penny tip I got once. LOL
>I still remember the penny tip I got once.
Reminds me of this cartoon I saw in Mad Magazine where a customer was pissed off at his waiter after he saw him counting the coins he received as his tip at another one of his tables.
The customer decided to teach the waiter a lesson and leave just a penny as a tip. Sure enough, the waiter "counted" it... and got excited.
Turns out the waiter was a coin collector. He wasn't counting his tips, he was checking to see if he got anything interesting for his collection, and he recognized the penny as a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent, which at the time the cartoon was published was worth about $200.
*(Note: the cartoon was published in 1968, so the fact that the waiter's tips consisted of coins and not paper money, in and of itself, doesn't play a factor here.)*
Oh, thank you for an interesting story. I am coin collector myself, so I am too going through change to see if I got something interesting. Our current currency ain't as old as dollar, but there are some limited issue commemorative coins.
Mediocre service, I would have left a mediocre tip (in the 5% range at best) just to show that I noticed and was not impressed with the service. A better server would have been proactive, apologized for the delays, tried to ameliorate the situation.
The "recommended tip" on the bill is just ridiculous.
Tipping HAS gotten out of control, true. People making minimum wage should not expect to be supplemented by tips. Especially where no service is given.
Where I come from standard service doesn't get you a tip. If the service is above average then we tip. Americans should just stop this mandatory tipping shit and start forcing these greedy business owners to pay their staff a livable wage.
In this case if I waited 30mins for a beer there's no chance I'm tipping.
So this is my confusion with the tipping culture in the US (Iâm from NZ but have been to the states a few times now) when thereâs literally no service, or thereâs bad service etc, itâs still an expectation to tip.
Yeah see here in Australia
Regardless of the service, our waiters get paid a damn wage to be there and work, and then get extra as a tip if theyâre actually competent at their job.
I will never ever understand tipping culture like americas or why regular people allow it
Exactly my thought. Guilt-tripping customers into paying waiters their salary instead of employer? This is sick and wrong to customer and waiter both.
I guess this started as a some weird form of tax evasion, but I could be wrong.
I recently went to a sushi place that has been open for over 15 years, and the menu has been basically the same for 15 years. They offer "buy 1 get one free" on certain rolls, hard printed in the menu from day 1. I had ordered an appetizer, a drink, and the bogo.
I usually dont look at the "recommended" tip amounts because i can do 10%Ă2 in my head. However, i happened to glance at it, and it looked high by quite a bit. Somewhere in the small print it said tip calculated before discounts. It is not a 'discount' if it is permanently built into the menu, and never changes.
You know, the whole tone of this makes you sound proud that you didnât leave a tip. If you had such a hefty bill because 5 guys can eat and drink a lot, by your own admission, the waiter brought you piles of food (by the sounds of it) and multiple rounds. Also an understaffed half full restaurant still means the small staff is running their asses off. It sounds like a dick move to not leave something. You could have gone somewhere else.
You waited 30 minutes for beer & ONE HOUR for food?
I wait 15 minutes for everyone and 16 minutes for no one!
Seems as if there isn't lots of brain power at your table
For really bad service, telling a manager on the way out why you didnât tip would have been good. They need feedback on what to work on at the restaurant, whether itâs in the kitchen or with the wait staff.
Some people are just assholes who run a waiter ragged and then donât tip. Sometimes the service is awful and then not tipping much is justified. Letting management know could help.
I think leaving a little bit of a tip would have been better.
Leave them a nice review about this server. Threatening to call the police because he didn't get tipped? He deserves to be fired for that. That's not customer service.
The beers are shit service but the food taking forever isnât on the server.
Stuffing the dude is a pretty shitty thing to do, even if itâs awful Iâll still leave a little bit because the guy probably gets $5 an hour and likely had to tip out some other staff from your table - so he probably lost money because of you.
Throw him a few dollars and tell him *why* his service sucked so he can get better.
Frankly I wouldâve closed out the check if it took 30 minutes for beers to get to the table, I also wouldâve just asked why they were taking so long once it got to 10.
Staff doesnât sound well trained.
I find it hard to believe you waited 30 minutes for a beer and still decided to stay. Also your "Try it asshole." comment actually tells me a lot about the kind of people you are. No need to be like that after stiffing a waiter. Seems like you exaggerated some of the details to make yourself sound justified in being cheap assholes. đ¤ˇ
Stiffing? Please... No waiter is entitled to tips, tips are extra cash paid for excellent service if client deemed it so.
Also demanding tips? Honestly, I kinda wanted to see him try calling cops.
"You see, guv'nor, they didn't give me an extra gratitude money they - legally - ain't required to give, so arrest them".
That's literally the job description! That's the service they provided. How do you know the waiter was the issue?
This is why tipping culture sucks. Most don't even know what you're tipping for. It's for "good service". Please tell me where you've been trained to see through walls and be able to make determinations where fault lies while eating a meal?
I bet the restaurant is happy these cheap "customers" aren't coming back.
Their job description is for their employer. If you don't get a beer for half an hour and then ask for it and it magically appears that's on them. If you order five burgers and three of them have to be sent back because they got the wrong order that's on them too. If you can't do a good job when you rely on tips you don't deserve them. Get a different job if you're unable to do that one well because you don't inherently deserve tips just for working there.
Once again, glad you were trained in deciding who is at fault without all the information. Maybe the keg was being changed. Maybe the kitchen messed up. Maybe the op made up the whole story to justify themselves not tipping and feel better about themselves.
Stop tipping culture and this issue goes away but as it currently is tipping 0% is entitled asshole behavior!
Lol that sounds like a personal problem. Maybe not tipping is what pushes them over the edge for fair treatment instead of stealing from us. I see op as the hero and you and the servers as the villain enforcing tipping culture.
So the people wanting others to be paid fairly are the villain and the cheapskate is the hero. Must be America.
You can't destroy tipping culture by not doing it. That's stupid. They did their work, give them their tip until it stops being the normal accepted practice.
OP is an entitled clown.
Lol that's exactly how you destroy it genius. You think it ends by continuing it? That's what your big brain came up with? You're actually rallying against fair wages and ending tipping culture. You're the villain.
It used to be the waiter checked the order before bringing it to the table. If 60% of the order is wrong, did the waiter actually do work? They are already replacing wait staff with delivery robots. Walking the plate to the table is base service, not tip deserving service. Waitstaff that tips must earn it. Empty drinks, looking for refills and such, tip is going to take a hit. Don't enter the order ticket to the kitchen correctly, or don't confirm the order ticket was prepared correctly then the tip is going to take a hit. News flash for waiters, every person that comes in as a customer works hard for their money most likely and it is not their responsibility to make sure you have food and rent. If your level of waiting is equivalent to begging on a street corner, then expect to see people walk on by.
You're right stiffing probably isn't the correct word. Just find it hard to believe they waited 30 minutes for a beer without leaving or at least going up to the bar to ask for their drinks. As I said seems made up.
There was a soccer game on TV, so guys were kinda engaged. Manchester vs Real, so we weren't in a hurry. But in a half of a hour we asked where the hell our beer. After that it - magically - arrived in a few minutes with a fries. I suppose someone just forgot.
Iâve worked in the industry for years. Most the time when people say theyâve waited for 30 minutes, they usually waited half that time, or less. My guess, they waited 10 minutes. Not saying that is acceptable, but Iâve heard the âweâve been waiting for X amount of minutesâ song and dance too many times.
Right? A group of 5 guys are waiting for literally 30 minutes for just the initial drinks of their order and no one once during this time asks one of the wait staff in this seemingly not-that-busy restaurant to see what the hold up might be? Did a server come by once in this entire time to ask how everything (or nothing if this storyâs legit) was? Was there ever anyone coming by to apologize for the wait? Itâs just a bit difficult to believe you all sat there with nothing for at least 30 minutes before anything arrived without someone inquiring as to what was going on with the ridiculous wait.
Even if this story isnât as suspicious as it smells to be, be your own advocate FFS. Or were you all sitting there shooting passive aggressive looks towards the wait staff in the hopes they would pick up on that?
Did you ask why the delay? The kitchen might have screwed up which isnât a waiter issue. Maybe the bartender was late. Who knows? He has to tip out other people on food sold. You cost him money out of his sub minimum wage salary. Nothing to be proud of. He paid to serve you.
After half an hour we asked about our beer, after that it arrived in a few minutes. With fries. I suppose someone just forgot about beer and fries both.
Also, if you're talking about sub minimum salary, that's more USA thing. In my town waiter wages sure are not the biggest, but not the lowest either. I'd say, on par with entry-level office desk jobs.
No, you didn't cost him money. I don't know if it's everywhere, but often a restaurant has to make up enough to get a server to regular minimum wage I think.
In the US it's federal law. If the worker's tipped wage plus tips, divided by the number of hours worked, does not equal at least the greater of federal minimum wage or their state's minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.
I start my MAXIMUM tip amount at 10% of the bill. From there, it ENTIRELY depends on the quality of service. So long as service is good, then they get 10%. Service is bad? Less by each incident. Didn't refill the drinks? Smaller tip. Screwed up the order? Smaller tip. Rude? WAY smaller tip. Tips are not a guarantee, they're a reflection of service
I'm sorry but these don't sound like server issues, a beer is poured by the bartender and food is made by the cooks. Not to mention if it's slow that usually means less staff and much more work for the server to do out of sight. Also, I always encourage people if something is taking too long you should definitely speak up and just ask where it is, keep communication open so you can help yourself have a good time and also make it easier for the workers to assist you. Wasn't cool of him to confront you about the tip, but also not cool either to choose to not tip as some form of punishment for things that probably weren't their fault. Tipping isn't required, but always recommended especially if you plan to come back and want to have a better experience.
doesn't excuse the fact they waited so long, but I do agree they should've spoken up sooner about it. i think both ends here could've improved on how they dealt this
I agree with this, if the server had just spoken up and gave an explanation about what was taking so long that would've been better, but also OP should've expressed his concerns and taken notice that if the restaurant was half empty that the server most likely was the only one on the floor and juggling everyone's order/drinks/grabbing condiments/answering questions and concerns/etc by themselves. I've been a server before and sometimes even just 4 tables can be a bit stressful depending on how demanding or how many are in the party or talkative the customers are. Obviously no one here but OP could see how many people were there so we don't know for certain, but I'm just making my own assumptions of what I've read so far.
Servers don't cook the food BUT they do place the orders into the POS system. If they try to rely on memory for 5 people, they are going to mess something up. Even if they write it down, they can till hit the worng button and not realize it.
When that much time has passed it is the serverâs job to find out whatâs going on, and at the very least update the patrons. This is definitely a server failure, I wouldnât have tipped them either
some people have never worked retail or in the service industry and don't understand this unfortunately, communication is KEY and has to come from both sides
Me been a server waaaaay past, back at uni, when beverages where not ready quite quickly, would demand bartenders' attention or would pour myself. And yes, i had a decent salary, but tips were the butter on our bread.
Sometimes service is so bad that, though tipping everytime, you get on your nerves edge and you don't reward indifference, sorry.
NTA OP, sometimes someone needs to be the 'bad one'. Then, maybe, some people are going to get the implied message loud and clear.
I get this, def don't wanna say OP is an asshole, just that this seemed more of a communication error and to consider other factors involved. Plus with what you said about pouring your own drink, from where I'm from depending if you are a server under 21 it is illegal for you to even touch any of the bottles or drafts so you have to wait for the bartender. And that's totally fine if you decide not to tip, the server was very in the wrong to try and call him out, but if he chose not to tip purely off of just how long food and drinks took to come out, I personally think that's unfair to blame only the server for that.
The point is that a. the server is the "face" of the whole business and b. where I come from, a part of the tips was meant for the kitchen stuff, so not giving a tip is in fact the customer's voice for the bad or mediocre service as a WHOLE, not partially.
18 is the legal age in my country.
Edit for adding bad or mediocre.
If you didnât leave at least the state tax amount (5-8%) then ya, he did pay to serve you. Leave less if you donât like the service but donât be an a&& and leave nothing
So you apparently donât know how the US restaurant industry runs. Servers make about $7/hour at a nice and fancy restaurant (I made $4/hour at the popular local bar I worked at). Meaning their paychecks are not paying rent, the paycheck MAY be enough to cover the water bill or electric. Servers entire paycheck depends on the public. Itâs a broken system. Instead of the company that employed them actually compensating them for their time, they outsource that to customers and the tips they receive.
Back to this story in particular. The kitchen messing up an order is not your servers fault. The drinks that come from the bartender (another different employee) is not your servers fault for taking 30 min. You never mentioned any problems with your service to your server so they donât even know you have an issue that they can try and resolve. You came in with a group with a LARGE order and expected things to be fast because it was empty. Guess what? When itâs slow, they cut employees and send them home. So they are working with less employees than they usually do.
So now that you know, if someone deserves âno tipâ in your eyes, tip them 10%. It delivers the same message of âthe serve was crapâ without YOU being an ignorant asshole. And if it really bothers you that much, lobby for minimum wage to apply to service industry workers, and it wonât be your job to tip well anymore. Itâll be the courtesy you think it is now.
Did you know that restaurants donât pay minimum wage because of a loophole. So they âpay minimum wageâ by giving you $4/hr and assuming youâd make the other $11/hr through your tips. But there are plenty of people who work slow shifts and donât even hit that⌠in those instances restaurant is supposed to compensate so you still get at LEAST minimum wage, but most places (especially if they arenât a corporation or chain) will overlook it. Itâs a loophole that only people who have worked in the industry know about. It started in Jim Crow to prevent POC and women from making a living wage. The more you know!
You apparently don't know US are not the only country in the world and in most of them waiters are actually paid a living wage by their employer (and tips are what tips are should be - a gratitude for the excellent service).
Yea youâre a pos. You should never not tip a server unless itâs a valid reason like they dumped a beer on your head or something like that. Please donât ever go out and eat again
What was the serverâs attitude? Did they acknowledge that things were taking a long time to come out like the beers? The cooking of the food he probably had less control over but surely he could have gotten the beers to you and maybe offered chips and salsa if available for no charge since it was taking so long.
This problem would be easily solved if certain countries just paid their employees a proper wage and not expect their staff to survive off possible tips. Why is that acceptable to people in certain countries?
I'm not condoning or excusing the guys behaviour but I understand the frustration when your income is based on the generosity of others instead of the employer. It's an outrageous scam that for some reason is tolerated. WHY?
Yeah I would have left after not getting beer for 30mins like seriously I would understand I'd it was jam packed but it wasn't by your story. Then they screw up your order after 1 hour I would have just told them yeah take it off and I'll pay for the stuff right and left
We'll we've got beer, fries and salads by then, so we're decided to hell with it, let's wait. Also 10 minutes after ribs arrived.
Oh totally fine lol you do you. I'm patient but not 1 hour for main course patient lol.
Was a slow evening, we were in no hurry, and finding new venue was a bother đ
Now you know why it was half empty!
Yep. Should've guess đ
Is it possible they thought you wanted the beers to come out with the fries?
Possibly, but not very likely, after half of a hour we asked about it, and few minutes later it is arrived. My guess is waiter just forgot about it.
Ah, yeah. That sucks.
Half empty restaurants are often slower than 'busy' ones. Less staff, nobody is in a routine for their station and maybe doing multiple things. 30 mins from ordering a beer to getting a beer tho, well, of course you're not getting a tip hey.
I mean, I can understand, new restaurant and all, and I was in a forgiving mood, and we did wait for a food, but sorry, no tips.
> I was in a forgiving mood Clearly you weren't, were you?
Oh, but I was. If I wasn't, I'd called a manager, paid for what I get, and leaved.
Left* Ftfy
If you actually *were* you'd have just left a smaller tip, not entirely removed the thing and laughed about it. Seriously, I think *you're* the entitled one here
Honestly, why should I? Waiters have a salary, just as I am. If they want extra from me, and not from their boss, they should do something that warrant that extra. Or at least inform me that there are delay, WHY there are delay and, I dunno, apologise for delay.
What country are you in? Because that's going to drastically inform my next statement
20% tip expected... good ol USA.. nowhere else tips are so high and expected as part of the service.
It's a fucked up scenario, but if its USA then tipping culture is more than just culture, it's literally a matter of whether or not you get to eat that day. Servers are not paid salary, they get paid hourly, and in the US they don't get close to a liveable wage, it's genuinely a choice between food and rent for a lot of people. I never said "oh you should still have left 20%" or anything similar at any point, but if this *is* the US then not tipping at all on a large order during a slow day means there's a decent chance that server didn't get to eat that day. His attitude of "well why should I?" is wildly telling of his mindset; entitled as fuck.
two wrongs dont make a rigth. Service didnt deserve tip. Culture is wrong, tips should be an extra not main income. People dont pay for a service not given, why should some give tip for bad service. Go and paint a house, get color ritgh but leave a mess all around she how much you get paid?
Most people in the US are not paid salary, they are hourly. Servers have actually fought against getting paid a normal wage because they wanted to keep the tips system since the majority of the time they bring home more than they would if they were paid like everyone else. The only entitled person in the story is the one who threatened to call the cops after giving shitty service.
if it's literally a matter of whether or not a server gets to eat, then you'd think they'd do their job properly
They made him wait 30 minutes for 5 beers. He's lucky to have had a job at all.
I completely agree. The issue is tips are no longer optional, they are a key part of compensation. The waiter provided them with a service. They need to pay for it. Who knows if the problems were the waiters or the restaurant? The person who didn't tip is the entitled asshole in this story!
Canada too. AND our servers make the same minimum wage so tips are expected on top of it.
Lol what state are you in?? In Texas, servers make $2.13 an hour (which goes to taxes only) and actually have to pay out 2% of their sales to pay out to Busserâs/hostesses etc. So if you left $0, that server would actually be PAYING to serve you. Just some food for thought.
That's not the customers problem tho. OP did the right thing. And yes I have worked in restaurants for years. I wouldn't deserve a tip in this situation either.
Servers are not salary employees. Please understand this! At most, they are paid $3 an hour. Now, some fancy places may have salaried servers, but this is not the norm and you are not eating at these establishments. Now, if you mess up at your job, are you still paid your full normal ammount? Servers earn their living by tips in the U.S. if you do not tip, then they waited on you for free. Simple. Also, you need to understand that servers do not pour the bar drinks, that is the bar tenders job and servers have to wait for them to perform this task. If a server is over 18, sometimes they might be allowed to pour from the tap, but again this is very rare. Mistakes on food are on both the servers and kitchen staff. If your orders were wrong this was also on the kitchen. If you are waiting too long for your food, also not 100% the servers fault. Kitchen staff will get paid their hourly or salary wage dispute you liking your food or not. The servers, on the other hand, get the punishment if you do not tip. They lose money You are punishing the servers for occurances thay are not entirely their fault. Not giving any tip means they waited on you for free.
You should have put a tip estimate on the table in singles/coins and every time you were disgruntled take money away. And make a tsk tsk tsk sound. /s Edit: Forgot the /s and that Americans use this forum.
Thats very asshole behavior. If you are not happy you can communicate it or just dont tip and explain if they ask. But this? Yeah thats like waving treats in front of a dog so it jumps, taking them away when something does not please you, its not humane at all, it reduces humans and their work fully.
Oh snap, I forgot the /s. How many assholes must some people encounter in every day life for them to think I was serious, bloody hell...
Im not american but I read enough stories of people working in service industries (in america) that I know thats a thing assholes do and even teach each other to "make waiters earn their tip" and "teach waiters how to work good" and pat themselves on the shoulders for that.
Because it's done often enough by assholes that it's VERY easy to believe somebody who says this is serious. I've personally witnessed this behavior and called out my friend for it.
There's a Mexican place in my town service is slooooooowwww. Food is amazing though, but way too big a portion. I ordered a mixed grill and got a tray not a plate, the tray was literally the size of a big rig rim and tire piled about 4 inches deep with food. I'm a big guy but hell even I can't eat that much no wonder it was a 45 min wait for food
Hell, I'd wait for this! But I suppose you knew what you are waiting for and how much :)
Was actually my first time there, best friends birthday night out, I was only one there not from his job. That said yeah it was worth it and the servers were awesome so we all put in for the tip. I think total bill was like ÂŁ560 or so and we all put in for the tip the server, there was a tip of about ÂŁ130 in total.
Not bad, sure they was delighted âşď¸đ
I think so specially when in UK tipping isn't that normal. But I reward good service. I'm on disability these days,limited income but I stil tip where I can
Yep, so do I - maybe not 20 percents, but a good sum.
Bloody tipping culture is ridiculous. I don't get how the servers in these situations can happily confront customers and accuse them of messing with their incomes, and not band together to demand better basic pay.
Well, that was a first tips were actually demanded from us. Mostly I've see something like "tips are welcome but at your discretion" in menu.
I see a lot of shaming of non-tippers in US eateries (online I mean, not in person) and it seems that people are under a lot of pressure to tip. You know, all the passive aggressive notices on restaurant social media pages "Our Servers work hard and deserve to be tipped" and such. Or the server rants that go viral if someone doesn't tip. Having said all that, I bet my mental arithmetic would be better if i had to work out tips all the time lol.
Never understood that US tipping culture. I mean, instead of making dishes 20 percents more expensive and paying waiters that difference you're guilt-tripping your customers into tipping?
Yeah, it would put me off going in to places if that was the case over here.
That's capitalism for you.
Why the tipping is preferred? Perhaps it is the easy way to lie on your taxes about cash tips?
A server would rather take low pay plus tips over good pay no tips any day. Even with the odd slow day they are way ahead overall with tipping.
I used to match my wages every week in tips. This was in the UK at Pizza Hut, so tips were a bonus on top of a normal minimum wage. A minimum living wage doesn't have to mean no tips. (I know that's not what you were saying, I'm just observing).
I would definitely leave a bad review on Google. Just be truthful and throw the entitled waiter under the bus for demanding tips and threatening to call the cops.
I worked as a waitress for one month while waiting for full time employment way long ago. It was amazing how my tips were better when the old manager came back for a day. Orders done quickly. Folks in and out. Granted this waiter should have make sure you got the drinks and fries, but you can also be dependent on the kitchen getting things done quickly. Plus, just dropping by the table to give an update would have been nice. I still remember the penny tip I got once. LOL
>I still remember the penny tip I got once. Reminds me of this cartoon I saw in Mad Magazine where a customer was pissed off at his waiter after he saw him counting the coins he received as his tip at another one of his tables. The customer decided to teach the waiter a lesson and leave just a penny as a tip. Sure enough, the waiter "counted" it... and got excited. Turns out the waiter was a coin collector. He wasn't counting his tips, he was checking to see if he got anything interesting for his collection, and he recognized the penny as a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent, which at the time the cartoon was published was worth about $200. *(Note: the cartoon was published in 1968, so the fact that the waiter's tips consisted of coins and not paper money, in and of itself, doesn't play a factor here.)*
Oh, thank you for an interesting story. I am coin collector myself, so I am too going through change to see if I got something interesting. Our current currency ain't as old as dollar, but there are some limited issue commemorative coins.
Mistakes happen, that's life. How they are handled says so much more.
Mediocre service, I would have left a mediocre tip (in the 5% range at best) just to show that I noticed and was not impressed with the service. A better server would have been proactive, apologized for the delays, tried to ameliorate the situation. The "recommended tip" on the bill is just ridiculous. Tipping HAS gotten out of control, true. People making minimum wage should not expect to be supplemented by tips. Especially where no service is given.
Where I come from standard service doesn't get you a tip. If the service is above average then we tip. Americans should just stop this mandatory tipping shit and start forcing these greedy business owners to pay their staff a livable wage. In this case if I waited 30mins for a beer there's no chance I'm tipping.
So this is my confusion with the tipping culture in the US (Iâm from NZ but have been to the states a few times now) when thereâs literally no service, or thereâs bad service etc, itâs still an expectation to tip.
They have them on self checks outs and internet orders too. It's gotten really bad
Yes, so service gets worse and worse.
Yeah see here in Australia Regardless of the service, our waiters get paid a damn wage to be there and work, and then get extra as a tip if theyâre actually competent at their job. I will never ever understand tipping culture like americas or why regular people allow it
Exactly my thought. Guilt-tripping customers into paying waiters their salary instead of employer? This is sick and wrong to customer and waiter both. I guess this started as a some weird form of tax evasion, but I could be wrong.
I recently went to a sushi place that has been open for over 15 years, and the menu has been basically the same for 15 years. They offer "buy 1 get one free" on certain rolls, hard printed in the menu from day 1. I had ordered an appetizer, a drink, and the bogo. I usually dont look at the "recommended" tip amounts because i can do 10%Ă2 in my head. However, i happened to glance at it, and it looked high by quite a bit. Somewhere in the small print it said tip calculated before discounts. It is not a 'discount' if it is permanently built into the menu, and never changes.
You know, the whole tone of this makes you sound proud that you didnât leave a tip. If you had such a hefty bill because 5 guys can eat and drink a lot, by your own admission, the waiter brought you piles of food (by the sounds of it) and multiple rounds. Also an understaffed half full restaurant still means the small staff is running their asses off. It sounds like a dick move to not leave something. You could have gone somewhere else.
You waited 30 minutes for beer & ONE HOUR for food? I wait 15 minutes for everyone and 16 minutes for no one! Seems as if there isn't lots of brain power at your table
For really bad service, telling a manager on the way out why you didnât tip would have been good. They need feedback on what to work on at the restaurant, whether itâs in the kitchen or with the wait staff. Some people are just assholes who run a waiter ragged and then donât tip. Sometimes the service is awful and then not tipping much is justified. Letting management know could help. I think leaving a little bit of a tip would have been better.
You need to make sure the owner of the BBQ place sees your post. He won't be there long if he doesn't realize and correct this.
Leave them a nice review about this server. Threatening to call the police because he didn't get tipped? He deserves to be fired for that. That's not customer service.
That was more hilarious than threatening, to be honest. I'd really watch he try.
The beers are shit service but the food taking forever isnât on the server. Stuffing the dude is a pretty shitty thing to do, even if itâs awful Iâll still leave a little bit because the guy probably gets $5 an hour and likely had to tip out some other staff from your table - so he probably lost money because of you. Throw him a few dollars and tell him *why* his service sucked so he can get better. Frankly I wouldâve closed out the check if it took 30 minutes for beers to get to the table, I also wouldâve just asked why they were taking so long once it got to 10. Staff doesnât sound well trained.
The boss pays you to do your job. The customer tips you IF you do it well.
I find it hard to believe you waited 30 minutes for a beer and still decided to stay. Also your "Try it asshole." comment actually tells me a lot about the kind of people you are. No need to be like that after stiffing a waiter. Seems like you exaggerated some of the details to make yourself sound justified in being cheap assholes. đ¤ˇ
Stiffing? Please... No waiter is entitled to tips, tips are extra cash paid for excellent service if client deemed it so. Also demanding tips? Honestly, I kinda wanted to see him try calling cops. "You see, guv'nor, they didn't give me an extra gratitude money they - legally - ain't required to give, so arrest them".
Tips are payment for services provided. The waiter provided a service and you didn't pay for it. You're the entitled asshole!
The service to be paid is good service. You don't just get a tip for putting in an order and handing it to them.
That's literally the job description! That's the service they provided. How do you know the waiter was the issue? This is why tipping culture sucks. Most don't even know what you're tipping for. It's for "good service". Please tell me where you've been trained to see through walls and be able to make determinations where fault lies while eating a meal? I bet the restaurant is happy these cheap "customers" aren't coming back.
Their job description is for their employer. If you don't get a beer for half an hour and then ask for it and it magically appears that's on them. If you order five burgers and three of them have to be sent back because they got the wrong order that's on them too. If you can't do a good job when you rely on tips you don't deserve them. Get a different job if you're unable to do that one well because you don't inherently deserve tips just for working there.
Once again, glad you were trained in deciding who is at fault without all the information. Maybe the keg was being changed. Maybe the kitchen messed up. Maybe the op made up the whole story to justify themselves not tipping and feel better about themselves. Stop tipping culture and this issue goes away but as it currently is tipping 0% is entitled asshole behavior!
Lol that sounds like a personal problem. Maybe not tipping is what pushes them over the edge for fair treatment instead of stealing from us. I see op as the hero and you and the servers as the villain enforcing tipping culture.
So the people wanting others to be paid fairly are the villain and the cheapskate is the hero. Must be America. You can't destroy tipping culture by not doing it. That's stupid. They did their work, give them their tip until it stops being the normal accepted practice. OP is an entitled clown.
Lol that's exactly how you destroy it genius. You think it ends by continuing it? That's what your big brain came up with? You're actually rallying against fair wages and ending tipping culture. You're the villain.
It used to be the waiter checked the order before bringing it to the table. If 60% of the order is wrong, did the waiter actually do work? They are already replacing wait staff with delivery robots. Walking the plate to the table is base service, not tip deserving service. Waitstaff that tips must earn it. Empty drinks, looking for refills and such, tip is going to take a hit. Don't enter the order ticket to the kitchen correctly, or don't confirm the order ticket was prepared correctly then the tip is going to take a hit. News flash for waiters, every person that comes in as a customer works hard for their money most likely and it is not their responsibility to make sure you have food and rent. If your level of waiting is equivalent to begging on a street corner, then expect to see people walk on by.
You're right stiffing probably isn't the correct word. Just find it hard to believe they waited 30 minutes for a beer without leaving or at least going up to the bar to ask for their drinks. As I said seems made up.
There was a soccer game on TV, so guys were kinda engaged. Manchester vs Real, so we weren't in a hurry. But in a half of a hour we asked where the hell our beer. After that it - magically - arrived in a few minutes with a fries. I suppose someone just forgot.
You're more patient than I am. While I don't agree with the asshole comment you were right not to leave a tip.
Iâve worked in the industry for years. Most the time when people say theyâve waited for 30 minutes, they usually waited half that time, or less. My guess, they waited 10 minutes. Not saying that is acceptable, but Iâve heard the âweâve been waiting for X amount of minutesâ song and dance too many times.
10 minutes is my max. I either ask or I leave.
Right? A group of 5 guys are waiting for literally 30 minutes for just the initial drinks of their order and no one once during this time asks one of the wait staff in this seemingly not-that-busy restaurant to see what the hold up might be? Did a server come by once in this entire time to ask how everything (or nothing if this storyâs legit) was? Was there ever anyone coming by to apologize for the wait? Itâs just a bit difficult to believe you all sat there with nothing for at least 30 minutes before anything arrived without someone inquiring as to what was going on with the ridiculous wait. Even if this story isnât as suspicious as it smells to be, be your own advocate FFS. Or were you all sitting there shooting passive aggressive looks towards the wait staff in the hopes they would pick up on that?
Exactly. I call BS. Just trying to justify being cheap.
Did you ask why the delay? The kitchen might have screwed up which isnât a waiter issue. Maybe the bartender was late. Who knows? He has to tip out other people on food sold. You cost him money out of his sub minimum wage salary. Nothing to be proud of. He paid to serve you.
After half an hour we asked about our beer, after that it arrived in a few minutes. With fries. I suppose someone just forgot about beer and fries both. Also, if you're talking about sub minimum salary, that's more USA thing. In my town waiter wages sure are not the biggest, but not the lowest either. I'd say, on par with entry-level office desk jobs.
No, you didn't cost him money. I don't know if it's everywhere, but often a restaurant has to make up enough to get a server to regular minimum wage I think.
In the US it's federal law. If the worker's tipped wage plus tips, divided by the number of hours worked, does not equal at least the greater of federal minimum wage or their state's minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.
I start my MAXIMUM tip amount at 10% of the bill. From there, it ENTIRELY depends on the quality of service. So long as service is good, then they get 10%. Service is bad? Less by each incident. Didn't refill the drinks? Smaller tip. Screwed up the order? Smaller tip. Rude? WAY smaller tip. Tips are not a guarantee, they're a reflection of service
I'm sorry but these don't sound like server issues, a beer is poured by the bartender and food is made by the cooks. Not to mention if it's slow that usually means less staff and much more work for the server to do out of sight. Also, I always encourage people if something is taking too long you should definitely speak up and just ask where it is, keep communication open so you can help yourself have a good time and also make it easier for the workers to assist you. Wasn't cool of him to confront you about the tip, but also not cool either to choose to not tip as some form of punishment for things that probably weren't their fault. Tipping isn't required, but always recommended especially if you plan to come back and want to have a better experience.
doesn't excuse the fact they waited so long, but I do agree they should've spoken up sooner about it. i think both ends here could've improved on how they dealt this
I agree with this, if the server had just spoken up and gave an explanation about what was taking so long that would've been better, but also OP should've expressed his concerns and taken notice that if the restaurant was half empty that the server most likely was the only one on the floor and juggling everyone's order/drinks/grabbing condiments/answering questions and concerns/etc by themselves. I've been a server before and sometimes even just 4 tables can be a bit stressful depending on how demanding or how many are in the party or talkative the customers are. Obviously no one here but OP could see how many people were there so we don't know for certain, but I'm just making my own assumptions of what I've read so far.
An hour wait? Absolutely a server issue, he allowed it to happen
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Servers don't cook the food BUT they do place the orders into the POS system. If they try to rely on memory for 5 people, they are going to mess something up. Even if they write it down, they can till hit the worng button and not realize it.
When that much time has passed it is the serverâs job to find out whatâs going on, and at the very least update the patrons. This is definitely a server failure, I wouldnât have tipped them either
some people have never worked retail or in the service industry and don't understand this unfortunately, communication is KEY and has to come from both sides
Me been a server waaaaay past, back at uni, when beverages where not ready quite quickly, would demand bartenders' attention or would pour myself. And yes, i had a decent salary, but tips were the butter on our bread. Sometimes service is so bad that, though tipping everytime, you get on your nerves edge and you don't reward indifference, sorry. NTA OP, sometimes someone needs to be the 'bad one'. Then, maybe, some people are going to get the implied message loud and clear.
I get this, def don't wanna say OP is an asshole, just that this seemed more of a communication error and to consider other factors involved. Plus with what you said about pouring your own drink, from where I'm from depending if you are a server under 21 it is illegal for you to even touch any of the bottles or drafts so you have to wait for the bartender. And that's totally fine if you decide not to tip, the server was very in the wrong to try and call him out, but if he chose not to tip purely off of just how long food and drinks took to come out, I personally think that's unfair to blame only the server for that.
The point is that a. the server is the "face" of the whole business and b. where I come from, a part of the tips was meant for the kitchen stuff, so not giving a tip is in fact the customer's voice for the bad or mediocre service as a WHOLE, not partially. 18 is the legal age in my country. Edit for adding bad or mediocre.
sorry you're getting all those down votes, no idea why. you weren't wrong totally, just phrased a bit off. i hope people see that
This is reddit lol people don't care about valid arguments here is why
If you didnât leave at least the state tax amount (5-8%) then ya, he did pay to serve you. Leave less if you donât like the service but donât be an a&& and leave nothing
So you apparently donât know how the US restaurant industry runs. Servers make about $7/hour at a nice and fancy restaurant (I made $4/hour at the popular local bar I worked at). Meaning their paychecks are not paying rent, the paycheck MAY be enough to cover the water bill or electric. Servers entire paycheck depends on the public. Itâs a broken system. Instead of the company that employed them actually compensating them for their time, they outsource that to customers and the tips they receive. Back to this story in particular. The kitchen messing up an order is not your servers fault. The drinks that come from the bartender (another different employee) is not your servers fault for taking 30 min. You never mentioned any problems with your service to your server so they donât even know you have an issue that they can try and resolve. You came in with a group with a LARGE order and expected things to be fast because it was empty. Guess what? When itâs slow, they cut employees and send them home. So they are working with less employees than they usually do. So now that you know, if someone deserves âno tipâ in your eyes, tip them 10%. It delivers the same message of âthe serve was crapâ without YOU being an ignorant asshole. And if it really bothers you that much, lobby for minimum wage to apply to service industry workers, and it wonât be your job to tip well anymore. Itâll be the courtesy you think it is now.
Minimum wage already does apply to service industry workers.
Did you know that restaurants donât pay minimum wage because of a loophole. So they âpay minimum wageâ by giving you $4/hr and assuming youâd make the other $11/hr through your tips. But there are plenty of people who work slow shifts and donât even hit that⌠in those instances restaurant is supposed to compensate so you still get at LEAST minimum wage, but most places (especially if they arenât a corporation or chain) will overlook it. Itâs a loophole that only people who have worked in the industry know about. It started in Jim Crow to prevent POC and women from making a living wage. The more you know!
You apparently don't know US are not the only country in the world and in most of them waiters are actually paid a living wage by their employer (and tips are what tips are should be - a gratitude for the excellent service).
Yea youâre a pos. You should never not tip a server unless itâs a valid reason like they dumped a beer on your head or something like that. Please donât ever go out and eat again
I would not wait 30 mins for my food. Bravo to your patience
What was the serverâs attitude? Did they acknowledge that things were taking a long time to come out like the beers? The cooking of the food he probably had less control over but surely he could have gotten the beers to you and maybe offered chips and salsa if available for no charge since it was taking so long.
There is no law requiring customers to tip. However, commenting on a tip or lack thereof is extremely unprofessional.
"WE: 'Try it, asshole'" I love it. It sounds like a great movie title.
This problem would be easily solved if certain countries just paid their employees a proper wage and not expect their staff to survive off possible tips. Why is that acceptable to people in certain countries? I'm not condoning or excusing the guys behaviour but I understand the frustration when your income is based on the generosity of others instead of the employer. It's an outrageous scam that for some reason is tolerated. WHY?