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The above line was said to me by a friend as I was preparing to pay a bill after a night out at a sports bar because he thought I was about to tip too little (only 7 percent). In my opinion I had a good reason to.
What reason was that? Poor service.
Oh the drinks weren't that bad but the server left a lot to be desired. She was prompt when taking our initial orders, but after that we hardly saw her. She came by maybe twice in an entire hour to ask us how things were, etc.
She seemed rather distracted and disinterested in us the whole time.
The real kicker came at the end though. There were five of us and we needed the bill split up as follows: One check for me and my fiancee and one each for my three buddies who were there. We had told her this the moment we asked for the bill.
So what does she do? Put everything on ONE CHECK.
I calmly explain to her again how we wanted the check split up. She apologizes and comes back again, this time with four separate checks like we wanted.
But she'd screwed them all up. My check, which was supposed to include myself and my fiancee instead had my order and one of my friends orders. One of my friends had my fiancees order and another friend had been billed for a dish than NONE of us had ordered!
I grabbed all the checks, walked up to the bar and explained to our server that the checks were still wrong and needed to be fixed. She finally got them right and when I went back to the table to pass them out was when my friend hit me with the title of the post.
Firstly I do not agree with him. I get the nature of the industry in the U.S. where servers RELY on tips to get by since they get a low wage, but to me a tip is something given in return for good or exceptional service.
As far as I see it, if the service is bad, you shouldn't get a tip at all but again, I understand the nature of the economy here. So, fighting my urges to write a big "0" on the tip line I instead tipped only seven percent.
My friend was extremely upset but I told him it was my decision and my money. If he wants to always tip 15% no matter what he can do so. Likewise if i want tip less than 15% I can do so as well.
I'm simply not going to give a server who gave us such a poor experience an average tip. That accomplishes nothing save getting the restaurant out of paying some wages to its employees.
I wrote up a complaint letter to the manager the next day but never got around to sending it. I really should have though.
We never went back to that bar again.
What reason was that? Poor service.
Oh the drinks weren't that bad but the server left a lot to be desired. She was prompt when taking our initial orders, but after that we hardly saw her. She came by maybe twice in an entire hour to ask us how things were, etc.
She seemed rather distracted and disinterested in us the whole time.
The real kicker came at the end though. There were five of us and we needed the bill split up as follows: One check for me and my fiancee and one each for my three buddies who were there. We had told her this the moment we asked for the bill.
So what does she do? Put everything on ONE CHECK.
I calmly explain to her again how we wanted the check split up. She apologizes and comes back again, this time with four separate checks like we wanted.
But she'd screwed them all up. My check, which was supposed to include myself and my fiancee instead had my order and one of my friends orders. One of my friends had my fiancees order and another friend had been billed for a dish than NONE of us had ordered!
I grabbed all the checks, walked up to the bar and explained to our server that the checks were still wrong and needed to be fixed. She finally got them right and when I went back to the table to pass them out was when my friend hit me with the title of the post.
Firstly I do not agree with him. I get the nature of the industry in the U.S. where servers RELY on tips to get by since they get a low wage, but to me a tip is something given in return for good or exceptional service.
As far as I see it, if the service is bad, you shouldn't get a tip at all but again, I understand the nature of the economy here. So, fighting my urges to write a big "0" on the tip line I instead tipped only seven percent.
My friend was extremely upset but I told him it was my decision and my money. If he wants to always tip 15% no matter what he can do so. Likewise if i want tip less than 15% I can do so as well.
I'm simply not going to give a server who gave us such a poor experience an average tip. That accomplishes nothing save getting the restaurant out of paying some wages to its employees.
I wrote up a complaint letter to the manager the next day but never got around to sending it. I really should have though.
We never went back to that bar again.
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