Waitress Finally gets $1000 tip

[Racket_Man]

Since this subject involves tipping (and those threads do get contentious over at CS ) I will leave this here.

http://www.today.com/news/waffle-hou...tip-2D79787394

The server, working on Mother's Day told a customer about her life ie. a couple of kids, single, going to school, 2 jobs, etc. The customer felt sorry for her and left her a $1000 tip. Wafflehouse citing a little know company policy refused to pay out the tip citing possible CC disputes. A storm was created when the server contacted the local newspaper and a column was written about her situation.

The story reached the customer (anonymous) and he presented her with a personal check for the tip.

[Jester]

And here I thought Waffle House finally relented and allowed the woman her tip. Silly Jester, thinking that those douchewaffles actually might see the error of their ways, or at least try to salvage their reputation after the media storm erupted around this story. And by the way, I dare say this is the most appropriate use of the word douchewaffles ever.

To the customer in this story, bravo!

And to those pinheads at the Douchewaffle House in question, I reiterate what I've been saying since this story broke: go fuck yourselves.

[s_stabeler]

to be fair, Waffle House's policy is to refund exceptionally large tips- they weren't keeping the tips for themselves. I'm guessing the policy is for exactly the reason claimed: too many cases where the CC bill was later disputed, leaving the restaurant out of pocket.

personally, I would have put the tip into some form of escrow account until it could not be disputed, then given it to the server when it could no longer be disputed. ( yeah, it still slightly sucks for the server, but I imagine it's easier than knowing you'll never get the tip)

[Rageaholic]

Couldnn't they have just verified this with the customer first? Would have saved a lot of hassle.

[s_stabeler]

how? the customer had gone home by the time this had happened. I suppose you could set the POS to require a manager for bills over a certain amount, but that would probably irritate customers.

[Rageaholic]

Just ask him if he's sure that's the amount he wants to pay. Problem solved.

[Jetfire]

how? the customer had gone home by the time this had happened. I suppose you could set the POS to require a manager for bills over a certain amount, but that would probably irritate customers.

If the amount is high enough, then it should be rare enough to not irritate many customers. And if it's due to someone giving a high tip, they would probably appreciate the extra bit of attention (high tippers are rarely Sucky Customers after all).

Just set the POS to require a manager confirmation for bills over say 500$, or maybe even 200$ and it should be fine; at least for most restaurants similar in quality/price as Wafflehouse/Dennys/IHOP/etc....

[s_stabeler]

Just ask him if he's sure that's the amount he wants to pay. Problem solved.

I doubt that in a chargeback situation, having the restaurant say the waitress confirmed the amount the customer wanted to pay would help. Hence why I said it would require a manager. The point is so the manager can get something written down to confirm the amount.

As I said though, I do NOT believe the company was right to refund the tip rather than give it to the server, but I don't think the company was being malicious.

[HYHYBT]

If the purpose is *solely* to avoid chargebacks, they would contact the customer rather than returning the money automatically. You cannot use a credit card anonymously.

[smileyeagle1021]

I doubt that in a chargeback situation, having the restaurant say the waitress confirmed the amount the customer wanted to pay would help. Hence why I said it would require a manager. The point is so the manager can get something written down to confirm the amount.

These random acts of kindness tips are common enough that you'd think most companies would have a policy in place for something like that.
I know where I work has the policy that if you are going to leave that big of a tip, you need to have either a manager or a security officer present to verify, and you must fill out the receipt in full view of one of the surveillance cameras... and you know what, the few times we've had someone do that, they have appreciated that we are looking out for them, that we want to make sure that they really do intend to leave that big of a tip and there isn't a server adding an extra zero or two to the end of the number on the receipt to give themselves an unearned bonus (the fact that we are also covering our own ass, that if they try to do a charge back we can happily send the cc company a copy of the video footage of them filling out the receipt with a manager/security present is a bonus).

[s_stabeler]

that's the kind of policy i'd use as well- my point was that the restaurant probably wasn't lying about why the waiteess didn't get the tip, as well as why the restaurant couldn't give the woman her tip ( it had already been refunded)

[Gilhelmi]

I read the article and Waffle House is looking into updating its procedures.

[Jester]

Yeah, companies sometimes do that when a PR shitstorm falls on their heads.