Category: Let's talk
I remember when I went to america (i have been 4 times, twice to florida, once to new york and once to sanfransisco), the norm was that when you eat in a restaurant, you pay the waiters tips, and from what I was told, the waiting staff get paid fairly poorly and earn most of their money in tips. (I seem to remember about 15% was the norm). Consequently the service in these restaurants was always exemplary, almost to the point of being overboard, ya know the usual "have a nice day", that sort of thing. However, I did visit one restaurant on my first stay in florida, where tips were not paid but a service charge was automatically added to the bill. And in this particular restaurant, the service was absolutely abismal. So I was wondering, is this a common thing? what are your experiences, do you find that service is worse if the waiters are not expecting a tip? I know this is aimed mostly at americans, as in the UK waiters don't work for tips - they do get paid a salary and although people do leave tips if they wish it is not expected. Some restaurants do add a service charge to the bill but you are not legally obliged to pay it if you deem the service to be unacceptable.
It's the same here in Canada, if I go to a restaurant and I'm pleased with the service, then by all means I'll tip, but I won't do it at a place where the service is crap. I mean why should you pay for something you're not happy with if you get the shaft? just my thoughts on the matter.
Some restaurants give a service tip, either nice restaurants, or I've sceen ones when we went to a restaurant in a group of like 10 or more rather then a tip you got the service charge, and unfortionately you have to pay it.
I do find that if a service charge is added sometimes the service is much poorer then it might otherwise be. *smile* While my Mom was going to college she worked part time at a restaurant to feed us, and she did her best, but sometimes people just wouldn't tip, and let me tell you, in a lot of places here waitresses get below minimum wage because, "the tips can make up the difference." But quite often they don't make up the difference because either the restaurant over estimated how much sails, and went directly on 15% tips, or, people just don't always tip the standard.
I would usually give at least something if service is good, at least a dollar or something, if the service is good. But this one time, I didn't tip because I had asked for something, and I understand it was crowded, but it was just water, and I think I had asked for it more than once and they brought the food but I never got my water. One of the Recreation staff from that rehab center I was staying at told me about how little waiters/waitresses get paid, but I still didn't feel I should have to pay for that. It was hot in there with all the people (a lot of other students from the Center were there as we were celebrating a groups graduation or something), and if she wouldn't have been able to remember it, she could've at least wrote it down. So that was not a good experience for me. Other than that, I do make sure to leave something for waiters/waitresses when I go to restraunts with that service. *smiles*
Leilani
I value great customer service. If I recieve personal attention, such as a waiter/waitress telling me that my steak is at 2 o'clock, my potatoe is at 5 and my veggies ar at 9, they are giving me the attention I need. If they refil my drink without me having to ask more than once, that's good too. We have several members of our family who are in the resturant business, two are waitresses and the other is a bar tender. Hubby and I believe in tipping well for good service. But on the other hand, we won't tip for lousy service. Sometimes we have left a nickel and 4 pennies and a note that says, you aren't worth a dime. More times than not, if we have bad service, we'll complain to the manager. The manager needs to know. As far as the tip being added to a large group, yes, that is common over here. If they do that, they better make damn sure we get great service, if not, we will say something to the manager.
Carla
I used to think the tips idea was, well, stupid, when I came from Iceland where everything's included in the price. I, at first, didn't like the idea at all that we have to pay the waiters personally really on top of what we pay for the food. Now I really like it. Giving tips is a way for you to reward the level of service that you get and to give clear customer signs to the people serving you showing how good they were. So for good service I tip upwards of 15, sometimes as much as 20% but for bad service I go down to 8 to 10% and sometimes even complain. If the food itself is bad that can't really affect the tipping though since the server is not in charge of the kitchen but then I do mention it to the manager and I've always had a manager respond to that (only happened twice, I eat virtually everything <grin> and I like most things). And I've noticed going back to Iceland that the service is a lot worse, it takes forever to get the food, the water glass is filled every 30 minuts or so etc. I've noticed, at least in the Charlotte area that Indian restaurants are the best at keeping your water glass full at every point in time. They are really amazing making sure you are a satisfied customer over here, I've been to 3 Indian restaurants and it's always been the same level of service.
Cheers
-B