do you ever eat out and dont leave any tip? (wine, appetizers)

[amberbaby27]

So work on Tuesday was horrible! The owner was late to open.. 15min is a lot of time to be late when it is lunch hour. I had a full dining room and was very busy. No complaints there. Well an ex-employee walks in the restaurant, behind the counter, and into the back kitchen.... I think hmmmm owell (no time for this). The owner/chef comes out to tell me she worked for him 15 years earlier and that she ordered food directly through him. So I take a drink order from her and her friend. She snaps at me and says "We need menus to order food or drink!" I apologize and bring her the menus. Mind you I have a full dining room and am trying to take care of everyone else too. I can tell at this moment she does not care for me at all. I take her order and it is her own concoction of a veal sandwich. Veal, mayo, tomatoes, lettuce, and onion on our Italian bread. I say no problem.. I then bring her out the Greek salad that she ordered through the chef. "Where's the dressing?" she snaps. I say the salad is tossed in the dressing. "Well I need MORE!"
Sure no problem (grrrrrr) but I am not going to let this get me. At this point it becomes a game in my own mind. She wants to break me and instead I am just going to kill her with kindness. Mom always said misery loves company and I wasn't about to join her.
I am now bringing there food to the table. I watch her examine her sandwich. She then says "I need mayonnaise." I say "oh there is mayonnaise on there I made sure would you like some extra?"
She rolls her eyes in disgust and says "Let me give you a little advice keep your mouth shut and do as the costumer asks!" ahhhhhhhhhh is all I am thinking and what comes out of my mouth..... "Thank you Mrs. I appreciate your advice and I smile. I have never had anyone speak to me like that but I was very proud of how I dealt with it. 48$ bill = 3$ tip. I put the 3$ in the lost children fund at work. I felt good about that too! ha ha ha!

[LaceyEx]

You rock AmberBaby. That customer had lots of class-too bad it's all low.

[George Chong]

There are several things that I think are "obvious" through this thread:

1. Those who would not tip have never worked in the restaurant business.

2. The Golden Rule of "due on to others as you would do on to you" does not apply to the restaurant industry.

Like some many people have already posted, if you don't tip, then don't go out and eat. What do you people do when you go out and eat and there is a mandatory tip for you table? Do you not tip? Have you ever worked in a restaurant or know what servers get paid? They depend on tips. They are not working for their health you know! (I hate to go out to eat with people and we are splitting the tab and they don't chip in for tax and tip. If I wasn't there, would you stiff the restaurant for tax?)

Yes it is not customary to tip the owner but the owner probably is giving better service than their staff. My family always gave their tips to the rest of the staff when they were tipped when we had restaurants.

So those of you who do not tip or tip more to a "cutie", I hope that one day you have to work as a server and you are ugly too.

End of discussion, I am getting off my soap box now.

[cynwldkat]

You are good George!! Leave it to you to say things as they are!! Good job!
And Amber--you are such a better person then that "customer". Not only do you "look" great but you showed her who has the brains and self conficence!! Good girl!

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by mr bolo

I admit that I do tip better when the waitress is nice looking / pretty

And I'm more inclined to leave a fat tip if the waitress/waiter is old and "showing the miles", because there but for the grace of whatever go I.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by amberbaby27

I have never had anyone speak to me like that but I was very proud of how I dealt with it. 48$ bill = 3$ tip. I put the 3$ in the lost children fund at work. I felt good about that too! ha ha ha![/font][/color]

You're to be commended for your control and class. I don't have the ability to handle that situation the way you did. I'd have told her where she could put her mayo and the sandwich.

But, I'm a hothead.

[George Chong]

This thread reminds me of two stories that I would like to share.

Story #1: Flashback to when I am a teenager working at my parents Chinese restaurant. I greet an older woman at the counter and take her to go order. Chinese restaurants were notorious to have their combination dinners labeled with a letter rather than it being just an order of whatever but with rice and an egg roll - thus denoting a combination.

So the first thing the woman does is ANNUNCIATE in very drawn out pronunciations. "I w o u l d l i k e t o m a k e a t a k e o u t o r d e r p l e a s e." I thought maybe she had a speech impediment at first, but then she continued. "I w o u l d l i k e c o m b i n a t i o n p l a t t e r l e t t e r H. A s i n a, b, c, d, e, f, g, H."

I nodded and told her "alright, is there anything else you would like?"

She continued and said "I w o u l d l i k e c o m b i n a t i o n p l a t t e r M. A s i n a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h..."

I stopped her and said "Mam, I know the alphabet. Is there anything else you would like?"

I think she was astonished that I spoke English "so well" despite greeting her without an accent and in complete sentences.

Story #2: Click forward to my late teens and I am working at my brother in law's Japanese restaurant as the maitre d'. They always over booked the restaurant and this weekend was no exception. I was helping the bus boys clear and set the tables up as fast as we could as I was stopped by a customer waiting for his table.

"You told me that I would have a table 30 minutes ago and it is now 32 minutes and I want to know where my table is!"

"Sir, I apologize but I am trying to get your table ready right now."

His reply to me was, "I am so mad right now I could poke your eyes out!"

What is the lesson to my two stories? Everyone is a human being no matter where you are or what situation you are in. So you tell me what other job you can have where people think you are either stupid (or illiterate in my case) or where you deserve to have your eyes poked out?!?

Moral of the story, you better hope to gawd if you are acting out at a restaurant that you get Amberbaby as your server rather than me because I may not be as nice!

[Fontucky]

If you end up as my real estate agent, I promise not to start out with" "I w o u l d l i k e t o b u y a h o u s e..."

[crazyworld]

h e y g e o r g e y o u m a k e m e l a u g h.........keep up the good work.

[joe moving]

Very rarely, like maybe once when I had the most rude service ever.