Tips for waiters (Orlando: to eat, title, friendly)

[carolac]

I don't think anybody said "won't do it." As I mentioned above, servers don't set out to give bad service, or service that doesn't meet your standards. We want your dining experience to be awesome. There's variables that affect it as have been put forth to you. If you think you've received service below your standards, give a good tip or don't--try to understand or don't. We did our best, tried to make you happy, apologized ad nauseum, and we move on to the next table and talk about you later

Originally Posted by Lilybeans

The kind that wanted customers to keep coming back. And they did, too.

But you guys can do what you want. All I ever said was do a few things and you can get a great tip. All of you have said that you won't do it, and you'll happily settle for a smaller tip because it's easier. It's a free country.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Lilybeans

The kind that wanted customers to keep coming back. And they did, too.

But you guys can do what you want. All I ever said was do a few things and you can get a great tip. All of you have said that you won't do it, and you'll happily settle for a smaller tip because it's easier. It's a free country.

I, for one, NEVER said that. You are generalizing, which is a pity.
I pulled down over 40k the last year I did fine dining, 15 years ago...... I was such a BAD dining captain.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by Lilybeans

I'm done here. All of you people that seek to justify mediocre service, that's great. I'm glad you no longer feel you have the right to demand excellence of people when they do a job. I hope you don't expect anyone to do a good job-paint your house, build your boat, whatever. As long as they show up for work, that's great. It's too bad that this kind of attitude has been responsible for shipping our jobs to China.

I do want excellent service. Part of excellent service entails NOT hovering over me while I eat, or shop, or whatever. If I WANT you, I'll get you. Otherwise, I can do fine without you.

Personally, I like self-service checkouts too, so I don't have to deal with a cashier.

[Jammie]

Carol, I'm glad you like my crowd of people. Gotta love those oldies concerts. I guess we're still young at heart OR at least think we are.

You know, there are just people who can't be pleased no matter how hard you try. I wonder if some people who are going to "teach" everyone how to do it right ever notice that when they enter a restaurant, everyone is busily chatting. Do you suppose they realize that everyone is arguing about who HAS to serve that group? Did you ever pay a co-worker to wait on a certain table for you? These people are like that whether they're in a restaurant, convenience store, motel, or grocery store. No one serves them up to par.

People in all professions are human beings and I don't think that many go running to a table to be obedient little servants, degraded and chastised if a mistake is made. I don't see many lapping like a dog for that tip and bowing down just to please the one person who is so miserable with their lives that they need to put down others in order to feel superior. There are far too many civil people in the world who go out to dine that no one needs to be treated like an inferior person.

TKramer, you made our point exactly and I respect your position. All I expect is someone to be as friendly to me as I am to them, bring me something to eat and drink and that's it. If they're not busy and would like to chat, I'd be open to that, too. I don't have to be treated like someone special. I'm just there to eat. Sometimes I just want to be left alone. So how is a server supposed to be able to judge everyone? How are they supposed to know who demands attention and superior service OR someone who just wants to exchange a pleasantry, eat, and be left alone?

[EasyCheeze]

Originally Posted by Lilybeans

The kind that wanted customers to keep coming back. And they did, too.

Please list the restaurants that keep a full basket of bread at the table at all times without having to ask. I have never been to 1 restaurant that does this.

[**NoodLes**]

With all my experience in the tipping industry I realized something, sometimes no matter how good the service is you still get cheap tips or no tip at all. Sometimes you can give the crappiest service and get a great tip. Sometimes servers just have a bad day or are not feeling good or whatever, don't take it personally. Myself I tip regardless of the service because that's how I am. I realize they have a crappy job and 'd hate to be in their shoes, but I think that's because I know how it is. Remember, we DO remember customers and if you come back you never know what you may get.

[Petertherock]

I too want/expect good service. Good service to me is not having to wait a long time to be waited on and to get my food...I do expect a little bit longer of a wait if the place is very busy but as long as it's not way too long I am cool with that.

I expect my food to be cooked as I ordered it. I don't care if the wait staff has to write down my order or if they can memorize it...not everyone has a photographic memory. I also don't mind if the server has to ask who had what item. I would rather have them do that then give me the wrong plate.

I don't mind having to ask for more bread, water, soda, beer or whatever as long as I don't have to wait too long. I do hope my waiter or waitress is friendly but I also realize everyone has a bad day. If I notice he or she is having a bad day or seems upset I try to say something to cheer them up. Let's face it, I have shown up to work at my job in a PO'ed mood before and wait staff is no different than anyone else. Plus, let's face it, this topic proves they deal with a lot of jerks out there.

I went to breakfast today at IHOPs and not only was the waitress a cute blond but she was good. She was prompt...got our orders right, kept checking to see if we needed more coffee, juice, food, whatever...and she ended up getting almost a 50% tip from me. She came back and gave me an extra thanks for the tip too. I have even done this for waitresses and waiters that weren't as gorgeous too as long as the service was good.

I also am willing to forgive some things. If food isn't cooked how I ordered it I realize that sometimes it's not the wait staffs fault. It's sometimes the fault of the cook. Would I ever do what my friend did by writing that nasty note? Absolutely not. I might not give a tip if the wait staff was rude...I would then ask to speak to the manager to explain why I didn't leave a tip...but again, it would have to be REALLY bad for me not to leave any tip. And to be honest, I have never had service that bad. It would have to be more than bad service...it would have to be a waiter or waitress that was downright rude.

Bad service may not always be the wait staff's fault. He or she may be new, the cook might be slow, or he or she might be just having a bad day. By leaving a good tip despite bad service might help turn around a bad night for him or her.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Carol, I'm glad you like my crowd of people. Gotta love those oldies concerts. I guess we're still young at heart OR at least think we are.

You know, there are just people who can't be pleased no matter how hard you try. I wonder if some people who are going to "teach" everyone how to do it right ever notice that when they enter a restaurant, everyone is busily chatting. Do you suppose they realize that everyone is arguing about who HAS to serve that group? Did you ever pay a co-worker to wait on a certain table for you? These people are like that whether they're in a restaurant, convenience store, motel, or grocery store. No one serves them up to par.

People in all professions are human beings and I don't think that many go running to a table to be obedient little servants, degraded and chastised if a mistake is made. I don't see many lapping like a dog for that tip and bowing down just to please the one person who is so miserable with their lives that they need to put down others in order to feel superior. There are far too many civil people in the world who go out to dine that no one needs to be treated like an inferior person.

TKramer, you made our point exactly and I respect your position. All I expect is someone to be as friendly to me as I am to them, bring me something to eat and drink and that's it. If they're not busy and would like to chat, I'd be open to that, too. I don't have to be treated like someone special. I'm just there to eat. Sometimes I just want to be left alone. So how is a server supposed to be able to judge everyone? How are they supposed to know who demands attention and superior service OR someone who just wants to exchange a pleasantry, eat, and be left alone?

LOL, Jammie, I paid another server a 25% tip on the check once to wait on someone that had been seated in my section. She was a pain in the derriere, I knew she would stiff after making all kinds of ridiculous demands, (kinda like OP) I considered it to be well worth losing the $$$$ to not have to put up with that kind of s**t. The kitchen, bar staff, and managers despised her, too.

[Petertherock]

Another story about concerts is I went to see George Thorogood at the Hampton Beach, NH Casino..it's basically a huge bar room. At the end of the concert George made an announcement to make sure to take care of the wait staff who busted their ass all night for us. I can tell you my waitress was really happy with the extra tip she got at the end of the night...so much so she gave me an extra drink on the house.

[Jammie]

Peter, that doesn't sound unreasonable at all. There actually are a lot of servers who are professionals and try very hard to do their job well. It's not only for tips, just satisfaction for a job well done. Most of them are generally happy people and enjoy their work and their customers. And you and your cute blondes.....

Noodles, there are a lot of nice and undertanding people in the world, aren't there? Just glad they still outnumber the others.