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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I still consider 10% to be standard, more or less based on the service. I'd probably go with $5 but it depends on just how bad it was. If there were just mistakes it's one thing, but if the server just didn't seem to care, there would be no tip at all.
Bad service=No Tip. Even if it was a $1,000 meal.
I especially avoid restaurants that include tip cost in the bill. By them doing that, they can treat you as bad as they want and still get a tip.
If the person gives bad service but is trying very hard and seems genuinely apologetic and the bad service is a product of that server being 'swamped" in work because the company they work for didnt hire enough employees, than i usually give the full tip.
First the OP has not defined "bad service" -- that could be anything from a VERY subjective / picky assessment of a server not be sufficiently cheerful to a much more objective assessment that the server got multiple parts of the order VERY wrong and made no effort to correct it...
In either case it is almost always the case that in the US a substantial part of the server's earnings are based on the ASSUMPTION that they will receive some gratuity.
In situations where I have not be satisfied with the server performing their required job well (which is very very rare) I have generally made an effort to ask some other member of the restaurant staff to put me in touch with management / supervisory staff. At any nicer restaurant that has resulted in some kind of apology / adjustment. In those case I did give the server a proper gratuity. To do otherwise is simply not the right thing to do.
I have even been a guest of other paying the tab and when they have wanted to leave no tip I have advised them to follow a similar path -- ask for supervisor / management, explain situation, get apology / adjustment , leave fair tip.
I don't know what I would do if no one took responsibility but honestly that has never happened...
If you don't leave a tip, you aren't sending a message to the waiter, they simply think you forgot.
Bad service: 5-10%
Average service: 15%
Great service : 20% and up.
Since I was in the industry for a long time, I have never tipped under 10%. With the exception of last week! We were sat, the waitress came and asked our drink order. She brought two drinks and walked away, even when I said, can we order? (She may not have heard me). She started taking orders from tables that were sat after us. My husband waved his arms, no one would walk over. We put $5 on the table and walked out.
A lot of servers blow it by not doing some very basic things. One of my pet peeves is a server who never comes back to check on you. I have had to flag down a server to get my drink refilled, or to bring me something that was omitted from the meal. I have actually told another server who was passing by "If my server is still alive would you send them by?"
I also hate it when they simply plunk down the check without asking if you want anything else........maybe I would have ordered desert, or maybe I wanted a to go box.
There have been times that I left no tip but I wrote on the signed restaurant copy of the check "NO TIP, POOR SERVICE". After all, TIPS stands for "To Insure Prompt Service" and if I am not getting good service that negates my responsibility to leave one or much. However, I am normally a very good tipper, going well beyond the normal 20%, and if I get great service I say "Thank you for the excellent service" when the server is giving me my check. I also will ask for the manager sometimes and them them how much I enjoyed the meal and how good ___________ was in serving that meal.
I have only done this once in my whole life, but I learned from my parents a very old custom of leaving just one penny on the table tail side up which means you believe the server gave you bad service. Normally we leave 10% if the service was below average but this one time it was one thing after another and the surliness and combativeness of the server and the manager's lack of concern had us walk out before our entrees were served. We were shocked because we had been going to this place occasionally for many years. Must have been a 24 hour sickness in the restaurant that affected all the staff.....
Last edited by crystalys; 01-02-2015 at 12:19 AM..
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