who's been a waiter before?

[araby]

I lost my job today.

[Trielelvan]

You didn't beat the crap out of a customer that only left you a $1 tip or something did you?

[Tikker]

Well, to be fair, the job DOES depend on tips. Restaurants are not required to pay waiters minimum wage, at least here in CA.

definitely doesn't work that way here

I have zero issues with leaving a tip for someone that goes out of their way to do a good job for me
and I don't just mean waiters

I mean if the guys changing my oil do a good job and pick up some extra shit that legit needs done, I've swung back later with a box of donuts or something for them

[leah]

oh ashly what happened?

[Phlegm]

Well, to be fair, the job DOES depend on tips. Restaurants are not required to pay waiters minimum wage, at least here in CA.

-Arlos

This is incorrect. California law requires restaurants to pay their wait staffs minimum wage.

[Arlos]

OK, it didn't use to be true. It must have changed after my friends stopped working as servers.

-Arlos

[Maeya]

Sorry Araby

[araby]

I heard birds chirping and woke up and checked my phone and was 38 minutes late for work. I called, frantic, and said, "I'm sorry! I didn't hear my alarm!" and she said, "Sorry, I'm taking you off the schedule."

So I got drunk.

And around 9pm, my alarm went off. heh. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing, actually. Knowing I didn't just sleep through it.

You know, I'm glad it happened. I needed to quit that job, I was tired from the physical labor and feeling it in my back a lot. I needed to get back into the dental field and I wonder if I hadn't been fired if I'd have ever gotten the proper motivation to leave.

As chance would have it, I actually checked my references last week, just to see if that might be the reason i wasn't having any luck, and all my references checked out and encouraged me to have people call them. The doctor I worked for when I went to jail actually asked me how much longer I have in PTI. I told her, "Eight weeks."

She said, "Call me when it's over."

I think it'll all be alright eventually.

[Drem]

anything over 15% is stupid, imo

seriously, congrats on bringing me the food I asked you to bring me, and not fucking it up along the way

I'm much more likely to buy the cook/chef a drink for a fantastic meal than I am to leave a big tip for a plate carrier~

I thought I was an asshole for thinking that way lol

Kinda pretentious to EXPECT a tip for doing your job, IMO

as a cook I completely agree that the gratuities should be given directly to the source of your food, but I'm comfortable knowing that I make twice as much money as them and know that they get all the tips to even it out for having to deal with people on a daily basis with your guys' mentality. It's not a fun job. It's not an easy job if you work in a busy restaurant.

Granted most people have no idea how the back of the house works on an employee-cost basis, and have most likely never worked in a restaurant themselves and experienced that needless feeling of frustration that permeates the air, I think the whole system is set up pretty ridiculously and I agree evenly with customer opinions like your guys' and with the fact that the servers deserve it due to what Arlos said about them not even making minimum wage in most states. I think the average server wage is about $2.50/hr

and of course if they're a dick for your whole service they don't deserve anything. that's the most basic part of a server's job, yunno, putting on a nice face for the customer

as far as tips being the way they are.... i dunno how it happened. probably because it feels good to help somebody out

[Tikker]

as the old story goes, it developed way back in the day with kinda random folks offering to go get food for people from across the way, and being paid for the service

[Drem]

makes sense

good luck with dental assisting, ashly

[Arlos]

Tipping rules vary widely by country, too. The BBC has an article on it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A640018

-Arlos

[araby]

thanks, drem and everybody else that posted. sorry, I've been wrapped up in my own head for the last few days and didn't bother to say thanks.

had a very promising interview today...I'm sure it'll be fine.

[Evermore]

GO for it Ashly. You'll get it

[Tossica]

I never tip less than 20% even if the service sucked. Often the suckage is not the waitpersons fault and punishing them isn't teaching anyone a lesson.

Way to be a fucking dick though.

[Tossica]

Sorry to hear about the job Ashly...

[Tikker]

I never tip less than 20% even if the service sucked.

how can it not be the waiters fault if the service sucked?

that's the entirety of your service experience at most restaurants

[leah]

not necessarily. my VI had really, really slow cooks and there just isn't anything you can do to make a customer happy if it's taking 20-30 minutes for a stack of pancakes short of going back there and cooking 'em yourself; however, i usually got stiffed because somehow it was MY fault, not the slow cooks', and they still made more money per hour than i did. *sigh* so no, it's not always the server's fault if your dining experience is crappy.

[Tikker]

*sigh* so no, it's not always the server's fault if your dining experience is crappy.

there's a difference between dining experience and the service

[Drem]

what's the difference? you don't go to a restaurant and not get served. it's all part of the same deal.

there are two types of customers: 1) customers that know how restaurants work and never get upset no matter what happens, because they should know everyone's trying to do their best. you get lots of these, surprisingly. the other type is 2) the self-centered customer that has never worked any type of service job in their lives. like "FUCK WHY ISN'T MY WAITER HERE RIGHT NOW SERVING ME EXACTLY WHAT I WANT AND HOW I WANT IT AND WHEN I WANT IT." "THIS SOUP'S TOO SALTY. YOU NEED TO TELL YOUR COOK IT'S INEDIBLE OR I'M GOING TO THE MANAGER" (while everyone around them is eating it, too). those are the types of customers that a server will be a dick to on purpose, because they're being a dick to begin with. you can't please everyone. it's just not fuckin possible. and servers definitely aren't there to put some angry motherfucker up on a pedestal and treat him like he deserves everything they have to offer. dick customers are usually the cause of dick service, so think about that next time you go out to eat. if you're looking for problems in the service, you're gonna find em, and then they're gonna get worse

like wow holy shit if you smile at your server and make small talk and bring them out of the gridlock of their work they'll probably be incredibly good to you. it feels good to serve nice people. and then they don't spend the whole service wondering "oh god, is that grumpy son of a bitch gonna leave me $1? or $2?"

and that's how it works. i got a book coming out

[Tikker]

what's the difference? you don't go to a restaurant and not get served. it's all part of the same deal.

I'll explain it in small words so that maybe you can understand


service is what the waiter provides

obviously they have no control over whether the cooks suck/rule, or the quality of the food etc etc

but if we're sitting there eating, or waiting for our food, I kind of expect little things to be done.
refills for drinks/coffee without having to sit and wait with an empty cup. offer of crayons/paper for little kids. pleasant demeanor around the table, etc etc


I'm not going to "punish" wait staff for stuff they have no control over, but waiting is not rocket science
95% of it is just having a good attitude about stuff

[brinstar]

what's the difference? you don't go to a restaurant and not get served. it's all part of the same deal.

there are two types of customers: 1) customers that know how restaurants work and never get upset no matter what happens, because they should know everyone's trying to do their best. you get lots of these, surprisingly. the other type is 2) the self-centered customer that has never worked any type of service job in their lives. like "FUCK WHY ISN'T MY WAITER HERE RIGHT NOW SERVING ME EXACTLY WHAT I WANT AND HOW I WANT IT AND WHEN I WANT IT." "THIS SOUP'S TOO SALTY. YOU NEED TO TELL YOUR COOK IT'S INEDIBLE OR I'M GOING TO THE MANAGER" (while everyone around them is eating it, too). those are the types of customers that a server will be a dick to on purpose, because they're being a dick to begin with. you can't please everyone. it's just not fuckin possible. and servers definitely aren't there to put some angry motherfucker up on a pedestal and treat him like he deserves everything they have to offer. dick customers are usually the cause of dick service, so think about that next time you go out to eat. if you're looking for problems in the service, you're gonna find em, and then they're gonna get worse

like wow holy shit if you smile at your server and make small talk and bring them out of the gridlock of their work they'll probably be incredibly good to you. it feels good to serve nice people. and then they don't spend the whole service wondering "oh god, is that grumpy son of a bitch gonna leave me $1? or $2?"

and that's how it works. i got a book coming out

i am a number 1. always have been.

[leah]

i am a 1 too also as well

[Maeya]

I try to be #1, but I tend to get grouchy if I feel like the server is just plain inattentive - not refilling drinks, bringing the WRONG drinks, ignoring our table, purposely avoiding eye contact when we try to flag them down (for drink refills or because of incorrect drinks/orders), waiting FOREVER to bring the check. Those servers are few and far between - but they do happen.

Actually a couple months ago, a "please wait to be seated" type restaurant didn't have anyone at the hostess station. We waited for probably 3-5 minutes (which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're just sitting there waiting - it is) before someone finally came up and brought us to one of the many vacant tables. Then we roughly 8 or 10 minutes but no one ever showed up to take drink orders, so we ended up just walking out. Those types of experiences strike me as simply bad service.

[Drem]

what's the difference? you don't go to a restaurant and not get served. it's all part of the same deal.

service is what the waiter provides

95% of it is just having a good attitude about stuff

OMG NO WAY

think a little broader, please, the waiter isn't a self-sufficient, un-influenced robot that's designed to please you

and if i wanted you to reiterate something i've already said, i would've asked you to. because believe it or not, i know what i said. in fact, i'm the one that said it

it's apparently hard for you to see the overall machine of the restaurant and how everything affects everything else, but, regardless, half of your experience has to do with YOU. they're not gonna be nice if you're not. period. if you expect them to do shit, you're expecting too much. you have to earn it, just like they earn their tips. it's a mutual respect, but i know you probably don't know what that is. throw in to the mix the fact that you're suffering from a stress and anger-related ailment, i get a pretty good idea of what type of customer you are

the difference about all this stems from what we expect. after working in restaurants and understanding what servers actually do all day long, rather than what you see from the customer's side, the only three things i ever expect from a server are: 1) hot food, 2) knowledge of the food: where they bought it, how they made it, etc., and 3) a happy face

here, i'll put it in small words and fragment my paragraphs for you... so you can understand..........

if a server's a dick to you, it's because
1) you earned it, congrats,
2) the people they work with are making them angry bitches and they could care less about you,
3) they are themselves an angry bitch, or
4) maybe they're just having a bad day. everybody's human

it's really easy to figure out which one of the three you're dealing with after about 5 or 10 minutes of being in the restaurant and trying to be a nice customer

i seriously don't know what point you're trying to make, though. you're not shedding any light on the topic. you just sound like you expect every server to be nice to you right off the bat, which isn't very nice to begin with because you have no idea what kind of dynamic you just walked into each time you go into a restaurant (for example, what if the boss just hired somebody and everyone's mad because their hours just got cut?). but if, in fact, you are one of those people that expect everything to be peachy every time.... well.... keep waiting i guess. i don't actually care