I tell my girls to check there attitude and problems at home at the door, and turn on the smile. Their job is to be as fake as necessary. A quality server will be able to feel out the table in about 5 seconds. They can tell whther or not you are to be flirted with, or that posture and intelligence is what they are looking for. I wouldn't expect you to tip more than 10% if they fail at their job, but if they exceed pay them for it. Its not easy to be good at it.

 

I was raised if you can't afford to tip 15-20% then you don't go out to eat.

 

Are you asserting that the OP had failed parenting during his upbringing?? hmmm....

 

In my state it is illegal to make a server pay for the food if the diner skips.

I knew someone years ago that had a different method of tipping. He estimated what a great tip was going to be when he sat down at a restaurant. He put the tip in cash on the table and told his server that would be his/her tip if the service was good. If the server ignored him, screwed up, was rude etc, he removed part of the tip at each infraction. What was left was what the server got. I don't think he had to remove much over the years.

 

So If I'm a server, in your state, I can invite my family and friends in every time I work and allow them to walk out every time without being monetarily penalized. I would move there...

 

I think the reason that tipping became 'standard' in the US is because of our typical American mindset. On average, we don't don't excel at our jobs as a matter of personal pride. We're capitalists. We only excel at our jobs if there's an opportunity to make more money by doing so. In other countries, employees have the personal pride to bust their ass and do a great job consistently even though they know they're still going to make the same flat salary. In the US, if a server knows that they're going to make $6/hr regardless of whether or not you get your food while it's hot, or whether or not you sit through half the meal with an empty glass, then (on average) they're not going to strive to provide you great service. They need to know that the customer has that extra control over their personal income in order to be motivated to provide a reasonable level of service.


Random sidenote related to service & tipping: A few weeks ago, a buddy & I stopped in at an out-of-the way Hooters in the middle of the afternoon. The place was a ghost town, and we were almost the only customers there. Our server could've just brought us our food, kept our drinks full, etc, and hid out in the kitchen the rest of the time (since she didn't have any other tables to tend to), and she still would've made a 15-20% tip. But instead, she sat down and chatted with us almost during the whole meal, made sure our drinks were full and she actually "de-boned" my buddies hotwings (ie, took all the meat off the bones for him). So, instead of the customary 15% tip, she got a tip that was much larger and hopefully made up for the fact that there were no other customers in the restaurant at the time (and therefore no other opportunities for her to make tips/income from other customers).

 

Just because the server doesn't have to pay for their food, that doesn't mean that the restaurant can't prosecute the person that steals the food, or at the very least, deny them future service. Making a server pay for someone that skips their check is ridiculous. That's like forcing a teller to pay when someone robs a bank. Or forcing a bystander to pay when they witness someone robbing a jewelry store.

 

Just because the server doesn't have to pay for their food, that doesn't mean that the restaurant can't prosecute the person that steals the food, or at the very least, deny them future service. Making a server pay for someone that skips their check is ridiculous. That's like forcing a teller to pay when someone robs a bank. Or forcing a bystander to pay when they witness someone robbing a jewelry store.
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its not the same thing at all.
I hae a strict policy that simply reads "mistakes are not gifts". It simply states that if anyone ever makes a mistake, it is to be thrown away in order to deter waitstaff and cooks from "accidentally on pupose" making something wrong in order to eat it. Same concept can be thought through in that situation. I'm not saying it has to be a consistent thing but if the server knows when and where management is at any time of the day and they "accidentally" have a table walk out on them....... Servers aren't always the creme de la creme of society, these things are 100% possible. I could give examples of 100's of scams i have seen over the years.

 

Just because the server doesn't have to pay for their food, that doesn't mean that the restaurant can't prosecute the person that steals the food, or at the very least, deny them future service. Making a server pay for someone that skips their check is ridiculous. That's like forcing a teller to pay when someone robs a bank. Or forcing a bystander to pay when they witness someone robbing a jewelry store.
[/quote]
its not the same thing at all.
I hae a strict policy that simply reads "mistakes are not gifts". It simply states that if anyone ever makes a mistake, it is to be thrown away in order to deter waitstaff and cooks from "accidentally on pupose" making something wrong in order to eat it. Same concept can be thought through in that situation. I'm not saying it has to be a consistent thing but if the server knows when and where management is at any time of the day and they "accidentally" have a table walk out on them....... Servers aren't always the creme de la creme of society, these things are 100% possible. I could give examples of 100's of scams i have seen over the years.
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If your server is in on it, Fire them. Problem solved. If you think a server is the type that would do that, then don't hire them in the first place. Maybe I didn't understand the intent of the original comment by Morris, but I didn't think we were talking about servers giving away food or looking the other way when someone didn't want to pay. I thought we were talking about people that skipped out on the check without the server's advance knowledge (or consent).

 

ChefJ, I wasn't speaking of occurrences when the server is in on the scam. You can, of course, just fire their ass. But what would you have your servers do, chase down the people and demand payment? They would possibly wind up getting beat up, shot, or stabbed. Then you'd have a workers comp claim against you and maybe a lawsuit for putting your employees in a dangerous situation. You must not be from California. The employer is assumed wrong in any grievance or mediation situation, and must overcome the odds to prevail. Don't lecture me how that isn't right- it's just the way it is.

MXT_77 you posted while I was typing. You are correct, that's what I meant.