Yesterday I went to Olive Garden with a group of friends. Including myself, there were 6 of us. The service pretty much sucked. Everything took a long time, the waitress never checked up on us, forgot drinks, etc. The place wasn't even very busy, so it was pretty much the waitress not doing her job properly.

When it came time to pay, we all got separate checks. Two of my friends have been going out for a while now, so the guy decided to pay for his girlfriend's meal as well, but the checks came separate. So we had one of the leather bifold bill holders empty.

So everyone puts either their cash or credit cards and we collect the bill holders and put them at the end of the table. Then this girl takes her gum-wrapper and puts in in the empty bill holders. Two or three people follow suit. Then they place the bill holder on top of the others. At this point I spoke up and told them to treat the waitress with respect. If you didn't like the service, don't tip, but don't act like a jerk towards her. They took back the bill holder, but then a few minutes later they ended up putting it back. I didn't say anything at this point.

After we left Olive Garden, we went back to this girl's place to get our cars and go home. After everybody left, the girl who was the first one to put her gum wrapper in the bill holder talked to me about the incident. She told me that she used to be a waitress, and she said that waitresses would much rather be treated bad when they do a bad job than not get a tip at all.

So what's everyone's viewpoint on the issue? When the waitress does a bad job, do you tip? Tip at a minimum? Act like a jerk?

 

Acting like a jerk is uncalled for, unless the server is a jerk first. Even then being the bigger person is still more classy and better. I was with a friend at a restraunt and the wait person was rude. My friend simply asked for the manager who came promptly. He made our drinks on the house and gave us a different server. We finished our drinks and left because he used to be in food service and knew that our food would be spit in or something if we persisted to eat there.

The think is tips are according to service. A lower or no tip is better than being low class.

 

I agree. I'll never want the people to feel like they are low-class, or have them perceive that I think I am better than them because I don't think that way. The fact that you're serving me food does not mean that I will tip you. The fact that you try to satisfy me (even if you don't in some cases, because of circumstances) means that I'll show you my appreciation in the form of a tip.

I don't tip always, but when it's deserved I'll tip very well. I was at a restaurant on Saturday for drinks, there was not a time when I wanted something and had to wait to get it from the server. $47 bill, he got a $20 tip on that because he was awesome.

 

Why even ask for seperate checks? Is everyone afraid they might over pay by a few bucks.

I'm a server and there is nothing worse then people who ask for seperate checks...it takes a long time to do and is just a big pain in the a@#, and they are ungrateful for the extra work you just did.

 

It has nothing to do with over/under paying, and everything to do with methods of payment. I almost never have cash, and if I do, it's a $20 I just got out of the ATM. So I can't easily pay for my meal if I don't have proper change unless you can charge just my check to my card.


Wah wah wah. If your store doesn't want to accept my credit card, don't put the sign on the door. Otherwise, I get to chose my method of payment, and I don't particularly care if the most convenient one for me is the least convenient one for you.


BTW, I've NEVER tipped under 15%, and almost always tip 20-25% (I make it 20% and then round up to the next convenient round number), so I'm hardly rude, but the whole "pissed off cuz I have to do my job" think really chaps my hide.

 

Hmmm whenever we get separate checks it is usually because we all are paying with cards. We've kind of adjusted that habit and try to bring cash now.

When we have separate checks the server always gets tipped higher because we all lean on the high side to make sure the server is covered. If it's all on one then we usually just aim for a percentage that tends to be lower. Dunno why that is.

I have a problem with servers who act like it's a chore to serve or meet customers' reasonable requests. Is it a pain to split up a check? Maybe. Is it part of your job to also handle the financial side of the transaction? Yes. My clients frequently require customized service, but the last thing you ever do is make them feel that they owe you for giving you business.

In my opinion the customer should never be made to feel that they are in the debt of the service provider. That's just bad business.

 

why are you going to the Olive Garden its not for the good food, service or the ambiance.

 

so what?

just tell 'em how much you want to put on your card.

you don't need a seperate bill for that...next thing, you'll be asking for a detailed spreadsheet of ingredients costs and labour breakdown.

 

Here's where the problem started, IMHO.

 

Meh, 6 one, half dozen the other. I feel like it's easier dividing up a list of entrees than it is to hand a server a stack of cards and tell her how much to put on each one,