Tipping

[ZTAngel]

I'm a person who regularly tips 20% or more. I know that servers don't generally make a lot of money and that they work very hard. With that said, I have come across some pretty terrible servers and usually they'll get 15% (or sometimes less). But what I absolutely loathe is the included 18% gratuity that is automatically put on the bill of a party of 6 or more. If they're a good server, they lose out because now I'll only give them 18% versus the 20% plus that I would've given had gratuity not been included. Also, why should I have to pay 18% is the service is terrible? I had a really bad experience at a restaurant last year on my friend's b-day. The waitress was flat-out nasty. She put a bunch of items on our bill that we had never ordered and told us that we were liars when we said we had not ordered the items nor had they ever been brought to our table. When the kitchen finally told her that she was wrong, she mumbled an apology and had the manager fix our bill while she hid in the back. While those items were removed from our bill (and we got a free piece of cake....to share between 9 people), the 18% gratuity was not. It's like this waitress was being rewarded even though she was a general asshat to us.

[Hopeful_Bubbles]

I can see some of the points about the auto gratuity, but having been a server in a college town at a restaurant that didn't add gratuity no matter the size of the party I often wished we would've had it. Tips in general were pretty bad there no matter how good a server you were. Even the poor tips weren't as bad as the people who come in and let their kids run all over and don't watch them.

[AlethiaSi]

I always tip 20% if not more... I'm very forgiving because even though I'm a good server, I know what it's like to be in the weeds.

Adding gratuity should be up to the server, we call it "a roll of the dice" because if you don't add it you could get really lucky or get screwed.
I usually can read my tables well enough to know that the 20% from autograt is all i'm going to get or if they'll throw down more than that.

I hate to say this, but women almost always just leave the bare basic amount, especially in groups, I had lots of them this holiday season.... Plus they are usually a huge pain in the @ss...

[scbelle]

Originally Posted by AlethiaSi

I hate to say this, but women almost always just leave the bare basic amount, especially in groups, I had lots of them this holiday season.... Plus they are usually a huge pain in the @ss...

I noticed this, too, when I was a server. I usually got the general 15% (or less, sometimes) if I was waiting on women dining together. If I had a male-female couple, I usually got between 15-20%. If I had a table of all gentlemen, I'd get a really good tip. 20-25% and above sometimes. Once I waited on the Anheuser-Busch reps who came to our restaurant and they gave me $60 on a $100 bill. I know they probably got to write it off, or were dining on the company card, but still. I wonder, though, if gender does make a difference in how a server is tipped. Will a woman-patron tip more for a male server? My hunch is probably yes.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

Also, why should I have to pay 18% is the service is terrible? I had a really bad experience at a restaurant last year on my friend's b-day. The waitress was flat-out nasty. She put a bunch of items on our bill that we had never ordered and told us that we were liars when we said we had not ordered the items nor had they ever been brought to our table. When the kitchen finally told her that she was wrong, she mumbled an apology and had the manager fix our bill while she hid in the back. While those items were removed from our bill (and we got a free piece of cake....to share between 9 people), the 18% gratuity was not. It's like this waitress was being rewarded even though she was a general asshat to us.

I would have taken the bill, marked out the 18% tip, put in whatever tip (if any) I thought was appropriate, recalculated the total and handed that bill along with my credit card to the manager.

And I would hope he wanted to argue with me about it.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

And I would hope he wanted to argue with me about it.

The LAWYER would say that.

Wouldn't that be like going into battle with an unarmed person?