tipping

Thanks Phil, I was associating that phrase with egyptian-themed marshmallows and couldn't remember why!

In Chicago we call "yummy mummies" "Trixies" because somebody who had never seen or possibly heard of The Honeymooners decided that "Trixie" was the poshest name s/he could think of. Though Trixies refers to any entitled actin woman, not just mothers.

Fixed.

I'm still going to tip, but please do not do that.

Kinda dick post, I get where they're coming from on some of that stuff, I hate the fakey-friendlyness, but places I've worked you're really required/expected to do that stuff, and also you have no idea how well it works on other tables. I try to strike a balance, my serving persona is ideally like cool/kinda wry guy who figures out that you're just there to eat and get out and accommodates that for you, but still, I mean
7. Don't keep asking, "Can I get you anything else?" Just bring me the check and I'll leave. - - then ask for the fucking check, stupid! I don't want to drop it on your table and THEN you go "Ohhh, what were your desserts again?" or "Oh, can we get that split up?" or "Oh, we have a coupon for a discount" etc etc.

I hate it when they ask "can I get you anything else?" because I have family members who will say "yes."

Obligatory bitching post: So last night I had a table that walked in at 9:54 (we close at 10). I greeted them warmly, they asked when we closed, I said 10, they were kind of vaguely apologetic about it and the one lady was like "Your waitresses are going to be mad at you!" As I was seating them, I was like, "Well, actually, I'm the server as well, so no worries!" (In my head thinking: A) Why would you joke about how pissed-off the people who work in a restaurant are for you coming in right when they're closing, and B) Why would you think the host, who is going to have to stand around and wait for the table to get closed anyway so they can count the drawer, would be less pissed-off than the server?) Anyway, I served them, gave them totally normal service, rattled off the specials, kept their water filled, yadda yadda, they sat there until 10:45. Split checks: one lady who got just the quesadillas ($7 ticket) tipped me $5. Dig it, she gets the deal. The other check, paid by "your waitresses" lady, was a $40 ticket, they tipped... $5. Whaaaaaaaaaaat the fuck, fuck you, fuck YOU, and fuck YOU! These are people who know and specifically acknowledge that they are keeping me at work an hour past when I thought I was going to leave, and they are tipping me barely over ten percent. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagghhhhhh

sorry, is there another thread that's just like "rolling service industry shithole bitching thread"?

probably, but this one seems fine for your legit beef

I almost think that's the exact name of it!

Maybe quesadilla lady knew the others were bad tippers and was covering for them, $10 on a $47 bill isn't bad.

Not to be dickish, but if your business really wants to shut down at 10 it shouldn't seat people at 9:55. Blame your managemnet for that.

my personal pet peeve is when you get the check before you're even done eating. seems to happen all the time here. but hey

$10 on a $47 bill is just over 20%, so yes, a reasonable enough tip at 7:30. But walking into a restaurant when they're about to close is horrible behavior that makes everyone hate you. Posted hours, yeah, but you go, "In my internal moral calculus, I am going to make a bunch of people stick around at the job they hate for an hour to wait on one table. This is not a nice thing to do to people."

I do blame management in part - we used to have a policy where we took last orders at 10 and last seating at 9:45, because obviously, you seat somebody at 10, they're not ordering right that second. This has changed. Meanwhile, they're paying hourlies out to a server, possibly a host/cashier, and the cook. (Note, I have been working there for a year and a half at starting pay; there is a raise freeze because labor costs are too high.)

But really, don't ever sit down in an empty restaurant within 30 minutes of their stated close time. I know people who would go as far as to say an hour. Numerous people, tipped and untipped, are trying to clean the place up, both in the front and in the back of the house. Again you might say "tough shit, that's their job" but if that's your attitude you are probably already a horrible tipper and we don't want you anyway.

xpost we are required to drop the check with the food when serving breakfast, due to company policy that assumes breakfast eaters are in a big hurry to catch a flight/get to the big meeting/etc. We can get failed for not doing that on a secret-shopper thing.

But really, don't ever sit down in an empty restaurant within 30 minutes of their stated close time.

Back when I worked in restaurants, I wished this was the case, but it was hardly ever the fucking case.

so 38% of my last paycheck was taxed away. thank you credit tips. gonna go join the tea party now.

tomorrow is the first day since the 19th that i'm not working, and i've made some good money but jesus christ i can't wait to sleep in

Oh god, credit tips must have gotten so much worse in the last decade!

It's a huge problem! Also I work in a hotel so tons of people just sign to the room, also documented and taxed. Comes with the territory though and balanced by slightly higher hourlies, plus health insurance (expensive and shitty, but still).

There was actually a mini-controversy locally when a restaurant started doing a dinner service (they're a lunch place) and a local reviewer caught wind of this and showed up. She unfortunately showed up five minutes before closing, and the owner said "sure, we'll serve you, as long as you promise this isn't for a review". Which makes sense, because they weren't officially starting their dinner service for a few days and it was a dry run, and she was also there right at close.

She said something like "well, I can't guarantee anything" and she blogged about it and was all huffy about the fact that the owner opened the door back up and held it for her so she could leave!

so when you pay by credit in an ideal world you should leave a cash tip?

that's what i try to do and i understand it's "the way to go"

i gave a waitress in denny's a, like, $14 tip or something once in 2006 just because

It sounds like you could have said "Sorry, the kitchen closes right at ten" then given a little eye-roll to say "those lazy cooks!" and gotten rid of them. But if your bosses are monitoring, then I retract everything. And for the record, I would never go into a place just before the posted closing time and expect service.

hi i pay taxes on my income

It sounds like you could have said "Sorry, the kitchen closes right at ten" then given a little eye-roll to say "those lazy cooks!" and gotten rid of them.

Agreed totally, used to do this! New manager guy is really committed to holding this official closing time, if one complaint gets back to him heads will roll etc. etc.

btw that table I was bitching about came back again tonight, this time at 9:15 so OK. Good lady tipped ~$4 for her one meal. Bad lady again tipped ~$4 for the three people on her check. Also I already hold them in really low esteem so they'd really have to do a lot to win me back over. Warning to the world, even if you are a douche with some chip on your shoulder about your contrarian, iconoclastic bad-tipping ways, never crack jokes with wait staff about how severely you are inconveniencing them or how poorly you will tip them.

dag

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201108/tiger-woods-regains-no-1-ranking-tightwad-tippers

http://bumpshack.com/2008/05/08/bad-tipper-lebron-james-tips-125-on-800-tab/

5.) Jeremy Piven: Left signed Entourage DVD as tip.

Jeremy Piven, according to Zimbio, showed up at Nobu in Aspen with a party of 12 -- without a reservation. After being seated and served, Piven reportedly told the manager: "Thanks for nothing," and left a signed Entourage DVD as the tip -- which is at least a bit more generous than an autograph. According to the story, a Nobu employee hurled the box at Piven as he was leaving, and Piven was banned from ever returning to Nobu

tbf that's probably where he was poisoned with mercury

I feel bad for the server but still, if you take a job at Nobu Aspen it's gotta come with the assumption you'll be dealing with the world's biggest assholes on a nightly basis.

lol i met a sushi chef who worked at Nobu (not the Aspen one) and he had a nasty case of Mercury poisoning once

just got a $170 tip HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEVER COMPLAINING AGAIN

lol Jeremy Piven just as you'd expect him to be in real life

jeremy piven came to a party at my house once and left 20 minutes later.

did he eat all your sushi before leaving?

no but tbh it was a shitty party w/ a bunch of 20 year olds going "hey its the dude from old school!"

i would have left too

hi-five to zachlyon!

yay! i've accepted that my life is just going to be hating my job one week and tolerating it the next, forever, AMERICAN DREAM

pumping my fist over here 4 u, zachlyon

what he said

looool after the last couple weeks have been good with the tips, 54% of my paycheck went to taxes. can't win!

For years I’ve been tipping $1 per drink at “normal” bars (when ordering at the bar, of course). But now that “mixologists” and cocktails with multiple ingredients (and often complicated physical maneuvers!) are the norm at even my neighborhood bar, $1 no longer seems adequate. Are we to start tipping on $14 cocktails the way we tip on food? Say 15 to 20 percent? What do mixologists expect for that Cucumber Basil Crush with house-made ginger-elderberry liqueur, thai basil grown out back and ice shaved by hand the old-fashioned way?
A.

The dollar per drink you might tip for some “well” alcohol on the rocks is not adequate these days for that Cucumber Basil Crush. Mixologists are becoming chefs, and take special care in how their drinks are assembled and served. And for that reason, I’d tip $2.50 to $3 on a $14 cocktail — even if the bartender isn’t a great conversationalist.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/dear-flofab-please-dont-take-my-plate-yet/?src=tp

I miss frogbs

The very next time I order a Cucumber Basil Crush with house-made ginger-elderberry liqueur, thai basil grown out back and ice shaved by hand the old-fashioned way, I will be sure to make good use of this advice.

Man, this thread makes me so endlessly thankful I don't work at that restaurant anymore.

tipping is not just a city in china!

^^ meta frogbs

But really, don't ever sit down in an empty restaurant within 30 minutes of their stated close time. I know people who would go as far as to say an hour. Numerous people, tipped and untipped, are trying to clean the place up, both in the front and in the back of the house. Again you might say "tough shit, that's their job" but if that's your attitude you are probably already a horrible tipper and we don't want you anyway.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, July 29, 2011 12:17 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this reply is half a year out of date, but i really dislike this kind of super-aggressive service staff hostility toward customers. look i know it's a tough job and that we're all just a bunch of drooling nincompoops, but the issue here isn't whether or not we figure it's you're job to be inconvenienced. a restaurant that chooses to seat you is a restaurant that has made it clear that it wants your business. period. if restaurants don't want the business past a certain point, then they should quit seating people at that point. and i tip very well, thank you, whether or not i can really afford it.

i mean, i wouldn't walk into a near-empty restaurant fifteen minutes before closing time and expect to eat. but a hopping full house at half an hour to close, why not? that's just me, though, and i don't expect everyone else in the world to adhere to my standards. bottom line is that restaurants shouldn't seat people they don't actively want to serve.

And for that reason, I’d tip $2.50 to $3 on a $14 cocktail — even if the bartender isn’t a great conversationalist.

Conversation skills come into it now? I've been way overtipping in that case.

For what it's worth, the restaurant I worked at was basically never, ever busy in the evening. I'm sure in the story I told, those people were the ONLY table seated in the restaurant.

And I maintain that in terms of increasing or decreasing the amount of unhappiness in the universe, the person deciding to sit down five minutes before closing is an asshole, even if the posted closing time ALLOWS them to do that. They're making a whole lot of people's day a lot worse. The ONLY way to make up for this is to leave a huge tip out of proportion to the price of the meal, and even this won't necessarily mean much to the cook, dishwasher, cashier, or whoever the fuck else is stuck there drumming their fingers waiting for this person to just goddamn order something already.