Last week I went to lunch with three of my girlfriends. It was a rainy day and we were in the mood for something light yet satisfying, so we headed to Olive Garden for their Soup, Salad and Breadsticks lunch special.
Two of us ordered water and the special. Two of us ordered lemonade and the special. After which our waiter comments, "Eatin' on a budget, hu?" with a slightly annoyed tone. What?! As a former server I was slightly taken aback at this comment. Through out our meal he kept our waters filled, but he made a couple more comments that seemed off to me. He also seemed a bit miffed at the end that we wanted to pay with 4 separate credit cards.
So what would have done?:
1. same tip as planned
2. reduced tip from what you had planned
3. no tip
4. call the manager
8 comments:
What?! Who hired that guy?
I would have left either a reduced tip or no tip at all. Comments and attitudes like that don't even deserve my extra change.
A similar thing happened to my husband once. We had decided to try a shake at the chain Steak 'n' Shake. First of all, our waitress was crabby. Second of all, she brought to my husband the wrong shake (he had ordered a chocolate banana; I had ordered a chocolate...she brought out two chocolates). When she brought out the corrected order, his shake appeared to have been made with fake banana flavoring. It tasted (and looked) awful.
We left. We didn't tip. And they can hate us if they want to because we're never going back.
Less of a tip and talk to the manager. That's ridiculous.
I wouldn't have the guts to talk to the manager, honestly, although I would commend anyone who did. I WOULD leave a reduced tip (even though it would further reinforce his budget theory) and possibly even a note on the napkin telling him how inappropriate his remarks were.
Having myself been a server, I decided to keep my original tip. My standard 20%. However, it was very tempting to reduce it down to 15%. I don't know what the other girls ended up doing.
I guess I just remember those "bad days" as a server. I also remembered those countless "checks" on payday that were for $0.00 or $2. Every bit of my "salary" was taken out for taxes so the only money I ever saw was tips.
But really the guy needs to get a clue. You can't give people poor/bitter service and expect something good in return.
I like Sarah's suggestion of leaving a note on a napkin. But I'm with you silly marie, I would give the full tip. Maybe he was just having a bad day. He needs to learn to control it, but still he did bring your food and tips are his basic wages. Having been a server myself in my college days, I can never bring myself to leave without tipping.
The other day I took a friend to lunch. We got poor service. As I walked up to pay she said she would leave a tip on the table. When we got in the car she said she left a dollar. I was mortified.
We need to cut each other some slack once in awhile.
Although paying with 4 cards is more work, it's statistically proven that servers get more tips when there are seperate checks than when it's all lumped into 1 check.
Paying for soup and breadsticks with 4 credit cards is a bit much. You should have given more than your usual tip and brought cash next time, or put the whole thing on one card and worked it out among yourselves.
Having been a server myself, running 4 credit cards really isn't difficult, especially when it's an easy bill. Had it been a crazy bill where we all had something different, I could see your point.
What he really should have done before he had taken our order was ask if it was together or seperate.
We weren't taking up a booth in his section very long at all, so I do not feel bad about leaving a normal tip. Had we lingered for hours over coffee or hot chocolate or whatever (like some of my customers had) and taken up room and possibility for turn over and more tips, I would have left more money.
Olive Garden advertises that as their lunch special so I don't feel like it should be concidered an imposition in any way to do what we did.
And I think Mizike has a very good point about them actually getting a better tip with us paying seperately.
Post a Comment