Sarah Presents...
This is going to be a periodic... feature, if you will, that I am adding to this blog as a Public Service. I've blogged on this topic before, but I decided it needed a graphic (inspired by my gurus Stacy and Clinton). These things actually happen, people. I am not making this up. So without further ado, I present What Not To Do In A Restaurant: Tip #2.
Do not circle your server's name on the credit card slip and write "Great Job!" in lieu of a tip.
I admit I'm still baffled by this one, and it happened last night. This table was so pleasant and classy that my co-workers commented on it. They addressed me by name. Their bill was $194. 15% would have been $29-30 (this is printed on the check). They left $20, which is 9%. Being a person who overanalyzes things, I ran through the options in my head. Could it have been sarcasm? Maybe they only had $215 left in their account? Did they need reading glasses? Were they hiding behind a pillar laughing at me while I surreptitiously checked under the table in confusion to make sure another twenty hadn't fallen? Do I look like the sort of person who expects her payment to arrive in the form of smiley face notes? I suppose there is always crack. I wonder if it could have been crack.
5 comments:
I'm so sorry that some people are just tipping idiots! I used to wait tables myself, so unless the server does a HORRIBLE job I tip around 20% (mostly because it's easier to figure out.) If the job was horrible I will tip badly.
My mom was a waitress for many years and told me that 1 cent on top of a decent tip was supposed to mean that you were very pleased, but 2 cents meant that you were not worth 2 cents. I figure that today's waitstaff wouldn't know that, so I don't bother.
Interesting. I have never had anyone leave cents, and I too have had poor service. I'll still leave something, though. The people that drive me up the wall are the ones who think the whole practice in general is optional. Maybe if we wore signs that said, "I MAKE $2.13 an hour"??? Haha.
Here's a little something for your waitress rant ... I, too, am a waitress and I recently had the rudest table in my four-plus years waitressing. They had constantly complained throughout their meal, sent it back twice to be re-heated, and when I asked if they wanted to consolidate their leftovers into boxes, the woman laughed and said to her husband, (and I quote) "I didn't know waitresses knew words that had more than one syllable." I was infuriated and basically let her know what she could do with her leftovers which got me stiffed on the tipe and reprimanded by my manager, but put the woman in her place. I hate that people automatically assume that one's intellectual capacity is sub-par because one waitresses. I love waitressing; it put me through college and I still do it part-time when I'm not at my "real"job. So yeah, there's my two cents about stereotypes against waitresses.
I once waited on a really nice upstanding type. I couldn't figure out why he was so polite then I went to collect the tip and bus and found a "You Are Appreciated" Card with a bible quote on it. We hung it up in the waitstand...Whereas I appreciated someone trying to save my soul I would have also appreciate soul save AND 15% in cash
Oh boy, you all see what I'm going on about! And I too hate the assumption that waitresses are dumb. I used to have a "real" job-- but I make more at the restaurant! I made $580 this week, and I only work 4 days. I think in New Orleans it's a little different because it's more of a legitimate profession... there are such a sense of pride in good food here. This blog looks down on bad tippers and rude diners, but hopes to continue to enlighten the world about weird tippers and diners. Oh, and my friend got stiffed by some nuns at lunch.
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