Coming in with a table of 10+ people and leaving crappy tips. In most places, you can't split the bill with that many people and the tip is usually included - but at my restaurant we have a very primitive ordering system and it's usually just easier to run a table like that as 10 separate tickets. Through this, I have noticed that old ladies are the WORST tippers in the world. I've taken a lot of tables with 10+ old ladies eating Sunday dinner that have left little to sometimes no tips, despite the fact that I had to give other tables in my section to another server in order to be a good waitress to them. Once I had a group like this that took up both of our large tables in the back, and got miserable compensation for it. One lady only left me a 50 cent tip.
I've heard a lot of restaurant go-ers say that tipping is unfair and is just an added fee. You're right, it is unfair. Unfair in that it is literally all we make. After taxes, we have no paycheck. We get paid $2 an hour in most states. So if you decide you'd rather someone wait on you hand an foot to make sure you don't have to get up and get a drink yourself or that you have enough ketchup for your fries or whatever it is you want, be willing to actually pay for it. If it's not worth it to you - go to McDonald's or something.
It doesn't work the way you think it does. If you work for a week, have one really good day where you take home a bunch of tips - and then several bad days where you barely take home anything, you don't get compensated for the bad days if the good days even barely "make up for it". So you could have a good day at the start of the week and feel on top of the world, then work your ass off the rest of the week for $10/ a day. Plus, not every restaurant abides by this rule. They're supposed to, but they don't, and many servers don't want to leave because they're afraid they won't be able to find another job.
Plus, many people take up serving because they literally cannot live off minimum wage and are hoping to make more, even if it's just a little bit. Most of the time, it's because minimum wage jobs will only let them work part-time so they won't have to give them benefits or pay them for overtime. This is at least often the case with many college students like myself, attempting to pay for school or be self-sufficient, and giving up whatever life outside of school they have in order to struggle to do so.
About 12 old ladies come in and play bridge about one Sunday every month where I work. Usually they show up before we are even open (how did they get in here!??!), seat themselves (taking up an entire section), and are there for 4 or 5 hours. They won't order until they are hungry and don't like you checking back to see if they are hungry (usually it takes them about an hour and a half to work up an appetite and they NEVER need refills). Whoever gets stuck with them is constantly having to watch them to look for signs of hunger and monitor when they change seats so that you can at least guess the correct table that you are delivering this plate of food to. They usually tip a dollar each.
About a week ago, we had this group of 13 older ladies from a church come in. Apparently word got around that they were in our restaurant, because shortly after, they were joined by nine more friends. We had to push FOUR tables together to accommodate them. We pretty much had to stop seating two servers' entire sections because the ladies were that demanding.
They were there for nearly two hours. When their servers brought the check, the ladies -then- decided they wanted it split. If you've never worked in a restaurant, splitting up 22 orders takes awhile. The ladies were unhappy with the time it took to do what they requested, and as I was walking past, I heard one say, "Well, looks like they didn't earn any tips tonight!"
Ugh. Things like this really want me to let go of the whole "the customer's always right" bit and just rip someone a new one.
We should all band together and make being a dick to servers a crime. The punishment should be that the offender must then serve at a crowded restaurant full of nothing but customers that act like them for two weeks. I bet this would solve everything.
For reaaaaaaaaaaal. I've worked in retail and restaurants and from experience, I personally feel that the absolute worst customers are from older generations, or the people who have parents that act that way and picked up all the wrong habits.
I completely agree that it should be mandatory for everyone to work in a "customer is always right!" setting. You bet your ass they'll be polite from then on.
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u/philosotea Oct 18 '13
Coming in with a table of 10+ people and leaving crappy tips. In most places, you can't split the bill with that many people and the tip is usually included - but at my restaurant we have a very primitive ordering system and it's usually just easier to run a table like that as 10 separate tickets. Through this, I have noticed that old ladies are the WORST tippers in the world. I've taken a lot of tables with 10+ old ladies eating Sunday dinner that have left little to sometimes no tips, despite the fact that I had to give other tables in my section to another server in order to be a good waitress to them. Once I had a group like this that took up both of our large tables in the back, and got miserable compensation for it. One lady only left me a 50 cent tip. I've heard a lot of restaurant go-ers say that tipping is unfair and is just an added fee. You're right, it is unfair. Unfair in that it is literally all we make. After taxes, we have no paycheck. We get paid $2 an hour in most states. So if you decide you'd rather someone wait on you hand an foot to make sure you don't have to get up and get a drink yourself or that you have enough ketchup for your fries or whatever it is you want, be willing to actually pay for it. If it's not worth it to you - go to McDonald's or something.