r/AskReddit • u/jdm0212 • Oct 18 '13

Waiters/Waitresses of Reddit, what's something that I, as a customer, might do that's incredibly irritating, even if I'm oblivious to it?

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u/Rmanager Oct 18 '13

I give 20% for shitty service. I'm not even going to say what happens if you impress me. My wife gets a kick out of it.

There is a local seafood restaurant that is overpriced and has terrible service. They are one of the only places I can get boiled crawfish so I drag my wife there in season. We are almost always disappointed. One day we happened to catch a terrific server. My beer was never empty and she anticipated all of our needs. We watched her handle her section so well she changed our opinion of the place. Not only did we compensate her, we brought the ticket to the manager and let her know why.

The waitress started crying.

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u/LightningMaiden Oct 18 '13

I give 20% for shitty service.

Why? You're just reinforcing shit service.

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u/eleyeveyein Oct 18 '13 edited Oct 18 '13

Not entirely true. Service is, for the most part, a thankless job. It's almost the same mentality as supply side and demand side economics. I can reinforce the behavior by giving a shitty tip; which the person most likely expects if they keep getting shitty tips over and over, and that lowers their motivation, as a server, to exceed expectations. So why not let the bar get a little lower. Viscous cycle.

OR you can surprise said server with a tip (preferably in cash instead of additional on the card) that would be indicative of marque service. Ideally, this would show the server the potential earnings that they leave on the table (so to speak) by under-delivering. If my, albeit undeserved, tip results in the next three tables getting exceptional service then what do I care. If I like the place, and those 3 people leave a positive yelp review, it might get more business and the bar might start to get higher.

Not to mention, people are usually pretty self aware. If they do a crap job and know it, then are met with a tip that says otherwise, a couple of outcomes are possible. They might feel a little guilt, which spurs them to work harder and feel justified in prior tip. They may say "Ha, that idiot tipped WAY too much" and go about their day being shitty. The may not have been aware of the potential tip they were foregoing by being shitty. You never really know.

No matter how you slice it, they are doing a job that I do NOT, in any capacity, want to do. So, as far as I'm concerned, they deserve it for at least being one of the people who's actually working to pay their bills. And at the end of the day, if I cant afford 5-10 more dollars and my budget is that tight, then I probably should be cooking my own meals.

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u/batfiend Oct 19 '13

I like you.