nowadays....is it a norm for restaurants to ....

[Dancing Fire]

tag on 15-20% for gratuity ?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Usually only when there is a larger party (6 or 8, or more).

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/17/2008 8:03:19 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Usually only when there is a larger party (6 or 8, or more).

Agreed...this is the only time I''ve seen it happen. In the US at least.

 

[Miranda]

Last week I was at a restaurant that had the suggested tip for 15%, 20%, and 25% already figured and printed on the bill. It was not added to the total. I was surprised by it. I agree with DeeJay. In larger parties the gratuity is added to the bill.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

The restaurant I work at adds 19.5% gratuity (which I found to be high) for parties of 8 or more. It must be done by a manager, so there is no getting around it. I would be very surprised to have that added to the bill for a smaller party at any restaurant.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 6/17/2008 8:06:25 PM
Author: Miranda
Last week I was at a restaurant that had the suggested tip for 15%, 20%, and 25% already figured and printed on the bill. It was not added to the total. I was surprised by it. I agree with DeeJay. In larger parties the gratuity is added to the bill.

This actually isn't a bad idea -- after I've had a few glasses of wine my math gets a little *fuzzy*.

 

[diamondfan]

I have been to some chain type places (California Pizza Kitchen etc) and sometimes, on large groups of 6 or 8 or more, it states on the menu that they add on the gratuity to the check.

I am a good tipper, but do not like that in case the service is awful. I have never not tipped but certainly have been less than pleased with some of the service I have gotten in restaurants, and feel 20% is not the way to let the server know you are displeased. I hesitate to complain while my food is not all served but I do not usually leave a 20% tip either if the service is bad. But it must be pretty terrible for me to actually leave less.

 

[Lexie]

At the restaurant that I work at, they add an 18% gratuity for parties of 8 or more

 

[Itgirl76]

I think 15% is the norm and 20% for outstanding service.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Actually when I was a server 20% was norm. Maybe it is the area where I live. They added 18% for parties of 8 or more (I think...can''t remember maybe it was 6). A manager did it. You wouldn''t believe how many people are horrible, horrible tippers

 

[Hera]

I have the occasional restaurant have something at the bottom giving the 15 and 20% amounts for a tip. It''s not figured into the total so I don''t mind.

 

[FrekeChild]

Ditto to everyone else. I was a waiter for about a year, and usually I walked out with 15-20% most of the time. Grats were added to parties of 8 or more.

Being an ex server has given me a new perception on the restaurant''s inner workings. I have to tell you guys though that I have stiffed a server before. We stopped at a restaurant along the same lines as Applebee''s before a movie-an hour and a half before we had to be at the movies-and only a 5 minute drive to the theater. It was later and after the busy dinner hour, so it wasn''t that the kitchen was busy. He forgot to put our order in until ten minutes after we had ordered them-he apologized for that and was honest-luckily we had ordered food that was fast. His manager brought our food because he was predisposed to talking to these girls at another table. When we were done eating, we asked for the bill. Well we got the bill, and we were already cutting it close to make it to the movie, but we figured if he did it in a timely manner, we''d be more than fine.

He dropped off the bill and left it-even though I had my card in my hand. And then went to the table across and down one from us, and started FLIRTING with the girls sitting there. He''d be talking to them briefly in passing, but I hadn''t thought anything of it. He stayed there for over ten minutes talking, laughing etc with these girls. He even glanced our way a couple of times. I was sitting there glaring at him and not talking to BF-I don''t know how he didn''t notice. So finally he broke away and got my card and went to run it-another almost five minutes until he brought it back. I was so POed that he was ignoring us to flirt with these girls. You''re WORKING. DO YOUR JOB. You don''t do your job, and I''m not going to pay you for it. We were literally sitting there listening to their conversation which consisted of what they were doing that night.

I had always been taught that you dropped the check and picked it up ASAP-and leave it up to the customer as to how long they wanted to sit around. So I left a big fat note on the receipt (the one he had to keep and give to the manager at the end of the night) about WHY he got 0%. Luckily, we got to the movie on time.

And I don''t regret it. I hope he learned a lesson from it. I know how much it hurt me when I got a bad tip, but I doubt that he cared or even noticed. He really came off like he didn''t give a s*** about his job. UGH.

Sorry DF. Got more than you asked for didn''t you?

 

[VRBeauty]

Brief hijack---

Freke: Do the waiters normally share the tips with other staff, or does the waiter keep it all?

(I can''t believe I''ve gottent this far in life without knowing the answer to that!)

 

[Dancing Fire]

we had a party of 18 ...
the waitress couldn't remember who order what

just stand there like an idiot with our food. we had to raise our hands as she announce the dishes

this wasn't a cheap restaurant either.she ain't worth the 20%

i had to pick up the tab.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/17/2008 10:56:43 PM
Author: MINIMS
Brief hijack---

Freke: Do the waiters normally share the tips with other staff, or does the waiter keep it all?

(I can''t believe I''ve gottent this far in life without knowing the answer to that!)

At the restaurant I worked at we kept everything but 10% of our total sales. The bartenders kept 5%, the hosts kept 2.5% and the bussers kept 2.5%. And if we had a food runner (usually on friday or saturday nights) he''d get his 2.5 from the hosts percentage. We were part of a national chain though.

Other restaurants have the tips combined and then split them-so that everyone ends up with the same. Those restaurants usually are smaller, and very team oriented-everyone does everything.

At ours, if we got in the weeds (behind) we''ve have to get ourselves out. Unless we had close friends we could count on. It was very much a keep what you earn kind of thing. If we got screwed on a tip or two, we got screwed. Period.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/17/2008 11:33:12 PM
Author: Dancing Fire
we had a party of 18 ...

the waitress couldn''t remember who order what

just stand there like an idiot with our food. we had to raise our hands as she announce the dishes

this wasn''t a cheap restaurant either.she ain''t worth the 20%

i had to pick up the tab.

Usually gratuities can be adjusted up or down depending on your experience. Best to talk to a manager about it-basically it''s the management making sure that the waiter is taken care of. Taking big tables like that, especially by yourself, is hard work.

I''m sorry you had a bad experience DF. That really sucks. Did you say anything to the manager?

 

[ephemery1]

Date: 6/17/2008 11:33:12 PM
Author: Dancing Fire
we had a party of 18 ...
the waitress couldn't remember who order what

just stand there like an idiot with our food. we had to raise our hands as she announce the dishes

this wasn't a cheap restaurant either.she ain't worth the 20%

i had to pick up the tab.

With a party of 18, I think most restaurants would tack on gratuity automatically.

This is why I would be an awful server though... I could never remember individual orders at a table of 18, especially if I were serving other tables as well! I'd have to ask people to raise their hands too.

Some of my clients are servers in restaurants, and I am always in awe of them... it is a tough job and requires way more patience and concentration than I possess!

 

[meresal]

Date: 6/17/2008 10:33:38 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Ditto to everyone else. I was a waiter for about a year, and usually I walked out with 15-20% most of the time. Grats were added to parties of 8 or more.

Being an ex server has given me a new perception on the restaurant''s inner workings. I have to tell you guys though that I have stiffed a server before. We stopped at a restaurant along the same lines as Applebee''s before a movie-an hour and a half before we had to be at the movies-and only a 5 minute drive to the theater. It was later and after the busy dinner hour, so it wasn''t that the kitchen was busy. He forgot to put our order in until ten minutes after we had ordered them-he apologized for that and was honest-luckily we had ordered food that was fast. His manager brought our food because he was predisposed to talking to these girls at another table. When we were done eating, we asked for the bill. Well we got the bill, and we were already cutting it close to make it to the movie, but we figured if he did it in a timely manner, we''d be more than fine.

He dropped off the bill and left it-even though I had my card in my hand. And then went to the table across and down one from us, and started FLIRTING with the girls sitting there. He''d be talking to them briefly in passing, but I hadn''t thought anything of it. He stayed there for over ten minutes talking, laughing etc with these girls. He even glanced our way a couple of times. I was sitting there glaring at him and not talking to BF-I don''t know how he didn''t notice. So finally he broke away and got my card and went to run it-another almost five minutes until he brought it back. I was so POed that he was ignoring us to flirt with these girls. You''re WORKING. DO YOUR JOB. You don''t do your job, and I''m not going to pay you for it. We were literally sitting there listening to their conversation which consisted of what they were doing that night.

I had always been taught that you dropped the check and picked it up ASAP-and leave it up to the customer as to how long they wanted to sit around. So I left a big fat note on the receipt (the one he had to keep and give to the manager at the end of the night) about WHY he got 0%. Luckily, we got to the movie on time.

And I don''t regret it. I hope he learned a lesson from it. I know how much it hurt me when I got a bad tip, but I doubt that he cared or even noticed. He really came off like he didn''t give a s*** about his job. UGH.

Sorry DF. Got more than you asked for didn''t you?

Freke: I''ve only not left a tip once, and if I even try to explain I''ll become livid... anyway, we did order drinks that after 10 minutes the bartender had to bring all the way across the restaurant to us and then our food after that, bc the waiter was "MIA" for 15 minuites and then another 20. When we left, I talked with the manager, and left my tip directly with the bartender. Waiters are usually required to leave a %age to the bartenders, but bartenders are never required to share with the staff, from what I have experienced.

 

[diamondfan]

I am always astounded at server''s who do not write down ANYTHING and get the entire order correct, and I am a When Harry Met Sally type orderer. Really blows my mind.

Honestly though, I am appreciative of anyone working hard for their living, on their feet. I try to be nice to them, and hope for the same. If something is wrong with the order and they communicated it correctly to the kitchen I do not get angry with them, they do not make the food. And I had lots of friends in high school and college who waited tables so I always tip well. I do not like really nasty attitudes and a total lack of effort, and usually leave an average tip, not my normal 20 plus percent that I leave for good to great service.

 

[mia1181]

Freke- I used to be a server too and that has definitely impacted my tipping practices. I always tip pretty well, in the 20-25% range. But if a server is ever purposely rude to me or my party I wouldn''t hesitate to stiff. I think its one thing to mess up on my order, or whatever and a whole ''nother to blatantly neglect my table.

Overall though, I think my fiancee (who was also a server) and I try so hard to be nice it''s a problem. We have waited obscenely long periods of time for or food because we don''t want to have to say anything. We also tend to leave a super nice tip to "teach them a lesson" when we are in an upscale restaurant and we feel the server is neglecting us because we look young and they assume we won''t tip. It probably doesn''t get our point across but it makes us feel a little better.

But I think we generally go easy on servers because I can admit that I wasn''t a particularly good server myself. I sure tried hard but I would get overwhelmed and make stupid mistakes every now and then.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/18/2008 12:04:13 AM
Author: ephemery1

Date: 6/17/2008 11:33:12 PM
Author: Dancing Fire
we had a party of 18 ...
the waitress couldn''t remember who order what

just stand there like an idiot with our food. we had to raise our hands as she announce the dishes

this wasn''t a cheap restaurant either.she ain''t worth the 20%

i had to pick up the tab.

With a party of 18, I think most restaurants would tack on gratuity automatically.

This is why I would be an awful server though... I could never remember individual orders at a table of 18, especially if I were serving other tables as well! I''d have to ask people to raise their hands too.

Some of my clients are servers in restaurants, and I am always in awe of them... it is a tough job and requires way more patience and concentration than I possess!

we had two separate tables...
all she had to do was to take the orders clockwise then she would know who ordered what as the foods come out of the kitchen.

 

[brooklyngirl]

FI and I had several bad experiences. Once was when we were out with a large group (about 12) on a Saturday night. Our drink orders were taken, and it took them an HOUR to bring our drinks. Then it took another hour to bring our food. By that time everyone was PO''d. Since it was a large group they added 20% gratuity to the bill. FI waited for the waiter to collect the bill, and then told him that he won''t be paying the full gratuity because the service was sub par. I understand that it''s a busy saturday night, but 1 hour for drinks, that''s just ridiculous.

Another time we were at a diner. It was wasn''t particularly busy, but the waitress was MIA. We waited for half an hour for her to give us our bill, and she never showed. We ended up roughly counting up what we owed, and left that on the table.

 

[VRBeauty]

Freke:

Thank you for the enlightenment! I''m glad to hear that in most places, there''s a share the wealth poicy.

Personally I don''t mind the "gratuity" addition for large parties. I used to work with someone who was a notoriously bad tipper (and whose non-work conversations tended to focus on the "killings" he was making in the stock market, natch!). We got to dine out together more often than I liked (

) when we were out of town on business, or occasionally at the nearby "pub" that served a mean breakfast, and often served as our conference room for morning (alcohol-free) staff meetings. When the server added a gratuity to the bill we could make sure he contributed his share. When there wasn''t a gratuity added, many of us would end up padding our share to make up for Mr. Tightwad.

 

[strmrdr]

In most states even if it is added to the bill you are not required by law to pay it and they have to remove it if requested.
You do however have to pay the rest or face theft charges(charge name varies state to state).

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/18/2008 12:17:19 AM
Author: mia1181
Freke- I used to be a server too and that has definitely impacted my tipping practices. I always tip pretty well, in the 20-25% range. But if a server is ever purposely rude to me or my party I wouldn''t hesitate to stiff. I think its one thing to mess up on my order, or whatever and a whole ''nother to blatantly neglect my table.

Overall though, I think my fiancee (who was also a server) and I try so hard to be nice it''s a problem. We have waited obscenely long periods of time for or food because we don''t want to have to say anything. We also tend to leave a super nice tip to ''teach them a lesson'' when we are in an upscale restaurant and we feel the server is neglecting us because we look young and they assume we won''t tip. It probably doesn''t get our point across but it makes us feel a little better.

But I think we generally go easy on servers because I can admit that I wasn''t a particularly good server myself. I sure tried hard but I would get overwhelmed and make stupid mistakes every now and then.

I probably wasn''t that great of a server either-so I know how that goes-but I ALWAYS cared about my job and I was always trying to do my best-even if I didn''t accomplish it as well as someone would have liked.

This one time I had the worst 3 table section (bad spacing of all three 4tops-really really close together) and these 4 ladies sat at one of them. Well they sat there for 3 hours. They ordered 4 of the most expensive items on the menu. They sat there and calculated DOWN TO THE CENT how much each of them owed (I know this because all of the math was all over the receipt-literally all over it-and I still have it somewhere but it''s 6ish years old so who knows how it''s aged). And what did they leave me as a tip? A pile of change. Maybe 2 quarters. Mostly pennies. And because of the bad table placement-they were one of 3 tables I had all night....UGH.

Anyway if he had been busy, distressed, at least apologetic or something else besides nonchalant, I probably would have tipped the usual 20% (27% for BF''s birthday dinner). I mean it when I say that it was SO BAD that it almost ruined our evening. BF was POed-and it takes a lot to do that to him-he doesn''t notice unless something is really wrong.

Besides the stuff I talked about-he never refilled our drinks. That is my biggest pet peeve. And BF had ordered Buffalo Wings for dinner-so he stopped eating them when his drink ran out. At my old restaurant we would get yelled at if any of the managers or head servers walked past our tables and our tables'' glasses were less than half full. If they don''t want to be at work-go home or quit your job-don''t waste my time and P me off.

For the most part though, if they are putting an effort into it-rushing around, new, whatever-we''re forgiving and tip 20%.

 

[OUpearlgirl]

I''m a waitress right now at a team-oriented restaurant. We do not split our tips though. What can be the most frustrating is tipping out at the end of the night. I don''t think people always know that When you tip the server you are also tipping the bus boy, bar, and hostess. If I get a bad tip or the one time I got no tip, I actually ended up losing money off of that table because my tip out was based on my sales, not my tips.

At the restaurant I work at it is nearly impossible to get bad service. We put everything on seat numbers into a computer, have neverending beverage service, all of the servers are continuously helping each other out, and when something even minor goes wrong you tell a manager.

I had a 12 top recently, and somehow the computer went all wacky. Half the food came out at one time, another quarter came out a few minutes behind, and entire dishes went missing. I was very respectful, apologetic, and sent a manager over. Half of their meal was comped and they received a gift card for an appetizer next time they came back. So, what would have been a $110 tab, was really only $55 for them. They left me a $2 tip.

I understand having gratuity added can be a pain, but you would not believe how badly some people tip! Thank goodness for the kind people who tip very generously.

 

[JulieN]

Date: 6/18/2008 12:58:56 AM
Author: strmrdr
In most states even if it is added to the bill you are not required by law to pay it and they have to remove it if requested.
You do however have to pay the rest or face theft charges(charge name varies state to state).

DITTO!!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/18/2008 2:34:45 AM
Author: OUpeargirl

I understand having gratuity added can be a pain, but you would not believe how badly some people tip! Thank goodness for the kind people who tip very generously.

and....you would not believe how bably some service are.

 

[meresal]

SO listens to a radio station here in Houston that has a "Bad Tipper Board". Restaurant managers around the city know about it, and can mail/fax credit card receipts in that have little or no tip, obviously in comparison with the price of the meal. Well, they announe all these names once a week, Wednesday''s I believe (just their first initial and last name), and then they post them on a bulletin board, on their website... with the restaurant name, price of meal, and tip.

The radio personalities are very thorough to make sure that the receipts are legitimate, and that absolutely NO CASH was left on the table as a tip. This list comes with a 100% guarantee.

They do it because they say that waiters get a bad rap, and this is to warn the waiters about bad tippers!!! I love it!!!

 

[krisvrn]

I find the the common practice with big parties or groups but my only issue is, what if I get really poor service? I don''t believe I should pay that high of a tip!