Reddit Tip dataset
Collection
This is filtered Reddit tip data.
The "verified" version is the final version.
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167uj30 | TalesFromYourServer | Maybe it’s better to call out some people on tipping and cry in the back about it | So I had a table the other night that started out as two people on our patio and they ordered drinks and food and said they had a third person joining them so put in food for them as well. I get everything in for them and when I go back out to check how their food came out, there’s four people instead of three. No problem, got the fourth a drink and some food too. Next time I come out, there’s a fifth person. On our patio seating it’s a fire hazard to have someone pull up a chair in the aisle like that but it was late and they had already racked up a large bill so I wasn’t about to tell the guy he couldn’t sit there.
Anyway, in between all the added on people, the mom comes up to me inside and is like btw I’m paying for all of this. Don’t let the kids (young adults) pay. And I’m like okay no worries! We can get that figured out at the end! All smiles and good service from me. They go to check out and the mom types into my Toast a $5 tip. For those that don’t know, Toasts already have the premade tips and the ones at my restaurant have 18, 20, and 25 percent. So she literally had to type in 5.00. On a ~$160 bill.
I saw this and just deadpanned “5 dollars…?” because I was in actual disbelief and couldn’t help myself. She didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at me, but her son kindve looked up at me in shock. I just said do you want your receipt, she said no and I walked back inside and immediately to the back and outside, sobbing because I had already had a bad night and this table was not low maintenance AT ALL.
Anyway after I control my crying I go back inside, eyes red and still breathing raggedy and the son is inside looking for me. He comes up and is like I’m so so sorry I didn’t know she was only going to tip you five dollars is there any way you can let me tip you more off of my card? Super nice guy and genuinely seemed appalled.
I’m obviously like are you sure, I’m just having a bad night I’m sorry, etc but he insists and tips me another $25. Then ole girl outside must’ve been getting REAMED bc the dad walks in 15 mins later and gives me $20 cash.
Thankful for the son who obviously called out his mom and told everyone how she was in the wrong. All I had to do was cry I guess.
Side note this table also ended up coming back in and ordering something else to go, had another SIXTH person join after they had checked out, and sat outside on the patio as a fire hazard for almost 3 hours until we were about to close. The mom also came back in asking for forks and didn’t even apologize to me or acknowledge her fuck up. Whole time I was still super nice even when she came back in after the first tip ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Some people are just shitty.
EDIT: Guys I went out and broke down because I had had a bad night with a bunch of other circumstances and after doing so much for that table, just to get tipped 3% was what broke the camels back. I wasn’t crying just because of that table haha. Any other night I probably would’ve just left it and not said anything! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/167uj30/maybe_its_better_to_call_out_some_people_on/ | 949 | 269 | 1,693,634,415 | 35 | tip | relevance |
1jnew7l | TalesFromYourServer | Tip outs | for context, I live in Canada, and in my province minimum wage is $15/hr.
at my last job, I was very spoiled - the service staff took home 100% of their tips in cash each night and were expected to give a little to the bussers, but it was not forced. if they really helped me out i’d toss each of them a 20 or more but they never got less than 5 dollars from me.
i moved to a bigger city and started at a restaurant where tips are given via e transfer “every week” (which has since turned out to be once a month halfway through the next month). 4% of all sales are taken out for the kitchen staff, and 3% of all sales are taken out for the bartender.
the problem is, my restaurant is Slow. like, bang your head against the wall to pass the time kind of slow. there is never more than 1 waitress and 2 chefs on staff unless we have an event booked. when we do have an event, both the owners come in and one of them takes over the bar. every time i have had an event, i end up making my own drinks because the bartending owner doesn’t pay attention to the tickets or is busy kissing ass. so it’s more likely than not that he made 2 drinks for me max, which could be cocktails, could just be soda. so for an event im selling about $100 in drinks and $700 in food, i still have to tip the OWNER based on $800 sales total.
i find this stupid, but he is convinced this is industry standard. how do the tip outs work at your restaurants? and how do i bring up this issue without sounding like im begging for money? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1jnew7l/tip_outs/ | 25 | 11 | 1,743,348,511 | 32 | tip | hot |
1f2zv62 | TalesFromYourServer | Included service charges | I’ve seen a lot on this topic and think I would weigh in. I work in fine dining at a steakhouse where servers average anywhere from $2000-$6000+ nightly, our Tipout is 7% of sales and we add a 15% service charge to every check. In the state I live in, businesses can forgo an hourly wage on servers if there’s a mandatory service charge. Servers get 1$ an hour sort of like a “commission” so tips are everything. I can’t keep thinking how in 10 years server wage will probably average 10+ dollars an hour. When it breaks down that can be hundreds of dollars a week on hourly pay. A lot of restaurants are adopting this style of pay and I don’t really know how to feel about all of this. I do fine, and I work with servers that have made 150k+ annually. But for some without those call parties that really make the night, they are left with the scraps that don’t even tip on top of the 15 and are left with 7 percent after Tipout. Thoughts? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1f2zv62/included_service_charges/ | 0 | 19 | 1,724,813,974 | 32 | service charge | relevance |
ni9jdq | TalesFromYourServer | Guy tips big to impress date but returns afterwards to take money back | We had a guy come in last night with his date.
Throughout the evening he was the picture of courtesy and good manners. He complimented me, thanked me every time I came to refresh waters or check on the table, made a point to be forgiving of a kitchen mistake, super extra nice. The dream customer, really.
I appreciated it but didn’t delude myself that I was the source and figured he was just in a good mood because the date was going well— They were chatting, laughing, having a great time, so I assumed I was an indirect beneficiary.
He was certainly in some kind of celebratory mood because he was sparing no expense. He asked for our highest quality wine, she got our most expensive entree, he ordered one of every appetizer for her to sample when she made a remark that she was having trouble deciding, it was a real feast.
So the evening starts wrapping up and I get their check. I ask if they’ll be together or separate. She starts to say “Separate,” but he makes a big deal of saying, “Oh, are you kidding? Together, definitely together. You never have to pay when you’re with me babe,” and so on and so forth. Then slides me a credit card.
I get everything sorted and bring out the receipt. He fills it out and it came to $289.00 total.
He doesn’t even blink and makes a big show of leaving a $*100 tip*. He thanks me for my service and emphasizes what a lovely night they’ve had.
Of course, a tip that size is exceptional, so I thanked him profusely.
He said there was no need to thank him and goes on a big tear about how under appreciated waitstaff are and to just think of it as a stand-in for all the ingrates who didn’t treat me right, going, “Don’t plan to tip, don’t plan to eat out, you know?” Looking at the mesmerized girl the whole time and not giving me a glance.
I could care less where he was looking, I was looking at the upcoming hundred bucks. I thanked him again and said I hoped to see them back soon and that was that.
So he helps her into her coat and off they go. Great night, I was riding high.
About 90 seconds later he’s back in the door, without her, going “I think left my—“ then when the door shut and, looking to make sure she was out of ear shot, he goes, without the slightest shade of shame or embarrassment, “Mark the tip down to twenty bucks Hun, I was just playing it up for my date. You understand.” And turns to go.
Uh... I understood, but not how he hoped I would. But I couldn’t make a scene in the middle of work, that’s not my place, so I just said one more time in order to give his conscience a chance to sink in, “Ok Sir. You’d like to amend your tip from one hundred dollars to twenty dollars, is that correct?”
And even though I didn’t show a hint of displeasure in my voice he shot back, extremely hostile, “Yes, and if I see a cent over the twenty on there I’m going to dispute the whole meal with my credit vendor, so, don’t try to pull anything.”
The most frustrating part of this for me was not even going from an over 30% tip to under 10%, but rather that this poor girl was being strung along, with no idea of who the guy was behind her back. It was extremely manipulative of him which is a major red flag.
I’ve had my fair share of toxic relationships in the past and really wish someone had pulled the blinders off my eyes, so desperately wanted to do something to alert this girl to the trick the guy had pulled, hoping it would be a catalyst to her questioning his other actions.
But, again, I was at work and that just wasn’t my place. So I altered the bill and that was that.
Then, just in time, something occurred to me and I darted outside hoping to catch them in the parking lot.
I got lucky. They’d parked on the street instead and he was still dealing with the parking meter.
So, I flagged him down and rushed across the street, nearly stumbling into traffic in my haste for a delicious moment.
His date was already in the car but rolled down her window, since no one expects the waitress to follow you out to your car waving her arms like a crazy person.
I made it across and said, more than loudly enough for her to hear, “Sir, we amended your tip from $100 down to $20 as you requested, but you’ll actually need to fill out a different receipt reflecting your new total for our records. Your old receipt still has your original tip of $100 written on it, but since you just came in and asked us to charge you $20 instead, we can’t have a discrepancy in our records. I hope you understand. This is just a bookkeeping regulation that goes way above me. It has nothing to do with your *retroactively downgrading your tip from $20 to $100,* we’re just glad you enjoyed your evening.”
His jaw was on the floor. He tried to pretend as though he didn’t know what I was talking about, trying to give me some line about, “I think you’re after someone else, I’d only come back cause I’d forgot my keys.” But I would not let it rest.
The more he played dumb the more I repeated versions of “You wanted to change your tip from $100 down to $20, you came back in,” and on and on.
So we went back and forth for a few more seconds when finally he went, “Ok, whatever, uh, sorry for the miscommunication. If you need me to fill out a new receipt I can.” And I, totally even keeled was like, “You only need to fill out a new receipt if you want to change your tip from $100 down to $20.”
And I’m guessing he didn’t have the money in his account because... he did it. He filled out the new receipt. His girlfriend was visibly shocked and the man was staring daggers through me, you could feel the rage emanating off him.
It was vicariously quite satisfying in place of the other toxic men I never did get that confrontation with. And all the bad tippers. Ironically the exact kind he made a righteous speech decrying just a few minutes beforehand.
And then off they drove, I’m sure never to patronize our restaurant again, but hopefully never to go out together again either, which would make it totally worth it.
*Edit: I think there’s some sort of glitch because I can see on the post that I’ve gotten some awards but I have not gotten any messages or notifications about them, so, thank you very much for the awards kind strangers!* | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ni9jdq/guy_tips_big_to_impress_date_but_returns/ | 12,658 | 345 | 1,621,653,430 | 30 | tip | relevance |
cohyc0 | TalesFromYourServer | "Is that a good tip?" | Yesterday was another long double shift serving at a local restaurant. We get quite a few tourists this time of year but our average customer is pushing probably 60 years old if not even more elderly. It's unfortunately not terribly uncommon to come across poor tippers, you get used to shrugging off the low percentage tips and moving on to the next table.
My last table of the night (why is it always the last table?), an elderly gentleman and his wife, was fairly quick to order and eat, taking a container for more than half their meals. They shrug off my offer of boxing up any dessert and ask for the bill. I bring their check over which comes to $51 and change. He quickly whips out a wad of cash, hands me $60, and asks for his change in ones. Oh lovely.
I return with his eight crisp dollar bills which he takes and slowly starts placing them at the end of the table one by one. After counting to five he looks up and it comes out... "there, is that a good tip?"
Without even thinking I blurt out, "no, that's about 10%.. a good tip is fifteen to twenty percent for good service." Immediately begin to feel my cheeks blushing but it's too late to take back now. He sheepishly plops the other 3 bills on top as his wife chimes in with, "well, you asked!"
Other customers have posed the same question in the past and my typical response would be something along the lines of 'I appreciate whatever you leave for me.' After the long shift I was evidently to the point of brutal honestly and my first reaction was to tell the truth. Maybe he'll even remember and tip more appropriately in the future, but let's not get our hopes up too much. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/cohyc0/is_that_a_good_tip/ | 2,988 | 443 | 1,565,443,246 | 30 | tip | relevance |
n9bxac | TalesFromYourServer | Why your Mother's Day tips could have been crap | I found this out today from a co-worker who is famous at work for being cheap. (Imagine the guy who goes around after the holiday office potluck to grab leftovers if he can get away with it).
He took his family and his parents out to a nice mid-range restaurant for Mother's Day. This surprised me knowing how cheap he is. So I was dying to know how he tipped but couldn't come out and ask directly. I asked how the meal was, if his folks liked it, how was the service.... everything was really nice he said.
I asked if the server had earned a plump tip for making everything so nice, and he said he left $10 (which I suspect was less than 5%). I said doesn't that seem a little light for a tip?
And he said, "it doesn't matter, we probably won't be back there for who knows how long."
That's his mentality. Be cheap as long as it can't impact him. Maybe that's the type of people who leave lousy tips on holidays - they know nothing can happen to them and they go out so rarely, no one can recognize them on a return visit. They are unaffected by the quality of service, they are cheap to their core and that's just who they are.
EDIT: To the redditor who sent me this chat message: " Entitled much? If you get a 10 dollar tip be grateful. You're not putting in Bill Gates effort but think you're earning Bill Gates money 🤣 lmao " - I was not a participant in the event. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/n9bxac/why_your_mothers_day_tips_could_have_been_crap/ | 2,826 | 216 | 1,620,670,377 | 30 | tip | relevance |
wqhzdo | TalesFromYourServer | Do people not understand that servers have to tip out staff? I have to pay to serve you, so if you don't tip I actually lose money. | At the restaurant I work at, gratuity is not included. And like most restaurants, servers at my restaurant have to tip out the greeters, bussers, and service bartender. The average check where I work is around $200 and I have to tip out 4% of food sales. So If your bill is $200 then I have to pay $8 to serve you.
If you do not tip me, I LOSE money serving you. I have to tip out 4% regardless of what you tip me.
Tonight I got stiffed on two checks, one was $300. It happens; we get a lot of international guests who don't always understand tipping culture. But even some locals will only tip like $15 dollars on a check that big. It occurred to me tonight that maybe people don't know that servers have to tip out other staff regardless of whether you leave a tip or not.
Like come on, if you can afford to spend $300 on dinner, you can at least give me enough to cover tip out.
I know, I know, tipping culture sucks. But this is the system we have for dining out in the US. This is how I eat and pay my bills. Please tip me; it doesn't have to be 18%, I'd just really appreciate it if I didn't have to go in the red to serve you. Especially after you treated me like shit for the last hour and a half. And PLEASE, if you are not going to tip me, then don't continue to take up my table for the next two hours after you've paid. I've already lost money serving you and am now unable to make more cause you've stolen my table. My restaurant has very strict 3 table sections and if I can't flip those tables then I'm not gonna make any money.
I'm not exactly doing this for fun, ya know? Ive been in the service industry for two years now. Working in a restaurant takes a huge physical, mental, and emotional toll. Please don't make me lose money serving you. Please. I gave you the best service I could and I would rather not lose money on the transaction.
Can you imagine being bossed around for an hour and a half by people who act like it's life or death that they get their spicy mayo only to find out that you have to pay money for that whole degrading experience. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/wqhzdo/do_people_not_understand_that_servers_have_to_tip/ | 1,048 | 292 | 1,660,719,191 | 30 | tip | relevance |
w21dku | TalesFromYourServer | My seafood restaurant adds gratuity for 7+ tables and my table of 8 stated they couldn’t pay the 15% tip. | (I learned how to edit a post! Haha)
I’m gonna come right out and say I don’t like bragging about my service but I love bragging about my service.
I work at a seafood restaurant and we’re known for big seafood boils, but we’re a small kind of hidden gem restaurant.
Now this happened a while back and I still remember the incident 6 months later. I had about 4 tables at the moment and I managed pretty easily until I’m sat with a table of 8 grown adults. They were all super nice, and very chatty. Everyone ordered their own seafood boils and had some alcoholic drinks from the bar.
About an hour and a half in, one of the guys at the table asks me to do a round of shots for everyone but he was only paying for 4 of his family members. I proceeded to send the ticket in and the mom of the table said she was only going to pay for her sons shot (who was sitting next to her) and her own shot. So now I’ve placed an order for 6/8 and the other 2 meekly stated they’d pay for their own.
This is where everything goes downhill. The mother’s bill was well over $100 with about $15 of gratuity for me. The guy who paid for his own food, but had a good amount of drinks on his tab. Had about $7 of gratuity and everyone else was less than that. I walk over with all of their very confusing tickets because everyone was at least paying for something else that someone else had ordered and then the mom sees her total.
I thought nothing of it since she was paying for her grown son and they both had roughly 5 drinks alone on the ticket. She looks at me and yells “I can’t pay for this! I only brought enough money for the food we came to eat and I can’t pay for the gratuity.”
After going back and forth for a few minutes, I had to keep explaining to her that the tip would go towards me for the service and that we do indeed have a sign saying gratuity is added for bigger tables and for my time. She was practically begging me to take it off.
At this point everyone else’s eyes are now glued to the bottom of their ticket and they all start agreeing with her. I’m just standing their in shock because how does that even make sense? I wasn’t that new to the restaurant so I knew I could take the gratuity off as the server of that table and I told her this calmly while lowkey blooming with rage and embarrassment.
I grabbed her ticket and of course everyone else hands theirs back wanting their 5 dollars taken off. I sulk back to my mangers and explain to them that my party of 8 can’t pay the gratuity and to just, “take it off.” This made one of my managers super angry because he was working host that night and that same party of 8 tried showing up last night after we had closed and my manager sent them away. The real kick in the balls was he told them he would bring them the best server (me) if they showed up the next day and that’s exactly what they did.
This is already very long so I’ll just cut to the chase. I wiped my hands of them and took care of my other tables, while avoiding them, as my manager confronted them, cashed them out, and sent them on their way.
After, my manager told me that the mom stated I was a great server and they’d still leave me a tip. It was 22 in cash and honestly since I didn’t care about the tip or them, I was grateful because I was so angry I was going to burst into tears.
I never saw them again and I hope I never do. I have a lot more stories about tables that don’t tip on huge orders, tip very little, or complaints about their food. Also mindless flirting and receiving numbers every other shift. On another note my restaurant has 4.5 stars and we’re the best in a 30 mile radius. If you’d made it this far thanks for reading! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/w21dku/my_seafood_restaurant_adds_gratuity_for_7_tables/ | 885 | 97 | 1,658,156,169 | 30 | gratuity | relevance |
5mipzw | TalesFromYourServer | When the "service charge" becomes the "you're an asshole charge" (xpost from /r/MaliciousCompliance) | I was the server for evening room service at a smallish hotel when I was in my early twenties. Our hotel had a contract with one of the airlines so we often had their pilots and attendants stay for layovers. They were often a bit of a challenging breed, frequently unfriendly (sometimes outright rude as hell), demanding, and painfully stingy (despite the fact that they always got a decent per Diem during these layovers). I was always friendly, though, because not all of them were shitty, and I had to cut them slack because being a pilot, or especially a flight attendant, could be a really shitty and draining job most of the time.
One evening a pilot calls down to order something to eat, but first he wants me to itemize out the bill for him over the phone for the items he's ordering (which isn't unheard of, some hotels tack on outrageous surprise fees to bills). I rattle off his items and prices and then, "so, your food subtotal is $25, plus the $2.25 delivery fee and the 20% service charge..." He stops me. "My menu says the delivery fee is $2.00..?" He was right and I knew it, but my manager had told me to just ignore the discrepancy and always go with whatever the computer said, so I feigned ignorance, and gave him a genuine apology for the mistake on the menu. I told him that I wish I could change the fee for him, but unfortunately the system prohibits me from changing fees or prices on the order entry computer. He starts totally flipping out. I told him that I would have the front desk credit $0.25 to his overall bill to cover the charge error, but still he's yelling at me, insisting that we match our charges to the menu and it is fraud and illegal for us to charge him something different than what is printed on the menu. I offered to bring him a quarter (out of my own wallet) on delivery with my apologies because I couldn't fix it any other way (and I wasn't even a dick when I made that offer) but he would have none of it. He DEMANDED that the computer system charge him "everything exactly as it is printed on the menu!" He told me to call back when I figured out how to fix it, and hung up.
I was talking to the chef about it after the call and the chef reminded me that our manager had enlisted me to program some new menu items into the computer a while back, and the admin passwords were taped to the monitor on the back office computer that controls our order system software. I was then actually able to go to the office and change the delivery fee to $2. But I also knew that while the menus in guest rooms listed the delivery charge as $2 when it was really $2.25, it *also* listed the service charge as 25%, when the computer actually only charged 20%. So I changed the service charge to 25% - I wouldn't want to commit fraud, after all, right?
I called the pilot back, told him I found a solution that corrected the delivery fee. He smugly agrees to let us making the order for him now. I take the food up to the room and give him his bill. "I'm sorry again about the mistake earlier, I made sure now that everything on the bill matches the menu, *exactly*." He skims the bill and signs it with a smile of smug self-satisfaction, like a man who had just righted a major injustice not just for himself, but for every future guest in that hotel.
He got exactly what he asked for, a bill that matched the menu, and it saved him $0.25 on the delivery fee. But he also paid five times that much extra for the increased service charge percentage. And best of all, in our hotel the service charges went right to the server's paycheck - straight to *my* paycheck - as a tip.
EDIT: This was an American Airlines pilot, [their salaries average $86k/year](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/American-Airlines-Salaries-E8.htm) (and this guy was in his late 40s early 50s so while not impossible, it is less likely that he was on the entry-level end of the spectrum). They also do not have to pay for their own hotel room (all rooms are booked and paid for under the AA corporate account with the hotel), and the pilots and attendants get a per diem (daily allowance for food and incidentals) that is based on how many hours they're away from their home "base".
EDIT 2: Also, I'm a woman, so the 40-50 year old man was screaming at a 22-year-old girl over the phone, for what that's worth.
EDIT 3: Just to be clear, the misprint in charges on the menu wasn't some kind of moneymaking scam for the hotel, as some people are suggesting. The error was in the customer's favor, they saved money on every purchase. The $0.25 extra for delivery is outweighed by the service charge being 5% less than what was printed on the menu, for any order more than $5 (and the only thing you could order for $5 or less was a single can of soda, which never happened in the three years I was there - there were pop machines on every floor with bottles for $1, no one paid $2.50 plus delivery and service charge for a can of pop from room service).
Say you order a $7 piece of cake from room service. You'll pay an extra $0.25 for delivery, but you're expecting to pay a 25% service charge of $1.75, we actually only charged a 20% service charge of $1.40, so you paid $0.25 extra, but saved $0.35 on service charge, so you saved $0.10 overall. That savings only multiplied as the cost of your order went up because the $0.25 never changed, but you saved an extra $0.05 for each dollar you spent.
Yes, the menu was misprinted, but the error worked out in the customer's favor. Company didn't change the menus because it was expensive to reprint them, not because they were running some kind of moneymaking scam... | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/5mipzw/when_the_service_charge_becomes_the_youre_an/ | 207 | 33 | 1,483,765,665 | 30 | service charge | relevance |
1hmif1o | TalesFromYourServer | Tip Sharing is the worst on Christmas | I just made $700 in tips tonight at a sushi restaurant in a beach town and will go home with $125 because I always get the busy section. At first I didn't mind but now I can't help but feel I'm being taken advantage of.
I didn't know about the tip pool system until a month in at this restaurant because the Manager tried to hide it. Now I understand why all the Server job ads in the area are for sushi. I get that I'd get less shifts at other restaurant since I'm lucky enough to work 5 days and will make $55k next year hopefully if I stay but man does tip sharing create lower highs and higher lows. Getting exceptionally high tips makes me pissed when it happens because I'll see maybe 12% of it lol.
If you're thinking of working in a sushi spot think twice and ask a lot of questions because it's got serious pros and cons. One pro which I have to remind myself is I am at a location where I don't have to lift heavy trays which my wrists are thankful for.
Did any of y'all have a similar experience today? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hmif1o/tip_sharing_is_the_worst_on_christmas/ | 202 | 126 | 1,735,193,570 | 29 | tip | hot |
gb0466 | TalesFromYourServer | Tipping on TOGOs | I’m working at a restaurant where it’s take out only and it’s curbside. I’m making 3 dollars an hour, basically still serving people only difference is we have masks on and your in your car. Why can’t people tip? On the phone for their sake I say “just to speed things up and you don’t have to sign anything would you like me to close it out for this amount or would you like to leave a gratuity” and their responses vary from “for what” or “no thank you” or my favorite “nahhh it’s ok.” People want to talk about sympathy, there are so many people out there, risking their safety and health to give you food, and you don’t tip. I’m not even asking for 20% I’m saying even a dollar. Enough cars pull in and out where if every car left a dollar I’d be ok with that. But no. Even during times like these, people still want to be cheap and not appreciate their servers. And because my restaurant is technically open I can’t collect unemployment. I just want people to realize that not tipping is effecting their servers lives a lot, just leave a dollar, maybe 2, and if your feeling generous 20% | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/gb0466/tipping_on_togos/ | 1,441 | 434 | 1,588,267,660 | 28 | tip | relevance |
clx1ri | TalesFromYourServer | Family racks up $100 bill because they don't understand that ordering the same dish multiple times does not mean you only get charged for it once | Boy oh boy, some people.
Obligatory: On mobile, TL;DR at the bottom. This happened yesterday. All prices are in Canadian dollars, convert before you say it's expensive.
I'll keep this short and not bore anyone with unnecessary backstory about the type of restaurant I work in, or anything about the set up. All you need to know is that:
1. It's fairly small, so I work alone with one chef
2. It's family friendly
3. We have a wide menu, with options ranging from $7 dishes to our most expensive $17.50 dish. Not very pricy at all.
I recieved a phonecall asking specifically about our $17.50 dish - our Seafood Paella. It's made fresh to order, and takes about 15-20 minutes to make. Not to mention that seafood is expensive. So the price is justified. The person I was speaking to asked if we were a buffet. We are not. I told them we are table service, and can do the Paella any time. I asked if they wanted to make a reservation because of the time it takes to prepare the Paella. They said no, and hung up. So I went about my day.
A few hours later a family of four comes in. They sit down, glance at the menus, and then wave me over with a snap of the father's fingers (gotta love that.)
D = Dad
Me = is this necessary?
D: Show me Paella.
I direct him to the back of the menu, where it's listed very clearly and shows the ingredients and the price.
D: I want that.
I write it down. The mother then says she wants a Paella, followed by the two kids saying the same. So I confirm.
Me: "So that's four Paellas? You don't want to share?"
D: "No. We'll all have Paella."
So I put the order in after reminding him it'll take about 15 minutes. I offered them drinks, but they just wanted water. I started getting the cheap vibe, but they ordered FOUR Paella, so how cheap could they be?
Food comes out. They love it. Dad asks if he could get one to go. I put the order in so it would be ready when they finish.
We're at five Paellas now, and almost $90, before tax. I let the chef/owner know my concerns that the family may object to this price despite having it made clear to them. He gave me the okay to give them a 10% discount right off the bat. He's a good guy.
The time comes to bring the bill, and the man's eyes go wide. I wrote out the bill so that every Paella has $17.50 next to it. I watch as realization hits. He opens his mouth to object, and I immediately say, "The owner said to give you a discount because you ordered five of our most expensive dish and he wanted to thank you. He was happy to hear that you enjoyed it enough to order another to take home."
That shut him up. I watch as he scans every last line of the bill and then settles on the tax, which was nearly $11.
D: "You added a tip for yourself?" He was angry.
Me: "No sir."
D: "What's this then?!"
Me: "...The tax."
Honestly I wasn't expecting a tip at that point, but he did leave me 10%. So basically the discount we had given him.
They said the food was excellent, but I highly doubt they'll be back.
TL;DR
SURPRISE. It's the title.
Bonus: We gave them a 10% discount *before* giving them the bill. They also thought the tax on the bill was my tip. It was not.
Edit: Formatting | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/clx1ri/family_racks_up_100_bill_because_they_dont/ | 8,342 | 388 | 1,564,929,794 | 28 | tip | top |
1dlqoi6 | TalesFromYourServer | Thinking about getting servers together to get automatic gratuity for large parties… | I work at a major chain restaurant that has been in the news. So preface this, I used to be a manager at the same chain at a different location but now I am a server by choice..
When I was a manager, there were many times I told servers that they should write a letter altogether, making sure it is the same across-the-board talking about getting automatic gratuity as a manager. It wasn’t my place to write it for them or to speak on that matter that it needed to come from a server.
Also, when I was a manager, I had several of my servers talk to me about parties of 10 parties of 15 parties of 20 and parties of 30 racking up a bill of over $400 over $600 even over $1000 and being left a tip of like $20 or at most $30 time and time again. I have even had servers who took large parties of 30 people and received zero dollars as a tip. Sometimes, when this happened, I would as a manager take tables when I could or like when necessary I would take tables and then save those tips to give to that server who got seriously gypped.
I remember feeling so upset and sad for my servers that’s why I would let I would try to find someway to make it up for them so they can get some type of compensation from that. I would also make sure I know what level of service they were giving them and many of the times they were giving them very very very good service. So it wasn’t like they were being bad at their jobs. Typically when you have a table of that size as you all in her know, it’s a lot. You have to keep up with everybody and what they have their drinks where they’re sitting, and if they move, which often they do still be able to get them the proper meal.
Now I’m a server I have taken large parties 15 people and I’ve gotten decent tip 15 to 20%. I’m just now waiting for that time where I take a party of whatever and getting I do know that I am an exceptional server. I was a manager, and I know all the things to look out for and I even as a server, I tried to teach everyone And coach everyone as best I possibly can but is no longer my job.
What I wanna do is make a letter now because I am a server and contact everyone from my old location and subsequently all of the locations I have been and see if they know people who may work at other locations to write this letter to our respective DOs and SDO. I want to advocate for us to have automatic gratuity on parties of six or more like at many other restaurants. Working at this major chain restaurant we do not have automatic gratuity for any party whatsoever.
This is just an idea. I don’t know if it will work, but it might get the attention that we are not just going to work ourselves to the bone for scraps.
I don’t like the idea of my fellow coworkers running themselves into the ground, running back-and-forth from the kitchen to the bar into the room back to the kitchen to the drink station to the bar and not being properly compensated. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1dlqoi6/thinking_about_getting_servers_together_to_get/ | 13 | 19 | 1,719,043,490 | 28 | gratuity | relevance |
a21mhx | TalesFromYourServer | No offense, but I think it’s really rude to pull out a stack of cash the size of my head and then tip me $3 on $45. | Self-explanatory, just really bothered me tonight.
edit: since this is gaining more views, i came here to talk to other servers, not listen to your opinion on the terrible wages that I get paid. i gave great service and wasn’t expecting a $500 tip just because he had the money. flaunting the wealth just gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
edit 2: WOW. People are A N G R Y about this. Let me explain a little. The servers where I’m at, our goal is 15-20%. It is customary in the US. When people don’t tip that, it’s kind of like “how can I do better?” So when this particular table that I gave GREAT service to (friendly, joking around, always refilling drinks, hot food) gave me 6%, it was a slap in the face. They treated me like I wasn’t a human. Rude. Not responding when I asked questions. So, when this man who pulled out easily $5,000 in cash and gave me $3 dollar-by-dollar, it was RUDE. I thought the thread I posted in was for servers only/server stories and I could make a quick post after work without having to explain myself and without it blowing up. Thank you for your time.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/a21mhx/no_offense_but_i_think_its_really_rude_to_pull/ | 4,128 | 1,659 | 1,543,655,523 | 27 | tip | relevance |
13gjzw0 | TalesFromYourServer | Scratched out tip in front of me | A few weeks ago I had a big top, I want to say around 15 people and everyone at the table seemed very thankful for me taking good care of them and all but one of the tips reflected that. It was split into 6 checks, and every check was like $20 tip on a $60 tab, $15 tip on a $45 tab etc.. all very nice tips except one that was $10 on a $100. I wasn’t upset about the 10% tip as I had already made a decent amount from everyone else at the table. But at the place I work, if you don’t have the copy of your receipts at the end of your shift you don’t get the tip from that receipt. And all of their receipts were scattered around the table ontop of plates and trash. So as they were leaving I went to pick up the receipts so the bussers didn’t accidentally throw one away. The guy with the 10% tip was still sitting there on his phone. And when I grabbed the receipt next to him he says, “why did you take my receipt I’m not gone yet, can I have it back” and when I handed it to him he scratched out the $10 and wrote $0 right in front of me. So I kept his receipt and looked up his name on Facebook and found out he’s a server at another restaurant!!! How the fuck can a server do that to another server | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/13gjzw0/scratched_out_tip_in_front_of_me/ | 2,724 | 216 | 1,683,990,557 | 27 | tip | relevance |
14hjll6 | TalesFromYourServer | You didn’t tip and I genuinely hate you. | I don’t usually do this but the injustice of the scum of the earth pieces of shit that pay a full bill they don’t agree with and then stiff the server that has nothing to do with pricing and only gets paid by the tip you didn’t leave is really starting to get to me. You asked for 3 top shelf strawberry long islands. You wanted Patron, Cointreau, Malibu, and the most expensive gin on the menu. They were $22 a piece(I wouldn’t want to pay that either but I’m not sure what you expect when you ask for the most alcohol infused drink we offer and then want to up charge every ingredient in it.) it was your 23 year old daughters birthday and she brought her 4 best friends. I modified all the food for you. I gave you a free dessert. I rounded up the only employees in the building at 10 min to close and screamed happy birthday for you. It took me 10 min, 3 people and searching through multiple cars to procure a lighter to light the candle I dug through countless drawers for. All in the attempt to make the birthday dinner just a little more special for you. The bill comes out and it’s $180. You complain. That the 3 drinks are $22 each and they were “weak.” It’s funny because happily slurped them down and chatted about getting more but thought they were probably expensive(no shit). I said I’m sorry I can ask the manager but she most likely won’t do anything. We can’t discount alcohol that you drank just because you don’t think the price is fair after the fact. But I talked to her anyway. She said she watched them being made and they were most definitely not weak and no you can’t have a discount on your heavily upgraded drinks that you completely destroyed. I then went so far as to ask what you thought would be a fair price for them and offered to pay the difference out of my own pocket. You refused and said it’s fine “I’ll just pay it no worries.” I wished you a happy birthday yet again, offered you complimentary sodas for the road and grabbed you bags and boxes for the road. You left me $0.00 on $180.00. I have to tip out the 2 bartenders and the 3 food runners based on food and alcohol sales not based on my own tips. That means I lost out on the $36 you should have left me and I paid out almost $12 in tip out just for your table alone. I fucking hate you. I wish you every inconvenience in life. I hope every green light turns red, your shoes never stay tied, the weather always shifts so that your dressed inappropriate, every tortilla chip you eat from here on sticks in your gums, you have a new cavity at each dentist appointment, and most of all I hope each and every time you go out to eat for the rest of your rotten worthless fuck of a life , your order is made wrong and the bill is double what you anticipate. Fuck you, you miserable fucking fuck.
Sorry for any typos or poor grammar or structure. I just had to get this off my chest.
EDIT: I noticed a lot of the comments are asking why in the hell i would offer to cover part of their bill out of my own pocket. As I’ve said below but I’ll say again—-I knew they were going to stiff me as soon as they pulled me aside to discuss the bill. I figured if I offered to cover the $16ish they thought was excessive that I might end up getting left maybe a 15% tip or any tip at all really which would have offset the complete negative I was inevitably going to receive. Ultimately they declined my offer and still left me nothing though so it doesn’t really matter. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/14hjll6/you_didnt_tip_and_i_genuinely_hate_you/ | 1,492 | 343 | 1,687,581,890 | 27 | tip | relevance |
ku909e | TalesFromYourServer | My asshole table accidentally tipped me 130% | Reading through this sub, I remembered a lovely moment of karma from a few years back.
I was serving on July 4th in a vacation town in California at an upscale German beer and brat place. Everyone was drunk mid-day, we were wildly understaffed, and absolutely slammed. I’m a really fast and sweet server even when I’m busy, but I had 10 tables and I was pretty frazzled. One of my tables was a middle-aged couple and their adult son. I can’t remember the specifics, but they were really condescending, high-maintenance, and impatient.
When it came time for them to pay, I was pretty relieved for them to leave. The man payed with card, signed the receipt, crumpled the customer copy, and put away his card. We were trying to turn tables as fast as possible because we were so busy, so I picked up his signed receipt and thanked them. Then, they sat there for what felt like forever. I didn’t think much of it because I was wildly busy.
When I went to clear their table after they left, I was really confused. The original itemized receipt was still on the table with a stack of cash, enough to cover the whole bill and an ok tip—BUT THEY ALREADY PAID AND TIPPED ME WITH CARD. I guess the guy was drunker than I thought, completely forgot he had already paid, and then paid again in cash and just left. It was definitely not on purpose, because the “tip” on the credit card receipt and cash “tip” on the cash payment were almost the same, and they were complete assholes.
In the middle of a hellish shift, I almost started crying with joy. It came out to a $100 “tip” for a $75 bill. A little blessing from the server gods on a hard day.
Wishing drunk, accidentally generous customers on you all. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ku909e/my_asshole_table_accidentally_tipped_me_130/ | 7,178 | 223 | 1,610,259,274 | 27 | tip | relevance |
xyirxz | TalesFromYourServer | The manager/owners of my bar stole a 300 dollar tip from me. | So I had a private event at the restaurant I work at. It was passed my scheduled time to leave and so the owner ended up telling me to go ahead and go and the two owners (one who was acting manager ) would stay and close them out, but that they would leave me the tips I made for the evening. Since they were both owners and can’t take tips from employees or be a part of a tip pool, they assured me before I even accepted doing the party they would be giving me all tips made. Well I came to work today and found 225 dollars set aside for me. I didn’t think much of it, until I entered another tip and noticed that not only had they charged an 18 percent auto gratutity, for 235 dollars but the party had also left another 290 dollar tip on top of that, one that was put under my federal identification number and claimed as my tip. A tip that I never got nor was told about. In total, I was tipped 525 dollars, of which I ended up given 225. The irs would be made to think I made that entire 525 dollars and I would be none the wiser. The two owners apparently split the rest of the 300 dollars between them and didn’t tell me, so I locked the doors on a Friday night and walked out.
No one steals from me. It’s illegal for an employer to take tips that were meant for a employee. Who knows how many other events this happened with that I didn’t notice.
I have screenshots of both tips added under my name, cash taken out from the till under my name, the owner admitting to taking the tip and splitting it with the other owner (she probably didn’t. She probably kept it all) and a physical copy of the receipt print out with everything broken down on it.
I contacted the third owner who is the financial guy (money) and let him know what went down, and he said he would make things right. The owner that took the tip tried to gaslight me into thinking that I wasn’t seeing what I was seeing until I sent her screen shots and then she admitted it. I made it clear to all parties involved that I wanted the other 300 dollars and my last paycheck, and at that point I’d return their keys. The rest of the employees are split between backing me and saying I should have split some of the tips with the owners since they helped with the party, but that’s not how things work one, and two if that was the deal from the get go, that would be one thing but they LIED about what was tipped, then tried to claim it under my name so I’d have to pay taxes on it not them. I’m so utterly sad.
I wish I could post the screenshots. You would be as angry as I am seeing some of them I think.
::::::::Update::::::
didn’t go good guys. Third owner called me and we had it out, but basically came to a decision to cut both our losses and he’d pay me. I can’t stop going over what was said out of anger, as there were many excuses, and he chose to defend her. Someone also showed him my Facebook post I made calling them out which was set to friends only, and yes I know who did it.
They tried to say the auto gratuity wasn’t the same as a tip, and that’s I was entitled to the gratuity added to the bill, and not the additional tip added after. I asked then who was entitled to the tip and they said “well you couldn’t handle a party of 30 alone could you?” And I stated very humbly, yes, and I have been doing it for over a year working alone as cook, bartender, simulator caddy, cashier and more. I think he meant that I wasn’t entitled to the auto gratuity, but got confused, and I reminded him that since it was implemented at my behest (I fought for it to be there) that we have been treating it as a tip, and taking it out as cash at the end of the night as tips and counting it on taxes as cash tips.
He then said the manager owner girl wasn’t an owner simply because she was a spouse to the other owner, and that because of that she was entitled to tips. I told him because we were pooling tips for the event, that made her ineligible as management can not be privy to tip pool. He told me not to go to google for legal advice (lol) so I told him I had been talking to a lawyer (I wanted to see if I was right or if I had blown the whole thing out of proportion) and the lawyer said I was correct in my thoughts which I already knew. He got heated after that, and I calmed him down saying I had no intention to sue. This wasn’t what this was about. In the end he said he’d pay me and he did say “sorry” but that was after a half hour of trying to convince me I was wrong and that manager girl wasn’t intentionally trying to steal from me, that she just didn’t have enough money in the till (she did she’s a liar) and I got tired of it. I told him I sent him proof and she’s lying. Honestly? I just wanted an apology and it made right. Now I feel worse.
I found out they have been recording us via camera and all of our conversations. I don’t like that. He also knows I talked to a lawyer. It’s clear no one involved has any clue what is legal and how you handle tips and gratuity, because he tried to say they were two different things. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/xyirxz/the_managerowners_of_my_bar_stole_a_300_dollar/ | 2,645 | 254 | 1,665,201,476 | 27 | tip | relevance |
f7ivgf | TalesFromYourServer | “$200 bill, NO TIP” short | Short story:
I was serving this table of 4 and this lady grabbed the $200 check at the end stating she’ll take care of it. Expecting her to tip correctly since all went great but I was wrong. She told me when I dropped the check off that I did a great job and it was the best experience she’s ever had at this restaurant.
They ended up leaving and I went to grab the check expecting a nice tip for my efforts. Instead on top of the check this was written “ sorry too poor to tip”!
Why would you take the $200 bill from the others that were trying to pay if you’re “too poor to tip”. This is somebody’s livelihood, I have to tip out on that 200$ putting me more in debt at the end of the night. People need to realize that we have to share money based on our sales! I have to give 2% of my sales to the busboy, food runners
DONT PAY FOR A BIG BILL IF YOU CANT TIP! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/f7ivgf/200_bill_no_tip_short/ | 3,005 | 390 | 1,582,323,945 | 27 | tip | relevance |
mjwl70 | TalesFromYourServer | Wealthy frenemy deducts each iced tea refill charge from the tip $14 last night | I have a wealthy frenemy who likes to talk about what a big tipper he is- he tips his masseuse 50%, twice a week. However, he has decreed that all iced tea refills should always be free. He says "it's from a pitcher, it's not like a Diet Coke that the bar has to account for". Last night he was on a first date for 3.5 hours and drank 5 iced teas. He deducted the entire $14 of 4 refills from the tip and left a $7 tip on a bill that he said was over $100 for the food. He said it was a high priced restaurant. I told him free refills are for cafeterias and it's not up to him to decide how the restaurant runs their business and that punishing the waiter is not changing the policies of the place. Most of all, the waiter is not going to necessarily figure out that the low tip is due to iced tea refills and is not going to complain to the owner of the restaurant. He said it is not done to deter the restaurant from charging for refills but it is his way of not paying for the refills. This is exactly why he is my frenemy and not my friend.
ETA: I called him today and asked some questions based on redditors' comments. He said that he knew the teas were going to be charged as is often the case in the higher priced restaurants as they ask "Would you like another tea?" each time rather than just refill the empty glass. I said he is burning the waiter unfairly and he said he doesn’t want to argue with the manager. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/mjwl70/wealthy_frenemy_deducts_each_iced_tea_refill/ | 2,081 | 301 | 1,617,544,214 | 27 | tip | relevance |
bd6534 | TalesFromYourServer | College students and tipping | So schools done for me which mean getting another job to fill the time. Serving at a brunch restaurant.
College student comes in by herself and orders a classic breakfast (2 eggs, toast, bacon, fruit, potatoes) and a water. Ok no prob.
15 min later she has her foods she is just sitting there eyes closed chilling. I drop off the food and she says thanks.
About 5 min later I go to check on her and she is done. And is finishing the fruit
Like wow. She ate fast.
I ask if she’s done. She says yes and she would like the check. (About $10)
I’m think there will be little tip since 1) she’s in college and students are always short (I’m one myself I get it) 2) she has been her for maybe 30min tops and I have spoken to her twice.
I don’t hold it against collage students when they tip poorly/not at all since I get it. Money is tight and sometimes eating out is special for a way to let go of stress for school. Plus where I live servers get paid minimum Wage so it’s not like I’m hurting for tips.
I give her the bill and she hands me a $20. I reach for my change bag and she says “oh no. Keep the change.” I make sure she’s cool with it. Like that’s 100% of her bill. She say “yup. Food was good. You where good. I had a good time.” I thank her again. “I see you working tables well so I figured *shrugs* might as well”
I know a $10 tip is not a lot but when it’s on a $10 bill it means more. And the fact that she based the tip off of how I served others ment a lot. Like she saw the value of my service even if she did not experience it. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/bd6534/college_students_and_tipping/ | 4,843 | 209 | 1,555,268,192 | 27 | tip | relevance |
pu8px4 | TalesFromYourServer | “I’ll leave your tip in cash *wiiiink*” The Cheapskates Kiss of Death | I’m back in the serving game and one thing I completely forgot about is the kiss of death that is leaving a cash tip. 9 times out of 10 when I have a table that makes a big deal about how they’re gonna leave a cash tip it means I’m about to get shafted.
My place uses Toast and is fairly casual (meaning we mostly sell cheap drinks and bar food) so closing out is done table-side with me holding the handheld and offering the tip options to the customer. The programmed options are 18%, 20%, 22%, and 25%. Simple, easy, requires no math, everyone leaves happy.
But oh Lordy when they want to leave a cash tip… First off they always say it conspiratorially, like they’re on my side and together we’re sticking it to ‘the man’ by avoiding taxes. As if the $10 cash tip on a $120 bill is somehow better than the $24 I would have gotten. Or they’ll say it, close the check, and then ‘realize’ no one has cash on them. The worst was last night when two women spent over $200 on food and drinks and promised to ‘take care of me’ only to slip me a crisp $5 bill with an actual wink. It was wild.
Has anyone else had this experience? Have any of you witty folks out there found a cleaver way to nip that in the bud? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/pu8px4/ill_leave_your_tip_in_cash_wiiiink_the/ | 1,329 | 367 | 1,632,444,310 | 27 | tip | relevance |
1jmfqkx | TalesFromYourServer | Restaurant is taking server tips | I work at a restaurant in socal where the tip is pooled. All cash tips get put in a box and credit card tips are added up together and shared between 6-8 servers by percentage (100%, 90%, 80%, and so on). Just found out that the restaurant takes a part of our tips and puts it in a restaurant “savings” account. For example, let’s say tip was $301$ for the day split between 3 servers, so it would be 100.33$ for each server. That 33 cents is taken and put in this “savings” account. The savings account is then used for dine n dashes, server breaks beer glass and they will throw a Christmas party for the servers and use this “savings” to pay for the food. However, not all servers make it to the party so they are missing out tip $. also the assistant manager sometimes take 2-3 of his favorite servers and takes them out to eat sometimes and uses the savings account $ to pay for the food that js funded by all 8 servers. but only 3 of the servers get invited to it. Isnt this highly illegal? also tonight, the lead shift manager said that there was an "extra" 20$ left over from the regrister. i asked if that 20$ would get split between the servers bc it woukd be tip money, but she argued that theres extra money in the regrister sometimes and refused to split it w servers. how do we know whether she just pockets an extra 20$ for the night? Wouldn’t “extra” money in the register be considered tip money? Bc why would there be extra money in the regrister?? PLZ help me, sht got me furious | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1jmfqkx/restaurant_is_taking_server_tips/ | 65 | 28 | 1,743,227,553 | 27 | tip | hot |
1ie9tha | TalesFromYourServer | cc tips and tip out | my company is moving to putting all cc tips on a paycheck. we keep our (if any) cash tips every night.
we claim 100% of our cc tips.
they want us to tip out bar, busser and host. it won’t come out of the pay check.
so, if you have no cash at the end of the night, how would you tip out?
and if you have no cash and have to claim 100% of your credit card tips, you are claiming more than you’re walking with.
so your total tips are all in credit cards and say it’s $400. so you claim $400. but walk with $300 after tip out.
this is legal?
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1ie9tha/cc_tips_and_tip_out/ | 3 | 30 | 1,738,309,796 | 27 | tip | hot |
1hzejcq | TalesFromYourServer | splitting tips w your boss | hello! i work as a server at a restaurant in ga but I had sort of an interesting experience with my boss today and was working of this was normal.
at my job we have guaranteed tip (18%) so the tables that the servers get is based on head count not by section. i had a table of 6 that my boss kept gravitating towards because they were korean and he is also korean, and he typically likes to chat up tables with korean people specifically. afterwards they paid and the man who paid left me an extra $40 cash. i'm not sure why but he told my boss he left extra cash tip and my boss kept pestering me about it.
you see, at the end of each shift, every server calculates their own tip they've received and splits in half, where we keep one half and our boss keeps the other. the tip sheet is divided by card tip, cash tip (depending on how the customer pays), extra card tip, and extra cash tip. we will typically record the first three columns but for cash tip all the servers won't record it as we consider them personal tips.
anyways my boss kept asking me if i recorded the extra cash tip they gave me and i was kind of confused why he kept asking me that as no one ever does that. and i simply explained to him it was tip the table handed me, but he kept arguing that i'm supposed to leave extra cash tip given by customers in the register and record the amount given on our tip sheet. he kept asking me about it so i just eventually did it but i was wondering if this was a normal thing that happened at restaurants? i'm not even really sure if he's supposed to be keeping half of the tips we make in general, but wanting to keep half of personal tips too?
thank you!
edit: i got fired lol | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hzejcq/splitting_tips_w_your_boss/ | 29 | 63 | 1,736,655,340 | 27 | tip | hot |
1hzejb3 | TalesFromYourServer | splitting tips w your boss | hello! i work as a server at a restaurant in ga but I had sort of an interesting experience with my boss today and was working of this was normal.
at my job we have guaranteed tip (18%) so the tables that the servers get is based on head count not by section. i had a table of 6 that my boss kept gravitating towards because they were korean and he is also korean, and he typically likes to chat up tables with korean people specifically. afterwards they paid and the man who paid left me an extra $40 cash. i'm not sure why but he told my boss he left extra cash tip and my boss kept pestering me about it.
you see, at the end of each shift, every server calculates their own tip they've received and splits in half, where we keep one half and our boss keeps the other. the tip sheet is divided by card tip, cash tip (depending on how the customer pays), extra card tip, and extra cash tip. we will typically record the first three columns but for cash tip all the servers won't record it as we consider them personal tips.
anyways my boss kept asking me if i recorded the extra cash tip they gave me and i was kind of confused why he kept asking me that as no one ever does that. and i simply explained to him it was tip the table handed me, but he kept arguing that i'm supposed to leave extra cash tip given by customers in the register and record the amount given on our tip sheet. he kept asking me about it so i just eventually did it but i was wondering if this was a normal thing that happened at restaurants? i'm not even really sure if he's supposed to be keeping half of the tips we make in general, but wanting to keep half of personal tips too?
thank you! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hzejb3/splitting_tips_w_your_boss/ | 2 | 22 | 1,736,655,336 | 27 | tip | hot |
1hnxygq | TalesFromYourServer | Splitting tips for events | Hello!
I work at a cafe and bakery (GA, USA). Second serving job but first time working at a place that hosts events. In this case, it was my first time working one of their high tea events, and although the two servers split the dining room, I was unaware that we pool our tips together and divide. I was okay with that because I know that’s pretty normal for servers to split event tabs when everyone is paying the same event price. I also should mention all tabs come with an automatic 20% event gratuity.
I received $20 cash from one on my tables on top of the 20% included. When it came time to add up tips, I was told any additional also needs to be put in… so I put in my extra $20.
I’m just curious to know if that’s pretty normal to also split extra tips? A part of me understands they may do it to be fair to servers who maybe didn’t get as even a head count despite splitting the dining room, but I also have that part of me a little irked because if I did that good of a job to be tipped extra, I feel that’s mine to keep. I think at my last restaurant we were allowed to keep extra cash tips after the regular tips were divided but now I can’t remember.
I’m not pressed about it, but was curious to know any perspectives I may not be thinking of, or if it’s just restaurant preference and normal, etc… | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hnxygq/splitting_tips_for_events/ | 10 | 7 | 1,735,360,541 | 27 | tip | hot |
kv986y | TalesFromYourServer | 3 yrs later and she remembered how we tipped. | *customer story*
Back in my high school days me and some friends (ages 16-18) went to a tiny diner out of town. All of us worked in the service industry so we would tip pretty decently. I think the bill came to around $80 and I just put in a $100 in the bill book and we left. After we got in the car and drove a few miles my friend asked if we thought it was enough that she only tipped our waitress $15, to which I expressed that I’ve tipped her ~$20 already, after which my other friend chimed in that she left a 20 on the table. We laughed it off and said we probably made her day with the over 65% tip. 3 yrs later we were passing through that town and we decided to stop by that same diner and lo and behold SHE REMEMBERED US! She mentioned that she was lowkey confused at the amount of cash left after the tip my friend handed to her but was grateful as it helped into buying her son a birthday present. It’s just amazing how after 3 yrs she remembered | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/kv986y/3_yrs_later_and_she_remembered_how_we_tipped/ | 4,398 | 83 | 1,610,391,351 | 27 | tip | top |
1jurew8 | TalesFromYourServer | Is it normal to text taxed on your tips? (Busboy) | EDIT: I meant to say “is it normal to get taxed on your tips” idk why it autocorrected to “text” lol
I’m a busboy at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant and only make $14 an our (which is less than minimum wage in my state) and I get 10% of the servers tips. I get my tips in cash, but I noticed on my paycheck that it includes the amount of tips I made and taxes me for it. I’m just confused and wondering if it’s normal. Because I thought since I get tipped out at the end of the night by the servers, it’s just mine to keep ya know? But on my paycheck every week, it includes my total income (hours I’ve worked per week multiplied by $14 per hour) AND what I made in tips that week… | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1jurew8/is_it_normal_to_text_taxed_on_your_tips_busboy/ | 2 | 13 | 1,744,153,925 | 27 | tip | new |
1hx904c | TalesFromYourServer | The truth about tipping culture in the USA | So many people misunderstand the current state of tipping in America. I'm here to educate you.
A lot of people think 10-15% is normal. Uhhhhh, no, it is not. I've worked in every type of restaurant you can imagine, in both urban and rural environments, and 20% is definitely the standard, should good service be provided.
I live in Seattle. A fair amount of restaurants here are moving away from tips, instead adding a "service charge", which is distributed to all of the employees. At this type of restaurant, you don't have to leave a tip, and you really don't need to.
But in a traditional restaurant, without a service charge, the tip is how your server or bartender pays rent. I've worked at places in the South where service staff are making $2.13/hr, because the government expects them to mainly get paid in tips. Seattle, by comparison, has a very high minimum wage, but we also have a VERY HIGH cost of living. The mean income in Seattle is close to $90,000. Rent is incredibly high here. Absolutely nobody would be able to have a home over their heads here on $2.13/hr, even with tips.
There are a small group of restaurants in this area that pay their servers and bartenders a good wage and actually ask that you don't leave a tip. If it isn't one of those restaurants, you should leave a tip, and 20% is average. If it's one of those restaurants, it will be stated somewhere in the bill or menu, and you don't have to leave a tip.
The vast majority of restaurants and bars in this area are still traditional tip-based, so if you're planning on being a repeat customer, if you want good service on your return-trip, leave at least 20%. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hx904c/the_truth_about_tipping_culture_in_the_usa/ | 0 | 41 | 1,736,414,305 | 27 | tip | new |
n16h69 | TalesFromYourServer | "Excuse me, why is there an automatic 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more?" ... (to protect us from mingy assholes like you) | Because large parties are an extra burden to bear. Because if one person's section is bogarted by a large party, their night is sink-or-swim based on your "charity". Because the number one reason service staff will have a breakdown or spontaneously quit their job is getting dicked on a large bill^^1 .
Automatic gratuity is there to protect the staff (and the business).
Cue this one high-maintenance sort and his family of 12. Despite their best efforts to run me ragged, everything went super smooth and genial. Then came the bill. "Uhh, excuse me, but why is there 18% gratuity? I'd like to write in my own tip."
"And you can! There's a line below where can add whatever you'd like on top of the gratuity, and it's much appreciated."
"No, no, no. I'm talking about the principle! I always tip above 20% *[big uh-huh moment]*, but having it forced on the customer feels unfair."
Me, playing coy, "Well if you wanted to tip above 20%, you can just add the 2% or whatever on the tip line underneath."
"It's the principle!" I just thanked him and walked away. He sat there stewing for 15 minutes while his family was polishing off desserts and gathering their things to leave. A situation best ignored until they leave.
And sure enough, he had signed the bill (no extra tip -- shocked Pikachu face), but managed to write out an entire novel on the front and back of his bill, addressed to the owner, detailing why automatic gratuities are the worst thing ever and how much more he would have tipped if it wasn't an imposition. Basically, could just have written underneath, "TL;DR I'm a cheap piece of shit"
^^1 One of my first service jobs was at a corporate shithole (safari motif Babar) where the gratuity was conditional on large parties and at best you could only *ask* the party for permission to apply it (most said sure/fine, but of course...). So one night my entire section is cordoned off for a large party of 20, mostly teenagers, and they did that obnoxious shit like ordering steaks well done, eating half of it, then complaining they want a new one, or asking for extra drinks when I was explicit about no free refills but still complaining when the bill came, etc. I was gutted because I knew what was coming with the $400 bill. "Hey, you guys cool if we add a gratuity?"
"What's that?"
"It's an 18% tip added to the bill to ensure staff--"
"Nah, it's cool, we got you."
Long sigh and head down in shame. They left me $15.
My tip-out on the party was $20, and I would never dick the rest of staff, so I took a net loss of $5 for the night.
I was shaking and ready to quit. Managers were all, "Bummer, but it's life. See you tomorrow."
I worked the (slow) lunch shift the next morning, and as soon as the rush was starting to hit, the GM comes up to me, "Hey, I'm gonna cut you and send you on break for a couple hours. I'm gonna need you to come back in tonight."
I was so checked out. "No, I'm not scheduled and already have plans. Sorry." His eyes got big.
The next morning, I tried clocking in and the POS didn't recognize my number. GM had decided to can me on some trumped-up bullshit, but it was clearly because I had been "insubordinate". Goooooooood riddance. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/n16h69/excuse_me_why_is_there_an_automatic_18_gratuity/ | 2,815 | 286 | 1,619,709,027 | 27 | gratuity | relevance |
9a3m0h | TalesFromYourServer | what is so offensive about gratuity? | okay so i really cannot wrap my head around this, but apparently some people find auto gratuity offensive......why?? (incoming rant)
had a 16 top tonight. nice-ish people. needy, ran me a bit. sat upstairs so i got a workout from them for sure. they get seperate checks, cool. they leave, and go out of their way to tell me bye and have a good night...I go pick up the books and dude writes "i hope MahinaUchiha gets ALL that gratuity! i would have tipped more!!!!"
homie.... you had a table of 16.. the menu clearly says parties of 7+ will have autograt. this isnt some shocking news. some restaurants dont give the waitress the option to even remove the autograt. and his autograt was a whole $12, and they sat on the roof and ran me up and down the stairs in 90 degree heat.. there is a lovely line for additional gratuity, so if you wanted to add it why the hell didnt you??
and hell no i dont get to keep that whole $12..i have to tip out the bar, hosts, expo, and bussers. soooo thanks for my whole $5
another server had an autograt table of teenagers (different night). i think it was a 10 top. they ran up a tab for $150+, got 10 seperate checks, ran this girl like hell, and were rude to her. when she picked up the books, not a single one of the fuckers tipped, and instead wrote "nothing personal, i just believe you should earn an hourly wage instead of a fluctuating income"
UM OK BUT YOU NOT TIPPING DOESNT HELP THAT? unfortunately for the server, she decided to take OFF the autograt, so she really fucked herself on that.
people always make snarky comments when they see gratuity...but why? i really dont get it. what is so offensive about gratuity that you feel the need to take it out on a server making $2 an hour, 99% of which the government takes. it truly boggles my mind how autograt is offensive, if you want to tip more by all means please do! but if you are triggered by the fact there is an autograt, that sounds like a personal problem.
end rant. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/9a3m0h/what_is_so_offensive_about_gratuity/ | 36 | 48 | 1,535,165,505 | 27 | gratuity | relevance |
1cxqtq | TalesFromYourServer | Discretionary Service Charge | Bit of a wall of text here, guys.
**Disclaimer**: I work in the UK. I am still paid minimum wage but minimum wage for someone over 21 is £6.19ph ($9.42) here. I don't know cost of living in America but about 70% of my monthly wage is living expenses (that is rent, tax, bills, NOT food).
I work at a restaurant that puts a discretionary service charge of 10% on your bill automatically.
**We do not get that**.
It makes menu prices look cheaper. Less than 5% of that 10% tip is put into a kitty. I also can't take my tips above and beyond that- they go into the kitty too, then every **6 months** it is shared out between everyone- managers, duty managers, BOH, FOH, housekeeping, reception, everyone. We are not kept up to date on how much money is put into the tips box, we have no idea if we're being stiffed.
Despite the fact that I serve roughly 6 tables out of a total of 14 on a Friday & Saturday night (we're a five star hotel with a Michelin star chef; the restaurant is not large capacity: even a busy night will usually only have 3 relays), between 2 and 6 guests per table, & an average bill on a table of 2 comes to roughly £100, but very often upwards of £200, & despite the fact that guests very often leave me good tips above and beyond the 10% they already think they gave me (I made £75 in above-and-beyond tips this Saturday over 5 tables, which I guess would make normal tips in America, but the ettiquette in the UK is to tip 10% not 20% & in general the British are pretty poor tippers in my experience), when the 6month share came up I made £500.
Most of you will probably know that that is some prime bullshit. If I were able to keep the tips I made (service charge included) only on Friday & Saturday nights, even if I shared them with the other server & the bar guy, *& they didn't share theirs with me*, I would make my half yearly share in a month, month & a half at most. When we have American guests, I often get tipped for breakfast, & if I run into long-stay house guests when they are checking out, they will press me ten or twenty bucks for my service over the days they were here because I've usually served them every breakfast & dinner & room service for 3 or 4 days.
**For servers:**
Does this seem fucked up to you? Is anything illegal happening here & can I do anything about it (regarding the service charge not going to staff)? I'm happy to share my tips with BOH & reception but I can't help feeling pissed that my manager gets a share of my tips: is this fair? I mean if they hadn't done their jobs right I wouldn't be able to do mine as well as I do, but they also earn much more than me. I also feel a bit shorted that housekeeping get as much of my tips as I do considering they work 5 days out of 7, 9-4, & we only have 11 rooms; I work 6 or 7 days out of 7, & I just came off 15 days, 10 of which were splits and my usual split pattern is 7am-2pm 6pm-12pm. Am I just being a big baby here? I want to know if this is a legitimate problem because one of the other serving girls is very dissatisfied too & one waitress and two duty managers have left since I started a year ago through dissatisfaction with the company, especially working hours and pay.
**For Customers:**
What I'm saying is- be careful with your tips, folks. If a place doesn't give their discretionary service charge to the staff, often the staff can't tell you that, & you won't be told that at interview if you apply to work there. I'd be fired if I told a customer that & it got back to the company, because it cuts directly into profits as, like I said, it is there to offset cheaper menu prices. Also, although I am allowed to tell you that if you take off the service charge, the tip you leave will be shared amongst the staff, if you do take off the discretionary charge my manager will be on my case to find out why. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1cxqtq/discretionary_service_charge/ | 66 | 25 | 1,366,727,563 | 27 | service charge | relevance |
e9s11c | TalesFromYourServer | service charge and tipping | my wife and i ate at a private table in a hotel yesterday (table for 2). the food was great and so was our waiter. the table reservation was $300 and our food bill was about $150 (2 separate bills). i pulled out $30 to leave as a tip, but then we noticed an 18% service charge on each bill. we weren't sure if that was supposed to count as the tip or not. we couldn't find our waiter and we were a little bit embarassed to ask him anyways, so we stopped a hostess and she informed us that it was the tip. so i picked up the $30 and put it back in my pocket. today my friend is telling me that it isn't actually a tip and the hotel will keep it. did i dun goof? the 18% service charge added about $70 extra to our bill. i would have tipped more without it, but the whole scenario confused us and i would've felt weird leaving a $10 bill on the table for a $100+ meal | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/e9s11c/service_charge_and_tipping/ | 9 | 8 | 1,576,177,803 | 27 | service charge | relevance |
2hwirz | TalesFromRetail | That is NOT how tips work. | So I work at an Internet cafe. Basically its an internet gambling place. You sign up, give me money and it goes onto your account which turns into points you can play these slot machine like games on a computer(as well as search the internet but no one does that) When you win points from these games you can come up to me and redeem the points for cash, or use the winnings to continue to play the games.
First off let me say we *do not* have a tip jar. No one is ever expected to tip us nor do I expect anyone to us no matter how big they win. There is *nothing* asking for tips or any sort of extra money for us as were already getting paid. We are allowed to accept tips if the customer gives us one, which for me is awesome. There are very few tippers that come through my store but when they win big they tip typically $5-$40 depending.
So Diner lady comes through my store every day. Shes not a bad customer but I know her because she works at my favorite diner and typically leave her a good(about half my bill) tip since the diner is incredibly cheap so a huge meal for 2 is only $20, a good tip on that would only be $3(15%) I can only imagine how hard it is living off $3 tips when you have 2children. This is assuming they get tips since Ive noticed most people dont tip in my area. I mean I know all those tips probably end up in my hands anyway, so I dont know I still like to tip. Two days before this story takes place I had given her a $12 tip on a $20(a 60% tip)
Anyway today DL comes in puts on her normal $20 and plays. She wins really big and comes out with $400!! Wow great for her. She hands me a $20 and says "thats for you"
I am always grateful for tips
"Wow! really? you know you dont have to, thank you so much! I really do appreciate it"
I always try to make sure they know how much I do appreciate being tipped since I dont really do anything that warrants a tip. She puts another $40 on her account and keeps playing. She looses that and puts more on. And more on and more on so on and so forth till I have her entire $400 back, but she continues to play easily another $180 after that. Thats when she comes up to me looking nervous...
DL "so Princess_Honey_bunny do you think you can put $20 on?"
Me "sure!"
And I wait and I wait and shes just looking at me.
Me "Im am going to need that $20 before I put it on your account"
DL "oh well I was hoping you could put that $20 I gave to you on"
Me "what?"
DL "I mean I just want my money back is that okay?"
I have quite a bit of freedom at my job, especially to turn away customers when theyre being rude or if we think their bad for business so I can really say whatever I want with in reason.
Me "You know you didnt have to tip me that was up to you."
DL "Listen I just want my money back theres no reason to guilt trip me. All I did was change my mind. I dont want to sound like a ^bitch but thats my fucking money and I want it" (she always whispers bitch. This isnt the first time shes said I dont want to be a bitch...)
Me "okay okay Ive got it right here its no problem I understand"
Now I was pissed. I give her great tips all the time, at least once a week amounting to much more than this $20 and this was the first time she had tipped me even though shes won much more before. I never expected her to tip me I genuinely like giving good tips since I know it can make a servers day much better when theyve been getting crappy tips all day. But as I said, tips are up to them and not expected at all and if she wants it back then she can have it back.
I reached into my wallet and pulled out $8
Me "here you go"
DL "I gave you $20 this is only $8, wheres the rest of it?"
Me "I took my tip back. The one I gave you Sunday. All I did was change my mind right"
She looked at me gaping and then left.
**BONUS** This morning I got up early get some Breakfast at the Diner since my SO was leaving for a week and we wanted to grab some food before his flight. I asked for another waitress today(I know most of them by name now). DL saw the big tip I left for her coworker($15) I think the best part of this whole story is that she still came in and played today(shes here right now), except now she barley looks at me. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromRetail/comments/2hwirz/that_is_not_how_tips_work/ | 2,233 | 176 | 1,412,095,254 | 27 | tip | relevance |
15aqn0l | TalesFromYourServer | Party of 12 did not want to tip | The restaurant I work at has a policy, like many other restaurants do, that if we get a party of 8+ people, we automatically include 20% gratuity into the check. We don’t end up pocketing the full 20% as we have to include the sales tax into it so we’re not taxing guests on the tip, so its usually a guaranteed 18% tip, which is usually around $80-100 depending on the party. We inform the guests of this before they’re even put on the wait list, so they’re free to go elsewhere if they’re not comfortable with that.
Last Sunday we were very busy in the morning, we were getting party after party, and I ended up with a 12 top. It was an older guy, his wife, and what I presume was his daughters and their children. The older guy and his wife I had served previously and they were very kind, and he orders quite a bit of alcohol (running up that tab😂) so I was excited to serve them. From the moment I greeted them, I knew they were going to be a problem and they were going to complain about the 20%. Almost all of them had something wrong with their food (not enough fries, not enough butter on the potato, the sauce tastes weird, etc.). They do 3 checks, I give it to them, and one of the daughters immediately starts getting loud about the tip. She asks what the additional charge is, and I explain to her it’s the 20% gratuity they were informed about before they were sat, and she goes on a 5 minute tangent about how unacceptable it was that we put that on there without her consent and that we were taxing her for the tip. I thoroughly explain to her how the number was calculated, and tell her I can get the manager because he’s the one that put it on there. She pulls out her phone and starts doing the calculation and says “we’ll let you know when we’re ready. Matter of fact, why don’t you go ahead and grab the manager.” I bring him over, he says exactly what I told them, and the daughter starts with “first of all, the service was crap” which was blatantly rude and disgusting, they were my only table for most of the time I served them, and i was constantly running back and forth because they kept asking for more and more.
He ends up talking to the other daughter for like 20 minutes, and she tells him that they all used to be servers back in the day, to which I audibly laughed. One of my coworkers then comes up to me, and says that one of the daughters approached her, because she usually serves them, and she told the daughter that because it was super busy she couldn’t take any request tables. The daughter says “we had a geek ass nerd serve us.”, and her husband, who’s holding his young daughter says “he was the worst motherfucken server we’ve ever had”.
I ended up getting the 20% but will never be serving these people again. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/15aqn0l/party_of_12_did_not_want_to_tip/ | 2,671 | 345 | 1,690,428,605 | 26 | tip | relevance |
oyhrgb | TalesFromYourServer | Less than 10% tip on $130 tab | I work at a fairly expensive cocktail bar in a major capital city. Last night, a guy came in on what appeared to be a first tinder date. He seemed way more into it than her, but they still ended up all over each other. It’s been a long pandemic… maybe she just needed to be touched? I digress. We’re doing last call. They’ve been sitting on the back patio. He comes inside to pay, despite table service. He signs inside and tips less than 10%. So we decide that if he’s a terrible tipper, she should know before she goes home with him. We reprint his signature slip and say we accidentally spilled a drink on the one he already signed and drop it back at their table. I don’t know exactly what happened because I had other tables and drinks to make, but I did glimpse them having a heated discussion and she ended up pulling out her phone and doing the math for him. Got us up to 15%. Not great, but the best $20 I’ve ever made. FYI if you’re going to be a dick to me, your date is going to know.
edit: So this doesn’t get buried… I find that most people tip a set percentage everywhere regardless of the quality of service they receive. He probably tips 10% all the time. His service was fine. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/oyhrgb/less_than_10_tip_on_130_tab/ | 1,736 | 247 | 1,628,170,791 | 26 | tip | relevance |
1fwxzyt | TalesFromYourServer | Anyone feel like the service charge screws you out of tips? | UPDATE: I gave my notice this morning. I don't want to be part of ripoff culture and refuse to beg anyone for tips that are being yoinked by mgmt.
Original: A lot of places in my area of FL are switching to 18-20% service charge but NOT actual auto-grat. We only get a third of the 18% service charge, (which means 6% of the check).
That means a $100 check will net you $6 because the people assume the 18% service charge is our tip. To make matters worse, our Toast handhelds have the supposed "additional tip" amounts set to only 3, 5 and 7%. So unless they feel like typing in more, generally the most people will do is %7, plus the 6% from the service charge. Idk about you but getting a total of 13% on a check when you busted your a** sucks.
I'm looking for another place but keep encountering a lot of the same. How is this even legal??? Anyone else frustrated with this?
EDIT: adding that although some places claim this is to increase the wages of the employees, they don't legally have to. We're getting paid $8 an hour in a major metropolitan area. I know in CA it might be more like $16, but in FL its not... There is no world in which getting $8/hour justifies adding an 18% service fee when management keeps 70% of it. If they were paying us something more livable, sure, but this is a complete scam and everywhere I look is doing the same now.
TL;DR: the service fee imposed on us by management nets us 6% "tip" while Toast POS is set to options of 3,5 and 7% "additional tip". 70% of the service fee goes to greedy management so we are only making between 6-13% tips TOTAL | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1fwxzyt/anyone_feel_like_the_service_charge_screws_you/ | 62 | 118 | 1,728,155,853 | 26 | service charge | relevance |
ugsgwa | TalesFromYourServer | I went out with people who didn’t tip… | And I feel horrible. My boyfriend’s mom and I were celebrating our birthday (4/30 and 4/28) at a seafood restaurant with my bfs sister and my bf. The service was cool, it wasn’t slow and the waitress wasn’t rude or anything.
When it was time to pay me and my bf’s bill was about $68. I put in $70 and was going to add $5 (thinking everyone (4 of us) was also going to add a similar amount). My bf took the $5 and said that the leftover change was enough. That change was like $1 and some cents. I tried to explain to him that that wasn’t enough thinking that his mom would speak up but his mom and his sister both said that they weren’t leaving a tip because “the waitress’ husband/family owned the place and they had money.”
Imagine my horror when I heard that. She gave us good service, kept our drinks refilled, and y’all just aren’t gonna tip? Then when his sister paid, her leftover change was like $3, and the waitress didn’t give her the change back and the sister literally waited for her to speak to her so she could give it back.
I went to bathroom so they could leave so I could give a bigger tip but when I came out I didn’t see the waitress and everyone was in the car waiting.
I feel sooooo bad. I can’t believe that they just refused!
I went to a restaurant with my mom and my family the following day and my mom paid for 3 meals and I left a $10 tip for us three and still my mom left a few extra dollars.
It really bothers me because we’re all black and there’s already stereotypes that black ppl don’t tip but I had never experienced that until that day.
EDIT: The $5 would have been for my portion of $68. I expected my bf to also tip | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ugsgwa/i_went_out_with_people_who_didnt_tip/ | 2,835 | 555 | 1,651,506,086 | 25 | tip | relevance |
1ia5g2r | TalesFromYourServer | I get no breaks and my coworker who is very experienced only made 6,000 in tips in 9 months (not sure if that’s before or after they take 2%) | So, I’m wondering if this server job is worth it. In addition to the title, if I don’t make enough tips to cover 7.25 made per hour, I get 2.13 base pay (that’s before taxes and 16 dollars given to the bar, so I’ll maybe see 20 dollars per check). They want me to buy one get one for employee shirts (but I have to wear an employee shirt) so I have to pay 20 for a shirt at the end of my training and the other is free that’s the only option. If I really need to sit down for a couple minutes or go to the bathroom I can have a short ass break. Hours are decent but I mean the tips still aren’t plentiful tbh (considering my highly skilled employee making 20-25% tip at each table only made 6,000 in 9 months. I need to buy nonslip shoes, a checkbook, and an apron (and whatever else they end up asking of me) out of pocket. I live at home so I have no bills to pay and I’m only going to be here until like October (leaving when I find a job in phlebotomy I should finish school in September) but I was hoping to save 7,000 towards a car and even if I put all of my money made into savings that wouldn’t happen lol. I’m sure there’s other things I didn’t mention but these are the big ones. What do ya’ll think, should I stay or move on? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1ia5g2r/i_get_no_breaks_and_my_coworker_who_is_very/ | 25 | 45 | 1,737,864,257 | 25 | tip | hot |
1i7l06s | TalesFromYourServer | Got tipped $$ & a weed pen | So I’m currently taking a break from serving just cause I used to work at a pretty well known restaurant and it was meh.
ANYWAYS been missing serving ngl and this subreddit scratches the itch for me & reminded me of one of my favorite stories from serving.
It’s a regular evening, i think a Friday or a Saturday and we are pretty busy. I’m not in the weeds just yet but my section is pretty much full.
I have a 4 top of middle aged women, very smooth service, they loved my banter, it was all vibes! However some of my other tables were being noticeably disrespectful and I was feeling a bit off from that.
So fast forward to the end of their dinner, one of the ladies ask me about my major , school etc and i tell her (social sciences) and she was like that is so badass that you are helping people and all that jazz.
She tells me that she’s noticed how understanding and accommodating I’ve been the whole time and that I deserve a good tip. In my head i’m thinking “well that’s what they all say LOL” but i thanked her regardless.
Imagine my surprise when she tipped me $80 on a $200+ bill AND it doesn’t end there. She was like “act like you dropped something” and i’m like well you just tipped me almost 50% so might as well. She hands me a brand new disposable pen-like still in the box from the dispensary (weed is legal here) and was like “enjoy the night”.
At that time I was a stoner so it was like manna from heaven but gosh that was quite the experience.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1i7l06s/got_tipped_a_weed_pen/ | 472 | 15 | 1,737,577,550 | 25 | tip | hot |
1lt5qn | TalesFromRetail | Country Club Tales: "Splitting Tips: A Tale of Sweet Revenge" | So, I submitted a post the other day about one of my experiences in my Country Club's golf shop. I worked today, and this is a tale about a boy who refused to split his tips, but in the end, was hurt for it.
As I have said before, I work in a golf shop in a high end country club. Some days, however, I work outside operations, which is a fancy term for saying I put people's clubs on the cart for them, and clean them if asked. A lot of times, we are tipped, and it is an unwritten code between workers that you split any tip above $1. Today, unfortunately, I was working with the biggest douche bag we have on staff. This kid has an ear pierced, Beats headphones always hanging around his neck, and his shoe collection consists of only Nike high tops, with which he always wears calf high socks. We'll call him Tim.
Tim received a 20 dollar tip for work that he mostly watched me do. Our exchange went like this:
**Me:** hey man, I have a ten if you want to split that.
**Tim:** Nah bro, let's not split today.
**Me:** Well, okay then...
Now, I was very frustrated. I get it, he wanted to keep the money, but for work I did?! Oh well. Here's where the revenge happens. About 3 hours later, with the tip in the distant past, a gentleman comes up to me and says that he's always been impressed with my work ethic, and I'm always very polite and helpful. He says he's never had cash on him to tip me before, so he says he hopes this makes up for it. He proceeds to reach into his wallet and pull out, wait! Can it be? A *fifty dollar bill.* I thank him profusely and he leaves leaving me happy as a clam. Then, Tim pipes up:
**Tim:** Dude, aren't you going to split that with me?
**Me:** *Remembering today's past event* No, Tim. You said we weren't splitting tips today, remember?
The look on his face was so sad, but I felt so happy that he got what was coming to him. At The end of the day, I walked away with $62 in tips, and he walked away with $37. I hope he learned his lesson.
TL;DR Guy says we aren't splitting tips, I end up making more than his tips combined in one tip. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromRetail/comments/1lt5qn/country_club_tales_splitting_tips_a_tale_of_sweet/ | 233 | 42 | 1,378,415,290 | 25 | tip | relevance |
cl2uqt | TalesFromYourServer | Church group leaves $0.00 tip across a span of days. | There was a large “celebrity” church group staying at the hotel I work at a while ago. They left consistent $0.00 gratuity on every bill across a span of a few days. At night they’d arrive just before we closed and stayed hours afterwards every night. I don’t understand. Would Jesus do this? What is their problem? Why does this happen? How can I prevent this from happening next time? The blatant disrespect working in this industry is really getting to me. Especially when the disrespect comes from groups that literally devote their lives to a historical figure whose message was to be kind to others. I just don’t get it.
Edit: On the rare occasion they were dining as a group of 8 or more, auto-grat was applied. Also there have been reports that some did tip but no more than 7%. Majority tipped $0.00.
Update: Just found out they even asked for a discount on their latest night (2 hours after close) after they saw how high the bill was (with an autograt bc they were a large party). | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/cl2uqt/church_group_leaves_000_tip_across_a_span_of_days/ | 5,270 | 643 | 1,564,745,229 | 24 | tip | relevance |
osxtc0 | TalesFromYourServer | Server resigned because I "stole his tips". | Our restaurant policy is to share tips. 30% goes to the kitchen. 70% divided amongst the servers (1-2 servers at most).
I spotted the new guy slipping his tips into his pocket. He's new, was only his 3rd shift. So I explained the policy again. He said he didn't know, and would put the tip in the tip wallet. (He knew!) At the end of the night I share the contents into the various money boxes in the back room. Each employee can access their money whenever they want. Some leave it a while to save up for a special event.
Now I start wondering. The last couple of times I'd shared out the tips they were a little lower than usual. We aren't talking a fortune. Not a big tipping culture here. But noticeably lower.
The guy resigned a couple of days later, citing family reasons.
Roll on to Sunday night. A group came in which knew this guy. They proceeded to ask my other server if I stole her tips too. She was shocked. She knows the way it works, and knows she gets her money. And she told them that she certainly did get her tips. They then explained what this guy had told them. That "I" was stealing his tips.
I was shocked! She was shocked!
And the funny thing is, this guy's money box in the back was still full of his tips from the few shifts he had worked, and he never bothered to pick it up. Go figure.
Edit: I am in Europe, not US. All staff are paid union-controlled salary, or more. Get pension, health insurance, sick pay and 4 weeks paid holiday a year | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/osxtc0/server_resigned_because_i_stole_his_tips/ | 2,595 | 226 | 1,627,428,284 | 24 | tip | relevance |
pjnskk | TalesFromYourServer | Customer lectured his friend when I exposed his 10% tip | The twist to the story is revealed in the title, but don't we all love a tale where justice is dispensed and tips are above 15%!
I work in a hotel lounge, and recently in my province we've redone restrictions and we must now last call at 10pm. I swear ever since this is in place I've had the thirstiest alcoholic sitting in my section at 9h30pm having withdrawals just thinking of getting last called. But I digress, this particular table was thirsty, but very nice.
This is a table of 4 men, 9pm, they inquire about last call and I promise them I'll stay on top of their drinks before we get there. I connect with the leader of the bunch, he says he likes me and praises me often, gets the burger with 3 add ons, also lets me know he wants only one bill for the table for when the time comes. Likes to drink lots, seems to have deep wallet, pays for the whole bill, amicable, this is the perfect table, easy money I love it.
Last call came and went without a fuss, although I slightly overserved these folks, they never slurred or got aggressive or even displayed any Karen behavior. (this is a bit of an irrelevant detail, I just liked this table in general after the really crappy wedding I had to serve the day before, story for another day) I bring the one bill as promised, 350$ for the table. I see them argue about the bill a bit, and someone else from the table signed it, and then went outside to mingle on our patio. To my dismay, he had tipped only 45$ on the 3̶0̶0̶$̶ 350$ (oops) bill, below 15%. The payer even had me deliver 2 shots to another table to be put on his bill, which I did promptly. There was no reason to stiff my tip. But here comes the twist, he didn't put his room number on, and I couldn't find his name in our room system. I decided to go up to the table where he wasn't anymore, and lay the bill open in front of the leader I was connecting with all night, and just say
''Hey your bud forgot to put down his room number, do you mind getting that for me please ?''
pause
''Is that what he tipped you ?!?!?!''
YES! VICTORY IS MINE ! I just stay pleasant and tell him not to worry about it and I had a good time serving them. He says this is unacceptable, storms outside the restaurants to the patio to his friend. I didn't hear or see the interaction, but he came back with a room number, and a fixed tipped to 70$. Not only did I get good money, but I got to get one undertipper schooled by a proper tipper !! Priceless.
Edit : There's too many Karens on this sub trying to convince us we don't deserve our 15% tip and we are acting entitled when we vent about low tips on SERVERS subreddit. WTF is wrong with you people ? If my perfect customer knew you talked like that to servers about their livelihood he'd tell you your tipping practice is unacceptable.
Edit 2 : 350 X 0.13 = 45.5 . The argument that my tip was 15% is a fat lie from people who can't do math. How many servers have you stiffed due to bad math already ?
Edit 3 : I apologize for I have written two different amount up there 350 and 300$, and created two different discussions depending on which it was. The bill was 350$, around 13% tips. I also apologize to those I accused of not being good with math, this round's on me. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/pjnskk/customer_lectured_his_friend_when_i_exposed_his/ | 1,911 | 279 | 1,631,023,755 | 24 | tip | relevance |
d8p7fd | TalesFromYourServer | I told a customer to fuck off Saturday, and he tipped me for it | I work at a country club, and I was bartending a very busy wedding reception Saturday. And this one dude was bugging me all day. We have a limited bar, it was mostly a beer and wine crowd, and basic mixed drinks, and he wanted a specific shot during the cocktail hour that we cannot make so I made him something similar, and he likes what I make for him well enough and says that's his drink of choice for the night. But then he also wants bottles of sambuca and jager on ice, so I'm like sure I can throw them in the fridge and they'll be cold for serving later. Every time he came up to the bar he would wiggle his eyebrows at me and say nothing, expecting me to just read his mind and line up some shots for him and his friends. So I just stare back at him and wait for him to use his words, like a normal human being, to order a drink. One time when he was up he was bragging to his buddy about how he was friends with the bartenders, so we'll serve them first blah blah blah, which is so not the case, and I told them such. Basically the dude was just trying my patience the whole night.
So later, it was probably past midnight, still very busy, I'm getting exhausted. Dude comes up for 4 shots, so I line up the shot glasses on the counter and am about to pour when he grabs the glass and moves it. He apologises, moves it back, and I go to pour it again and he does the same thing, thinking he's being 'cute' or 'funny'. And I'm already past my limit of this guy and without thinking I say "Fuck off!" waaayyy louder than I should've. His girlfriend immediately laughs because she's been giving me apologetic looks all night, like she knows he's been annoying. The guy kinda pouts at me and I really thought he was going to have a fit and turn it into a big deal but he eventually just laughs and puts his hand up for a high five. I reluctantly high five him and pour his shots and tell him to not do that again or I won't serve him anymore.
Then he slips me a $50 as he's leaving. It was an open bar where we get tipped out 15% from the host so we don't really expect guests to tip us much, so I was kinda shocked. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/d8p7fd/i_told_a_customer_to_fuck_off_saturday_and_he/ | 4,791 | 180 | 1,569,340,885 | 24 | tip | relevance |
ycyr2l | TalesFromYourServer | The Only Time I Left A Zero Tip | It was today. I'm a server at a busy downtown restaurant, and I usually have time to make some coffee at home before work. Yeah, I could drink the coffee at work, but I like my Cafe Bustelo better than what we have at the restaurant. Just a personal preference. It's what got me through undergrad alive, so they forever have my allegiance.
Today making a fresh pot at home just wasn't going to happen because I slightly mismanaged my time. Had to do a company meeting thing with some higher-ups and also squeeze in a vet visit for my new kitten before work. Time got a little tight, so I ended up heading in to my shift entirely un-caffeinated. No worries, while I don't particularly love energy drinks I figured I'd just pop across the street and grab a yerba matte at the corner store.
I do so, and when I check out it's with one of those mini-ipads with a card reader. I get my yerba and a pack of smokes for after work, and when I put my card into the reader it automatically prompts me to leave either a 15, 20 or 25% tip.
I'm almost 36 years old and my income has been primarily dependent upon tips for basically the entirety of my adult life. I understand this and I strive to always pay it forward. I start at 40% in a full service setting and only go down if you fuck up colossally. Even then it basically takes outright abuse for me to go south of 25%. I tip 20% on takeout, I tip 25% on delivery, hell I almost always throw the person working the window at Taco Bell or Cook Out a five just for being open when I want to eat some garbage after work.
This was the first and only time in my entire life where my whole being went "are you fucking kidding me?" when being asked for a tip.
Now thankfully the guy working the register sighed and reached over me to hit the "custom tip" button and then hit zero. He looked at me and sighed. "Sorry about that man, we just got this new POS like 2 days ago and the owners haven't figured out how to disable that step yet."
I just gave him a shrug and a "nah it's all good man," but damn if I didn't get HOT for a split second thinking that the bodega would have the audacity to ask for a tip for ringing up a yerba matte and a pack of Marlboros.
So yeah, technically that's the only time I've ever been given the option to leave a tip and was totally fine with it being zero. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ycyr2l/the_only_time_i_left_a_zero_tip/ | 1,345 | 189 | 1,666,683,139 | 24 | tip | relevance |
sd3fn5 | TalesFromYourServer | Table stayed 1.5 hours past closing and tipped 10% | I work at a casual upscale sushi restaurant, and we close @11pm on Saturdays. 2 top comes in @7:30pm, saying they were waiting for 2 more. They waited an hour for the other two, and right after they sat down, the original 2 asked what time we closed, to which I replied “11:00”. All’s fine and well, they ordered a lot of food and drinks. Turned out to be some kind of business merger.
11pm comes around and they’re still talking, half the food not touched.
11:15pm comes around and I asked if they needed any togo boxes, as the food was still untouched, to which they replied, “Oh no, we’ll be finishing it!”
11:30pm comes around and I place the check on the table. Hilariously, everyone simultaneously put a bite of food in their mouth, even though I had been watching them like a hawk and knew they hadn’t touched their food since 11. They were my last table and all my side work was done.
11:45pm comes around and I asked if the check was ready, knowing damn well it wasn’t, because I hadn’t seen anyone touch the check book. They proceed to fight over the check, and the 2 that arrived an hour late gave me their card. I process their payment and return it to them.
12:00am comes around and I return, gently reminding then that we closed at 11pm and that they are the last guests in the restaurant. The dishwashers were gone so I knew I was going to have to wash ALL the dishes that were still on their table. They acted like they were surprised and said they’ll be “out of my hair soon.”
12:15am comes around and I just bring them a bunch of togo boxes and bags because fuck it I wanna leave.
12:17am comes around and my manager decided to step in. He told them that all the remaining staff were waiting for them leave, and that if they enjoyed our restaurant, to return during normal business hours. They acted surprised again (??) and stood up, gathering their coats and stuff. I buss their table and wash all their dishes.
12:30am comes around, i finished their dishes, and they’re still talking while standing up around the table. Seriously, can’t you do that outside? I start sweeping super close to them and then they leave.
Their bill was $588 and they left me $50.
Edit: I get paid $1 above minimum wage and make about $200-$400 a night, so I’m very comfortable here and don’t mind doing extra work. The dishwashers leave at a certain time, I’m pretty close with them, and I wasn’t doing anything except waiting for the guests to leave, which is why I did the dishes.
Also I generally don’t mind guests overstaying because I have always been tipped very well. But this table stayed from 7:30-12:30 and tipped me 10%, so that’s why I’m big mad | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/sd3fn5/table_stayed_15_hours_past_closing_and_tipped_10/ | 1,628 | 201 | 1,643,194,905 | 24 | tip | relevance |
1i4zze5 | TalesFromYourServer | Tipshares | Hey y'all, not sure if I'm dumb as all hell, or if this actually makes sense. When y'all tip out for the night, does it make sense to you that you tip out the ENTIRETY of your sales? Including taxes on the food? Why the hell am I tipping out my own hard earned money from the customers on FOOD TAXES??? I lost over $10 of my own tips in taxes alone on the customers food. That's fucking robbery, ALONG with getting paid $3.63/hour, which has my taxes taken out.... | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1i4zze5/tipshares/ | 17 | 25 | 1,737,297,942 | 24 | tip | hot |
1hx1h9t | TalesFromYourServer | Owner only gives me 50% of tips | I just started this new restaurant job, at my old small restaurant job we didn’t really do tip outs to the kitchen except on big holidays like Christmas so tipping out is new to me. But I feel like literally giving half of my tips to the kitchen is ALOT… it’s weird because I’m literally the only hired server at both of their restaurants that I work at. ( No hosts , no bussers ) Just 1 server on the floor and I do the Togo orders , phone orders , and tables. On top of that 50% I’m told a week into my new job that I don’t get my tips weekly… Credit card AND cash tips. This feels wrong to me , after calculating my hours I would be making less money than any minimum wage job I’ve worked. Has anyone worked a job structured like this??? Feels so abnormal to give that much of a tip out. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1hx1h9t/owner_only_gives_me_50_of_tips/ | 52 | 51 | 1,736,387,543 | 24 | tip | hot |
1ebmgx2 | TalesFromYourServer | [NY] My hourly is $20/hr. 15% gratuity is added to check. Should I legally be receiving that 15% or can management put it goes towards my hourly rate? | This is a bit of a tricky one. I'm employed at a private club. There is no cash transactions, everything is billed to the member. There is a line on the checks that says "15% gratuity" followed by whatever that amount is.
This 15% gratuity is not being paid to myself or fellow employees. We're not exactly sure where it's going.
Can management charge that 15% and put it towards our hourly wage or is the 15% rightfully supposed to go to me as exactly what it says it is, a gratuity?
Edit: Just to clear a few things up.
-this is a country club
-I work in the men's locker room. It is not banquets
-the line on the checks is not a service fee, but in fact 15% gratuity that is pooled pro rata based on hours worked
-the locker room staff is not included in this tip pool, although the membership is under the impression we are
-a newsletter is sent out to the membership. Included in a recent newsletter, the president took the time to explain what the 15% gratuity line is for "Your Board of Governors, in its continuing effort to provide more transparency to the membership, determined that the pooled gratuity should be separately delineated on the chit so that the membership was able to see the exact pooled gratuity amount. The Board also felt that this separate gratuity line should be raised to 15% and this began on December 1st. This 15% continues to be pooled and shared by the staff pro rata based on hours worked. There continues to be a separate line on each chit to allow members, should they desire, to provide additional gratuity, the amount of which goes directly to the individual server. Also, as in years past, any cash gratuity goes directly to the individual server."
-we make a higher hourly because we are not included in the tip pool
The 15% gratuity line should not be on the locker room checks because we are not being given that gratuity. It is going into the tip pool and distributed to employees of other areas of the club.
I understand it's a very odd situation. Should I be happy with my higher hourly wage and not being in the tip pool? Perhaps. But if that's the case, the members dining in the locker room shouldn't see the gratuity line on their checks. They are under the impression that it is going to the locker room staff. So that's where it should be going. I hope to recover some of the grat that hasn't went where it should.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1ebmgx2/ny_my_hourly_is_20hr_15_gratuity_is_added_to/ | 26 | 26 | 1,721,883,340 | 24 | gratuity | relevance |
zeqlje | TalesFromYourServer | A customer told me I shouldn’t tell people about gratuity and I am BAFFLED | Just saw a post about a customer getting mad about not being informed about gratuity and it reminded me of this wild group of guys I had a few weeks ago.
TL;DR at bottom, I can be long-winded.
For context, I work at a bar in Moore County, NC (we have no power and are on the national news right now yay) which sees a TON of golf groups passing through. It’s a huge tourist town and a dream destination for anyone worth their weight in golf balls.
Anywho, this group of 12 came in on a Wednesday night and mentioned that they’d been in the night before. From talking to my coworker I had already determined that she had only had one large group the night before, and that they were super nice and had tipped her generously on top of the 20% auto-grat that our system adds when you open a table of six+. Not that I cared, but you know how comfortable it can feel to walk up to a table that you know is easy.
Fast forward through service, they’ve had to split into an eight-top and a four-top because our only 12-top was taken, but they couldn’t care less. My coworker and I are busy as hell but I take good care of them, everything goes great, food and drinks flow and I’m just waiting on them to finish up so I can cash them out and grab my shift drink.
The guys at the eight-top cash out, I have a double-sided pen with a pink highlighter on the end so, as per usual, I highlight the gratuity as the print on our tickets is small and it tends to blend in with the tax. I also tell each person I hand a bill to that there is an included gratuity due to the size of the party, but that they’re more than welcome to leave me a bit extra if they’d like.
The guys at the eight-top leave, while the four-top lingers to watch the end of a game. When I drop their checks, I do my usual spiel, grat is on there, and run their cards.
Here’s where it gets weird. One of the guys flags me back over after I’ve done my official goodbye, and asks if he can offer me a tip. Internally rolling my eyes, I smile and say sure. He tells me that I shouldn’t tell people about the gratuity.
You read that right. He told me that I shouldn’t have said anything about the gratuity, and that I shouldn’t tell people in the future. He said that I had done a great job taking care of them, and that I deserved the money.
My response to this was that I considered it stealing to mislead someone into essentially tipping me twice, and that I was fairly sure it was illegal to do that. He simply continued saying that I deserved it, and that I would make more money that way. I told him that I would much rather my tips be earned and knowingly given to me, and then excused myself from the table.
They tipped me well and I am appreciative, but while serving is my job, I care about much more than the money. I take pride in my customer experience and my integrity, and it rubbed me the wrong way that they were offering me advice that equated to stealing.
I still can’t tell if he was insinuating that people wouldn’t add a deserved tip on top of gratuity or that he thought I should get literally as much money as possible. It was a wild night all around.
TL;DR: Part of a group of 12 guys told me I shouldn’t have told them about gratuity on their bill and I shouldn’t tell people in the future.
Edited for spelling and length, if you can believe it.
ETA: my restaurant does NOT have the gratuity written ANYWHERE. Not on the menu, or the door, or the website. It is the sole responsibility of the server to inform the table of the gratuity. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/zeqlje/a_customer_told_me_i_shouldnt_tell_people_about/ | 148 | 46 | 1,670,383,081 | 24 | gratuity | relevance |
yjtnki | TalesFromYourServer | Gratuity on tax? | So a co worker and I had noticed on the “suggested tips” at the bottom of the receipts, the suggestions were only for the subtotal.. not after tax.. same thing with our gratuity.. we only get 18% on the subtotal.. which is crazy bc we sure as hell have to tip out on the total including the tax amount
.. it also made me remember how a few servers had complained that the gratuity isn’t after all the taxes are added (which can be a huge amount sometimes).. I’ve only worked in family owned restaurants with bosses from other countries and things like this are over looked quite often.. is this normal everywhere else? I feel like it’s not. Lol | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/yjtnki/gratuity_on_tax/ | 15 | 28 | 1,667,357,999 | 24 | gratuity | relevance |
o6gjy3 | TalesFromYourServer | Can anyone explain what the hell a “service charge” is and am I getting dupped? | For context, I work in what I consider a fairly busy restaurant. We are only open for dinner and weekdays we do around 100 covers and weekends plus Friday nights we do around 200+ covers. We run most nights with a crew of around 6 FOH and 4 BOH.
The big problem is that every bill has an automatic 18% service charge and we don’t get tipped out. The owners say it’s to pay everyone a higher wage and we get paid around $16-$18 an hour with no tips.
If we do get tipped we’re required to turn it in so the owner can use the money on the Christmas party even if you leave before then.
Can anyone explain what a service charge is? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/o6gjy3/can_anyone_explain_what_the_hell_a_service_charge/ | 16 | 25 | 1,624,466,352 | 24 | service charge | relevance |
ake4s9 | TalesFromYourServer | Tip with service charge? | Around us we have a few restaurants that are nicer and have a service charge of 20%. With the service charge they have a note that says it is to help offset the cost of employee benefits (401k, medical, dental etc) and they also pay a livable wage. They also say an additional tip is not necessary. Note our min wage is $15/hr. The servers seem happy as most have worked there years. We usually add about 10% additional tip in these situations. Just curios though if it’s enough? What’s everyone’s thoughts? I have no problem going higher than the 30% we’re essentially paying if I’m being an asshole - I just genuinely want your opinions :) TIA | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ake4s9/tip_with_service_charge/ | 5 | 8 | 1,548,610,405 | 24 | service charge | relevance |
22c21w | TalesFromYourServer | Question about confronting bad tippers | I'm a server in a seated dining restaurant. If I've done a good job, and the customer tips 10% or less, I'll approach them and say along the lines of (in a normal speaking tone) "Hey, typically you tip 15-20% for service in restaurants. I'm explaining this because that's proper etiquette."
The majority will either leave a few dollars more or apologize. Some just quickly scurry out. I've yet to get a complaint for it. My co-workers have been on board with it too.
Your thoughts?
TL;DR If a table tips under 10%, I'll nicely remind them of the 15%-20% line. Your thoughts?
EDIT: These bad tips are, in estimate, 5% of my overall tables on a given weekend. I'm just looking for a discussion on how other servers deal with bad tippers. This is how I've gone about it. I'm not trying to run holier than thou guilt trips, just talk to tables that are bad tippers.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/22c21w/question_about_confronting_bad_tippers/ | 0 | 39 | 1,396,776,429 | 24 | bad tipper | relevance |
1j1ofz | TalesFromRetail | Don't tip vending machines, because if they fall, they'll win every time. | Even though my job is filling up vending machines, I still have to deal with customers so it is loosely retail.
On the occasion that I do go help customers who are unsatisfied with the vending machine, they are usually cool about it. A normal dialogue would be something like this:
Customer: "My snickers got stuck"
me: "Ok" open machine and grab snickers "here you go sir/maam. Sorry for the inconvenience, have a nice day."
Done. No conflict; no problems. Then there's a second tier of customers, who are just douches about it. Instead of asking nicely, they just start cussing me out and telling me how shittily I must've done stocking and how the vending machines suck, and how to run the entire business better, etc...
Then there's a third tier of customers. These guys are driven so crazy in enraged fits that they throw caution to the wind and start shaking the machine. WARNING: Do not shake a vending machine unless you are looking prepared to die or break something.
Today, I had one of the third type. I got the call to go the the north vending machine. I walk over to it, and see a guy full on rocking the machine. It going from front legs to back legs and looks like it could've hit its tipping point at any moment. I drop my clipboard and run over the the man rocking the machine. As I was running over to calm the man down, it hit its tipping point. Shit. That got ugly fast. I hustles the last 20 feet and helped the man get the machine back up.
When the machine was back upright, the man looked shocked. Unfortunately foe me, his shock only lasted a few seconds. After those few seconds, my reprieve was over. "Why wasn't someone here to help me earlier!? That would've stopped all this!? Are you lazy, or just a birch, cuz I would've got here twice as fast!!!" Aa a non confrontational guy, I start backpedalling fast. "I'm truly sorry sir. I made it here as fast as I could. What seems to be the problem with the machine?" oops, guess I was only 100% polite with this douche I just helped not get flattened by a vending machine. "Don't try to change the subject, this machine is dangerous. Why do you even have machines like this!? And why doesn't it say not to tip them" This is where I started getting pissed off, as there is a very, very clear; bright yellow sign on the vending machine explaining not to tip it. I pull the fake agreement, with tones of sarcasm. "Sorry sir. I guess you're right. It really is *my* fault. Yellow really doesn't stand out enough. I'll inform my boss of the problem." With that, he walked off all huffy, muttering under his breath all the way into the elevator. When I went to talk to my boss, he gave me one of those, "you shouldn't have done it, but you weren't 100% wrong to" smiles and I didn't get in trouble.
tl;dr: guy starts tipping the vending machine, and almost tips it, then blames me for not being there fast enough, then blames me for not having a memo not to tip it. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromRetail/comments/1j1ofz/dont_tip_vending_machines_because_if_they_fall/ | 137 | 32 | 1,374,779,598 | 24 | tip | relevance |
2y6z1x | TalesFromRetail | 15% off is serious business. | Once upon a time, I worked at what we shall call Health Supplements and Borderline Steroids Chain. Said cgain offers a 'Gold Card program' which enabled you to receive a 15% off discount once a week every month for a one time fee of 15.00. Unsurprisingly, the customer was pushed to buy one at every opportunity. Our particular store received a sign about 5 feet tall by 2 feet wide to put outside with a massive picture of the card on it that said '15% off when you sign up today!' I don't see how this could confuse anyone who can read, but i should never underestimate customers.
One Saturday morning, Blond Soccer Mom comes in and buys multivitamins, weight loss pills, and fuck all. She brings her items to the cash register and is rung up. I give her her total and she immediately balks and replies in a smug tone 'I get 15% off today, don't you know your own works sales?'
>Me: 'I'm sorry ma'am, that only applies if you sign up for a gold card, it is only 15 dollars and you save 15% one week a month, and you also save 15% today! (Gritted teeth smile)' (Mind you, this wasn't exactly in fine print on the sign it said 15% OFF (picture of card) WHEN YOU JOIN TODAY!)
>She pretends she didn't hear me and says 'it says 15% off on the sign!'
>Me: "I'm sorry, do you have a gold card already?"
>Her: "what does that have to with anything? Oh my god -" at this point, she slams her purse on the counter exasperated goes and GETS THE SIGN FROM OUTSIDE, lugs it in and put it in front of me, self satisfied. 'See?! FIF-TEEN PERCENT OFF!'
I pointed to the bottom third of the sign 'I'm sorry, that only applies when you sign up for a gold card like this one (points to middle third of sign)'
At this point the light bulb went off and she stomped out, pausing at a couple points to yell about how I should 'talk to a manager because that's not right' red faced.
It was pretty hilarious. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromRetail/comments/2y6z1x/15_off_is_serious_business/ | 170 | 33 | 1,425,688,115 | 24 | 15% | relevance |
14kv6xp | TalesFromYourServer | today I had a gentleman argue over why I didn’t deserve a tip | table of 5, all adults in their 60’s. One gentleman told me not to respond with “absolutely” after taking his order.
“I want the ____” “absolutely! and wha..” “don’t respond with absolutely, thats not how you answer customers”
I genuinely didn’t understand what he meant by this so I didn’t even bother being upset. Then he got mad when I offered him salad as a side because he “hates salad”. My bad dude, I should’ve known. Anyways I bring out the food, he complains his food gets put down fourth. He wanted his food first.
When it comes to pay, he needs the machine. It gives him the prompt to tip. He out loud YELLS “I DONT WANT TO TIP!” And his friends laugh. And then he said it again, and they realized he was serious. His friend beside him actually took the machine from him and put in a 20% tip lol but anyways he just kept telling me how i don’t deserve tip while I stood there and passed the machine around to his friends. I didn’t react, I don’t care. I just cashed everyone out and walked away. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/14kv6xp/today_i_had_a_gentleman_argue_over_why_i_didnt/ | 2,033 | 197 | 1,687,913,954 | 23 | tip | relevance |
t8jtq3 | TalesFromYourServer | Got tipped over $200 for being “racist” | Was bartending on a Saturday night. It was a typical busy Saturday but nothing crazy. Had a couple sit down at the last two open seats and order something to drink while waiting for their table. They told me their wait was gonna be 30-40 minutes.
Husband got a small beer, wife didn’t want anything. Didn’t want to look at the menu.
About twenty minutes later I gave them the check for the beer, just in case they get called to a table. I tried handing it to them but nobody reached out to accept the check, so I just put it down. The husband looks at the receipt *very* briefly, but otherwise does not acknowledge that it’s there, seemingly on purpose. But he **did** look at it.
The host came to the couple and said their table was ready, and the husband sent his wife to the table while he sat at the bar. As soon as I went out of his sight to make a drink for a server, this guy runs away to his table without paying his tab.
About two minutes later I went to the couple’s table (it was close enough to easily get to) and politely reminded him about his bar tab. He said no, and he wants me to transfer it to the server. At this point I knew he wasn’t gonna tip and it wasn’t worth fighting over one beer, so I said just decided to say ok. Tried walking away and he said I was being aggressive and wanted to talk to a manager. I wanted to get outta there as fast as possible so I was like alright I’ll send one out. I put the receipt on the table and he threw it at me and called me a racist.
I get back to the bar and the manager has a chat with me. The guests see but don’t know why. Manager is kinda cool and we are both think-first react-second types of people. Even though we didn’t want to, the best thing to do was grudgingly comp the beer. Not worth risking a job for a seven dollar check.
Some of the guests ask me what happened. Pretty much explained everything that happened, and one of the guests said that’s ridiculous gave me $100. Another guest at the other side of the bar was so upset (more so than even I was) that we had to comp the beer, and he gave me $100 too. A few other guests over tipped as well, multiple $20s and what not.
So that’s my story. Sometimes it’s hard but just keep cool even during annoying situations and more often than not, level heads prevail. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/t8jtq3/got_tipped_over_200_for_being_racist/ | 2,492 | 216 | 1,646,638,310 | 23 | tip | relevance |
1inkwic | TalesFromYourServer | Service charge added to bill and tip request | I was in the city for some medical stuff, and I went to a little restaurant near the doctor's office. When the server gave me the check, she told me that there was a 20% service charge added to my bill which would be shared among the server, kitchen staff, and the bartender. I have to say this was a first for me. When she gave me the check, the 20% was added, and there was a line for a tip. I didn't give her a tip (first time in my life I didn't tip), since the bill was already 20% more than I expected. I think this policy is terrible for the servers, and I imagine many people aren't leaving a separate tip as well.
Has anyone heard of this practice? If you have,how has it been received by customers and staff? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1inkwic/service_charge_added_to_bill_and_tip_request/ | 362 | 111 | 1,739,342,380 | 23 | tip | relevance |
1j2j9fn | TalesFromYourServer | Tipping out in situations with inadequate or unavailable support staff. | When I was a server, my restaurant opened a patio after COVID. This added an additional dozen or so tables which were obviously separate from the dining rooms. Management either didn't try to hire more bussers or simply didn't. The busser was typically unable to get to the patios, but because it was so busy and in high demand, the servers would typically do it themselves. At the end of the night, you'd be reminded to tip out your usual 2% despite having done the work yourself.
At my current bartending gig, they'll often have just one or two busser/runners for a large place that needs more. Same deal that you're reminded to tip out, despite in many cases you've done much of the work yourself. I don't mind tipping out for support, but it's annoying to tip out while not having the support.
Thoughts? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1j2j9fn/tipping_out_in_situations_with_inadequate_or/ | 33 | 16 | 1,741,010,394 | 23 | tip | hot |
1icp7qw | TalesFromYourServer | Tax Fraud? | This is a story from 2021/2022 and I'm only posting now because the restaurant just closed down. For exactly one year between 2021/2022 I worked as a server at a niche bar/grill place. They were a mom and pop restaurant where the owner owned another restaurant directly across the street and a dive bar next to that.
Just after new years 2022 they changed up how we did our taxes. At the end of every shift we had a little piece of paper where we wrote our name, amount of credit card tips we got that night and whatever 10% of that was and we left the 10% of that in cash stapled to the paper. I immediately thought it was wrote because the other restaurant I worked at doesn't do that with the servers (I was only a hostess there). Alarm bells went off in my head but I thought it was ok because the little paper had the logos of their other businesses on it so I figured it was ok because they were doing at the other restaurant to and they've been in the industry longer than me.
I ended up quitting because I wasn't making money. I only worked there two nights a week and most nights I was lucky to go home with $20 and was only getting one or two tables a night.
I'd been at the other restaurant, my main job, for 5 years at this point, and in my head I couldn't figure out how the bar/grill place was even still open. The numbers weren't adding up.
Fast forward to tax time. I get my W2 in the mail and they have in it that i never paid taxes at all. Literally $0. I immediately messaged the payroll lady who I had on Facebook and asked her about it. She told me they'd send me a new correct one in the mail. I never got it so I messaged again. She said that her records indicate my W2 was correct even when I mentioned the cash taxes we were all leaving every night. She said that she could make me a new W2 but only after I told her the correct amount I made working there (cash & card tips) not just the credit card tips. I said there was no way I could remember that and she said essentially I'm SOL. I left it there and took it as a lesson learned.
Months later some of my old co workers from there came into the pother restaurant I worked at for breakfast and I asked them about it. All three of them said that's the reason they quit. They all lost out on hundreds of dollars in tax returns because of it. I don't think anyone ever went to a lawyer over it which sucks becauseI'm pretty sure it was tax fraud.
Long story short a few months after I left they ended opening up an expansion of the restaurant across town at the end of 2022. Right about the same time their other restaurant across the street closed down because literally no one ever went there and they couldn't keep staff. The expansion restaurant closed down this year right after new years and the bar/grill Iworked at closed down last week. They've literally run three businesses into the ground in three years. When I saw they closed I messaged all my old co workers and they all said the same thing, "karma". | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1icp7qw/tax_fraud/ | 7 | 2 | 1,738,139,002 | 23 | tip | hot |
ckordp | TalesFromYourServer | The Accidental Gratuity | In 1984, I was a freshman in college. I lived in a tourist town on the East Coast, a popular destination for families making day trips from Baltimore or Washington, D.C. The restaurant where I worked was located in an old mercantile establishment with massive windows that looked out over the water, and it was popular with young families because of the relaxed atmosphere and the distraction of the view. The food was good, the service was friendly, and the prices were reasonable – the place did a nice business.
I began as a hostess and segued to the floor after about six months. Started out waiting on tables at lunch and then, after a few weeks, I got my first 'real' dinner shift. A Friday night on one of the busiest weekends of the year. I was psyched! Everything was going just great until about 8:00. That was when a party of 14 took over my station and stayed until 10:00. Normally, this would have been an awesome thing, but only 6 of the 14 were over the age of 5. The three couples were in their middle twenties and between them and their off-spring, I was a mess by the end of the night. They spilled things, changed diapers at the table, let their kids throw stuff, scream, complained about the food, the drinks … it truly was a nightmare.
I soldiered on, though, helped by a few co-workers, until they asked for the check. I have a hazy memory that it was over a $100, which was a lot for the time, and honestly, the thought of that gratuity was just about the only thing that kept me going. They piled cash onto the tray, handed it to me, and started to pack up their kids. I went back and sorted the bills and discovered they'd tipped me less than $3. Assholes.
I couldn't even manage a fake smile for them, after that. Once they were gone, I grabbed a tray and got started on the unbelievable mess they made. The bus-boy came over to help and took the dirty plates, cutlery and other trash away. I started to pull the tables back into position, hoping to be seated again before we closed. I'm cursing those cheap assholes under my breath the entire time, as I sweep up yet another pile of Cheerios or use a knife to scrape smashed French fries out of the carpet. That's when I see it. A .35mm film cannister underneath one of the chairs.
Back in the old days, you needed to put film into a camera in order to get pictures out of it. Film came in light-proof plastic cannisters and when you finished a roll, you put it back into the cannister, ready to be processed. They were about two inches tall and one inch in diameter, with a plastic lid that created an air-tight seal.
I remembered seeing several cameras in their possession and I'd heard them talking about all the things they'd been doing that day, all the pictures they'd taken. If they hadn't stiffed me and pissed me off so badly, I would have taken it to the hostess stand immediately, but as it was, I picked up that cartridge and started fantasizing about exposing their film. I wanted vengeance, I wanted to ruin their pictures the way they'd ruined my night. I wouldn't have done it, but I thought about it. And then I shook the cannister. I should have heard the plastic spindle that held the used film, clanking back and forth, but there was nothing. Yet it clearly wasn't empty … I retreated to an empty banquet room and pried off the lid. Got one good look at what was inside, and then I heard a bit of a commotion out on the dining floor. I closed the cannister, put it in my pocket, and went to see what was the matter.
Lo and behold, two of the men from my party had returned! They were questioning the bus-boy and when they saw me, one of them came over while the other started crawling around the floor near their former table. The guy wanted to know if I'd found anything at their table – he started by claiming they'd lost a baby-toy and then added that it seemed as if they'd lost a roll of film. I shrugged. Nope, I don't know anything, didn't see anything, sorry. Maybe you should ask the hostess if someone turned them in? The guy crawling on the floor admitted defeat and the two exchanged glances before turning to leave. I made sure to tell them that I hoped they'd enjoy the rest of their weekend … in a very chipper and perky tone. I saw them both stutter to a halt and turn to look at me. I gave them a cheerful wave and a smile. That's when they knew. I watched them go down the stairs, crushed. Defeated. Helpless.
In 1984, a customer could not call management or the police to complain that his waitress had kept the container of dense, dank and unbelievably powerful weed that he'd lost underneath a restaurant table. The stuff was packed into that cannister so tightly that it had to be extracted with tweezers. It was purple, coated in crystals, and it took me nearly six months to smoke all of it, even with the help of my friends. Probably cost those guys a fortune. Much more than the 15% they should have left me.
Best tip I've ever gotten in my life. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/ckordp/the_accidental_gratuity/ | 1,377 | 92 | 1,564,668,094 | 23 | gratuity | relevance |
s8q7x9 | TalesFromYourServer | Having the auto gratuity taken off | (On mobile apologies for any format mistakes)
We have a manager at our restaurant who isn’t exactly the best. He’s a nice guy and whenever there’s a small problem I’m fine going to him for it, HOWEVER, I’ve learned never to go to him when a party is complaining about their gratuity.
I’ve heard of him taking off the auto grat for parties before whenever the customer has complained. I never saw it happen until it happened to me. I had a party of 12, they chose to reserve the party room so instead of getting a section with separate tables I got that. They were my only “table” for 2 hours. It was a bunch of teenagers, an older sister, and the mother of the bday girl.
At the end of their dinner I start handing out checks, it’s really not that much since they didn’t order a lot. Each teens ticket had about 4 dollars added to it, some less, and the the mother (she added the bday girl and the older sister to her ticket) had 14 dollars added to hers. Over all the grat was 40 something dollars.
I leave for a tad to give them all time to get out their form of payment, I come back after maybe 2 minutes. The older sister calls me over and goes “y’all make 2 dollars an hour?” So I tell her yes, confused as to why she’s asking. The mom then says “so what’s with this 20% tip added? I was gonna tip you but to put like 4 dollars on each of the kids tickets and 14 on mine isn’t right”
So I give her the whole “for parties over 6 blah blah blah” discussion and she asks to see our manager. The manager that was there that night was the one known for taking off the auto grat. He goes up to them asks what the problem is. He even asks them if my service was good, and they said my service was good AND THAT THEY LIKED ME LOL. But that they would leave their own tip.
So it gets taken off. All of the teens leave me nothing except for one who through a wad of crumpled of bills in front of me which felt super disrespectful, and the mom left me 10 bucks. So I left there with a little over 20 dollars.
I recently saw him take off a 76 dollar grat for another server and they tipped her 26 dollars, and all he did to make up for it was take 25 off the bill and give it to the server.
I brought it up in conversation with a different manager who’s pretty nice saying that we should have it on our menus (even tho the host and manager tells parties about the grat when they reserve ) and how we shouldn’t take it off. And she told me that legally we have to take it off when they complain bc we’re family owned not corporate (we’re a chain) :( | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/s8q7x9/having_the_auto_gratuity_taken_off/ | 285 | 34 | 1,642,705,122 | 23 | gratuity | relevance |
dm3lmh | TalesFromYourServer | Douchey note about gratuity | Had a 7 top at lunch today, all older folks. They came in because one of their granddaughters told them they need to try our burgers, blah blah. One lady (L1 from now on) asks if we have Cherry Coke and acts mortified when I tell her no, and interrupting me as I try to explain that we can add grenadine to regular Coke if she wants. Whatever, just one lady, no biggie. Then I notice one of the men has a Trump 2020 hat on *eyeroll*. Then a different lady (L2) gets huffy with me because we don't have sweet and sour sauce for her chicken strips. Well I get all their food out with no problems (aside from L2 having to settle for honey mustard) and when they're ready I get their checks split up and take them out. One lady asks for an empty to go cup for her soda, and the first lady asks for one too. As I bring them their cups I hear L1 telling the rest of the table that "Don't tip extra, it's included. Don't want y'all to spend too much". So I explain that any table of 7 or more is automatically assigned an 18% (pre-tax) gratuity and they grumble agreement. Then as I'm cleaning the table I see that L2's receipt has a note on it: she crossed out the line for additional tip and wrote "Not when told what to pay. Would have been more".
If you would have tipped more, why not just leave the difference on that line and be done with it? Do you think I made that rule? I just don't get it. Fuck you, lady.
Oh, and the offending grat was $2.34 | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/dm3lmh/douchey_note_about_gratuity/ | 78 | 39 | 1,571,855,982 | 23 | gratuity | relevance |
1g1xdl | TalesFromYourServer | When do you apply the forced 18% gratuity? OR How I got the short end of things last night | Last night I actually did well for a sunday. My cover count was way above the other servers that night. It was a combination of a few things; new hostess, my tables kept turning, only section with large enough tables for big parties.
Before you start getting too jealous, I did get stuck with a fair amount of precious kiddies that evening.
But this rant isn't about kids and how they drive me insane (especially in larger groups). I'm here to discuss the forced 18% gratuity and when do you whip it out.
My story involves a group of 11; four adults and five kids. It appeared to be two families going out to eat together, not celebrating anything in particular. I did my best to keep on top of this table, regardless of the chaos all around me. I wouldn't call that particular service A+, but there was a lot of potential for error that I overcame. If I could imagine their three biggest (and probably only) complaints against me, I'd say
(1) I couldn't invent a menu item specially for them because the kitchen wouldn't let me
(2) One side dish was "incorrect" because the guy couldn't properly read off the menu
(3) "Missing" a salad because the kids took the wrong one
All these things can seem like big flaws on my part, and naturally the customers can never meet me half-way on any such blunders.
The bill comes, looks like it's going to be slip down the middle between the two men. I throw caution to the wind, I get a princely 10% tip. I am not pleased. Especially considering my tip-out, my gains for a check that size is laughable.
I'm thinking a lot of these two gentleman's decision to flip me 10% had to do with the sticker shock of, "holy shit this total bill is well over $250." That's what happens when you kids order entrees. Then I imagine they justified their dickery by going out of their way to focus on the negatives of the evening instead of the positives. All in an attempt to save another $10-$15.
I tend to think that two men splitting a large party is a red-flag. Other red flags are birthday dinners where the guest of honor is not paying. Alternatively, when people fight for the check, that doesn't always equate to high-tips but I think that will rarely dip below 16%.
Without getting into racial profiling, what are some of your red-flags when it comes to identifying potential low-tippers? Especially in the group setting. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1g1xdl/when_do_you_apply_the_forced_18_gratuity_or_how_i/ | 12 | 60 | 1,370,882,213 | 23 | gratuity | relevance |
c3ge2e | TalesFromYourServer | Question? What is "Suggestive Gratuity"? | I noticed my menu said "18% Suggestive Gratuity". Me personally, for every $10 I tip 2. I feel that's more than fair. Am I being the asshole for wondering about this or why? The item is $15, so I'd tip $2.50. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/c3ge2e/question_what_is_suggestive_gratuity/ | 12 | 17 | 1,561,150,886 | 23 | gratuity | relevance |
wwzvcn | TalesFromYourServer | My friend is a bad tipper | I have a buddy and he is a great guy but bad tipper. Like not even 15%, every once in while he will tip good but those are few and far between. I usually try to make sure I have cash on me so I can leave extra. He refuses to split the bill because he says it was his idea. I usually offer to pay my half so I can tip bigger to make up for my his lack of tipping.
I always feel bad when he leaves a bad tip and I don’t have cash on me. I have told that traditionally tipping is 20%. A bad tip is only warranted if the server sucks and not based on food. But it’s like he doesn’t get and his tipping has no rhyme or reason. I’ve seen him tip ten on 20 dollar check but then leave 5 on forty.
What should I do? I don’t won’t to keep hounding him about it because he is a great friend but I also don’t think servers should be penalized either. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/wwzvcn/my_friend_is_a_bad_tipper/ | 41 | 23 | 1,661,388,229 | 23 | bad tipper | relevance |
2rxjog | TalesFromRetail | The Time A Grown Woman Threw A Coat Hanger At Me | Everyone has a story about an encounter they had with an awful human being.
When you've worked in the service industry long enough, you'll have at least one story about the time you came face to face with a really, really, mind-blowingly, awful human being.
A lot of my friends in NYC have had to work in the service industry at one point to help pay the rent while pursuing their artistic passions. There is no better study of human behavior than working in the service industry. The way people treat those who are providing them food and alcohol can be horrifying.
Anyone who's ever worked in a bar or restaurant has plenty of stories to tell, here's one of mine:
When I first moved to NYC in 2008, I got a job at a trendy, over-priced restaurant in Tribeca as a host. My job was to stand at the front door, smile, and then walk people to their table. Literally. I didn’t even bring menus. That was a servers job. I was like a 1st grade teacher, making my students follow me in a single file line. The pay was way more than I was getting from my 9-5 media job and on top of the hourly rate, during the winter months host’s also handled the coat check.
Coat check. It seemed innocent enough at first, but after a week I realized that for some reason holding on to a brightly colored ticket for 2 hours while you’re having dinner proves impossible for 90% of the population. Most of the time people were just too lazy to actually look for the ticket so they'd try to describe their coat to me,
“It’s BLACK and it has BUTTONS. Do you see it in there?”
"Um....theres a lot of black buttoned coats, what brand is it?"
"I don't remember."
"Does it have any other distinctive features?"
"It's a pea coat."
This happened multiple times every night. Then people would get irritated quickly and act like having to provide a ticket for their coats was some a form of torture hosts used to ruin their evenings and fuck with their minds. At first it was easy to just smile and pretend like I didn’t mind being yelled at by grown men and women because it's hard to get that upset when you know you're making a lot of money.
Did you know there was a world in which people tip $50-$100 for their coats? They do. It got to the point where if someone didn’t throw $5 in the tip bucket per coat, I was angry. I was living in a world where $5 per coat seemed like minimum wage. I would put up with the ugliness of the human population for an inflated bank account.
And then my soul slowly started to rot away.
My breaking point came one evening when a women came up to the coat check demanding her coat, even though she didn’t have a ticket. I asked her to describe her coat. After mumbling to her friends that that she'd never been so annoyed in her life she barked, “Black, fur collar, EXPENSIVE!!!”
Got it.
I dove through racks of $1,000 jackets looking for what I assumed had to be this woman's pride and joy and the only form of happiness she'd ever had. I brought out a coat that fit her description and she snatched it out my hands, didn't say thank you and stormed out the front door. About 30 minutes later ANOTHER woman came to the coat check demanding her coat. She also didn’t have her ticket and she also had a similar description for her coat. Same brand. Same color. Same style.
My stomach fell into my feet. I braced myself for impact.
“A woman just came up asking about the same kind of coat without a ticket. In order to ensure people aren't taking the wrong coats I can't give you a coat without a ticket. Unless you can find it you'll have to wait until the end of the night to retrieve your coat.”
I had to buy time to make sure the first woman hadn’t taken the wrong coat. Her friends were still in the dining room so my plan was to ask them to contact her to make sure she was wearing the right coat before I went on a mission trying to find the second women’s coat.
Sound complicated? It was. That’s why it’s important for people not to lose their fucking ticket.
Before I even had a chance to ask the second woman to wait for just one moment, she exploded. Watching her reaction from outside the window, you would have assumed I had just spit in her face and called her mother a whore.
“ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT?!?!?! FUCK YOU, YOU SLUT, I NEED MY FUCKING JACKET!!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!?! WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM!!!! NO WONDER YOU DO COAT CHECK YOU FUCKING MORON!!!”
I just watched. I watched as she paced back and forth in front of her friends, her friends, mind you, didn’t seem to think she was insane. They just nodded behind her as if throwing a tantrum over a coat when you’re in your 30’s was normal behavior. People at tables nearby turned and started looking. It was a spectacle. The other hostess tried asking her to calm down a few times, but it was no use. This material possession meant more to this woman than practicing human decency.
Listen, I know she assumed her coat was gone forever. I’m sure that would be frustrating, but her reaction was beyond what anyone could deem as acceptable. She was a woman on the verge. If she had a gun in her purse I’m certain she would have whipped it out and murdered me on the spot.
My manager (who was the most kind and gentle man on the face of the planet) came over and promised her that if the coat wasn’t found at the end of the night they would pay her for it in full.
“IT’S $1,500 FUCKING DOLLARS.”
“No problem, if we don’t have it for you at the end of night, we will write you a check for a new one.”
“THEY DON’T HAVE THE SAME COLOR ANYMORE!!!! THEY DIDN’T MAKE THAT MANY!!! YOU’VE RUINED MY FUCKING LIFE!!!!”
While she was screaming, I started looking for the coat. If the first woman had the exact same coat as the second women, then there would be another version of the coat in the coat check. As soon as I found it I came out and showed it to the women and asked, “Is this your coat?”
She looked at me the way most people would look at a cockroach. She snatched the coat from my hands and screamed, “You’re a fucking whore!” and then ripped the coat off the hanger, threw the hanger AT me and then stormed out of the restaurant.
I took that as a yes.
Fast forward to the next day when she called furious because the coat she took home was a size too large and the first woman called saying the coat she took home was a size too small. Neither apologizing. Neither realizing that all of this could have been avoided if only they would have held on to their mother fucking coat check tickets.
I lasted about another week or so before I gave in to the fact that no matter how much money I was making, I couldn't handle another day in the service industry without losing what was left of my sanity.
The next time you find yourself getting frustrated because a waitress is taking too long to refill your water or you think the bartender's ignoring you ask yourself,
"Do I have unrealistic expectations of service based on my overly inflated ego and my inability to grasp that while I may be the star of my own movie, to the rest of the world I'm just another person trying to live in a world filled with people?"
The answer is probably yes. So calm down, take a breath and everything's going to be OK. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromRetail/comments/2rxjog/the_time_a_grown_woman_threw_a_coat_hanger_at_me/ | 822 | 110 | 1,420,861,919 | 23 | tip | top |
qudlax | TalesFromYourServer | How to explain tipping | My friend tips very little if at all. We all went to lunch for a co-worker & each of our bills was about $55. My friend tipped $3. I told her that she needed to tip at least $11. She stated that this waitress was making a lot of money off our table😬. I tried to except to her that servers live off tips because most make $2.14 an hour. She counters with this is the job they chose🙄. My friend has plenty of money and our server was great she doesn’t tip on principle. We ended up arguing over this and I could not explain my point to her…that tipping is part of any service in the U.S. Can any servers please help me articúlate to her? | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/qudlax/how_to_explain_tipping/ | 1,507 | 624 | 1,636,972,601 | 22 | tip | relevance |
9oury4 | TalesFromYourServer | I called out a table on not tipping. | I've been obsessively reading this page for a few months now, but this is my first time posting.
This also got a lot longer than I intended it to. I think my brain is going into shock from today and I'm rambling. TLDR at the bottom.
So I had to cover the lunch shift as the only server today, I've been exhausted and crabby since 11 AM as a result.
Fast forward to about an hour ago and I was finishing cleaning the bar (the bare minimum, I'm going in early to do the real cleaning) and one of my favorite young waitresses ( I'll call her S) comes into the bar, sits at a bar stool and says, "She did it again".
She sounded so defeated I instantly turned around to look at her and I see her staring at a credit card receipt. I have a feeling where this is going and I'm starting to get pissed.
Me: Your big table didn't tip? The mom paid again?
She just nods her head, showing me the book.
Now I know this family, the son (early 30s) comes in for lunch every day and breakfast every Sunday. I've been serving him and his kids for 6 or 7 years now. He's super nice and always tips fairly. Lately though, his mom, dad, and other family members have been coming in together and the mom always pays. Zero tip every time. Normally it's just four people so its crappy, but not horrible.
Tonight they were a 9 top, plus to go orders. Super needy, but happy with their service. S is one of our best servers. Shes's a great teenager who is saving for college and she busts her ass to make sure her tables are happy.
So now that she confirmed what I was thinking, I'm super pissed. That's just not okay.
I run over to the table, passing the family in the entryway talking, and make sure there's no cash on the table. Nope, not a dime. So I pull the son aside.
Me: Hey, "son", can I talk to you for a second?
( like I said I've known him for years, were very friendly and even have each other on Facebook, so I'm not at all concerned talking to him like this)
Son: yeah, of course. What's going on?
We go off to the side out of ear shot of his mom.
Me: Your mom didn't tip again. The bill was $111 and I'm sorry but, I dont think that's fair to S. I know you and your dad are always very generous and I just wanted to let you know because I know this isnt something you would ever do to one of us.
Son: oh wow, no that's not okay. I dont think I even have cash but...
He checks his wallet, finds $10, hands it to me.
Me: Thank you so so much for doing that to her. I really appreciate it.
We smile, exchange "have a good night", and he goes on his way.
I go back into the bar, slap down the ten on the counter in front of S, and the wide-eyed look of surprise she had was hilarious.
S: What did you do??!?!?!??!
I loved getting to tell her. Our restaurant is changing owners soon, I'm going to become the GM (I've been a manager of the current place for years), and I want my staff to know I have their backs.
I feel a little strange about doing it, and I'm going to thank the son again at lunch tomorrow but, I don't regret it one bit.
TLDR: A large group of regulars stiffs a server, I confront one I'm friendly with, and she gets a tip.
Edit: I would just like to add, I'm in the US, and if I didn't know this customer so very very well (I have gifts from him, we've been on a first name basis and Facebook friends for years) I wouldn't have done it. Also my tone of voice was concerned not condescending.
Edit 2: The owner of the restaurant knows this happened, she knows the relationship I have with the Son and says she respects me for what I did.
Edit 3: I just talked to the son. I apologized for being unprofessional and I tried to give him my own $10. He wouldn't accept, said hes very glad I told him, his wife is a waitress also, hes going to start double checking that whoever pays leaves a tip. He thanked me multiple times for bringing it to his attention.
So if he doesn't have a problem with how I acted, I'm not going to let the negative comments on this post bother me. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/9oury4/i_called_out_a_table_on_not_tipping/ | 1,792 | 1,144 | 1,539,745,483 | 22 | tip | relevance |
c9bldv | TalesFromYourServer | Where do Europeans think our tips go? | I had a British couple in my section today. Lovely people, enjoyed their meal, complimented the food several times and complimented the decor of the restaurant, and we chatted a little bit during my check-ups. I drop their check, wait a few minutes, go back over when they look ready and when I get to their table they're talking to me as if I've made a mistake on their check.
Them: Excuse me, but isn't the tip supposed to go after the total?
(The tip suggestions aren't listed on the paper bill at all and I haven't run their card yet, so I'm confused.)
Me: I actually haven't run your card yet, the tip options show up on the screen after we swipe!
(We use a mobile POS system so we just swipe cards at the table. Life-saving in not losing tip receipts.)
Them: No no, shouldn't you tip on the total of the food, and not the total here at the bottom? With the tax?
Me: Oh, I mean that's up to you....
Them: Okay, good, Americans don't need any more money.
..........???????????????
They were asking me about tipping pre-tax vs. post-tax (maybe they saw that bullshit video of the guy trying to save you $400 a year by tipping your servers pre-tax) but what I didn't understand was the "Americans don't need any more money." Do you think I wait tables FOR FUN?? If they tipped me the extra $1.75, I would have put it towards the healthcare THAT I HAVE TO PAY FOR.
~~Entitled wankers.~~
​
EDIT: Just wanted to say thank you for all the responses! Some of you pointed out that they probably meant "Americans" as in the government, not me personally, and they didn't want to give more money to the government. Definitely took it personally because I'm going through some tough financial stuff right now and it was such glorious timing that it felt like that statement was fed to them by Sallie Mae herself just to mess with me. Thanks everyone! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/c9bldv/where_do_europeans_think_our_tips_go/ | 1,928 | 418 | 1,562,300,314 | 22 | tip | relevance |
t8157x | TalesFromYourServer | “YOU FORGOT TO TIP ME” | When I was a server at a pub type place, I worked my ASS off. The hustle was real and I needed those tips to survive.
One day I had a 4 top and they were a great table. Talkative, fun and friendly. Complimented my attentiveness and I thought they were cool. They weren’t.
They spent $250+ on wings, beer, dessert, more beer etc.
I dropped the bill, they paid and left for the parking lot.
When I looked at the tip it was fucking empty. No cash, no scribble of a tip, nothing.
Well fuck that! I don’t work for free!
I ran out to the parking lot and yelled “EXCUSE ME BUT WAS THERE SOMETHING I DID TO CONSTITUTE NOT GETTING A TIP?!?!?!” They pretended to be SHOCKED there was no tip and hastily shoved a $20 into my hand and left.
Fuck people. Got my cash and got out of the server role…and into the kitchen because I love punishing myself lol
EDIT: LOTS of salty fake $20 bible verse tippers in here. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/t8157x/you_forgot_to_tip_me/ | 1,655 | 239 | 1,646,580,740 | 22 | tip | relevance |
bu594r | TalesFromYourServer | Apparently my tip depends on if I have kids or not | Came in for lunch shift this morning and got sat a table of 7 older folks. They’re impatient the whole time, and then I do their checks which are split up by each couple. One couple I give them the check and this encounter happens with the man.
Him: Is the tip included on the bill?
Me: No sir
Him: alright then, let me ask you, are you married?
Me: Yes
Him: Do you have kids?
Me: No
Him: Should’ve said you had kids I give a better tip then.
Me: Well, I don’t want to lie to you about it, honestly is important right? (Joking around kinda trying to be snarky but also get some sort of tip still)
Later on he’s walking out and hands me a $5 on $45 check, and says “Here’s your tip, if you’d said you had kids you would’ve gotten more!” Well screw you old man. Don’t get me wrong I’m grateful for $5 but damn how rude can you be
Edit: Also wanted to add, one of the other women sitting at the table said to me, “Now we’re church folk so (then looking at the man) you need to tip her something, (insert man’s name)” | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/bu594r/apparently_my_tip_depends_on_if_i_have_kids_or_not/ | 3,183 | 234 | 1,559,076,109 | 22 | tip | relevance |
dbtfu4 | TalesFromYourServer | She checked the tip | I had a four top last night celebrating a birthday. They were all older and seemed to be a group of close friends. After taking care of them, the woman at the end of the table gave me a slice of their cake (cherry chip), told me I deserved it for doing such an excellent job, and the man on the opposite corner from her paid the bill. On their way out, I saw the same woman who gave me the cake check to see what he had written on the tip line and then leave some extra cash on the table. He had given me a 10% tip and she turned it into a 20% tip. God bless. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/dbtfu4/she_checked_the_tip/ | 4,170 | 164 | 1,569,936,711 | 22 | tip | relevance |
akwfha | TalesFromYourServer | Guests who didn't tip on their large bill immediately suffered Karma's wrath of fury | So this happened a few weeks ago.
Table of 8 comes in. Cool. Takes up my largest table, double cool. I love when the tables are filled up.
They all order wine, with a glass of ice water, several appetizers, our largest steaks with upgrades (aka upsells for the service staff), all end up with a cup of coffee to finish it off with dessert.
Everyone was satisfied, everyone was nice if not a bit short but thats totally fine, no complaints for the entire 2 and a half hours they were there.
I am approached by a gentleman who says he will cover the (entire) bill. Triple cool.
As I am making my rounds checking in with my other tables, i hear this same gentleman make the comment that he will not be leaving a tip because he doesn't believe in tipping. So i made it a point to, when i dropped off the check, say "ok guys, here is the bill, thank you all for being such pleasant guests, yall are a beautiful family, would we like to split the check this evening, or will one person be picking it up?"
A different guest made a gesture, and i was just thinking, thank GOD anybody but that other shit bag. So i handed him the ticket and he slid the card in my hand. I run the check, bring it to the table, and tell them all to have a fabulous night.
By now i should mention that shit bag has had a few drinks under his belt and he is being loud, boisterous and overall irritating to even look at.
So, anyways i run the card and bring the bill and dumbass is saying really loudly "You don't leave her a tip! She is given auto gratuity. Servers are uneducated and already paid 15 an hour as it is, they don't need your hard earned cash. Let her work for it." Then gestures to his dick.
​
I should add that everyone at this point appears irritated with this unwanted guest. The gentleman that paid for dinner gestures to me and i come over to the table, READY AS HELL to answer any questions.
He pulls me closer to whisper in my ear the following:
"I really cannot stand this guy. He has been degrading and sociopathic the entire dinner. However, i really enjoyed your service. Nothing would make me tip you more than to watch you call the cops and have him arrested for public intoxication. He is my brother in law and has been entitled, selfish, and ignorant his entire life. I will tip you the same anyways, but I would love to see this happen. Also he drove himself here, his wife left him awhile ago for his hideous behavior and i know for a fact he will be on the road driving himself around after he leaves here." As this is unfolding i see his wife, aka the perpetrator's SISTER, nodding along and looking angry about her brother.
So, certainly, I made management aware and we called the cops. They already had heard my spite against this guy the entire dinner service and were aware of his behavior.
So one of my managers called the cops, they were made aware of the situation, and stopped him on his way out the door, and i literally stood there and watched them cuff this guy and say "You seriously need to learn how to behave in public. This isn't our first rodeo with you"
I ended up getting a $400 tip on a $1200 check just for getting some sack of shit arrested. You bet your ass i'll get you arrested if you disrespect me. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/akwfha/guests_who_didnt_tip_on_their_large_bill/ | 3,095 | 198 | 1,548,736,501 | 22 | tip | relevance |
1keuw0j | TalesFromYourServer | I ugly cried at work | We have a couple sets of guests who always keep us on our toes. The lowest they ever tip is 30%. They regularly tip 100%. Every once in a while, they tip for Jesus. Honestly it’s great from their perspective. They always get the best service because their tips are always great but never really based on night to night service or bill total. You can give the same service one night and get 30% and give the same service the next night and get 100%. The point is that they always get great service because you never know how they’ll tip.
Anyway, so average night at the bar, they come in after having dinner so it was just drinks. Same as always, regular jokes and banter, tell them goodnight as they leave. Then I picked up the slip.
In very intentionally legible print, they wrote $1000 in the tip line for a bill that was under $100.
I stared at it for a minute. Then everything went blurry. Honestly the most generous tip I’ve ever received at a time I really needed it. I’m still behind the bar with guests as I start ugly crying. Someone came to comfort me with a hug and I had to tell them that no, I’m happy. I was so touched. I haven’t seen them since but when I do I’m definitely going to let them know how much I appreciated that. Once in a career blessing from good regulars. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1keuw0j/i_ugly_cried_at_work/ | 1,384 | 39 | 1,746,393,974 | 22 | tip | hot |
1jb5ebq | TalesFromYourServer | Tipping $1 | These past few days, and mind you, this is never happened before…I’ve had two separate instances where a couple seems upset before I approach them, and no matter what I say or do..they look annoyed, one had a $149 tab the other group had a $10 tab and BOTH times I got tipped all of $1. It’s almost a smack in the face to me, youre almost better not tipping me at all IMO. Its just rude.. | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1jb5ebq/tipping_1/ | 164 | 29 | 1,741,963,058 | 22 | tip | hot |
1j6j8ys | TalesFromYourServer | “I wasn’t expecting good service” | I bartend at the red hot chain restaurant. Last night three ladies came and sat at my bar, they each had a couple margaritas and they all ordered some variation of the same appetizer. Kitchen messed up the sauces on one of their chicken tenders but I got it fixed in less than 5 minutes. They had no problems other than that.
They asked for their checks, each check was about $30 individually, two paid in cash one paid on card. One lady paying in cash paid with a $100 bill and I watched her lay $3 down on the bar while the other two were still paying. The other lady paying in cash gave me exact change, and the third lady paying card says to me “I wasn’t expecting to get such good customer service, I would’ve brought money to leave you a tip. You should get a raise though, matter of fact bring out your manager, I’ll tell him you deserve a raise”
I said “oh thank you that’s very sweet, I understand”
But I don’t understand. These ladies, clearly, don’t usually tip anywhere. She preemptively didn’t “bring” money for a tip because she was expecting there to be a problem. SO WHY EVEN COME HERE IF YOU THINK THERES GONNA BE A PROBLEM ?!
I don’t look at my tips throughout the night, because I know there a lot of people who come to this restaurant because it’s cheap and they don’t want to tip. I get stiffed at least once a shift, I like to think it’s the nature of this type of restaurant and not me being bad at serving. So I wouldn’t have known that she didn’t tip me on card had she not made this big huge statement that she wasn’t leaving a tip.
In total, I made $3 on $90 from them. A little more than 3%.
I tip out 4% to our food runners.
Tip your servers. Put your shopping cart back. Be a good person.
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1j6j8ys/i_wasnt_expecting_good_service/ | 2,270 | 70 | 1,741,446,957 | 22 | tip | hot |
1ime354 | TalesFromYourServer | Please help with my wording re: tables who split checks with both cash and credit | I work at an upscale restaurant with a pretty good-tipping clientele, but I often run into issues when parties split the bill with both cash and card. What happens is, for example, there’s a $300 bill and the table will put down $100 cash and two cards, and say they want the $100 cash taken off the top and then the balance split between the cards (obviously the numbers aren’t perfect but just for an example). Then the two credit card slips will come back with a 20% tip, but only on the $100 they paid, which ends up being only a total of $40 on a $300 bill.
I understand what’s happening - they see the $100 payment on their slip and don’t even think about the cash already put down first. And not to assume or get into tipping culture etc, but again this is generally a clientele that doesn’t have any qualms tipping 20% so I really think nine times out of ten it is a mistake on their part and if they realized they would genuinely want to make the tip a full 20%.
My question is - does anyone have any suggestions for wording when I pick up the payment to gently bring their attention to this? I don’t want to cause a whole scene but surely there’s a subtle way to get them to think ahead so when the credit card slips come they consider the full amount. Thanks! | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1ime354/please_help_with_my_wording_re_tables_who_split/ | 72 | 32 | 1,739,214,341 | 22 | tip | hot |
1ifrwnw | TalesFromYourServer | Think the restaurant is stealing tips | I work as a server at a restaurant in Southern California. However I think the manager/restaurant is stealing tips. I been working here for over 1.5 years and all my tips have been whole numbers. Whole numbers as in my tips for the day is always full dollars and never includes any coins, etc. doesn’t add up because customers will tip coins/ bills but all our tips never include any cents. For example, if the total tip for the day is 100$ split between 8 servers, it should be theoretically 12$ and 50 cents each. However, in a case like this, we would just get 12$ and that’s it. I’m close to one of the shift leads that divide the tips at the restaurant and he mentioned that the resturaunt doesn’t count the change in the register before and after the shift. Meaning the coins in the regrister never gets counted. Also, the restaurant has a “saving accounts” that is used for any reason. If a server breaks a beer glass, they use money from the “savings” to buy a new one. If a customer dines n dashes, they use the savings to comp the bill. Only thing is, I suspect they use server tips to fund this “savings account.” The manager says that there is extra $ in the regristers at the end of the shift that goes into the savings, but if a regrister has extra money in the regrister, wouldn’t that be tip money…… please help. I’m clueless on what to do and how to go around the situation | https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromYourServer/comments/1ifrwnw/think_the_restaurant_is_stealing_tips/ | 24 | 42 | 1,738,480,757 | 22 | tip | hot |
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