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So, I've had my rant and I feel better. Hope this helps.
Yes, it further convinces me that the whole tipping things is crazy, and compensation should be left to the manager.
As a customer, I don't have the 'inside scoop' on any of this. I'm just here for some food. I don't
want to be expected to know how the transfer of a tab from bar to table works (and I honestly thought I was doing them a favor, see how screwed up this is?), if it is a pain for them, just say
"Sorry sir, we really need to close this and start a new one, OK?". Guess what, I'd say,
"Oh, OK, got a pen?". It's really no big deal to me, so just tell me. And I don't know if a server is over or under worked, over or under paid. It's not my job - I'm the
customer. That is the managers job. And he/she is the best one to do it, because he/she has the whole picture.
Imagine if you went to buy a new laptop, you pay the stated price and then the counter guy won't let you take it out of his hands. He looks at you and says
' you know, the engineers were against a real hard deadline to get this out, they worked nights and weekends for months on end, and then the production team had to pull extra shifts, lots of people didn't get to see their kids before they were off to bed many nights, and we had to ship some by air to get them to you - how about a little appreciation for all that hard work? And if I decide that the amount you choose to give is not enough, don't be surprised if your hard drive is wiped the next time you bring it in for service, sir'.
Ludicrous, isn't it? It's up to the company to figure what they need to do to compensate their employees, and what they need to charge me in order to do that and stay competitive and stay in business. But I'm supposed to make those decisions when I'm hungry? If I wanted to spend my time balancing a budget for a production facility, I'd go back to work!
BTW, we went out to dinner with another couple last w/e, a fairly nice, but informal kinda place. The server was really bad (kinda comically bad), and I never had any problems there before. I even heard the nearby table having problems with their order with her, so it wasn't just us. The other couple with us got the brunt of the problems, and I could tell the other guy was getting pretty worked up over it. But he is stressed out over work, and I'm pretty mellow being retired. I let it slide, and gave a 15% tip regardless. He kinda freaked out about that, but he can do what he wants (I don't know what he decided, zero would have been OK with me - it should have been clear to the server that they were not happy with the 'service'). If it was just me and DW, I think I would have spoke to the manager, but I didn't want to tie the other couple up with that.
edit/add: hey rodi, I like that "He convinced me, I want my dollar back!"
But before marko gets upset, yes (as I stated above), I tip because it's expected. I just would prefer it be eliminated.
-ERD50