Waiting.......
This is for everyone who has ever waited tables or atleast seen "Waiting....." the Movie. (especially for my sister and brother and other family members who have been servers.
The next time you're out eating at a restaurant, look at your server. Do you think they are really happy to be doing that job? The answer is no, they are not, but it's what we do, and we do it for the money so please help them out. Its a tougher job than you think and you should pay them accordingly!There are SO many people out there flooding the restaurants w/o any knowledge of how to tip. Here is a short guide for the general public to follow. Feel free to print out and store in your wallet and/or purse.
1. CHILDREN "THE LITTLE DEVILS":If you have children, DO NOT let them, open and dump anything on the table (ie; salt, sugar, etc). IF YOU DO, you must leave an extra $5 for the server to clean up YOUR CHILD'S mess & to restock the now unusable wasted items. We are neither their babysitter nor their parent. The least you can do is pay us for the extra work. Also make sure you control your kids and don't let them scream or run around the restraunt. It's very distracting not to mention dangerous if they get ran over by a server with hot food in their hands.
2. "THE CAMPERS":If you feel the necessity to stay for longer than 15 minutes after you pay, its an extra $3 every 30 minutes. We make our money from the tables. If you are in one and we can't seat it, we don't make money.
3. COMPLIMENTS:Telling a server they are the best server they've ever had is not a tip. If we are good, let us know by leaving us more money. We cant pay our bills on compliments. Its not that we don't appreciate the praise, its just that if you say that and then leave 10% it's an insult.
4. THE SALVATION PAMPHLETS:Prayer cards and any other religious pamphlet is NOT a tip. It is insulting that you assume we are w/o religion and must save us. Again, like ..3, we cant pay bills w/prayer cards. We'd go to church on Sundays if it wasn't mandatory to work on Sundays because EVERYONE who goes to church follows it by eating out.
5. TIPPING:It is not 1960. Cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. 18% is the MINIMUM amount of what you should be tipping your servers. Just look at the tax line and multiply by 2-3, this gives you your minimum tip amount. Remember, our companies pay us minimum wage (minumum wage for servers is $6.75 in CA, $3.13 in FL, $3.09 in IA, $2.13 in TX) And we are taxed on 10 percent of your meal automatically anyway. So if your meal is $100 and you leave $10 and we tip out $4-5 to the busser, bartender, and whoever else then we pay tax on 10 dollars and we make $5. It seems small but it adds up. How many times do you eat out per week and do this?
6. THE COMPLAINERS:If you get a discount because of your food was prepared wrong or something, do not take it out of our tip. We didn't cook it. The cooks get paid hourly regardless if the food sucks. However, we only make what you give us.
7. THE FREE STUFF:If you happen to get anything for free and you did not have a problem with your dining experience, most of the time it is because the server thinks you will realize that they are giving it to you for free. There should be extra tip thanking the server for the free item. They could get in a lot of trouble giving away free stuff. You should give them hazard pay for it.
8. THE LATE ONES:If you come into the restraunt 10 mins before closing or any time near closing hurry up and order your food and get out. Closed means closed, not social hour. It is so rude to sit there and take your sweet ass time. We can't leave until you leave because we have to do sidework and clean the table you are sitting at. We don't want to stand there waiting for you for an extra hour just because you don't want to go home. We recommend 24 hour establishments such as Dennys if you wish to sit into the wee hours of the night.
9. THE TABLE HOGGERS:If you only come in for coffee or a dessert, to do paper work, or to have a meeting, don't sit there taking up our booths for hours. We are not Starbucks or a hotel restraunt. If you want to sit for hours, go there or else you better leave a good tip for us and camping fee included.
10. THE GREET:When we come up to the table to greet you and we ask how you are doing please let us know. We honestly want to know how you are doing. If you are in a bad mood we want to know that from the beginning. A confused stare or complete silence does not suffice as a reply to "How are you doing?". Also most of us are REQUIRED to say certain things during the greeting, so please don't interrupt our greeting and say "I want coffee", "Can we get some bread?", or "What are the soups?"
11. THOSE DAMN CELL PHONES:Don't ever talk on your cell phone in a restraunt. This is probably the rudest thing to do. If you must be on your cell, at least keep your voice down in respect for other customers. If you are on your cell phone when we walk up to greet your table we will walk away and not return until you get off your phone. Just show some respect and give us your attention for a couple of minutes.
12. TAKE-AWAY OR TO-GOS:Always remember to tip the take-out order servers! They work just as hard as a server, and hardly ever get tips for it! WE DESERVE TO BE TIPPED TOO
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SERVERS READING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please repost this so the word can get out, since so many people are uneducated about tips and our lives depend on this - at least for now
......SIGNED, YOUR FELLOW RESTAURANT SERVERS
posted by JohnnyCaffeine at 11:20 AM
2 Comments:
I got this email about serving from a friend of mine. They hit the "server" issues nails right on the head. I think they should have this posted at the front of EVERY resturant
12:50 PM
"7. THE FREE STUFF:If you happen to get anything for free and you did not have a problem with your dining experience, most of the time it is because the server thinks you will realize that they are giving it to you for free. There should be extra tip thanking the server for the free item. They could get in a lot of trouble giving away free stuff. You should give them hazard pay for it."
"The MANAGER is the one that has a RIGHT to give away an item for free, if you take it upon yourself as a server to do this, you could get reprimanded or fired. You as a server have NO RIGHTS not to charge someone for items. Since the “MANAGER” is the one that gives an item for free, because of bad service or a wrong entrée, all I have to thank is the manager, NOT the server UNLESS: The ONLY way I would thank the server in the tip and verbally is if she or he was caring enough to ask the manager to give something for free because of a mistake, in other words, so the customer doesn’t have to call the manager, that the SERVER takes action to get the customer satisfied. Then I can see giving a server more money because they actually GAVE A CRAP about my experience. If you as a server don’t take any action to tell a manager about a huge problem such as a wrong entrée, then you would have an uncaring attitude, so if that means the customer has to get the manager, then you WON’T get a tip period for being so UNCARING. Also, if the cook cooked the wrong entrée, it’s up to the server to reread the order they wrote down and COMPARE what they wrote down to the plate of food BEFORE EVER BRINGING THE FOOD TO THE CUSTOMER. If there is a food runner that takes the food to the customer, the food runner should reread the ticket. If so happens that the server printed the ticket wrong, then if a food runner brings the food out wrong, it’s either the SERVER’S fault for printing the ticket wrong or the COOK’S fault for getting the order wrong.
If the server gives an item for free, then either the server is paying for it out of pocket them self or they are stealing from the restaurant. Servers have NO RIGHTS to give items for free. Usually when items are given for free by the servers, it’s usually forgotten items. When items are forgotten off the bill or an undercharge happens as well as the service was good, YES, I do give more tip. I NEVER tell the server about the forgotten item to have to go though crap of getting it fixed. I just leave more tip instead. I have enough with getting overcharges fixed.
"5. TIPPING:It is not 1960. Cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. 18% is the MINIMUM amount of what you should be tipping your servers. Just look at the tax line and multiply by 2-3, this gives you your minimum tip amount. Remember, our companies pay us minimum wage (minumum wage for servers is $6.75 in CA, $3.13 in FL, $3.09 in IA, $2.13 in TX) And we are taxed on 10 percent of your meal automatically anyway. So if your meal is $100 and you leave $10 and we tip out $4-5 to the busser, bartender, and whoever else then we pay tax on 10 dollars and we make $5. It seems small but it adds up. How many times do you eat out per week and do this?"
That’s IF the service meets almost PERFECTION.
If you print the ticket wrong and bring me the wrong food, well, that ISN’T 18% tip worthy. Otherwise if I pay you 18% now, then the next time I’ll have you, you WON’T CARE if you get my order right, because you will already know I had tipped BEFORE when my order was wrong, so you won’t even TRY to get it right. I’m NOT going to set myself up to have HORRIBLE service. You learn MORE if someone gives you a crummy tip when YOU KNOW the mistakes you made. It’s just COMMON SENSE if you bring someone’s food wrong, that they are going to be at least a little upset about it. I get PISSED off when my order is completely wrong and so do a LOT of people.
A coupon for x amount of dollars off is just a LOWERED price set by the [b]OWNER[/b]. So, I don't agree if let's say I have a $4.00 off coupon for 2 dinner entrees that I should tip on the amount before the discount because it didn't take ANY MORE work to bring me that food, it just happens to COST LESS. So, let's say my husband and I order the same entree which is worth $16.99 each on the menu, but with the coupon, each entree is $14.99. So the server will STILL GET a tip for bringing us the food, taking our order, and ringing it up. I tip AFTER a discount such as that. If the food is free like a free appetizer coupon, then I would tip as if I wouldn't have it for free because the server DOES do MORE WORK to take my order, bring me the entree, and ring up the entree. There is NO MORE WORK involved as far as what the customer requests. It's NOT the customer's fault that a coupon has to be shown to the manager before ringing it up. That has NOTHING to do with the customer's service. That is a policy that the MANAGER or OWNER set up. So I feel that with a coupon such as x amount of dollars off an entree as long as it's NOT FREE, tip on the DISCOUNTED amount. The server didn't do ANYMORE or ANY LESS work for that entree as far as the customer's requests goes. As far as the server having to get the manager to see the coupon, this has NOTHING to do with the customer's service, NOTHING! If managers were smart, they'd let the servers take off the discount WITHOUT having to go get the manager. This wastes time for EVERYONE in the restaurant. I tip on "MY" service, NOT for things I can't control. Those customers that have discounts may not be there to begin with WITHOUT the discounts. So why don't you think about that? The more customers, the MORE TIPS you can make.
ONLY if the item ends up being free would the server be doing MORE WORK. That is the TRUTH. If an item is for FREE completely, then I feel the tip should be based on the amount BEFORE the discount, because the server DID SERVE me the free item, but to just have a couple of dollars off an entrée doesn’t mean they are bringing me the item for free, because they are going to get SOMETHING from it.
"10. THE GREET:When we come up to the table to greet you and we ask how you are doing please let us know. We honestly want to know how you are doing. If you are in a bad mood we want to know that from the beginning. A confused stare or complete silence does not suffice as a reply to "How are you doing?". Also most of us are REQUIRED to say certain things during the greeting, so please don't interrupt our greeting and say "I want coffee", "Can we get some bread?", or "What are the soups?""
MOST People don’t want to be chatting with you, they want to chat with the people they are WITH. If they wanted to dine with the server, they’d dine with the server. Like really, people on a date want to talk about how they are doing. They want to order and be on their date. People want a SILENT service sometimes. They want you there when they want something, THAT’S IT, NOT to make friends with you. They aren’t your friend so don’t expect them to respond by saying “Fine” or whatever. Let them ORDER like service is supposed to be. WHY WASTE their time? WHY DO THAT FOR EVERYONE YOU ARE SERVING? That’s affecting others by asking them how they are doing. WHO CARES HOW MY SERVER IS DOING? I COULD CARE LESS!
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/2201/
“Doug from New Mexico is not in the restaurant industry, but is a customer. He said when he brings a date to a nice restaurant, sometimes the server is very chatty. He really wants the dinner to be nice and romantic, but the server is very intrusive. He wants to point out the fact that he is not there to visit the server, but to spend money on good service and good food.”
See, people are REALLY BOTHERED by even small chit-chat. Customers are at the restaurant to dine with the PEOPLE THEY ARE WITH, NOT WITH THE WAIT STAFF, GET THAT? I don’t care to answer the stupid question about how we are doing. All I want to do is ORDER to get our food and drinks as FAST AS POSSIBLE. The longer the server delays things, the LONGER the customers wait for things. That’s the TRUTH! If you start small talk, you could end up getting a lot more talk than you really wanted like you said in # 18 about being too chatty.
http://www.sandiegomag.com/blair/08-01-03.shtml
"Most of you would prefer your waiters to be servers, not buddies. “I really don’t care what my waiter’s name is,” sniffs Chula Vista’s Olin Bjorsky. “I am not interested in what dishes the waiters and waitresses like,” says La Jolla’s Patricia Winter."
http://tryingtogrok.mu.nu/archives/050557.html
“I no longer eat anywhere that has a waiting list. I've never eaten anywhere that was worth waiting for. And I hate waiters who want to be a part of my dining "experience." If I wanted to spend time with the waiter, I would dine with him.” Posted by: Mike at October 17, 2004
“I'm also with you on chatty waiters, no thanks, I'm not there to be charmed. I waited tables for over a year, so while I know it's hard, mostly honest work, I also know when the service sucks.” Posted by: Beth at October 18, 2004
See, people DON’T WANT A CHATTY SERVER!
HOW will the manager KNOW anyway if you say these things? They can't hear EVERY FREAKIN TIME you greet a table.
"12. TAKE-AWAY OR TO-GOS:Always remember to tip the take-out order servers! They work just as hard as a server, and hardly ever get tips for it! WE DESERVE TO BE TIPPED TOO."
If it’s car-side-to-go where someone actually brings my food to my car, I’ll tip. I’ve never got car-side-to-go before, but I have tipped at Sonic drive-in, because they *BRING* the customers their food to their vehicles which is a SERVICE to tip for. If I go in to pick up an order I placed over the phone or order at the take-out counter, it’s just like KFC or Wendy’s or McDonald’s.
The take-out servers do the following:
1. Bag my stuff.
2. Put me napkins and utensils.
3. Put any condiments in a bag.
4. Ring the order up initially.
5. Put money in register when customer gets there.
What's to tip for here? FAST FOOD PEOPLE(excluding Sonic) DO THE SAME EXACT THINGS? Do you truly know of a difference? A phone called order is just like if I was standing telling the cashier what I wanted. It's just a DIFFERENT way of taking an order down. Other people dining in have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the service the person receives from getting take-out. Actually, KFC workers do more. The utensils are separate from napkins. Applebee's has it all-in-one little bag with a napkin, fork, knife, and salt & pepper packets also. KFC workers get the chicken and biscuits to put into the boxes. They even put the sides in the containers. They don't get tips, so WHY tip for LESS WORK at Applebee's? That's just plain STUPID!
I feel WHY tip for service that we don't tip for AT ALL when we order at fast food places? THAT is NOT FAIR to tip for a take-out entree at Chili's, but NOT for a combo at McDonald's. When I order hotcakes and sausage atMcDonald's, the cashiers get me butters and syrups, knives and forks, and jelly for my sausage. They bag it too and ring me up. Do they get a tip for that? I THINK NOT! BE FAIR and tip for the *SERVICE* you receive, NOT just because it's a server that's getting under minimum wage. That has NOTHING to do with service and it's NONE of my business what someone makes.
"2. "THE CAMPERS":If you feel the necessity to stay for longer than 15 minutes after you pay, its an extra $3 every 30 minutes. We make our money from the tables. If you are in one and we can't seat it, we don't make money."
That’s PRETTY SELFISH OF YOU! For one thing, if I’ve asked for a mixed drink and “the check”, that means it may take at least 20 minutes to get the check and get it rung up as well as wait for the drink to get made and be brought to me. Also I have to have time to drink it, I’m NOT going to “CHUG” it for you. If my husband and I order a dessert and the check(as we HAVE in the past asked for BOTH at one time), it may take time to eat and pay. All you care about is *YOUR INCOME* and *YOURSELF*! I am NOT a person that will stay more than 25 minutes after. Usually we asks for the check after we are finished, but sometimes we asks for the check BEFORE we are finished, so I feel if it’s like that, we should get time to finish you know. Be a little considerate of that. Maybe you are only talking about people that want to *SIT-N-CHILL*, which I understand why that may be irritating. I feel those people can stay as LONG as they want as long as they are drinking or eating something. If they aren’t doing anything but sitting there, well, I think the manager could ask them to leave. You can’t make people leave, ONLY the manager can. I also don't feel if I'd overstay if I'm NOT asking for more refills and as long as someone is drinking or eating at the table, that I owe ANYMORE TIP than what I'd normally give. If you aren't serving us anymore and we've asked for the check, the service from you is OVER, so you don't have to come to the table anymore. Making a 15 minute rule is RIDICULOUS and I doubt you actually follow that rule yourself. Usually we want to leave as soon as we get the check unless we have choosen to order something else.
The rest of these I agree with.
8:39 PM
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