Bad waitress tricks

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:56:01 -0600, Melba's Jammin'
<[email hidden]> wrote:
[snip]

Quoted message said:

We usually pay with plastic and put the tip on the
card. Problem solved.

Heck yeah! What's this "cash" thing everyone's so freely throwing
about?

The Ranger
---
"The Irish believe wiff a most-'oly furor that eatin' food shoul' be a
test of courage. If we can't boil it t' deff, fry it in a vat o'
grease, or stuff it in an animal intestine, we're posit've it
shouldn't be eaten."
-- John Woolery, London Underground, 1992

Doug Kanter said:

"notbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hitting the Genesee a little early, aren't we.

Please...it's too early in the day (or even the year) to
mention that god-awful beer.

But it's cheap which will always fill Shel-dumb's first-and-only
requirement.

The Ranger
---
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely, in an attractive and well-preserved body. Rather one
should skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other,
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out while screaming 'WOO HOO!
What a ride!'"

D.Currie said:

We went out to dinner tonight to a local place. When it came time to pay, I
needed the waitress to make change so I could tip her. She came back with a
five and a ten, and muttered something about "sorry, no change." Grrr. Five
bucks was less than 15 percent, but even though she wasn't a spectacular
waitress, I didn't want to leave that little. We go to this place often, and
we've had this waitress before. But the full $10 was more than 20 percent
and that bugged me. Half of me was thinking she was just a little too dumb
to understand that I needed the singles for the tip, but the other half of
me was thinking that she was pushing me to make the choice between the $5
and the $10 and figuring she'd get the better tip.

At the one restaurant where we are regulars, I tip very well, but
expect great service. If my son and I go there for lunch, and the bill
is $10, I tip $2 for marginal service, $3 for good service, or most
likely, $4 for excellent service. The servers know this, and bring me
salsa before I run out, and always keep my water glass from running
dry. If my wife is with us, the check will likely be ~$18, for which I
leave $4, $5, or more likely $6. Is $2, $3, even $5 or $10 too much to
pay for VIP treatment?

Let's take the $18 check. 15% rounded up to the nearest dollar would
be a $3, making the meal total $21. A $6 (which is ~33%) tip would
bring the meal total to $24. $24 is only ~14% more than $21, but that
extra 14% has a huge effect on the overall pleasure of the dining
experience.

When we go in there and are assigned a server who doesn't know us,
(s)he brings water and chips&salsa, just like for every customer.
After the server goes back to the back, (s)he acts differently,
obviously having been told by other staff that I am a huge tipper, but
only for spectacular service. I also often tip with $2 bills, which
just serves to highlight the size of the gratuity.

In addition to the benefits I derive, there's the plus of knowing
you've done a good thing, even if your motives were not primarily
altruistic.

Quoted message said:

Considering I specifically asked her to make change, I was more annoyed than
when a server has come back with just big bills. The smart ones will usually
break at least one of the bills down so you've got a ten, a five, and
singles instead of a twenty, but sometimes they just come back with the
change in whatever form is easiest. But I don't think I've ever asked
someone to make change and had them say there was none.

I did some waitressing when I was a teenager, and one of the things I
learned early was that you made sure the customer had good change to leave a
tip.

In this case, DH went to the cash register and got change. Didn't seem to be
a shortage there. Next time we go there, I'll make sure I've got the right
change for tipping.

--
Donna

--Bryan

"Food Snob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

D.Currie said:

We went out to dinner tonight to a local place. When it came time to pay,
I
needed the waitress to make change so I could tip her. She came back with
a
five and a ten, and muttered something about "sorry, no change." Grrr.
Five
bucks was less than 15 percent, but even though she wasn't a spectacular
waitress, I didn't want to leave that little. We go to this place often,
and
we've had this waitress before. But the full $10 was more than 20 percent
and that bugged me. Half of me was thinking she was just a little too
dumb
to understand that I needed the singles for the tip, but the other half
of
me was thinking that she was pushing me to make the choice between the $5
and the $10 and figuring she'd get the better tip.

At the one restaurant where we are regulars, I tip very well, but
expect great service. If my son and I go there for lunch, and the bill
is $10, I tip $2 for marginal service, $3 for good service, or most
likely, $4 for excellent service. The servers know this, and bring me
salsa before I run out, and always keep my water glass from running
dry. If my wife is with us, the check will likely be ~$18, for which I
leave $4, $5, or more likely $6. Is $2, $3, even $5 or $10 too much to
pay for VIP treatment?

Let's take the $18 check. 15% rounded up to the nearest dollar would
be a $3, making the meal total $21. A $6 (which is ~33%) tip would
bring the meal total to $24. $24 is only ~14% more than $21, but that
extra 14% has a huge effect on the overall pleasure of the dining
experience.

When we go in there and are assigned a server who doesn't know us,
(s)he brings water and chips&salsa, just like for every customer.
After the server goes back to the back, (s)he acts differently,
obviously having been told by other staff that I am a huge tipper, but
only for spectacular service. I also often tip with $2 bills, which
just serves to highlight the size of the gratuity.

In addition to the benefits I derive, there's the plus of knowing
you've done a good thing, even if your motives were not primarily
altruistic.

All well and good, but what about people who do not go to a restaurant
regularly? It's nice to be known and treated well because of your tipping,
but relatively few people I think patronize any restaurant that frequently.

And then what about the other patrons? Suppose I came to your restaurant as
an unknown. Is my service going to be slighted because the waitress is busy
attending to her known big tippers?

--
Peter Aitken

Quoted message said:

I have never met a server who deliberately played games
with their tips

Once I paid something like a $30 bill with $40. The waitress never
came back. Half an hour later I had to hunt her down. She gave me the
*evillest* look, as if only the world's cheapest people actually stoop
so low.

notbob said:

Sheldon said:

It's a restaurant, not a bank...

If you want to reward someone for deceiving you, knock yourself out.

Wait persons do not access cash registers, blame the cashier.

Yoose who don't carry cash in denominations to tip are the deceptive
ones... going out to eat without cash to tip is a self-fulfilling
prophecy, means yer looking to squeak out of giving a proper tip.
Adults who place themselves in positions where tips are expected have
proper cash, yoose are CHILDREN, spoiled rotten SELFISH *LOW IQ*
CHILDREN.

Quoted message said:

Momma notbob never raised such a foolish child.

Yep, your momma definitely raised a *child*, not-a-man! And you are a
retarded child.

And the OP is a friggin' liar.. no way based on her projected tipping
percentages and the denominations of US currency would the tab be such
that the change would be $15... and *exactly* $15, BS! She is a liar!
And yoose are all uncouth children, obviously only dining any of yoose
do is fast food drive thrus... don't need to tip and don't need to
bathe. Idiots.

Sheldon

In article <[email hidden]>,

D.Currie said:

[snip]

I did some waitressing when I was a teenager, and one of the things I
learned early was that you made sure the customer had good change to leave a
tip.

In this case, DH went to the cash register and got change. Didn't seem to be
a shortage there. Next time we go there, I'll make sure I've got the right
change for tipping.

An attendant at a gas station in my neighborhood once tried a similar
stunt on me. On my way home from work one evening, I stopped to buy a
tank of gas. The cost came to something like $22. I handed the gas
station attendant a $20 and $5 bills. He said he couldn't make change,
and he asked me if I would I mind if he kept the change?

I responded by asking him if he would mind if I considered the $2 worth
of gas on the house. The guy quickly found the change!

Living in NJ, self-service gas stations are illegal, so I have to go to
full service. I don't mind that at all, but one does have to be careful
to avoid being ripped off when filling up.

This thread got me thinking - I sure we have all seen signs at quickie
marts - "No $50 or $100 bills accepted." But it says right on the money
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." So, how can
they refuse them? What if you present a $50 bill and they refuse it - what
then?

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

pgluth1 said:

Quoted message said:

[censored]. In no way whatsoever is it the responsibility of the
waitperson to make change (you think it's a friggin' bank), it's
always ultimately the patron's responsibility to have their own change
when they go out to eat. You got some effin nerve, you self-centered
hooray-for-me [censored]. You mean you didn't have a couple of singles to
add to that fin... you obnoxious piece of dirt. It's a restaurant,
NOT a bank, you imbecile.

Sheldon

OMG, I find myself agreeing with Sheldon.

If you find yourself agreeing with dogturd, you know you're thinking is
off.

Quoted message said:

Allow me to throw a few ideas out from 20 years of restaurant experience:

1. I have never met a server who deliberately played games with their
tips - "gee - I bet they'll give me the big bill!" However, I have met
many new, poorly trained, and yes, "dim" servers, who didn't understand
the point. What if everyone got their paycheck deducted for making
mistakes?

2. Training is now non-existent - it is now almost entirely "on the job".
This isn't a problem with an experienced server, but restaurants often
hire many who have never had experience with not only serving, but with
customer service. (Often, cooks with only moderate english skills will be
asked to wait tables.) Years ago, servers received menu instruction, bar
instruction, and customer and cash / handing procedures. For two reasons,
this has been condensed to as little as 2 days of training and 2
"follows." Reason 1: restaurants don't wish to pay more than they have
to, and Reason 2: if you tell someone today they would have to work for
minimum wage for up to three weeks, they would laugh and leave.

3. Many places have standing policies against letting servers get change
for anything less than a $20 - period - even if you get three $100s in a
row. You are expected to get it from another server rather than "bother"
the bartender, manager, or cashier. I always thought this was asinine but
the penalties could be as stiff as a write-up or as bothersome as having
to do extra / or the worst closing duty. I even worked one place where
the servers lost a table rotation if they asked for change more than
once.

4. Sheldon is right. Restaurants are not a bank. If you only have big
bills, ask the bar or cashier first. (Though as a former bartender, I
have been given a $400 bank and STILL been cleaned out in a matter of
hours.)

Restaurants are not banks. What does that have to do with anything?
Restaurants are businesses! When you are in business, you do everything
possible to make it easy for the customer. If you're too stupid to
carrry change, like a grocery store or a cleaners does, you deserve to
be out of business. The same goes for a waiter/waitress. You want to
make it east for your customers to tip you. This enhances your chances
of getting good tips. If the restaurant you work for won't allow you to
ask for change, then you need to provide the necessary change yourself,
or find work with a restaurant than supports you, instead of making
your job more difficult.
I don't need to carry around 17 one dollar bills and 14 quarters in
order to tip people. If they want my tip, they better be prepared to
make whatever change I want.
Remember, dogturd is NEVER right!

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This thread got me thinking - I sure we have all seen signs at quickie
marts - "No $50 or $100 bills accepted." But it says right on the money
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." So, how can
they refuse them? What if you present a $50 bill and they refuse it - what
then?

Business owners can make whatever rules they desire, and there's not a thing
you can do about it. This is how businesses in the South kept black citizens
out.

Peter Aitken said:

This thread got me thinking - I sure we have all seen signs at quickie
marts - "No $50 or $100 bills accepted." But it says right on the money
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." So, how can
they refuse them? What if you present a $50 bill and they refuse it - what
then?

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

--
Richard W Kaszeta
[email hidden]
http://www.kaszeta.org/rich

"Richard Kaszeta" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Aitken said:

This thread got me thinking - I sure we have all seen signs at quickie
marts - "No $50 or $100 bills accepted." But it says right on the money
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." So, how can
they refuse them? What if you present a $50 bill and they refuse it -
what
then?

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

Thanks - that answers my question.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Stan Horwitz said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

D.Currie said:

[snip]

I did some waitressing when I was a teenager, and one of the things I
learned early was that you made sure the customer had good change to

leave a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

tip.

In this case, DH went to the cash register and got change. Didn't seem

to be

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

a shortage there. Next time we go there, I'll make sure I've got the

right

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

change for tipping.

An attendant at a gas station in my neighborhood once tried a similar
stunt on me. On my way home from work one evening, I stopped to buy a
tank of gas. The cost came to something like $22. I handed the gas
station attendant a $20 and $5 bills. He said he couldn't make change,
and he asked me if I would I mind if he kept the change?

I've had cabdrivers do similar here in Chicago by claiming "I don't have
change for a twenty...". I mean come on, it's not like a twenty is a real
rare commodity anymore. In these particular cases I'll make the cabdriver
go in somewhere and GET change AFTER the meter is turned off; I'll make a
point of not tipping and if he's especially surly I'll report him...

The vast majority of cabbies that pull this stunt are Middle Easterners, I
mean hey, this AIN'T Damascus...

--
Best
Greg

Sheldon said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If I was told there was no change available, and then found out there
*was* change available, I wouldn't leave anything.

* * Ding! Ding! Ding! * *

We haaave a winner!

You're the winner, the LOW IQ of the WEEK!

It's a restaurant, not a bank... that's a waitperson, not a teller...
you uncouth [censored].

It's not a restaurant's responsibility to give change in any specific
denomination.

True enough. But it is a business where the wait staff expect to get
tips..... for service.
Not a problem if the waitress doesn't have change for the customer so that
she can get a nice tip. She can settle for the lower tip.

Gregory Morrow said:

I've had cabdrivers do similar here in Chicago by claiming "I don't have
change for a twenty...".

They do that [censored] in Mexico too. If you ever go to Mexico bring a ton
of $1 with you.

Quoted message said:

I mean come on, it's not like a twenty is a real
rare commodity anymore. In these particular cases I'll make the cabdriver
go in somewhere and GET change AFTER the meter is turned off; I'll make a
point of not tipping and if he's especially surly I'll report him...

The vast majority of cabbies that pull this stunt are Middle Easterners, I
mean hey, this AIN'T Damascus...

Oh, you've done a scientific study? Or are you just another rfc racist
[censored]?
-L.

In article <[email hidden]>,

pgluth1 said:

1. I have never met a server who deliberately played games with their
tips - "gee - I bet they'll give me the big bill!" However, I have met
many new, poorly trained, and yes, "dim" servers, who didn't understand
the point. What if everyone got their paycheck deducted for making
mistakes?

In real life, if you continue making those "mistakes," they'll do
more than deduct from your paycheck, they will fire you. In retail, if
you foul up, often it _does_ come out of your paycheck. Even people
having garage sales make sure to have lots of change around. A
restaurant, even more so, should have it. It's not like all restaurant
food is $5, $10, $25, etc., not to mention adding tax. Change is part
of the business for restaurants, if they accept cash.

As for the other idiotic practices the restaurants try to get away
with, well, it is more evidence that they need to do away with tips, pay
people a real wage and keep on top of their business more.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

In article <[email hidden]>,

salgud said:

Restaurants are not banks. What does that have to do with anything?
Restaurants are businesses! When you are in business, you do everything
possible to make it easy for the customer. If you're too stupid to
carrry change, like a grocery store or a cleaners does, you deserve to
be out of business. The same goes for a waiter/waitress. You want to
make it east for your customers to tip you. This enhances your chances
of getting good tips. If the restaurant you work for won't allow you to
ask for change, then you need to provide the necessary change yourself,
or find work with a restaurant than supports you, instead of making
your job more difficult.

Exactly. When I work at our yarn shop in town, even though we are
often understaffed, and even though most of our customers pay by credit
card, if we are low on ones or fives, someone either makes change from
her purse if she has it or goes to the bank.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Dave Smith said:

Andy said:

In that instance after paying and getting back the change, I would
have handed her the $5 directly and say "Thank you but talk to the
chef, the food tasted metallic."

Psychologically let it be a matter she can wrongfully take out on the
chef after you leave. No hard feelings between you and the waitress.

I don't get it. You want her to hand it directly to the waitress and
then deflect the blame for the low tip on the cook. If you are going
to be direct with the waitress, be direct..... "I would have left
more but I asked you to bring me change and you didn't. I am not
getting sucked in to leaving a larger tip because you didn't offer the
service I had specifically requested."

Dave,

You have a point there but your hair conceals it.😉

You're right. Just be direct as you mention and then hope she doesn't
spit in your meal the next time you visit.

Low paid waitresses need tips to pay the rent. The one point someone
pointed out in this thread is that she lied. I'd speak to the manager
come to think of it.

Blaming the chef was a quick to judgement post. I stand corrected.

When I wore my chef's hat I hated waitstaff complaints when I knew I was
doing my best and it was mostly their fault. Slow night, bad day with the
kids and husband, whatever. But I never lowered my quality of cheffing,
in any case. The whole point in the biz is to keep existing and new
customers happy after their meal.

If some greedy waitress came in and told me the food tasted metallic I'd
ask what they ordered. A chef's worst nightmare. Stop serving the dish.
Inspect the dish (time-delay). Yep. Bad form to blame the chef for the
waitresses issues and lies.

'Nuf said.

All the best,

Andy

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

This thread got me thinking - I sure we have all seen signs at quickie
marts - "No $50 or $100 bills accepted." But it says right on the money
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." So, how can
they refuse them? What if you present a $50 bill and they refuse it - what
then?

Get out your debit card. On a related note, people have been
told they cannot pay their parking fine/court ordered whatever with
sacks of pennies.

I just heard about some guy who counterfeited money,
Anderson Cooper brought it up ... I think he said Billion dollar
bills ... maybe he said million, I have a cold and stuffed up ears
to go with it. At any rate, it was a laugh, go into 7 11 and ask
for change back. Funny.

nancy

salgud said:

Remember, dogturd is NEVER right!

Actually he is right on occasion (probably by accident.) This just
means he's not even useful as a contrary indicator. HTH ;-)

Best regards,
Bob