Delivery and Waitstaff expressing they aren't happy with tip.

This did happen, and I hesitated posting because I knew I would be accused of being a troll.

Yeah I think this is hooey. Story's not believable and brand new MOL account doesn't help w credibility.
See ya

I'm not a new poster but I post often under another name and did not want to be the victim of an online witch hunt, also the reason I did not name the establishments. If you don;t believe me, stop commenting on the thread. I was really looking to vent and see if this has happened to anyone else. That is all.

Yeah, I don't think anyone is questioning that you're an old poster who often uses other names. That's exactly the point.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't on MOL.

@Scully once left an odd tip, it was two dollar bills or dollar coins or something like that. But it was over 20%, I do remember that. The waitress thought it was fake money and made some comment about how she must think she is funny.

The train conductor and the meter reader get a reasonable salary.... not great, but reasonable.

The restaurant server gets $2.00 and change per hour. Your tip makes a difference.
The cashier at Shop Rite gets $10.00 and change per hour but in many grocery stores, is limited to 29 hours per week.

@Pecan28 it is always best to use your original username, if people saw you are a regular, then most likely you would not have gotten attacked, instead most would sympathize with you or offer honest suggestions... Think facebook -- whatever you post on there is under your very name and that adds a level of trust to comments and conversations. Everyone here, including myself, is very hesitant to trust new posters, even if they claim to be one of the regulars.. having said that, delivery guy calling you about the tip is weird and surprising no matter how low the tip is...

ps -
I usually tip 18-20% on eat in, $5 for delivery, and $1 for pick-up.

jerseyjack said:

The restaurant server gets $2.00 and change per hour. Your tip makes a difference.

Friend and I went to a diner. Waiter seats us, gets our drinks, serves our food. He then disappears. No refills. No asking if we want anything else. No bill. At first we don't care, we are having a good time catching up. We would have like refills, but we can live with that. After about an hour AFTER we have finished eating (we can talk forever) we finally flag down a waitress and ask her where our waiter went. She doesn't know who we are talking about. We describe him. Her response: "Oh, his shift is over. He went home over an hour ago."

I've had waitstaff leave, but they come to the table and say their shift is ending, do we need anything else, and also offer to turn our table over to someone else if we plan or ordering more. This guy just ghosted.

Should we have tipped or not?

.

Pecan28 said:

I think her point, based on other comments she made was that looking at the total at the bottom she felt like she didn't get enough of a tip. When she realized that tip was very generous, she apologized.

This happened to us once as well. We were a large party and the check came with gratuity included. The waitress had been good enough, so we tacked on another $10 on the tip line. Oddly, after we paid, was saw her walk over to our table in a huff, then change her mind and walk away. After a protracted chat with another server she stormed back, handed the check back to my husband and demanded to know why she only got a $10 tip. He pointed out that this was on top of the automatic 20% gratuity that was clearly on the bill. Once she realized her mistake she was mortified and apologized.

This stuff does happen.

mumstheword said:

mbaldwin said:

mumstheword said:

If he was so ungrateful for whatever the tip was, I would have asked for it back and sent him on his way.

Yes, M'Lady... :O

So just make sure you don't sass me about what kind of tip I leave you! )

Oh, I never sass when people hand me cash! )

I shop at Shop Rite in Essex Green also and they are not tip jars at the registers. They are collecting money for autism. The containers were clearly marked.

Tip to go on a sit down place. Packing up food is a huge pain and it's usually someone pulled off the floor who has to deal with it.

I've waited more than my share of tables and have never, ever confronted someone over a tip- even people who had stiffed me before and I knew were going to stiff me again.

Every one of the servers mentioned here that complained would have been fired on the spot at any place I worked at.

At a club in the city once, we tipped on the food, but not the cover charge. The waiter got his knickers in a twist and complained about the tip. Apparently enough people don't pay attention and tip on the whole check, including tax and cover charge, so he felt like that was the tip he was entitled to.

I had a chat with a manager the next day, and he at least had the decency to act appalled. We never went back, though.

I am always conflicted on takeout. I do not leave a tip because I do not know who I am tipping. But I always think maybe I should. For others I have made 20% of the cost before tax and any coupons my standard, in part because it is easy.

But I hate the tipping culture. I understand that the economics of it necessitate it but I would rather see a situation where everything is baked into the price of an item. I think that if there are minimum wage laws there should not be the special category for tipped workers.

Pecan28 said:

Damned if you do, damned if you don't on MOL.

Er, but you've already said you created a whole new screen name just because you expected to be called a troll. So, why bother complaining about something you knew would happen?

Actually, I have been attacked a couple of times on here when I was venting. It is no fun.

The world of waiting tables is often a losing proposition. Many years ago when I was doing it, I found that too much of my energy got caught up in whether or not I was going to make enough money...which depended entirely on the amount of business the restaurant had, and how well people tipped. Some people were generous, but that didn't necessarily make up for a night if more than one table was tight with their tips.

I did a couple of times ask people about the lack of tip. But it was my manager who encouraged me to go up and ask. It was hard. However, I also remember that sometimes I was so caught up in the anxiety of not making enough, and/or the energy of running around, that the shock could really punch me in the gut.

Recently, my family and I ate at the little cafe at the Cloisters. The service was mediocre. I think business was slow. Anyway, I had slipped a 20% (maybe a little more) cash tip inside the plastic holder on the left side of the book. They missed seeing the tip, and came running up to us, dismayed that we had not left any tip.

I think the tipping system is archaic, and really a throwback to an era of unfair wages. There are a few jobs where a person can make a decent, even a good living. But I think mostly people don't.

ram said:

I am always conflicted on takeout. I do not leave a tip because I do not know who I am tipping. But I always think maybe I should. For others I have made 20% of the cost before tax and any coupons my standard, in part because it is easy.

But I hate the tipping culture. I understand that the economics of it necessitate it but I would rather see a situation where everything is baked into the price of an item. I think that if there are minimum wage laws there should not be the special category for tipped workers.

I agree on all counts! (Other than sometimes tipping for takeout ... but definitely conflicted about it.)

I couldn't agree more about wishing we could simply pay people what they deserve and need so we could quit having to discuss and think about tips. Too damn complicated and fraught.