Mary Hunt, who authors the Everyday Cheapskate advice column, implies that you should only tip restaurant employees for excellent service. The definition of excellent service being left to the reader. You can read her column here. Shame on you Mary!
My response:
Dear Mary,
Your recommendations for tipping a restaurant server are wrong. A minimum of 15% gratuity is expected, with the caveat of less for bad or poor service. In many areas the expected gratuity is 20%, but not a point worth arguing. Post tax or pre-tax, calculate it however you feel comfortable, if the extra dollar or two is going to break your bank, calculate it pre-tax.
Adequate service is being served by a friendly and efficient server throughout your meal, with any mishaps (over/under cooked steak/ wrong side item) fixed quickly and professionally with an apology and deserves a minimum15% gratuity. If the service is less than described above you may reduce the gratuity.
If the server listens to your life story, politely engages with your crazy, condescending, mean, or just plain weird dining partner(s), gets to know every child at your table by name and makes them feel special, refills your drinks every 2 minutes because you are extremely thirsty or brings you two beverages at a time for the same reason, effectively communicates your complicated special order to the kitchen (which involves praying that the cooks are paying attention as well as the expediter reading the ticket before sending the order out), or otherwise makes you feel special, they deserve a minimum of 20% (substantially more if they do all of the above at the same time). If they do all of the above at 7pm on a Saturday night adopt, marry, or hire that server because you just found a perfect person.
Please keep in mind that your server is paying 2-3% of your check total to support staff. If you leave no tip, the server still has to pay for waiting on you. That is simply unkind and unjustified in all but the most egregious situations.
Myself, I tip post-tax 20% plus $2. The reason I throw in the extra $2 dollars is because for two dollars more I can brighten someones day, pay them a compliment, and make them smile. I'm not saying that everyone should do that, but to me it's worth two dollars to make a fellow human being smile. For truly exceptional, kind, or thoughtful service I tip more.
My response:
Dear Mary,
Your recommendations for tipping a restaurant server are wrong. A minimum of 15% gratuity is expected, with the caveat of less for bad or poor service. In many areas the expected gratuity is 20%, but not a point worth arguing. Post tax or pre-tax, calculate it however you feel comfortable, if the extra dollar or two is going to break your bank, calculate it pre-tax.
Adequate service is being served by a friendly and efficient server throughout your meal, with any mishaps (over/under cooked steak/ wrong side item) fixed quickly and professionally with an apology and deserves a minimum15% gratuity. If the service is less than described above you may reduce the gratuity.
If the server listens to your life story, politely engages with your crazy, condescending, mean, or just plain weird dining partner(s), gets to know every child at your table by name and makes them feel special, refills your drinks every 2 minutes because you are extremely thirsty or brings you two beverages at a time for the same reason, effectively communicates your complicated special order to the kitchen (which involves praying that the cooks are paying attention as well as the expediter reading the ticket before sending the order out), or otherwise makes you feel special, they deserve a minimum of 20% (substantially more if they do all of the above at the same time). If they do all of the above at 7pm on a Saturday night adopt, marry, or hire that server because you just found a perfect person.
Please keep in mind that your server is paying 2-3% of your check total to support staff. If you leave no tip, the server still has to pay for waiting on you. That is simply unkind and unjustified in all but the most egregious situations.
Myself, I tip post-tax 20% plus $2. The reason I throw in the extra $2 dollars is because for two dollars more I can brighten someones day, pay them a compliment, and make them smile. I'm not saying that everyone should do that, but to me it's worth two dollars to make a fellow human being smile. For truly exceptional, kind, or thoughtful service I tip more.
If I can't afford to tip, I eat at home or go through the local drive-thru.
Thank you!!!!! Omg, who is this Mary and where does she live? Because I would never want her to visit the restaurant where I work. I really don't think people understand what a challenging job serving can be. Especially at 7 pm on a Saturday night like you said!!
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog, love it!
xoxo Julia