Dining behavior - as experienced by a waiter

BuddyThomas

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, I've seen and argued on all the tipping threads here, but this kid really makes some good points about both dining behavior and tipping. Having waited on tables for like 10 years after and during college, I can verify that everything he says is true.



 
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Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
While I don't care for his personality, I do agree with most of his points - except the not giving $0 tip. There was only once in my life that i left a $0 tip, but the waiter deserved it. Actually if I could have taken money out of his wallet, that is what he deserved. I understand some things are not the waiters fault, but in this case, everything was the waiters fault.

I would also like to see the partner rant to this. Customers telling the wait staff what not to do. Off the top of my head.

- Learn how to dertermine when a table needs you - don't with stop by every 5 minutes, or never stop by at all - find the happy medium.

- Learn how to carry a plate, or use a tray. Stop sticking your thumb in my food.

- If your restaruant / bar does something "Special and in it's own way" then learn what that is and warn the customer. If I order something that is generally accepted to be made in a certain way, that is what I expect. If your place does something wildly different, then warn me.

- Stop comming by my table every 30 seconds to top off my wine glass. It's really annoying.

- Don't ask me near the end of the meal if "I am still working on that". I am not carving a table, or building a deck. I am not "working on" my food. (Or if I do have to "work on" it, then the kitchen screwed up). "Are you finished" or "would you like me to box that up fo you" is much much much nicer

When you hand me the bill, pause for 10 seconds. Maybe I want to leave quickly - I'll hand it right back to you with my credit card so you can run it. Don't drop the check on the table, and speed off and disappear for 15 minutes while I sit there waiting for you to come back.

- Yes I know your job is hard. You know what, mine is too. But i don't go on YouTube and rant about my job and the people and things I deal with. And I surely don't get snarky in person with the people I deal with. I'm not the one making your job hard, I'm the one that is spending my money so you can get paid. You don't have to treat me like royality, but just because you had a bad custoemr earlier in your shift, does not mean you get snarky with me. If you cannot controll your emotions, then you need to look for a job where you don't deal with people all day long.
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
Phonedave said:
While I don't care for his personality, I do agree with most of his points - except the not giving $0 tip. There was only once in my life that i left a $0 tip, but the waiter deserved it. Actually if I could have taken money out of his wallet, that is what he deserved. I understand some things are not the waiters fault, but in this case, everything was the waiters fault.

I would also like to see the partner rant to this. Customers telling the wait staff what not to do. Off the top of my head.

- Learn how to dertermine when a table needs you - don't with stop by every 5 minutes, or never stop by at all - find the happy medium.

- Learn how to carry a plate, or use a tray. Stop sticking your thumb in my food.

- If your restaruant / bar does something "Special and in it's own way" then learn what that is and warn the customer. If I order something that is generally accepted to be made in a certain way, that is what I expect. If your place does something wildly different, then warn me.

- Stop comming by my table every 30 seconds to top off my wine glass. It's really annoying.

- Don't ask me near the end of the meal if "I am still working on that". I am not carving a table, or building a deck. I am not "working on" my food. (Or if I do have to "work on" it, then the kitchen screwed up). "Are you finished" or "would you like me to box that up fo you" is much much much nicer

When you hand me the bill, pause for 10 seconds. Maybe I want to leave quickly - I'll hand it right back to you with my credit card so you can run it. Don't drop the check on the table, and speed off and disappear for 15 minutes while I sit there waiting for you to come back.

- Yes I know your job is hard. You know what, mine is too. But i don't go on YouTube and rant about my job and the people and things I deal with. And I surely don't get snarky in person with the people I deal with. I'm not the one making your job hard, I'm the one that is spending my money so you can get paid. You don't have to treat me like royality, but just because you had a bad custoemr earlier in your shift, does not mean you get snarky with me. If you cannot controll your emotions, then you need to look for a job where you don't deal with people all day long.
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Perfect as usual.... PS: I COULD NOT STAND HIS PERSONALITY EITHER
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Nice rant. But it wont change diners habits one bit. Those of us that are courteous, pleasant, tipping well diners, will continue to be... those that are idiots wont alter how they dine or pay/tip. And with the free dining plans I'm sure there are a lot more diners who make the CM's job much more difficult. I'm curious.... anyone of you CM's who wait tables see a difference in tips from Free DP diners as opposed to others?
 
TheGuyThatMakesSwords

TheGuyThatMakesSwords

Well-Known Member
WARNING - watched about 25% of this. Constant IE comments about something downloading, concerned with adds. I killed the browser, and will NOT click on that link again
 
susan lees

susan lees

Well-Known Member
My son just home from a year working at wdw and he says ddp definitely affects tips. He did say though that some people will find any reason possible to not pay a tip. :grumpy: e.g. there was a bone in my fish!!!
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
susan lees said:
My son just home from a year working at wdw and he says ddp definitely affects tips. He did say though that some people will find any reason possible to not pay a tip. :grumpy: e.g. there was a bone in my fish!!!
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No question... Not all but many on free d or DDP will find anyway to cut cost... The whole plan sucks for food quality and service... But we don't have to go down that road.... It is a huge money maker for Disney... Most don't break even or they wouldn't off the program.
 
HoneyBee1991

HoneyBee1991

Active Member
I've worked in high-end food service for a long time (thank goodness not anymore) and I have to say this happens way too often. My manager once gave a waitress $10 at the end of her 5 hour shift to put gas in her car just so she could get home because she only made $2 in tips that day. Seriously? Yeah, it was a slow day but based on just a 10% tip she should have had $70 that day in tips. She was a good waitress too. Some people are terrible.

I do have to say the one and only time in my entire life that I refused to tip was at Epcot! The waitress there single handedly ruined my anniversary dinner with my then boyfriend (currently my fiancee). I got reservations for Restaurant Marrakesh to watch illuminations for about 35 minutes before it was supposed to start. We asked to be seated outside and she put us at a table with pillars in the way even though there were tables with clear views (2 of them) not being used. She wouldn't move us to them when I politely asked. It took her forever to get us drinks and when the appetizers did come we had to flag down another waiter to refill our water. It's middle eastern food, it's spicy, we shouldn't have to beg for more water. On top of that, she was just plain rude. She obviously hated her job and wasn't friendly to any of the other tables she had either. We left right before illuminations even started because we were both just so over the whole experience. We walked the world showcase area and watched what little we could see of the show and then went back the hotel early. Worse waitress ever, she deserved her no tip from us.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
I did not watch the videos, but I would like to chip in with my opinions on tipping. It seems as if there is an obligation to tip every server that you will ever have for the rest of your life. People who think this way will say "the servers don't make much money, they need the tips". What happened to the premise that a tip is a voluntary show of appreciation from the customer to the server? Now, it seems as if the customer is obligated to pay part of the server's salary, no matter how well they serve the customer. I have very rarely ever not tipped anyone-I understand that everybody can have a bad day, but as long as the server can answer my questions to the best of their ability, bring the food as soon as they can, not keep me unnecessarily waiting for anything and be courteous and civil, they will get a tip. Obviously, the servers that go above and beyond will get a larger tip, but I will not tip someone if they are a horrible, cranky, rude server.
 
disneyworlddad

disneyworlddad

Well-Known Member
Raineman said:
I did not watch the videos, but I would like to chip in with my opinions on tipping. It seems as if there is an obligation to tip every server that you will ever have for the rest of your life. People who think this way will say "the servers don't make much money, they need the tips". What happened to the premise that a tip is a voluntary show of appreciation from the customer to the server? Now, it seems as if the customer is obligated to pay part of the server's salary, no matter how well they serve the customer. I have very rarely ever not tipped anyone-I understand that everybody can have a bad day, but as long as the server can answer my questions to the best of their ability, bring the food as soon as they can, not keep me unnecessarily waiting for anything and be courteous and civil, they will get a tip. Obviously, the servers that go above and beyond will get a larger tip, but I will not tip someone if they are a horrible, cranky, rude server.
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THIS . . . ALL of THIS! I have two little ones and some servers think I'm going to tip bad just because I have a family. However, I leave a bigger % tip now because my table takes more work. Servers who are nice/patient with my kids get an added bump. Servers who ignore us aren't getting a good tip.
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
Raineman said:
I did not watch the videos, but I would like to chip in with my opinions on tipping. It seems as if there is an obligation to tip every server that you will ever have for the rest of your life. People who think this way will say "the servers don't make much money, they need the tips". What happened to the premise that a tip is a voluntary show of appreciation from the customer to the server? Now, it seems as if the customer is obligated to pay part of the server's salary, no matter how well they serve the customer. I have very rarely ever not tipped anyone-I understand that everybody can have a bad day, but as long as the server can answer my questions to the best of their ability, bring the food as soon as they can, not keep me unnecessarily waiting for anything and be courteous and civil, they will get a tip. Obviously, the servers that go above and beyond will get a larger tip, but I will not tip someone if they are a horrible, cranky, rude server.
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Well at the end of the day you are missing the point.... You get rid of tipping food prices go up between 18%-23%.. Every study has reflected that so usually you are paying more... High end places like Per Se and V&A will still have great services... Other places mmmm I'm not sure.... What would you prefer tipping where the staff has incentive to bring great service or pay more with no incentive for them to give great service?
 
njDizFan

njDizFan

Well-Known Member
Hockey89 said:
Well at the end of the day you are missing the point.... You get rid of tipping food prices go up between 18%-23%.. Every study has reflected that so usually you are paying more... High end places like Per Se and V&A will still have great services... Other places mmmm I'm not sure.... What would you prefer tipping where the staff has incentive to bring great service or pay more with no incentive for them to give great service?
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And actually Per Se the service is included. High end places like that serving is a true profession and takes years to master. They come well before the doors open to conference with the sommelier, maitr d', and chef to discuss the days offerings and changes.

But serving at a family style establishment there is a huge swatch of competence. I rarely tip below 20% unless things go really bad. But I definitely do not make it a blanket 20%
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
njDizFan said:
And actually Per Se the service is included. High end places like that serving is a true profession and takes years to master. They come well before the doors open to conference with the sommelier, maitr d', and chef to discuss the days offerings and changes.

But serving at a family style establishment there is a huge swatch of competence. I rarely tip below 20% unless things go really bad. But I definitely do not make it a blanket 20%
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Yes, I know it is included and you are correct... It is an art form.
 

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