At a restaurant should no refills = no tip?

[Dissipate]

Anyone ever been to a restaurant where the waiter/waitress never bothers to refill your drink, or you have to ask for a refill? If so did you give them no tip or a reduced tip? It has happened to me on multiple occasions, and sometimes I have had to get up to ask for a refill because I was so thirsty.

Oh yeah, another restaurant peeve of mine is when they take forever to bring the check after I'm finished eating. I've had to get up and walk over to request the check on multiple occasions as well.

 

[FleshLight]

I'd just tip less than usual, maybe 5 or 10% depending how well other services were performed.

 

[EvilYoda]

Typically that goes with lack of attention, which would yes, make me not want to tip them...seldomly do I not tip, it's usually the attitude that triggers that.

 

[waggy]

If i find a place that does not have free refills i try to remember and don't go back.

yes its a little thing. but it ticks me off

 

[Kelvrick]

I still, tip, but around 5% less. Its really the main thing that bugs me unless something else was really bad. I just expect you to take my orders, get me my food, and refill my drink.

 

[Evadman]

No refils = reduced tip.

 

[n0cmonkey]

If it's a rush and they are running around non-stop, I don't let it bother me that I have to ask for a refill. If they're standing around bitching, screw them.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: waggy
If i find a place that does not have free refills i try to remember and don't go back.

yes its a little thing. but it ticks me off

I agree. No free refills is definately a negative. However, that's not really what is at issue. What is at issue is the fact that some waiters/waitresses don't bother to ask if you want a refill at all, whether you have to pay extra or not. Actually, my favorite waiters/waitresses are the ones that just leave a pitcher of whatever you are drinking at the table.

 

[RagingBITCH]

It's one thing if they're so busy they don't notice - it's another if they're standing around doing jack sh!t on a slow night, and it takes 10 minutes to initially get your drink, and another 10-15 after you need a refill to get them. Don't get me started on the food or anything else. That night I tipped that waitress a quarter for a $23 meal. A 1.09% tip.

 

[Kanalua]

THis is one of my BIGGEST pet-peeves!!! If a server will not refill my drinks, NO TIP! In fact, I expect my server to have my drink filled BEFORE I'm done with the current glass. I pay big bucks for dinner, serve me...

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Typically that goes with lack of attention, which would yes, make me not want to tip them...seldomly do I not tip, it's usually the attitude that triggers that.

He said exactly what I was going to say. I am a good tipper b/c I am a poor, working man. I have also worked for tips and know what it's like to bust your ass and get stiffed.

If I get good service, I'll leave $4-$5 on a $20 tab. If I get lousy service I'll leave a nickel just to make a point.

 

[djheater]

Uh oh... another tipping thread... {{waits for it to go south}}

Tipping is really simple, it's based on service with 15% being the standard. If they suck and you're dissatisfied you tip less than 15% if they're great and you're really satisfied ou tip more than 15%

Tips have little to do with the way you are treated by the staff in general BTW, it has a LOT more to do with your attitude and howyou treat them.. If you're pleasant they will be and vice versa.

 

[poopaskoopa]

I'd just ask for a refill. It may affect the tip, but more than likely it wouldn't. If I want something, I'll ask for it and not wait for them to figure it out. It's not a big deal.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: djheater

Tips have little to do with the way you are treated by the staff in general BTW, it has a LOT more to do with your attitude and howyou treat them.. If you're pleasant they will be and vice versa.

Pleasantness rarely has anything to do with the factors that make me tip more or less.

 

[esun]

It depends on the type of restaurant. Sam Woo (a Chinese restaurant) employees almost never refill unless you ask. But asking really isn't hard. Other restaurants always do so. Sometimes it is bothersome to have someone constantly asking if I want a refill, to the point where I wish they'd just stand there and wait for me to ask instead.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: djheater

Tips have little to do with the way you are treated by the staff in general BTW, it has a LOT more to do with your attitude and howyou treat them.. If you're pleasant they will be and vice versa.

Pleasantness rarely has anything to do with the factors that make me tip more or less.

If you're a d!ck from the get go, they'll go to little effort to serve you well.. That's the point. Servers are people too... many of them are none to intelligent people who make a life decisions based on how they feel at the moment. This isn't meant to be smug or condescending, simply an observation based on having worked in the industry.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: esun
Sometimes it is bothersome to have someone constantly asking if I want a refill, to the point where I wish they'd just stand there and wait for me to ask instead.

HuH? In all the hundreds of restaurants I have been to I don't think that has ever been a problem for me.

 

[dethman]

uh oh another tip thread.

wait for the current/past waiters/waitresses to hijack it and tell us how we're all cheapasses.

 

[XMan]

I ate at a steakhouse up at the Grand Canyon that CHARGED full price for a drink refill. As you can imagine I didn't leave a tip . . .

 

[shopbruin]

Originally posted by: esun
It depends on the type of restaurant. Sam Woo (a Chinese restaurant) employees almost never refill unless you ask. But asking really isn't hard. Other restaurants always do so. Sometimes it is bothersome to have someone constantly asking if I want a refill, to the point where I wish they'd just stand there and wait for me to ask instead.

sam woo is quite possibly the grossest chinese restaurant i've ever been to, not to mention that its overpriced. but that's how i find most chinese restaurants to be... i mean the only way i get my tea refilled is to flip the lid over, and if they don't notice that, catch any waiter i can.

 

[snowdogg187]

Bad service = Bad or no tip

 

[TechnoKid]

well, if its 3 am and im at denny's and thers only one server/waitress for say 5 or more tables, then it is totally understandable for them to not be as quick as they can about refilling drinks. i'd still leave the same 15% if not more because working graveyard at a 24hr diner is hard work.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: X-Man
I ate at a steakhouse up at the Grand Canyon that CHARGED full price for a drink refill. As you can imagine I didn't leave a tip . . .

I don't think that it is uncommon for more "upscale" restaurants to do that.

 

[XMan]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: X-Man
I ate at a steakhouse up at the Grand Canyon that CHARGED full price for a drink refill. As you can imagine I didn't leave a tip . . .

I don't think that it is uncommon for more "upscale" restaurants to do that.

What's considered upscale? I had a five-dollar cheeseburger . . .

What with the cost of soft drinks, being charged full price for a refill is ridiculous - soda is almost entirely pure profit, one or two refills isn't cutting into their margins too much. If I'd asked for 9-10 refills I could see being charged again, but one?

 

[Mill]

I rarely encounter this problem, and if I do I ask them to refill it and watch for when I'm ready for another refill. Then again I'm not a prodigious drinker(minus water or alcohol) so usually a refill or two will do me. What I hate is the smug attitude that servers should be sucking your cock continuously and make sure it doesn't drop below the 1/2 way mark. Who the fvck cares? I've never waited tables, nor do I think people who do are special, but I sure as hell am not that goddamn anal-retentive over a fvcking drink!

I've found that because I tip well(20% ~) that I'm always recognized, given great service, and generally never have an issue. I don't want this to come off as snobby, but I've noticed a general increase in service the better I'm dressed. I typically go out to eat in nice jeans and a dress shirt at minimum, and I haven't done the t-shirt+shorts in a LONG time. At minimum I'll do a polo and shorts albeit rare. I've just noticed that if you are younger you have to dress nice to get the BEST service. The better I dress the better service I get from any service job, as well as how polite you are. For some odd reason some people think they can leave their trailer, put on a pair of cutoffs and a Winston t-shirt, get in their 82 Beretta, and then go treat a server like sh!t. If you do that I promise you will never get great service, and idiots like that NEVER tip anyway. Call it shallow all you want, but even if you are dressed down you don't have to act/look like a bum.