Gratuity include !... GRATUITY INCLUDED ! WTF ?!?!? * The original tip thread*

[tranceport]

Originally posted by: rbloedow
Yea, if the service sucked, refuse to pay the gratuity.

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: orangel
Just out of curiosity, how much did they ask for, percentage wise? I know most places that do that don't have the guts to put more than 15%.

It was 15%... Regardless, I woulda tip them more than that any way... but it just ticked me off that they took it upon themselves to include gratuity. So if I would to pay with cash instead of my check card, they just take the 15% in cash? I wouldn't think so, my gf and I are planning to pay them another visit and this time, we'd dress up differently and see if the attitude changes. If it is, they've got a problem on their hands.

 

[xEDIT409]

at my homecoming dinner, there was eight of us and we only planned on giving $8 bucks no matter what the bill.... but i guess our waiter expected a bunch of seniors/juniors to tip low, so he did the gratuity for us. I was a little ticked.... buuuuuuuuuut, he did do 15%, which is rule/law, so we didn't mind.

 

[oLLie]

Originally posted by: waylman

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
Ok... to make a long story short... when the damn waiter brought my check after we've finished our dinner at a restaurant on Santa Monica's 3rd street prominade, I noticed "Gratuity Included" on the check. Now, this has never happened to any restaurants that I went to, and this is not a fancy restaurant either. Dinner was about $20.00 a plate, but we didn't look like most of the people that ate there, i.e. I was in my usual khaki and shirt, and gf, like always, looks hot. I got the impression that they didn't really want to serve us there, don't know if it was cuz I was Asian, or I didn't look like I "should" eat at their stupid ass restaurant (Mario's Bistro or something like that). The whole time, the waiters never came up and ask if we're doing o.k. and by any standards, that's bad service to me.

How would you take it, I took it as an insult... don't know if I was over reacting... Your thoughts?

if you dont like it, dont eat there cheapskate.

I'm sure he won't be eating there anymore, but how was he supposed to know not to eat there when this was the first time the gratuity included stuff happened, smartass?

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: miri
"actually the smart thing to do, and what i do, is i just find the bus boy and directly give him the tip. why should the waiter get money he didn't earn?"

Because usually the bus boy is getting a higher wage per hour and is also working for mulitiple waiters, say 5-8 waiters for example. That bus boy is also probably already getting 2% of each waiter's total sales which means he's making 10-16% of total sales plus his higher wage per hour compared to a waiter.

In the restaurant I am working at to pay my way through school, it's not uncommon for bussers to make more than waiters at the end of the night.

well the assertion was that you're screwing the busboy over by not tipping the waiter. so if you don't want to give the waiter money, and you don't want to screw the busboy over, then you should just give money to the busboy.

BTW, i don't care who makes more money, i'm just looking at who does things for me. if the waiter only comes to take my order and give me my check, he gets close to nothing because he did jack sh!t. i'm not going to give him money just because the busboy makes more than him.

 

[miri]

That's cool.

BTW at my restaurant, we usually do all the table service except run food and on occasion we ask a busser to fill the water glasses on the new tables if we get triple seated at once etc. Sometimes we get in trouble if we run food though. They want the food runners to run all food. This makes me mad as a waiter because it gives the guest a perception that we are lazy.

 

[richardycc]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: orangel
Just out of curiosity, how much did they ask for, percentage wise? I know most places that do that don't have the guts to put more than 15%.

It was 15%... Regardless, I woulda tip them more than that any way... but it just ticked me off that they took it upon themselves to include gratuity. So if I would to pay with cash instead of my check card, they just take the 15% in cash? I wouldn't think so, my gf and I are planning to pay them another visit and this time, we'd dress up differently and see if the attitude changes. If it is, they've got a problem on their hands.

haha you are going back there not because of the food was good...whatever they are doing, it's working for them.

rich

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: miri
That's cool.

BTW at my restaurant, we usually do all the table service except run food and on occasion we ask a busser to fill the water glasses on the new tables if we get triple seated at once etc. Sometimes we get in trouble if we run food though. They want the food runners to run all food. This makes me mad as a waiter because it gives the guest a perception that we are lazy.

They ARE the food runners ya know... They just know the table numbers better than you.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

about 10 % should be BARE minimum in my opinion for a server unless it was truely aweful (ie: they got your drink order.. brought drinks... got food order.. brought food... all of it was slow and the server never returned for refils or anything else)

if you recived your food and didnt have to get up and get it yourself like at a fast food restaurant the server deserves something.. however if you do wish to complain there should be a manager on duty.. pay a 10% gratuity and find the manager...

in this situation i would never return to this restaurant. gratuity added for a 2 person party is unacceptable. if the server was terrible i would have refused to pay the gratuity that was assigned to me and put what i thought was acceptable. in fact i would have marked off the gratuity added.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: miri
"actually the smart thing to do, and what i do, is i just find the bus boy and directly give him the tip. why should the waiter get money he didn't earn?"

Because usually the bus boy is getting a higher wage per hour and is also working for mulitiple waiters, say 5-8 waiters for example. That bus boy is also probably already getting 2% of each waiter's total sales which means he's making 10-16% of total sales plus his higher wage per hour compared to a waiter.

In the restaurant I am working at to pay my way through school, it's not uncommon for bussers to make more than waiters at the end of the night.

Oh cry us a river if the bus buy was making more then the waiters then why don't you become the bus boy?

 

[dafatha00]

Ridiculous. I've never had that happen to me before except when the party was 6 or greater.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
Ok... to make a long story short... when the damn waiter brought my check after we've finished our dinner at a restaurant on Santa Monica's 3rd street prominade, I noticed "Gratuity Included" on the check. Now, this has never happened to any restaurants that I went to, and this is not a fancy restaurant either. Dinner was about $20.00 a plate, but we didn't look like most of the people that ate there, i.e. I was in my usual khaki and shirt, and gf, like always, looks hot. I got the impression that they didn't really want to serve us there, don't know if it was cuz I was Asian, or I didn't look like I "should" eat at their stupid ass restaurant (Mario's Bistro or something like that). The whole time, the waiters never came up and ask if we're doing o.k. and by any standards, that's bad service to me.

How would you take it, I took it as an insult... don't know if I was over reacting... Your thoughts?

Was this pre-printed on the check or hand written?

 

[azncoffeeboi]

im surprised nobody asked yet. pics?

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: xEDIT409
at my homecoming dinner, there was eight of us and we only planned on giving $8 bucks no matter what the bill.... but i guess our waiter expected a bunch of seniors/juniors to tip low, so he did the gratuity for us. I was a little ticked.... buuuuuuuuuut, he did do 15%, which is rule/law, so we didn't mind.

See you were going to tip low, and because of the extra work involved with the large party they worked around that

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: Cyberian
Was this pre-printed on the check or hand written?

Regardless of if it was printed or hand written, they could write it or print it with minimal effort. It was printed and charged before I get to sign the check.

 

[miri]

Spencer, I was just giving a reason why tips generally go straight to the server and not to the busser. If you don't want to tip the server and just tip the busser thats your perogative.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: Cyberian
Was this pre-printed on the check or hand written?

Regardless of if it was printed or hand written, they could write it or print it with minimal effort. It was printed and charged before I get to sign the check.

If it was pre-printed, then I would assume that that is their policy and they didn't single you out for being "Asian".

I am not saying that I agree with the policy, only that it would appear that it applied to everyone.

 

[miri]

Anyway I agreed with most of the posters here that he should not have paid the auto gratuity on the check. People should tip what they want to tip. If you want to tip $4 on a $20 great. If you want to tip $5 on a $500 check thats great to, there is no tipping requirement. If you want to tip $0 on a $500 check thats cool to cuz its your choice.

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: Cyberian Was this pre-printed on the check or hand written?

Regardless of if it was printed or hand written, they could write it or print it with minimal effort. It was printed and charged before I get to sign the check.

If it was pre-printed, then I would assume that that is their policy and they didn't single you out for being "Asian". I am not saying that I agree with the policy, only that it would appear that it applied to everyone.

So the table next to me that paid with cash and left tips, I guess that was just extra!