Used to be a busboy and server, so I tend to over tip a bit. If you do your job to any expected standard, you're getting 20%. If you screw something up and fix it, you're getting 20% (maybe more depending on the circumstances even).
I can only think of 2 or 3 times when I actually left less than 15%:
- Breakfast at Scramblers: waitress took our drink order and then went on break. Showed up 30 minutes later with our drinks and then took our regular order. Food took another forever and was missing dishes, but she never checked back to find out. I hand-delivered a nice shiny penny to her, with store manager present, and explained that it covered the check and the tip. I've never been so pissed at a restaurant.
- Most recently I was having lunch at a relatively nice place near my work with my wife. Ordered soup and salmon. Salmon showed up late, soup showed up later. Explained to the waitress - who was dumber than a box of rocks - that the soup wasn't necessary since the idea was to eat it while waiting for the salmon. I asked that it just be removed from the bill. In our haste to get out of there, my wife handed over the CC without making sure the soup had been taken off (our mistake). When we got the card back I checked the bill, and wouldn't you know, it hadn't been taken off. I flagged down Debbie McDoubledees, but she said it was "really hard" to fix it at this point. "Well, it's really hard to tip you at this point, so I guess it all works out." She got this "sprung leak" look on her face, making the entire trip entirely worth it.
