Meh, I tip based on performance. I start out at 10%. That is if you take my order, bring my order, check on refills every once in awhile, and do it all in a timely manner. A service person that starts to do more than that will get a bigger tip. Being friendly, adding some banter to add to my experience, adding some an extra bit of dressing on the side to add to a salad, or other things not usually asked for by the customer but might be wanted are things I start adding to the tip. I also do not factor in taxes in the percentage for a tip.
On the flip side if they can't do the basics their tip goes down. Case in point I just got back from a horrible experience at Hooters for lunch today with my boss.
We show up at noon. It was semi-busy but not packed. No one greets at the door. We stand there for a few minutes until finally someone passing by just says to sit anywhere. After we start moving off then the host girl at the door finally shows up. Not sure what she was doing at NOON for lunch hour, but it wasn't being at her post or finding a replacement for a moment if she had to leave real quick.
So we sit down and wait. And wait. And WAIT. Finally by 12:15 a waitress shows up. 15 minutes of sitting in her section and watching her pass us by. Watching her go up to customers that sat down after us and get their order first. It's not like we were sitting in the back but right in the middle of the place.
We give her our order. I had a water and a cobb salad with grilled chicken and blue cheese. My boss had a coke and half pound of peel/eat shrimp. Now we wait again. My boss and I were talking, but I start noticing that people that not only showed up after us, ordered after us, but already got their food. We hadn't received our food or even a refill in that same time frame.
An HOUR later at 1:15 the manager comes up and apologizes that it has taken so long. We hadn't complained or said anything yet to anyone. She said our meals were comped because of the delay. About 5 minutes later we get our food. Of course they bring out the wrong salad for me as well. The four tables around us in the same section showed up after us, ordered after us, got food before us, and finished their meals before I even got my salad.
Yah, I'm kind of pissed right now. Can you guess what kind of tip my boss and I left for that?