Server Tipping

Reader Feedback:

I read the responses to the gratuity debate with a bit of amusement. It all comes down to a simple old-fashioned cliche...if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. A server, either of food or beverages, is ALWAYS going to come across customers who are rude, insensitive, hard-to-please and stingy in their gratuity practices.

One will definitely run into customers who consider you either a servant or an object like the table they dine at or the chair upon which they sit.

But kind, generous and pleasant customers are far larger in number than those few "rotten apples". So the solution is simple: suck it up...deal with it...and move on...because the faster you turn the table with "the crabby family", the quicker you'll be seated a party of decent folks. Get over it.

Best to all,
Joel Folliard

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Tipping servers is an anachronism and can be stressful for both tippers and the tipped. It is either too high or too low. There is no cooking or accounting charge so why should customer service be treated differently? Tips should be strictly optional for exceptional (upper 25%) cooking or service and be allocated accordingly.

Customer feedback should be obtained through a simple feedback form:

food: bad / below average/above average/exceptional comment:

service: bad / below average/above average/exceptional comment:

Warren Edwardes - wedwardes@4u.net
London, UK

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I run Restaurants in the UK and it is obvious from the comments that I have read that tipping is viewed in a different way in the UK than the USA. My view is this' I pay my staff a good salary, I pay them to serve, that is provide a service to customers at table, the customer should expect and get good service and NOT feel obliged to give a tip. The server should NOT expect to receive a tip for doing what he' or she is being paid to do, (I do not tip the bank teller for giving me cash from my account, nor do I tip my Dentist for pulling a tooth). If however the customer feels that they have had exceptional service then tipping is justified by that fact. The amount of tip should be left to the customers discretion dependent on the EXTRA service they have received. This method of tipping means that staff work extra hard to EARN their tips, the result is that my customers receive better than average service most of the time. If no tip is forth coming my servers still receive a reasonable salary at the end of the month and so are still happy.

PN

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After reading all of the letters regarding tipping, I decided to print off the page and post it for my servers. I am assistant manager of a restaurant, as well as, catering manager of a ski resort in British Columbia, Canada. A lot of foreigners visit our resort, so it has become difficult to asses whether they all know about Canadian tipping policies. I have discovered, however, that guests from the UK do not tip. I realize they do not over there, but what do you think would be the right process in making sure my servers get their tips? Last night, for example, one of my best servers served a table of 7 British guests. Their bill came to over $300.00, and they left $7.00. My server had given them exceptional service. Unfortunately, we only put on an automatic gratuity if it is a table of ten or more, so we were quite at a loss to decide what to do. The table had already left before my server realized what had happened. Needless to say, he was very upset. Any suggestions? As for posting all the rest of your comments, I felt it helped my servers see that they actually have to work for their tips, not just expect it!! I really love this newsletter.

J.R.
British Columbia, Canada

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Sometimes you don't get the service as expected - so what? Do you always do everything right in your job? Do you pay the car repair, even if it is not as expected, or don't? Do you pay for the repair of your refrigerator, even if it is to high, or not? What are you doing if the dry cleaning is not clean enough and the answer is "we did what we could"? Bottom Line is, also a server in hospitality is only a human, they are generally different, they also have good times and bad times and they also make mistakes. But they make their living in this profession, meeting always people to serve who are not in this profession but know very much better about the profession and how everything has to be. So, if you think about cutting the salary of this poor guy, show that you never do any wrong and show that you really can do everything better. And always remember, nobody fails on purpose, nobody does want to harm you as guest, because the goal really is to see you again!

Sven

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