Got a Tip for You
Last night in Stiletto City, Plotnik, Ducknik, The Great PD, The Great Five Point Three and two very old friends ate in a restaurant that makes people consider TV dinners. The Cliff's Edge Restaurant is in trendy Sunset Junction. The place didn't exist when all six lived in E-Park (four still do), in fact the neighborhood wasn't even there.
Everything that Plotnik despises about eating out happened in one place. A surly, incompetent waiter. An hour and a half wait between ordering and eating. Mediocre, expensive food. Even the bread was bad.
But the worst part was that there was no one to complain too. What do you do when you get really bad service? Do you still tip the waiter your accustomed amount? Plotnik thinks that's a terrible precedent to set.
Plotnik has worked for tips. He knows how important they are. But when he played piano in piano bars he expected that if he played a song badly he would earn no tip. If he couldn't give the crowd what they wanted they would lose interest. That's the way life is.
When he drove a cab, he expected if he got his customer to his desired location quickly and safely, he would earn a good tip. If he got caught in traffic or drove recklessly he would not.
Sure he knew how to be a Tip Party Whore, how to save the best fast song for last so the father of the bride would rush over and beg the band to play an extra hour for an extra rate. But, if his band didn't get the party dancing there was no chance for that extra money. None.
So why should he tip LA Trendy Waitperson 15-18% when said Waitperson got everything wrong, never apologized for the extra long wait, and brought the food barely warm?
And we're talking $247 before the tip! That's a ton of money. How much would you have left for a tip? Would you tip at all? The server didn't deserve to be stiffed, but he sure didn't deserve 15-18%.
What would you have done?
posted by DAK @ 4:29 PM
4 Comments:
...back to Pazzia ASAP. I'd write a letter to the manager when you get home. Mr. Mush would tip 10% flat in this instance (and run like hell) or
not tip at all leaving Ms. Mush even more upset. What a bad and expensive time you had ~ also tell everyone you know the name of the restaurant so they don't waste good money there.
Maybe he was an Angels fan (I'm assuming you had your Dodgers hat on, and possibly your face was still painted).
Servers who don't get it should not be rewarded - servers who do should. Even good servers can have bad days, but there is no excuse for passing the bad day to you.
I would do what Mr Mush would have done - 10% or so. I don't have the nerve to do what should be done (a one cent tip).
10% for awful, terrible, horrendous service.
15% for standard, uninteresting, or mediocre service.
18% for charming, efficient, friendly service.
20% for fantastic service.
also depends on what state you're in. in california, all waitpersons are paid full minimum wage as opposed to the $2/hr they make in other states, so you're not taking food away from their kids if you don't tip the full amount.
never tip nothing. but tipping nothing is better than tipping one cent. never EVER EVER EVER tip one cent or one dollar. it is so, so rude, I don't care who you are or what service you got. if you got such bad service that you never even received your food, then tip nothing, don't give a passive-aggressive penny. it's bad karma forever and ever and a plague upon your family's culinary enjoyment for generations to come.
oh, I forgot. if it is a trendy and expensive restaurant all bets are off-- I'd give an 8% tip for a meal that expensive for such bad service.
also keep in mind that the waiter generally only keeps 50-60% of the tip you give him/her. the rest is tipped out to the host, the cooks, the busboys, etc... was everyone really that bad?
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