Featured After Church Crowd at Restaurants

I'm not paying a plumber to be nice to me. I am paying a waiter to be nice to me. That's part of their job.

And yes, if a plumber was late on delivering, I would pay them less.

 

I don't know about service providers in your area, but in our area you pay the plumber for the service call, get an estimate of what is required to fix the problem, and then agree to either the verbal or written contract.

There is a written or implied guarantee that the workmanship will meet acceptable industry standards.

As it applies to wait staff, it would seem that the problem is who determines industry standards.

The far long ago day was "the customer is always right" and the service industry thrived on providing exceptional service. Using the plumber illustration, reputation for excellence in service carried the company name and that reputation was cherished.

But, with the decline of respect for one's own self and by extension the respect of customer in whom service is given, it is becoming more problematic and in some cases down right unhealthy to expect anything more than less.

All that being stated, it is never an excuse to not leave a good tip to the wait staff. That young person struggling to make ends meet while also attempting to further their education just may one day be the one who rolls you down the old folks home hallways. :flower:

 

Do you know what a mechanics lien is?

 

This thread has really entertained me...

But my .02


If I want to go someplace and get subpar service and people who are generally unhappy, I'll go eat fast food.

Multiple people have said in this thread "if you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat at a place that required it"...and i say I disagree with that 100%.


When I go to a nice sit down restaurant I expect two things..both of which I'm willing to pay for if they are met.

1. Good food
2. Good service


Most of the time, the two should really be seperate things that just automatically happen. It's also usually not the waiter/waitress fault if your food is bad. It could be their fault if you get cold/not hot food (if it was sitting and the waitress/waiter wasn't paying attention).

A lot of places you go (at least around here) if the food is bad/cold, they won't make you pay for it, or they will reduce your meal price. So that's the first thing I look at: How was my food? Did it meet the level of expectations that the restaurant says it should?

Now onto service: Again, I go to a sit down because I want to be taken care of, and I expect a certain level of professionalism and attitude. I also understand people have bad days (I have them). So I will tip accordingly. Have I ever not left a tip? I can honestly only think back to one time that I did not leave a tip, and I actually complained to management because the waitress was so crass and rude. Bad day or not, there are just some things you do not do or say when taking care of a customer.

I tip fairly well I think, and I try to give extra to those who I think do outstanding jobs while servicing me and my family. But here is the thing I realize: The only person in the world who is me...is me. We are all different, we all have different standards, etc. So I have no issue with how anyone else tips, because that is up to them. I do think, though, that each and everyone of us should be courteous to the people who wait on us, no matter how they treat us. If they are rude, be polite...but I'm not saying be polite and tip them well. That's on each and every one of you and your discretions.

 

Regardless of good or bad service, if you cannot afford to tip when you go out to eat you cannot afford to go out to eat.

 

This is where the issue lies. Define "afford"

I can afford to tip. I can afford to tip more than I do. And as I stated before, only one time that I can remember did I not tip, and I was really offended (and that takes a lot).

I figure I'm in the 20% range most of the time how it is, although I'm not going to let society tell me how to spend my money...I feel that God has blessed me and I can repay that, even if the service is sub par.

But choosing not to leave a tip for whatever reason =/= not being able to afford it.

 

I have no idea why anyone would equate the two. The statement I made is clear and unambiguous.

 

That's why I made that statement. I wanted it clear that I thought the two had nothing to do with one another.

 

Uh, ok?

 

About this "affording to go out to eat" thinking, I would like to reflect upon a situation I recently went through.


After the death of a elderly couple, I was reviewing their financial records and closing out accounts.

I was amazed at how "close to the edge" they lived. The monthly income from Social security paid a little more than $800 for one and $400 for the other. Not very much for medical, food, utilities, car insurance, housing, hair, cloths, ...

I knew that they "lived off their garden" so to speak, but had no idea things were that tight!!!

I remember after the wife got closer to death, when My Bride and I would visit and bring them an after church meal. They would always eat sparingly and package the leftovers.

Just before the husband died, he reflected that he missed eating out once a year on his wife's birthday. It was a time when they seemed to connect with long ago memories and visit about their adventures in youth.

Perhaps wait staff need to be reminded that we might mumble and grumble, and even not leave much of a tip by "today's standard." But, that in no way means that we should be treated with a lack of enthusiasm. Do you think it unreasonable that a wait staff might find it enjoyable to treat someone who is ancient to a dessert for free?

Does anyone recall reading about a waitress who was given a rather large inheritance from a grumpy old man because of her attitude and not his?

 

When you said "regardless of service"...it then puts less emphasis on the "afford" portion of the rest of your statement.

Thus the way I replied the way I did. If you had simply stated "If you can't afford to tip then you can't afford to eat out" I wouldn't have replied.

The first part makes it seem like the two go hand in hand. That's all I was getting at. I didn't feel your statement was as unambiguous as you thought it was (and that could be just me), so I just wanted to make it clear that I do somewhat agree with you on the part if you can't afford to tip, then you shouldn't eat out.

 

That's the key thing here!

 

Perhaps this could be better stated as: if you can not afford to leave a tip you should choose a restaurant where a tip is not necessary. There are many good places to eat, such as Boston Market, where you can get a good meal but a tip is not necessary.

 

Okay, while immature, that did make me laugh. :thumbs:

 

I wonder sometimes why boys act so stupid. I can understand when a 6th grade boy does a dumb thing...he's trying to get a girl's attention. But at 22 young women are thinking of marriage....hmmm maybe that IS why they do it, so those young women don't look at them as marriage material!! LOL

 

yep, I also know what small claims court is.