Dear Shell,
I just read an article and it's accompanying comments, about waitstaff at a restaurant and tips left by customers. It seems the standard acceptable tip for decent service is now 20%. It used to be 15-18% was for decent service and 20%+ was for exceptional.
I normally leave a 15-18% tip for 'regular' service. They seat you, give you a menu, give you time to look at said menu, take your order, and bring it out the way you ordered it. No excessive chit-chat or hovering, maybe i need to flag him/her down for something but for the most part, it's a 'order food, bring food, bring bill' type deal.
10% or less is reserved for those that just really tick me off with their service. Have I been sitting there for 20 minutes, with a folded up menu still sitting on the end of my table as I wait (now impatiently) for my waiter/waitress? Did I have to request, 3 times or more, for something and STILL didn't get it? Was my food wrong, even after the third time of sending it back?
It's very, very rare that I've had what I would consider bad service. Sometimes the service is slow, but if you study your waitperson, you may see they are rushing around trying to take care of half the tables in the restaurant. A quick question of "Did someone not come in to work today?" can usually help you find out that yes, 2 waiters didn't show up and now the people who are there are working their asses off trying to cover. Or, is your waitperson new? Maybe they have only been working a week or two and are still learning the ropes. Don't jump to assumptions that they suck or are treating you bad, they might be overworked or still learning.
BUT, if you are one of the only customers there, and it's still taking forever to get service, and your order is wrong repeatedly... then yes, the tip gets smaller and smaller as the night goes on.
So then the question becomes, what is exceptional service? What do I consider to be worthy of 20% or more? Exceptional service is where your waitperson is there when you need him/her, takes the time to answer your questions, brings your food out in a timely manner so it's not cold, offers take-out containers if you are finished and still have food left, is polite and friendly but not hovering over you, and seems to care about you as a person and customer.
I've had what i would consider truly exceptional service once. Service where, if I had been footing the bill, she would have received close to 25% as a tip. J and I were with a friend going to a restaurant about 45 min from us. The waitress we had was friendly and polite, answered our questions and offered suggestions. When I mentioned a couple food allergies that I had (one of which is life-threatening), she was very helpful in going through the menu. She also notified the kitchen so they could make sure the food was kept separate. The biggest thing though, was almost 2 hours later, when we were done with appetizers, dinner, drinks and chatting. She asked if we would like dessert, we said yes so she brought over the dessert tray. Now mind you, this is almost 2 hours after I had mentioned my allergies, and it was a very busy night at the restaurant. She still remembered my allergy and pointed out which desserts to avoid and which one was safe if i requested the second item to be left off the dish.
A waitress that is polite, friendly, does her job, AND remembers her customers after several hours of being busy? That's truly exceptional.
Shell
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