Good call!

Yeah I really should have mentioned that many countries do not do the whole tipping thing at all. I know France it’s insulting.

I hate to ask but: WHY should I supplement an employer who cannot pay a living wage? especially if I received crappy service?

Sunny,

You aren’t hurting the employer when you don’t tip. You’re just hurting the server, as I explained above, the server usually has to pay a percentage of his sales (not a percentage of his or her tips). In effect, you’re usually making them spend money.

People idea of “Good Service” vary greatly. But here are the basics…
Greeting – 30 seconds to 1 minute (most concepts want this in 15-30 seconds)
Drinks – 1.5-3 minutes (most concepts want drinks out in under 2 minutes)
Appetizer – 7-12 minutes (most concepts work towards apps being on the table in under 8 minutes)
Entrée – 12-17 minutes (most concepts lean towards the 12-14 minute marker)
Desert – 3-5 minutes (most concepts lean towards 5 minutes)
Check – 2 minutes (not all concepts have embraced a check time as a standard, but almost all concepts know that this is the most important time)
Payout – Immediately (they should never have to wait)

Usually your server is only able to directly influence Greeting, Drinks, Deserts, and Check times. Apps and Entrées are usually something they have to wait for. If your food isn’t cooked properly, the server didn’t cook it.

I don’t think docking someone income actually address the problem, if anything it just augments it. Telling them why you’re docking them will make it clear. Unfortunately most people are content to just stiff and walk so there is no communication on what the actual problem was.

If it were me, and the server made sure to entertain regardless of how craptastic the food and drinks were, they get their tip (and probably more…professional courtesy).

I teach service like this:

If you want to make sure you make incredible money…entertain, smile, and empathize, and get them what they want. Every time. The guests want to know you want them there and are happy to see them. They don’t know you only made $20 for the last 6 hours of work. They only know you’re supposed to make the experience enjoyable.

@Jess – I’ve heard it described as some sort of social phenomena but I think it’s the environment we are raised in. No sense of moral obligation is publicly promoted and some parents don’t even take the time to make sure the sensibility is there. I think it would do us all a TON of good to have mandatory community outreach time during the summers of school etc to make sure everyone is learning how important that sense of obligation to help is to our society as much as it is to us as individuals.

I studied story in my Psych textbook about a woman (I think it was a woman) who got stabbed in a convenience store and the other shoppers just went on shopping, one of them even stepping over her as she was bleeding on the floor. WHAT. I just think these kinds of stories are completely bizarre.

Thanks Jess!