Just a little rant, directed to restaurant customers... (cause i had a rough night)
a. If you get a discount on food because of a promotion (for example, half off drinks, dollar burgers *ahem*, etc.) then you need to be wary of that when you tip your server. Just because the food cost YOU less, it didn't mean less work for your server. In fact, promotions usually mean the server is busier in general, and that his/her total sales are considerably lower. Take that into account. If you got two softs drinks at $2 a piece and two $1 burgers, your tab is only $6. That doesn't mean you should tip 15-20% of SIX DOLLARS. At full price those burgers were $8 each and your tab should have been $20.
b. Servers DO NOT (for the most part) get paid hourly. The restaurant or bar has to pay us
something so that they have
something to take the taxes on our tips out of. Odds are that your server will never see that $2.65/hour they're being paid. Taxes eat it all.
c. 15% is the new MINIMUM.
MINIMUM, folks. Good service deserves 20%. Deal with it. It's easy, take the total, slide the decimal one number to the left, and double it. Do not go with the 'tax times three' rule because a lot of alcoholic beverages are not taxed. You could drink all night and not pay a dollar in tax.
d. Waiting tables is hard work. Seriously. When servers/bartenders get off of work they are sticky, smelly, covered in god-knows-what, sore, and tired. Please don't make their lives harder by doing stupid shit at your table. You may think it's funny to pour all the sugar packets into a little pile in the middle of the table and then drip your beer into the middle, making a sticky little beer volcano. That's fine... just clean it up before you leave! It's not okay to let your children smash the 15 packets of crackers we gave you (for free) into the carpet. It's not okay to tear your beverage napkin into eight thousand pieces and scatter it all over the table and floor. Unless you are a monkey. In which case, what are you doing out at restaurant anyway?
e. Finally, if you get inebriated enough to start ordering rounds of shots for you, your friends, and the table of hots chicks next to you, that's YOUR FAULT. When you get the tab and it's more than you expected, that's YOUR FAULT. Don't take it out on your server with a shitty tip. They had to deal with your drunk asses all night.
f. Next time you're trying to figure out what to tip your server, think about it. Did you wait tables sometime in the past? Do you know anyone who has, or currently does? Do you want to be remembered as an awesome customer or a shitty tipper? Because, TRUST ME, servers and bartenders remember how you tipped. If you plan on returning to any establishment, there is a chance that you'll get the same server. And do you want them to be motivated to treat you well, or do you want them to write you off the second you walk in because they know they're not making money off you anyway? Of course, a good server would still give you 'acceptable' service, but don't expect any 'above and beyonds.'
(inhales.... exhales....)
Thank you.
After knocking down the bricks... one of MANY times this happened.
Ahhh... Engrish T-shirts... how I miss thee...
