Buffet waitress, Forced me to tip!!!!!!!!!!! Options

[Havok1997GT]

Ok. So there is this Chinese restaurant that i go to quite often when im at work. The food is tasty at certain times of the day and its cheep. We are not talking awesome food here. Mediocre at best. they are NEVER busy. And since i serve myself the only thing the waitresses do are carry pitchers to refill drinks, which is few and far between. Today me and a friend go to this place, and per usual (what they did have out that was eatable) was ok at best, the waitress came by our table twice in a hour and a half period, and we were the only ones in the restaurants. When she came by a third time and asked if we were ready for the check she asked if we just wanted her to take care of it for us instead of walking to the counter. We said yes, and she took my friends card and my $10 and walked of to pay. She came back with the card and my change. She then before my friend could sign for the payment with his card, she asked him if he liked the service, being polite, he said it was fine, she then pointed out were he could leave her a tip on the receipt and kept her finger there till he wrote something there. Then she looked at me and handed me my change, asked me if i liked the service, i was so stunned by what she had done to my friend, not thinking, i looked at her and said the service was fine. She then picked up my change that she had left on the change tray and walked off.

Now, i will admit, i never tip at this place. ITS A BUFFET!!! I serve myself! The only thing that that waitress does is refill my drink. and not often at that. If she had come by when my glass was empty and refilled it then ok, tip should be given, But they never do! Ive had to go get it myself once or twice, and to be honest since i have to go get my food anyways, then just let me get my drink as well and then all you have to do is seat me, you can even leave the check at the counter and ill get that too on my way out. i realize that i forfit my right to a awesome meal by going to a buffet in the first place, but at the same time for serving crappy food, and giving piss poor service you forfit your right to a tip! What the hell!

I couldnt believe this woman had done that, YOU DIDNT DO ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! None of them do. I dont even really see why anyone should tip at a Buffet, ITS A BUFFET! These are my requirements for tipping,

1, ive got enough money left from the meal to give you.
2,you serve me food
3, you refill my drinks
4, your as nice as someone can be who waits on people all day
5, all of these things are done in a timely manner and if it going to be delayed, let me know so i know your busy, or its cooking slower then it normally does, or you ate the shrimp soup earlier that day and because you have a bad case of the runs you need to excuse yourself. anything of the above or resembling comments will work.


If you only do 1 of the list above and you do that poorly, then you NO GET TIP! And if you consistently not do the list above you are never going to get a tip. Im more pissed at myself that i didnt react, but she cornered me, i couldnt just take my money, she had already claimed it. If you dont like not getting a tip FIX YOUR SERVICE! im still pissed off about the whole thing. There are a lot of other people in restaurants that do a hell of a lot more then these people at this place do and ive never had that happen to me before. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I should have thrown something at her.

[Supersprynt]

Tipping in this country has become almost mandatory. In other countries tipping is like wow - and they dont expect it like they do hear. I am right there with you. A tip is just that, a TIP. It's not part of the bill. You have to earn it.

Even with they say gratuity is included - you don't have to pay that. It's gratuity - not a tax. It's BS. IMO.

[monkey]

goback and let em know...
some bitch at sonic dropped my food off and didnt even give me my change, it was like 17+ dollars... i asked her for my change nad she took off so i asked another one and she said that she said it was a tip... **** them!

[bloodrain]

defiantly complain, it wasn't in her right to practically steal your money. And monkey, if I was you I would have spoken to the manager. Although I do tip pretty much anytime someone serves me (even in McDonalds in those "donate" things, I always put in a quarter or something) STEALING $17 from you is extremely ballsy. She just stole 3 hours of her time basically. Depending on how long ago it was, I'd complain to the manager.

[supershannon77]

I always tip 20% or more...at a buffet I tip less but I always leave them something..at dunkin donuts or w/e I leave my change...I waitressed for 3 yrs so I no it feels good to get a nice tip...She had some set of balls tho to take ur money tho that I would not put up with...I would never even take my tip of the table until the customer was gone...lets say they went to the bathroom b4 leaving. I wish you could go back in time and say the service sucked so no tip for you.

[Havok1997GT]

it wasnt worth it, it would have been a hour of arguing with someone that car barly speak english, for them to get a manager that speaks even less. it was like 2 bucks anyways but it was that she pointed at it and asked if the service was good and then just took it, like those are the magic words that waitresses us and to get tips and they dont understand why everyone else doesnt ask like that.

[95CelicaST]

When she pointed to the tip line on the debit receipt I would have jotted down a fat 0... and I would have done it with a smile!

[Legit94GT]

Some one correct me if i am wrong, but i when my sister was waitressing i remember talking to her about tips, and she said that they get taxed on tips, like the government taxes an extra 8% or something... Is this just an Oregon thing, or am i way off the rocker?

And ya you should have throw something! lol

Thats why i dont go to buffets... or Sonic

[96bluevert]

Some one correct me if i am wrong, but i when my sister was waitressing i remember talking to her about tips, and she said that they get taxed on tips, like the government taxes an extra 8% or something... Is this just an Oregon thing, or am i way off the rocker?

I think it's just Oregon cause I havn't heard about anything like that up here...Probably b/c you all don't have sales Tax ( they got to make it up somehow).

[monkey]

Tipping has becomes pretty necessary tho.... its redisulous and is a gratuity.... the jerked off thing about it is that its sooo expected that they pay the waitresses less because they expect other people to pay for their time..... wtf is that ll about... as if waiting on ppl all day isnt enough, they make em work even more to get min wage... even tho the ones that are worth tipping make atleast 150 a night, then some get outrageous and at the country clubs in the woodlands the kids who wait, exspecially the girls, they get about 300 bucks a night.... Theyre only 16 through 20 and their parents usually work in management at them.... WTF!!!!! Can anyone see that tipping has really gotten out of hand...

and yes, its consitered income and must be reported on your w4 and is taxed like all other....

and doing what he said below is very illegal and restaurants fire ppl for this... namely my sister.. lol
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

This post has been edited by monkey: Jun 29, 2008 - 12:56 AM

[forkee]

nope. they do that in california too. its best to tip in cash. that way the server can say they got less in tips so that less get taken out. cant do anything about whats added to a card payment though.

[Stambo]

I give a tip if the waiter/waitress actually got my order and was nice. If someone just came to drop the food off, and not even say anything i dont tip.

[CAMAricer]

That sucks that she was so upfront and rude about it...but I think buffet people deserve tips too. I mean, they can remove your dishes 3-4 times and refill your drinks that many times too. But the way she went about it, yeah, I would have definitely choose the appropriate finger, pointed at the same spot and said, "What are we pointing at?".

But yeah, tip has become mandatory in some places...like if the party is 6 or more. WTH is that about? When did it become custom for the customer to PAY the employees to do their JOB?!? I'm all for rewarding hard work and everything (I've worked in customer service before), but to make something based on generosity into something forced...errr...that's not cool.

[joehernandez]

that sucks man!
i would of said something to her! or at least say something the next time you go there.
i remembered we were at redlobster and there was this nice really nice woman
that serevered us pretty good,
so we decided to leave a tip, a nice tip!
but we didn't had money left,
only mexican money!
so we left her 200 pesos which is 20 dollars, hope
she doesn't got that as an offense

[goferris]

i also think that is ridiculous. personally i always leave some sort of tip unless the service is crappy at any sort of sit down place, buffets included. i do think it's pretty ridiculous that she pretty much just took your money though. i just wouldn't go back to that place after that kind of crap.

on the other hand about tipping. most restaurants around here don't really pay minimum wage. the pay like 2.30 then the rest is all tips but when they do the taxes they tax you on min wage plus any tips more than min wage. i think that's a load of $h!t. ya you can make a lot of money in tips but still. why aren't they required to pay min wage? why are they above the law in that respective?

back on topic. sorry you got your tipped forced on you but still. don't go back to the place and if you do talk to a manager and tell them what happened. demand something like a free meal or something

[lubu]

I'd comeback to this place and do (all of the above) while shes at it again.
When they dont deserve it, they dont. Even if its 2 bucks.

[Sh0gunkid8721]

I still tip at buffets...obviously not much but they still take ur dishes when ur done with your 1st or 2nd dish, refill ur drinks and clean after you eat. Ive always been a good tipper though.

[FreddyTheOthaMea...]

Oh man, that kills me when people think they deserve a tip when they REALLY dont. Ok like i dont know if any of you have a Cinzetti's in your area but its kind of a nicer "italian" buffet. They have this thing called automatic gratuity. meaning regardless of the service you received your billed WILL have the tip forced in. Even in an instance where a waitress was lazy with getting your group drinks its still charged and the managers wont budge on it if you dont agree to it. Personally myself I tip 20+% when i get good service... people that work their hardest to get by deserve every cent they get. Other wise get a glass of water, put a penny in it and grab a menu.. Put the menu on top of the glass and hold it down tight.. flip it over and leave it on the table. Bad service erks me off pretty bad..

[gt_driFFter]

Restaraunts in the USA have it real nice. Not only do they make a ton of money from you on the food, you also get to pay THEIR employees!

[D-Man]

Wholey Crap Havoc, You just wrote a small novel becase of like $2.00.

I understand it's all principal, and i agree with you 100%. But DAMN MAN!! Chill out, just go back and leave here a negitive tip. Like run the CC and put <-20.00>

[celicaST]

sounds like shannon is the only other one who has served tables here. i worked as a server for over a year and i always leave big tips since then. i dont know about other restaurants, but that job was busy and very stressful at times. just fyi for those who dont know, most servers do not get paid minimum wage. i made $2.13 an hour plus tips. most places also require servers to pay tip-share to the hosts, bussers, bartenders. i paid 4% tip-share. that 4% is off of the bill, not the tip. so if a table has a $100 bill and they leave no tip, i just PAID 4 dollars to serve them. and obviously every tip i made was actually 4% less than what was given to me. always leave a tip unless the server is horrible and/or rude. heres how i categorized tips. 0-10% bad, 10-15% ok, 15-20% good, >20% great. granted this is a buffet, i still think you should leave at least a 10% tip

edit- yes you do get taxed on tips just like any other form of income. you claim your tips at the end of the day. as forkee said though, cash tips are nice because i could claim less than what i actually got.

This post has been edited by celicaST: Jun 30, 2008 - 11:27 AM

[bloodrain]

I think the real problem here is the restaurants, they NEED to change there rules about paying employee's. My gf used to waitress and if it was a dead slow day, she would make $19 for a 7 hour shift. Thats just ridiculous. They need to atleast pay $6/hour.

[celicaST]

I think the real problem here is the restaurants, they NEED to change there rules about paying employee's. My gf used to waitress and if it was a dead slow day, she would make $19 for a 7 hour shift. Thats just ridiculous. They need to atleast pay $6/hour.

definitely, ya there were some day i made jack ****. of course there were days where i made quite a bit so it balanced out. the problem is though if they paid 6 an hour, menu prices would have to go up

[bloodrain]

I think the real problem here is the restaurants, they NEED to change there rules about paying employee's. My gf used to waitress and if it was a dead slow day, she would make $19 for a 7 hour shift. Thats just ridiculous. They need to atleast pay $6/hour.

definitely, ya there were some day i made jack ****. of course there were days where i made quite a bit so it balanced out. the problem is though if they paid 6 an hour, menu prices would have to go up

forgot to mention, that $19 included tips and hourly pay. She basically wasted 7 hours of her life that day.

[GriffGirl]

I still tip at buffets...obviously not much but they still take ur dishes when ur done with your 1st or 2nd dish, refill ur drinks and clean after you eat. Ive always been a good tipper though.

x2. Usually I'll leave 2 or 3 bucks on the table depending on how attentive the person is; they still bring you drinks and have to clean up after you.

BTW: tips are taxable income, it's not just an Oregon thing. When you work in food-service, particularly restaurants, there's a certain percentage of your earned income that is assumed to be in tips, therefor you're taxed on it (which would really suck if you suck at your job or you're serving CelicaST). That's why I try to tip in cash - at least cash is a little easier to not claim if you're being tipped directly, as opposed to like Starbuck's where the tips are pooled and accounted for on your W2.

[supershannon77]

Well according to my old boss when I use to waitress if it was slow he had to make up the difference of at least min wage. He said he didn't do so at first and he ended up getting fined.. I always wondered if he did it bc he felt bad bc during the week it be slow and I would come in for no reason...but that is what I was told.


Edit..this was at a little family own cafe type deal at times I would have like 3 customers a day. I did not need to give any tips to hostess or anything since I also did all that. The only thing that did sucked was weekends would be super busy so there would be 2 or 3 waitress and we all split tips...What sucked was not to get full of my self but I did majority of the tables and got the highest tips and had to split that but if I kept my own I would have made much more. I haven.t worked there in over 2 yrs..but the boss calls me almost every weekend asking if I can come into help bc he lost to many customers when I left and no one else does any work. I wont go back its very stressful and I am glad to have done it and have it in my past. OO and yes I had all my tips taxed.

Just to clear my first statement I don't no if that was true what he told me about having to give me money to make min wage on days but that is what is what i was told and I don't no why he would pay me extra if he didn't have to.

This post has been edited by supershannon77: Jun 30, 2008 - 4:30 PM

[97Celica]

I try to avoid eating out and having to tip because I make way better food than the crap they make at restaurants ... there is only 1 restaurant in Boston where the food is amazing and it's called P.F. Chang's China Bistro...It's a wicked high class place but you tip well because the people are wicked attentive.

[xs94st]

damn, and thats at a buffet place.

i once had a horrible night at TGIFridays, our bill came out to $150~ and we left no tip whatsoever. i think we left exact change. the food was pretty good, just the people there were a bunch of douchebag highschool kids talking to each other:

"like omg, he like totally asked me out" \

"omg tiffanay, that is sooo awesome. i'm like, so like jealous."

...

lol. like, really? the crap being pushed out of the public school system continues to destroy my eardrums to this day.

[GriffGirl]

I try to avoid eating out and having to tip because I make way better food than the crap they make at restaurants ... there is only 1 restaurant in Boston where the food is amazing and it's called P.F. Chang's China Bistro...It's a wicked high class place but you tip well because the people are wicked attentive.

That "bistro" is a national chain...

I always think it's funny when they call national chains "bistros". It's like calling Applebee's a "bistro" LOL

Anyway, I'll make you a deal - if you cook for me I promise to leave you a tip!

[Havok1997GT]

I try to avoid eating out and having to tip because I make way better food than the crap they make at restaurants ... there is only 1 restaurant in Boston where the food is amazing and it's called P.F. Chang's China Bistro...It's a wicked high class place but you tip well because the people are wicked attentive.

That "bistro" is a national chain...

I always think it's funny when they call national chains "bistros". It's like calling Applebee's a "bistro" LOL

Anyway, I'll make you a deal - if you cook for me I promise to leave you a tip!

X2

[95st-celica]

you should have said..."heres a tip, dont spit in the wind" and walked out...thats what i would do anyway

[95CelicaST]

I still tip at buffets...obviously not much but they still take ur dishes when ur done with your 1st or 2nd dish, refill ur drinks and clean after you eat. Ive always been a good tipper though.

x2. Usually I'll leave 2 or 3 bucks on the table depending on how attentive the person is; they still bring you drinks and have to clean up after you.

BTW: tips are taxable income, it's not just an Oregon thing. When you work in food-service, particularly restaurants, there's a certain percentage of your earned income that is assumed to be in tips, therefor you're taxed on it (which would really suck if you suck at your job or you're serving CelicaST). That's why I try to tip in cash - at least cash is a little easier to not claim if you're being tipped directly, as opposed to like Starbuck's where the tips are pooled and accounted for on your W2.

Ah! I just caught it!

I'm sorry, but that girl was dense. She had no idea how to split a bill... which was fine, but aggrevated me a little. Then proceeded to not bring me the fries I ordered, AND THEN not picking up my glass for a refill. She got a small tip, but there has been times where I've had to write obsenities on the check (small shop in Seattle charging me $17 for a salad which I was under the impression was complementary!).

I am a firm believer that tips are EARNED not DESERVED. I have a rough idea how much I am going to spend at a restaraunt - thus, I have a 20-25% tip range that I walk in the door with. Every time I am displeased with my waiter/waitress I knock a little off the top. If you end up with a check on the table with a written "tip" on the back of it that means you suck at your job, and consequently your life as well. If you do a good job (do your job!) then you will be rewarded with a large tip. There is one extenuating circumstance where I will tip on bad service, and that is if you're new. You're getting used to the job, you've got someone mentoring you, etc. I'll tip that person for doing a good job of picking it up.

[GriffGirl]

[Sh0gunkid8721]

I try to avoid eating out and having to tip because I make way better food than the crap they make at restaurants ... there is only 1 restaurant in Boston where the food is amazing and it's called P.F. Chang's China Bistro...It's a wicked high class place but you tip well because the people are wicked attentive.

sorry but PF Changs is nothin special...not even high class. Just ur average chain restaurant....u want to go to a "high class" place, go to Tavern on the Green in NYC.

This post has been edited by Sh0gunkid8721: Jul 2, 2008 - 12:30 PM

[GriffGirl]

I've been to Tavern - it's overrated. Great atmosphere though!

[block]

god try going to chinese restuarants and buffets in california. i was there all last week and ate all chinese minus bk at nights. they followed us until we tipped them. they wanted 10 dollars tip for what happened to you - refilling drinks! ridiculous! now i dont know if it's required but i've never tipped more than 2 bucks at where i always eat at. hm...

[Sh0gunkid8721]

I've been to Tavern - it's overrated. Great atmosphere though!

it depends on the time u go. ive been there at least 3 or 4 times...ive had a blast every time i go...call it overrated but its still very high class.

god try going to chinese restuarants and buffets in california. i was there all last week and ate all chinese minus bk at nights. they followed us until we tipped them. they wanted 10 dollars tip for what happened to you - refilling drinks! ridiculous! now i dont know if it's required but i've never tipped more than 2 bucks at where i always eat at. hm...

10 bucks is ridiculous for a buffet. i will tip 3 or 4 dollars max at a buffet.

[GriffGirl]

^ fair enough. I've only been twice, both times I thought it was very cool, I just thought the food itself was over rated. But yes, definitely high class. Way higher class than I am, that's for sure! LOL

And I agree, 3 or 4 bucks MAX at a buffet. Some buffets are nicer than others, which *may* warrant as much as 4 bucks, but generally 2 or 3. Then again, that brings us full-circle back to my evident lack of class whence dining out (as I sit here at my desk eating salad out of tupperware). Not that buffets exactly qualify as "classy" either, mind you. Some try to be, but really, there's never any class to be had in "all you can eat." hahaha But then there's even less class, in my opinion, in NOT leaving a tip.

This post has been edited by GriffGirl: Jul 2, 2008 - 2:15 PM

[D-Man]

Tavern? How the hell is a bar so high class?

I though the local tavern was for people like me... and drunks...

EDIT: ya'll must have nicer bar's than us. We call nice bars "Night Clubs"

This post has been edited by D-Man: Jul 2, 2008 - 2:23 PM

[purplegt4]

sounds like shannon is the only other one who has served tables here. i worked as a server for over a year and i always leave big tips since then. i dont know about other restaurants, but that job was busy and very stressful at times. just fyi for those who dont know, most servers do not get paid minimum wage. i made $2.13 an hour plus tips. most places also require servers to pay tip-share to the hosts, bussers, bartenders. i paid 4% tip-share. that 4% is off of the bill, not the tip. so if a table has a $100 bill and they leave no tip, i just PAID 4 dollars to serve them. and obviously every tip i made was actually 4% less than what was given to me. always leave a tip unless the server is horrible and/or rude. heres how i categorized tips. 0-10% bad, 10-15% ok, 15-20% good, >20% great. granted this is a buffet, i still think you should leave at least a 10% tip

edit- yes you do get taxed on tips just like any other form of income. you claim your tips at the end of the day. as forkee said though, cash tips are nice because i could claim less than what i actually got.

i served for about 5 years.

if you constantly go in and not tip then you better believe you're lucky that all she did was take your $2.

I would've had a special pitcher of water just for you.

[Havok1997GT]

sounds like shannon is the only other one who has served tables here. i worked as a server for over a year and i always leave big tips since then. i dont know about other restaurants, but that job was busy and very stressful at times. just fyi for those who dont know, most servers do not get paid minimum wage. i made $2.13 an hour plus tips. most places also require servers to pay tip-share to the hosts, bussers, bartenders. i paid 4% tip-share. that 4% is off of the bill, not the tip. so if a table has a $100 bill and they leave no tip, i just PAID 4 dollars to serve them. and obviously every tip i made was actually 4% less than what was given to me. always leave a tip unless the server is horrible and/or rude. heres how i categorized tips. 0-10% bad, 10-15% ok, 15-20% good, >20% great. granted this is a buffet, i still think you should leave at least a 10% tip

edit- yes you do get taxed on tips just like any other form of income. you claim your tips at the end of the day. as forkee said though, cash tips are nice because i could claim less than what i actually got.

i served for about 5 years.

if you constantly go in and not tip then you better believe you're lucky that all she did was take your $2.

I would've had a special pitcher of water just for you.

if you service is bad then you wont get a tip, if it continus to suck youll never get a tip and youll wear that pitcher

[Sh0gunkid8721]

Tavern? How the hell is a bar so high class?

I though the local tavern was for people like me... and drunks...

EDIT: ya'll must have nicer bar's than us. We call nice bars "Night Clubs"

Tavern is NOT A BAR... It has a bar but its NOT a bar. Tavern on the green is a VERY famous, high class restaurant...last time i was there, my friends and i dropped close to 2,000 dollars on dinner and drinks.

http://www.tavernonthegreen.com/

and yes...NYC bars are 100 times better than Houston bars.

This post has been edited by Sh0gunkid8721: Jul 2, 2008 - 7:18 PM

[SoDo]

I was a prep cook at a 3 star restaurant when I was in highschool. Early in that career I decided to take my homecoming date to work for dinner. Bill was like $75 for both of us. I left a $5 tip. I knew that it was polite to tip, but didnt know how to tip. So the next day i go into work, the chef pulls me aside. He was like, "hey do you know how to tip?" I replied something like, "WTF are u talking about?" He told me that the server was pissed that I left a s***ty tip and explained how to tip. He also added that I should tip well when I come in for dinner since I have to work with the servers. LOL. Later on that night the server came up to me and gave me a tipping scale card. Funny thing was I was cool with the server and talked to him all the time. I felt soooo bad for it. Honestly I didnt know how it worked. Ever since then I usually leave 15+%.

[shortydragon]

...should have thrown something at her
TaKe A vOtE!!!

[bloodrain]

I was a prep cook at a 3 star restaurant when I was in highschool. Early in that career I decided to take my homecoming date to work for dinner. Bill was like $75 for both of us. I left a $5 tip. I knew that it was polite to tip, but didnt know how to tip. So the next day i go into work, the chef pulls me aside. He was like, "hey do you know how to tip?" I replied something like, "WTF are u talking about?" He told me that the server was pissed that I left a s***ty tip and explained how to tip. He also added that I should tip well when I come in for dinner since I have to work with the servers. LOL. Later on that night the server came up to me and gave me a tipping scale card. Funny thing was I was cool with the server and talked to him all the time. I felt soooo bad for it. Honestly I didnt know how it worked. Ever since then I usually leave 15+%.

oh man that sucks, a $5 tip on a $75 check is almost a slap in the face... almost.

[Crem]

Ok any1 else takes your cash without permission it's theft a waitress does it and it's a tip???

Here in Australia our waiting staff make approx. $20 an hour and you can't leave a tip with the person who waited on you have to toss it in a jar at the register if they have one, most places here don't.

If the establishments paid a decent rate you wouldn't have this crap.
After reading this I feeling sorry for any1 thats waited tables in the states but yeah she had no right to take your money.

I would have thrown something.

[Cuts_the_Pilot]

what crem said.

except i wouldnt have thrown something, i would have just ignored it haha and looked at the server like they were retarded or something