poor service at restaurant

[PrideKidd]

I agree that you will have both good and bad experiences at restaurants. There is a difference in my opinion though between bad and horrible. I have had both. I had service last month at an Applebees that was just repulsive. I had to ask another server to get us drinks and napkins and waited 20 minutes for the server to come back, only to find that He had left for the night and did not tell anyone we were still there.

I complained and the manager ended up giving us our meals for free and got a couple of coupons for future visits. I hardly ever have to complain but when I do..watch out. lol.

 

[DancingLady]

If there is a comment card, I will definitely use it. I will probably only tip 15% if the service is not good, while I try to be as generous as I can be if it is very good. I have worked in the service industry for a long time now and I know that most places pool their tips so each server gets a portion equal to the number of shifts they work in a week, rather than getting exactly what each table they personally waited gives. For that reason I would still tip, even if my server did not do a good job, I don't want to take from the rest of the staff who might be doing excellent work. If there was a particular issues, I might let the manager know if I could, that way the person could receive the correction they need and hopefully do better next time.

 

[Shimus]

I hate restaurants that give the "auto-gratuity" (up to 15%!) spiel every time they bring the check, and they still expect a tip when it's already built into the bill. In this situation I usually just leave a buck or two on the table because I don't know if that gratuity is making it to the waitress. But I hate when they are auto-included and their service is BLAH. Not worth mentioning.

Aside from letting them know what is wrong while you order/wait, if you are ignored/order takes too long especially when there are "few" people inside a restaurant, I can't tip. If the service is excellent even when busy, that's when I'm willing to tip and enjoy service. But most times, it's just what do you want, how do you want it, and they check up maybe once or twice. How does that warrant leaving 5+ dollars? It doesn't. You want a tip, you need to work for it. I was a cook and we never saw any tips, so it pained me when I saw waitresses doing crap jobs still pulling home more than I do and I'm the one doing the work. It's all about service.

 

[PrideKidd]

@Shimus I can agree friend, if they expect me to tip fairly decent or at all, then I better get service that deserves tipping. Again I agree with you on the point of Auto-Gratuity, that is just absurd they would even ask for a tip when it is included. Places what do this should have a sign on their door saying Tipping is not permitted here. (since they already get one anyhow.)

Recently my husband and i went out to a family restaurant and this server was too over the top. Every two minutes she would come by and ask if we were ok. I feel this is also annoying. If you see my glass on the end of the table, I should not have to ask for a refill. If a server notices anything you need and gets it for you without being too friendly then I tip extremely well because I remember my Server days at a local restaurant.

 

[NThomas]

I had a bad experiencewith a waitress at a restaraunt. I did leave a tip but I did so in loose change . I think she got the point. She was well are that her service was less than good .

 

[Shimus]

Had another couple experiences since I last posted - so I'll share another two of them:

Waitress, extremely polite and nice. Came at appropriate times. Granted, the place was not jammed full but they were busy which still takes skill to take care of 16 tables by yourself and still meet the expectations of each guest dining in. And she nailed it with flying colors. Tipped her four bucks.

Flash forward, went to a local sitdown and the service was non-existent. They came once to place the order, once for drinks, and once in the middle of the meal. The rest of the time we had to locate them to ask for refills or any other random thing (like more dinner rolls) since our party had a lot of folks (6) and the service was abysmal.

I've never left under a dollar, but it was the first time I left 25 cents. Each of of the other people I was with did the same thing. With a giant group we expect to have our needs filled. You will get tipped your effort. Thing was, place with 6 people wasn't even busy. IN THE LEAST. Like, 80% open tables. And the food still took 50 minutes.

 

[barkingsquirrel]

When I was in high school and college, I was a waitress. I was taught early to leave the outside world outside and pretend like this was the best day of your life while you were at work. It worked!! I always had good days waitressing and always made great tips. To this day, I think that was the best advice I was ever given, no matter where I worked and what kind of job I was doing. Especially when working with the public, you must never bring your personal problems to work.

 

[cupcakechef]

I hate complaining in person - it always makes me feel like they'll do something to any replacement food or something! (I know that's a silly idea to have, but it always worries me!!)
I usually call once I'm home, or email or leave a message on their Facebook page if they have one. I try not to be emotional when I do that - I think it's always just better to stick to the facts of why the service was poor or the meal wasn't up to par. I think that way it's easier for them to try and resolve the issue and take the feedback on board. Yelling and screaming doesn't benefit anyone and certainly makes the restaurant staff less likely to want to help you.