Ok, I am going to try to write this without the venting I feel like doing... please forgive me if I do not accomplish this completely.
Let me begin by sharing that my family enjoys tipping at restaurants. We are regular 15%+ tippers. On the occasions that the service is poor, we still tip. We figure that we don't know what the waiter/waitress is going through, and tip anyway. I honestly cannot remember when we have not tipped... that is until this Monday night.
We were in McKinney, Texas for my son's final golf tournament of the summer. Most of our meals during tournaments are quick and cheap (well if there is such a thing for a family of 4). However, we decided on Monday night to go to a nicer restaurant and be waited on. We decided on a Tex-Mex restaurant that we have never tried before.
The restaurant was nice, and the hostess was very friendly as she seated us. Then we met our waiter. First of all, he looked put out that he had to wait on another table. (By the way, it was a little later in the evening, on a Monday night... it wasn't busy at all.) As we were ordering our drinks, my husband ordered a half and half sweet tea. (In case you don't know, that is half sweet/half unsweet) He orders those every where we go, and has never had a problem. The waiter looked at him as if he had ordered something illegal, or maybe even immoral. Erin and I ordered sweet teas, and then Ethan also ordered a half and half sweet tea. The waiter snorted... out loud! I couldn't believe it. When he brought our drinks, he set Jason's in front of him, and stated in a rather rude tone, "here is your special blend." After placing our order, we laughed about it, and then visited over our chips and salsa.
Then... we needed refills.... As he refilled the drinks, he refilled them all with sweet tea. We decided he didn't like the "special blend" of having to pour from two different pitchers... but we didn't complain. We didn't even complain as he kept leaning over Erin, who was coloring, to pour the tea. If she had raised up, she would have been looking at his arm pit... can you say gross!?!?
Next came the meal... Erin is a very picky eater. If she doesn't like something, she doesn't want it on her plate. So I had ordered her meal with no rice. When her meal arrived, not only did it have rice, it was in the middle of the plate so that it touched everything. This is another no-no with my picky eater. (and yes, we are working on it.) I told the waiter that we had ordered no rice. After checking the ticket in a very indignant manner, he responded, "yes, yes you did." He handed out the rest of the plates. Then he said, "Well, is she allergic to rice?" I bit back my first thought of, "No, are you allergic to tips?" Y'all just don't know how hard that was not to say. Instead, I said no she is not. I then asked Erin if she thought she could eat around the rice. She agreed thankfully, and we did not send the plate back. After the waiter left, Jason and I just looked at each other in amazement.
We didn't see the waiter again until he dropped the ticket at the table. My writing is just not doing justice to the arrogant and rude manner in which this man treated us. The kids know that we are tippers. They also know that we pay with a debit card, and usually include the tip on our card. Ethan noticed that Jason left the tip line blank, and asked about it. Jason explained that a tip is given in appreciation of services rendered. We did not appreciate the manner in which we were treated, and therefore were not going to leave a tip this time.
You would think the story had ended there... nope! This morning, as I was checking our bank account online, something I do daily, I noticed that the waiter had given himself a $10 tip on our card! (For those of you wondering, that would be a 25% tip!!!) So, not only is this man a poor waiter, but he is also a thief! Yes, I will be calling and speaking with a manager today!
As I have thought about this event, I have thought back to one of my first jobs as a waitress. I was taught that I had to earn my tip. Now I realize that wait staff are paid less because the tips are figured in with their salary. I do not believe this is fair... however, I still believe that a tip must be earned. Even with the most disagreeable customers, the motto used to be, "the customer is alway right." Now, you rarely see such a thing.
I feel like this lack of service, and not just in restaurants, is just a sign of the society we live in. We have become a self serving society. We no longer recognize the need to serve others. If it does not benefit us, we are not interested. This is clearly against Biblical teaching. We are to serve one another in love. This is a lesson we all need to remember... yes, including me.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13
As a general rule, I give tips in cash, regardless. And even if I pay with a credit or debit card, I always ALWAYS put $0.00 on the tip line. I can write in the amount of tip later, if it was a business dinner, on OUR copy of the receipt. And I make sure I write "cash tip" beside it.
ReplyDeleteSorry your experience was terrible; I had a similar one a few weeks ago at a KFC. I said nothing, but wrote to the company instead to report the deplorable service, and the way the restaurant itself was kept was very poor, I'm sad to say.