How did you handle bad restaurant service?

[siberian khatru]

I came across this anecdote on a blog:

My senior year we had dinner at Ambrosia, a Very High End 4 star resturant on Balboa, near the bridge to Lido. Dressed to the 9's. The service was AWFUL. We were put right next to the kitchen door, which actually banged into my date's chair each time it opened. We didn't buy any wine (drinking age in CA was 21) but were charged $20 for it ANYWAY, because it was "policy."

After I paid the check I asked the waiter to bring over the captain and matre'de. I told them that for a meal like that (nearly $100 in pre-inflation money) I'd expect to leave a $20 tip. The service had been horrid and I would not leave a tip, but I didn't want them to believe it was because I was a cheap teenage that they could treat like crap. So I folded a $20 and put it in the ashtray and set it on fire.

I thought the matre'de was going to have a stroke. 6 months later they were closed.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/...ves/005618.php

I thought that was terrific.

Anybody else have a good story like that? (I don't.)

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

I went to the men's room & wiped my ass with a $20 & left it.

Did you look to see if it changed color? Maybe it was counterfeit.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by CosmicPal

I leave two pennies on the table and say nothing

This is my usual response to bad service as well.

There was one time, though, when the service was so bad, I walked over to my waittress as I was leaving, handed her the two cents, and said to her "This is the tip for your service tonight, and believe me when I tell you is far more than you're worth".

[|Zach|]

I don't quite understand the spite directed at the waiter or waitress personally...

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by Saggysack

I come back a second time with a big bag of crickets from the pet store.

Nothing clears and kills out a eatery faster than 20,000 bugs crawling and jumping all over the place.

No, I've never done that. Have thought about it though. It would be funny as hell seeing the mass exodus of those that didn't have a chance to pay their bill.

Those things are pretty cheap too.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by ZachKC

I don't quite understand the spite directed at the waiter or waitress personally...

I don't understand your inability to understand.

If the wait person provides poor service, who should the spite be directed at?

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by CosmicPal

I leave two pennies on the table and say nothing.

That's my two cents any time I ever get bad service. It's rare that I'll ever do it, but I've had to do it a couple of times in the recent past.

The way I look at it- they know they're providing poor service and when they return to get their tip and they only see two pennies on the table, I hope they think about the consequences of providing poor service 'cause after all- they are primarily living off of these tips.

I save myself the embarrassment of arguing with managers in front of others and I just walk out quietly into the night knowing that I evened it up.

You pretty much should avoid that restaurant until the staff is turned over then. Me, I leave a 10% tip even if it sucks, normally I tip 15% of the ticket. Then I just leave and don't come back. I don't get too hung up on the fact that my business is so damned important to any place. By itself, it is a drop in their bucket, and I am sure they could give a fug. Life is way too short to get pissy with a server over a few bucks and a shitty meal.

Just don't go back. If they are consistently bad, the marketplace will find out. I will tell my friends not to eat there, oh yeah.

[Frazod]

I realize that the people who are waiting on me and cooking my food are generally overworked, underpaid and footsore, so I'm generally willing to forgive a certain amount of less-than-good service. But I have little patience for rudeness, and God forbid I realize that I'm getting shitty service while someone else isn't. If I see somebody who came in after me get their food before I do, I'll generally just get up and leave. Bad service because of extremely busy conditions is generally forgiven. Rude service gets NO tip and no return business.

The worst service I ever got was at an Applebee's in Staten Island. That was in 1997. I didn't set foot in another Applebee's until earlier this year.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by Seek

I haven't done anything like that except leave a bad tip. I did have an ex girlfriends father, do the Here is your base tip. For everything you do that I don't like, I will take a dollar away. If you do something good, I will add that dollar back.

This was at Olive Garden in KC. He was visiting his daughter and lived in Las Vegas. So I am just assuming it must be a different life style because he bitched about everything. I couldn't believe it.

First he wanted Angel Hair, not spaghetti. I know the difference but Olive Garden got it wrong, so he took a dollar away. She took the order back and came out with Spaghetti again. Again he complained. This time the chef came out and said, this is Angel Hair, he continued to argue with them. By this time I was about done with my food. So was my Ex.

He ended up throwing such a fit he just looked at us in front of the manager, and said lets go. I am not paying them a damn thing. So we all walked out without even paying for our food.

I never felt so uncomfortable in my life.

If I was the Chef, I would have said, WTF do you want? This is Olive Garden not Mamaleone's!!

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by bunnytrdr

You pretty much should avoid that restaurant until the staff is turned over then. Me, I leave a 10% tip even if it sucks, normally I tip 15% of the ticket. Then I just leave and don't come back. I don't get too hung up on the fact that my business is so damned important to any place. By itself, it is a drop in their bucket, and I am sure they could give a fug. Life is way too short to get pissy with a server over a few bucks and a shitty meal.

Just don't go back. If they are consistently bad, the marketplace will find out. I will tell my friends not to eat there, oh yeah.

Good points all. Unless I know for sure I'll never go back (e.g., business trip to some odd place), I'll always leave at least a ten percent tip. However, if I leave a ten percent tip, I'm probably not coming back anyway.

On a related note, a client of mine a while back was the head of a very large organization (1,000+ employees), and told an interesting story a while back. Probably 300 of the employees were in the headquarters building, and a new restaurant opened across the street. She went over there with a group of managers, and essentially got ignored. When they finally asked for service, the server was snitty, and so they asked for the manager. The manager came out and said something along the lines of "Get off my back. I'm busy." My client went back and sent a memo out to the entire headquarters that said that there were to be no business lunches held at that restaurant in the future. You never know who you're dealing with.

[Rain Man]

Okay, here's another question. What do you do when you go to a "fast casual" restaurant like Chipotle's or Boston Market or something, and pay by credit card? They've always got that line for a tip, and I feel guilty if I write in a zero, but at the same time I'm not getting any service. I'm just picking up my food to go and I'm even pouring my own drink. I hate that. Half the time I'll put down a zero and feel guilty, and half the time I'll put down a dollar and be ticked off about it.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Okay, here's another question. What do you do when you go to a "fast casual" restaurant like Chipotle's or Boston Market or something, and pay by credit card? They've always got that line for a tip, and I feel guilty if I write in a zero, but at the same time I'm not getting any service. I'm just picking up my food to go and I'm even pouring my own drink. I hate that. Half the time I'll put down a zero and feel guilty, and half the time I'll put down a dollar and be ticked off about it.

Why feel guilty about not leaving a tip?

A tip is paid for service.

What service are they providing that would warrant a tip?

How about this.

On that line for tips, write "Get a job that you actually earn tips".

[CosmicPal]

Originally Posted by bunnytrdr

You pretty much should avoid that restaurant until the staff is turned over then. Me, I leave a 10% tip even if it sucks, normally I tip 15% of the ticket.

My general rule in tipping is the standard 20% for good service and this is for simply being polite and acknowledging us at the table and making sure the water glasses are topped off and stuff like that. Nothing exciting, but always expected.

Exceptional service will get 25% and above. Someone who goes out of their way or goes beyond the duties of their jobs even when we can see they are very busy.

Average service will get 15% This doesn't mean the server was unpleasant, but that they failed to check up on us or fill our waters, etc. Simply omitting the duties we expected of you.

And bad service and an attitude, but I'm giving them a break 'cause it is after all a busy night and they may be putting in a double and stuff like that will get 10%

But, service that is appalling and unforgiving will get the two cents.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsMan

so when I used to wait tables through college (it feels good saying that now), we had about 10 families at least that would never tip and they kept coming back every week or 2, so the first time or 2 I'd give them good service just like I would anyone else, well then the next time I had to serve them if I remembered them correctly they definately left unhappy because I would give them the worst service I could, then I would be extra extra extra nice to the tables sitting near them just to rub it in. I even said to a guy one time while he was eating his cold food while I let it sit there for 10 minutes, "boy, ya sure look thursty, huh?"

I kinda got a kick out of messing with those people, and I would only give that treatment to people if I remembered correctly that they didn't tip last time.....

but if ya had a few tables like that all night it really got stressful, so I try to be a very pleasant customer when I eat out and if I get great service I usually tip 30%, bad service 15% depending on how bad it is.

Was it your restaurant? What gave you the perrogative to piss off one of your bosses customers? That is what is called tough, you tough it out, suck it up, get through it and move on. No pride in your work ethic at all.

Fug if I did that I would have been out of business a long time ago.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I used to work in restaurants and was a manager of one for some time so I have quite a bit of empathy for bad service. Most of the time bad service results from being extremely busy and extremely short handed. Even when you try to explain to customers they don't give a rat's ass.
In the end I pretty much hated all customers except the loyal ones that always came in.

I am so glad I don't work in the restaurant field anymore.

Old people bitch the loudest and for the least problem.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by Simplex3

Hell, he got a raise for it. Stock prices went up when it was announced, too.

Wasn't that stock a part of Enron's many enterprises?