I just didn't have it in me, but I really shouldda....

... dined and dash, or at least stiff the waitress on the tip

from JoeUser Forums

I really, really, really hate bad service in restaurants, but I just don't have it in me to truly stiff a restaurant and/or a waiter/waitress when I go out to eat, but today I was about ->.<- that close to doing just that, with the Dine and Dash looking like the best choice because the stupid waitress (1) took forever and a day to even think about bringing me my check, and (2) then stood across the dining room holding my check in and flicking it around in the air while carrying on a conversation with another table of patrons that was just as interested in conversing with her as she was with them.  On and on, blah, blah, blah.  No b.s., at least 10 solid minutes of conversing about this, that and the other or whatever the heck it was she was talking to them about.

I try to not listen in on other people's conversations, so I really don't know what it was all about, but I know I saw her stand there with my check in hand, yakking like crazy with the other customers while keeping her back to me either forgetting that she had my check in hand, or just not friggin' caring.  Yet again, where's my phone number to call and complain?!?

Actually, if I didn't mind wasting another 15 minutes while she processed the check for the other table of customers, I probably could have gotten a phone number to call and provide feedback but by then I had already wasted the better part of 30 minutes (if not more) waiting to be asked if I wanted the check (uh, what do you think it means when your customer has pushed their plate aside, is sitting there with a newspaper that has been read and folded back up and they have their arms crossed in front of them looking incredibly bored?!?!  Are you really that stupid 'hun?')

If my departed grandmother hadn't been a waitress that I know was dead on her feet many days (and yet still always delivered the best in customer service and many times never saw any sort of compensation in the form of a tip or gratuity) I would probably have left the exact amount on the table and been gone.  If I had enough change (small bills or coins) to cover the exact amount and leave about 5 - 10% as a tip, I would have done that for sure.  But, not having change, and not wanting to wait for forever to get change, I over paid the check by enough for about 27% just so I could pay and get the frack out of the restaurant and back to work so I didn't have to spend the entire rest of the night working to make up hours that I wasted for a lunch break.

People, people, people -- if you are going to work in the hospitality business (restaurants and hotels, bars, etc.), learn not to take your customers for granted, and do NOT stand around carrying a conversation with one group of customers while ignoring another customer, or customers.  If you do it and you get stiffed on the tab, then smack yourself across the forehead for being an idiot and don't assume that the world is made up of a-holes, or at least if there are a bunch of them in the world, the biggest one in your immediate vicinity is the one you see in the mirror every day.

2,936 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
You should have gone up and asked for the check while she was standing there talking for so long. That's what I would have done!

(But I'm a jerk!)
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

This mis-adventure brought to you by the Letter D as in Denny's, and the letters S and B as in stupid bee-otch working as a waitress.

I swear it was only a few hours before that I reading over the shoulder of someone that was reading their local paper which was mentioning another favorite restaurant chain that is FINALLY looking at opening another location that would be much more reasonably close to my area.  That one being Cracker Barrel.  The (Cracker Barrel) have a poor reputation when it comes to minority hiring/employment and if memory serves, they even had (at one time) a poor reputation when it came to service for minorities.  Whether any of that was ever really true or not is debatable as many times -- just as in the recent article I put up about Donovan McNabb and his belief that he's being scrutinized that much more because he is black (see: Donovan McNabb:Black QBs face greater scrutiny--Right or No?), I'm not necessarily buying the it is because "victim" is Black as you don't have to be Black to get poor service.  I know I'm a lovely shade of pale myself and yet here I am telling people about bad service that I got at a restaurant chain that was also once known as having allegedly provided poor service to a Black FBI agent.

I'll say the same thing I said at the time of hearing those complaints and which I mentioned when discussing the potential Cracker Barrel opening with the person that was reading the paper (as I compared the claims of problems there with those made about Denny's) -- if you go to Denny's and get bad service is it because you are {insert color of skin here}?  NO.  It's because you are at Denny's and they apparently can't employ enough people that have an ounce of sense when it comes to customer service.

I wish that wasn't the case.  I really wish it wasn't the case.  And by the way, it's not just Denny's, it's a host of other places you could go, including Cracker Barrel, Applebees, IHOP, Wendy's, Friendly's, and a bunch more.

All of them pathetic when it comes to customer service, at least in the areas I've been much of the time.  Cracker Barrel not nearly as bad as most of the others I listed, but all highly evident that they pay little or nothing and their employees are miserable because of it and they take that misery out on their customers, or at least certainly do very little to make customers happy and encourage them to come back frequently.

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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

You should have gone up and asked for the check while she was standing there talking for so long. That's what I would have done!

(But I'm a jerk!)

Well, I was practicing some passive agressive noise making techniques in the background for the final 2mins30seconds (give or take) that she conversed but it had no effect.  I guess the amount of wax in her ears was about equal to the amount of lard in the rear (which she might actually be able to exercise away if she wasn't staying stationary so darned long).

(And please forgive as I really don't like to pick on over-weight individuals, being one myself, and being married to someone that is, etc., but this waitress really got on my nerves!!!)

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
You know how to get good service?

a) Flirt with your server (it works female patron to male OR female server, but I don't think it would work male patron to male server, haha) in a friendly, non-sexual manner

b) Sympathize with them ("you sure are busy today, huh?) and show gratitude for everything they do ("thank you" when they refill your Dr.Pepper)

c) If you're going to frequent the place, take extra care to tip well

I almost always get good service when I go places. I know how to work people.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Haha, well, I'm sure your way was more fun! LOL.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

You know how to get good service?

a) Flirt with your server (it works female patron to male OR female server, but I don't think it would work male patron to male server, haha) in a friendly, non-sexual manner

b) Sympathize with them ("you sure are busy today, huh?) and show gratitude for everything they do ("thank you" when they refill your Dr.Pepper)

c) If you're going to frequent the place, take extra care to tip well

I almost always get good service when I go places. I know how to work people.

Was already working politely on all of the above, but this one (waitress) was just absolutely clueless about providing service.  Enough to remind me not to visit Denny's again for a good while, or at least if I do to be sure to specifically ask for one of the two *known* competent individuals there.  Only problem with that is that I typically eat late and those folks are normally leaving or gone by the time I get out and get some food.

I do tip well, or at least well enough, but some people just seem to work as hard as they can at making the little meter in mind go in the wrong direction when it comes to tipping.

Do the minimum and you'll get 15%.  Do less and that meter works down into the 10% range pretty quickly, if not lower.  Be attentive, refill my drink, ask how the meal is, if I need anything else, bring me extra napkins, remember any of my preferences from prior visits, etc., and the meter goes above the 20% range and stays there fairly well.