I’ve been waiting tables in a college town for over three and half years now. Located just across the street from a campus that’s home to 47,000 plus students I’ve grown accustom to a certain type of clientele.
If you haven’t worked in a restaurant odds are good you’ve at least been to one. If you’ve got no idea what it’s like working in the service industry its possible that you’ve made some of the grievous faux pas that leave servers ready to ring your neck-with a smile of course!
I once had a table of about 15 college guys. While checking all their IDs I discovered that one of the dudes had photographed more like a convicted felon than the semi-decent looking guy who’d handed it over. After calling his attention to it and getting a laugh from the whole table I knew I was in.
The guys camped out for a couple hours. They received great service because they were nice, funny and respectful. Dudes were cool. When it came time to cash out, I painstakingly separated all their checks.
While standing at the server station right behind them I overheard them talking. One dude said that he always tipped well but he was for sure going to leave this waitress a fat tip.
Boom. Awesome! I was about to make some serious cash. After ushering the crew of dudes out the door with high fives and a final round of laughs, I bussed their incredibly messy table and surveyed my take.
Much less than 15 percent from the whole table. Douche bags.
Okay, maybe that’s not fair. They weren’t douche bags per say; they were actually a pretty legit table up until the end. But they certainly exhibited one of the classic symptoms of douche-baggery. It was a tragic case of a failure to tip appropriately.
Clearly, these dudes didn’t realize what tipping well meant. In my experience college kids don’t mean to be jerks but some do things that can leave their servers with that impression.
Restaurants and bars are meant to be fun, relaxed and social environments. As a server my goal is make sure your experience is just that. Yes, as a patron you’re footing the bill for our interaction but there are many things that a patron can do help ensure the situation is ideal and positive for all involved.
Perhaps it’d be wise to check yourself on a few of these simple reminders. Make sure your achieving the best possible service, while ensuring that you’re never unintentionally labeled a douche bag again (at least for these reasons).
True Life: If you can’t afford to tip, you cannot afford to go out.
If you’re headed out for dinner- or even just drinks, at the VERY LEAST tip 15 percent. A much more respectable percentage lingers somewhere around 20.
It is in no way okay to spend mad cash on dinner or drinks and leave a small handful of coins for your server as compensation. I do not live and die by your 47 cents. I’d rather you didn’t just give me nickels, dimes and pennies that are going to spill all over the floor. It is rude, insulting and just plain stingy. Trying to save money by skimping on the tip is unacceptable.
Taking the time to figure out what to tip is always worth it. You don’t want to be like those dudes who thought they were “hookin’ a sister up” yet failed to leave anything remotely close to cool.
This doesn’t have to be hard either! For every $5 you spend, tip a dollar. This is a full proof way to tip the wait-staff appropriately. Spend $15? Leave $3. Spend $27? Feel free to round up to $6 or down to $5 depending how in love with your server you are. Being conscious of what percentage you’re actually leaving can really be eye opening.
In most restaurants, servers are making a super-low hourly wage. They depend on what they make as tips to earn their cash. A lot of servers are also required to tip out their bartenders, the kitchen and door guys; so we’re really only making a fraction of the tips we get.
It is also important to keep in mind special pricing. Just because something is half-off or on special doesn’t mean the service you’re receiving is. Tipping your server on the original price is the right the thing to do.
It’s a sad (but relatively true) stigma that the younger your patrons are the less they tip. Lets break this stereotype! Be a badass, be progressive! Tip appropriately.
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Reality Check: You’re not the only table in the restaurant.
Well, except on rare occasions. For the most part college town bars and restaurants are going to be busy. Most of the time when you’re headed out so is the rest of the town. The best way to ensure good service and help ease the stress level of your server is to be attentive when they’re at your table.
Look alive! I’m here to take your order homies! You’re not sure what you want? Cool, I’d be happy to answer your questions, make some recommendations or swing back by when you’re more prepared. But please, please don’t make me wait for you. Especially if it’s busy.
While yes, I technically am “waiting tables” I’d prefer not to spend my time waiting at your table. You’re not the only one I’m waiting on. Take all the time you need but don’t force your server to stand-by while you scan the menu for the 35th time.
The more successful I am at balancing what’s going down with all my tables, the better service you’ll receive. Absolutely your individual experience matters but be aware that waiting tables is somewhat like a masters course in multi-tasking.
Don’t be scared to let me walk away, I promise I’ll come back. Few other relationships in life have such certain return rates.
Help us, help you… HELP US, HELP YOU.
Remember that scene in Jerry Maguire when a still relatively sane Tom Cruise begs Cuba Gooding Jr. to be a client that’s more… manageable? Things will most certainly go better for his client if he does just a few simple things differently. Being a patron in a restaurant is kind of like that.
I want you to have a banging experience at my restaurant. I want you to like the food you eat and the drinks you have while enjoying the atmosphere you’re doing it in. As someone who enjoys the same things I totally get why that’s important.
What other job plays such a direct role in our birthdays, first dates and girls night outs? When else (perhaps with rare, drunken exceptions) does some complete stranger facilitate your fun for an evening?
A stranger, yes. A Robot? No. Servers are not like the automated checkouts at grocery stores. Please don’t be more interested in your cell phone than the live human being asking you what you’d like to drink. It’s awkward to go up to a table, ask questions and be completely ignored. Worse, its just plain rude.
Some who know me may say I have a bit of an affinity for the spotlight. Perhaps I am an inherent attention-seeker but responding to, and at the very least acknowledging your server, transcends my personal preferences and ranks up there with basic respect.
If someone at your table is asking for an extra ranch or more napkins take note if you need anything else too. Few things are worse than running half way across the restaurant to grab water for someone only to return to the table and have someone else ask you for a refill as well.
I want to get you cashed out and on your way just as bad as you wanted your tab seven seconds ago. If half your table has their credit cards out please don’t make me come back for yours.
Basically the ins and outs of restaurant patronage can be summed up in one broad principle: just don’t be a douche.
I didn’t put the wrong cheese on your burger, bro. Nor did I meticulously plot out waiting just enough time to let the foam on your beer settle to screw you out of .00004 ounces of your Miller Lite.
It must be a pretty miserable existence you’re leading if you lose your cool when a restaurant doesn’t have Diet Coke. Yeah, get an attitude with me- you’re right I totally made the call to go with Pepsi products.
It’s our job to keep you happy but help us out, make it a goal within reach. Take care of us because we take care of you! Like all other walks of life, it basically comes down to respect. Be polite. Be understanding. We ultimately want the same basic thing; the best experience possible!