Weddingbee boards

Aww I'm so sorry - I feel ya girl; I'll never understand why customers in a restaurant think servers do things for their own amusement.  No, we do those things and ask those questions because it's our job and it's the freakin' law. 

To make you smile, I copied this, which is entirely too long, but every word is true; I used to look it up everytime we had to powerclose lol hope it helps!  Sorry in advance for all the expletives ha

You know you're a server when.....

1. You know that "in the weeds" is NOT a camping term. 2. You cant decide who you hate more: kids, old people, teenagers, foreigners, or Canadians. 3. You're pissed if you got a $10 tip on a $60 check. 4. You can figure out 20% like nobodys business. 5. You heavily debate putting on a gratuity for a big party. And may call in a second opinion to evaluate the table. 6. You're familiar with the signature cocktail: water with lemon. 7. You don't have any idea what the special is and could care less. 8. When you go out to eat, you over analyze everything your server does. And even if they f*** up you still tip at least 20%. 9. You hang out at the server table. 10. You know about all your co-workers sex lives and drug habits. And you participate in one or the other; or both! 11. You know what the most dreaded side work is and how to avoid getting stuck with it. 12. Same goes for the death section. 13. You understand the importance of booths. 14. You know that an over cooked steak is the worst re-cook ever. 15. You want to kill the kitchen when they have 30 minute ticket times. 16. You will take the long way around just to avoid your table. 17. You hate making desserts. 18. You get weeded waiting forever for the bar to pour you a freakin beer. 19. You live out of your car. 20. You always have cash on you, yet you're always broke. 21. Your cash is usually still in your book days after you worked. 22. You know who sells the good drugs. 23. You never know what happened to the wine key. 24. You become a nocturnal creature. 25. Everybody on a Sunday AM shift has a hangover. 26. The busser is never around when you need him. 27. Getting cut does not equal getting out. 28. You need a manager card to wipe your a$$! 29. A f***up is always appreciated by the starving servers... 30. And you're all like a bunch of vultures when it happens! 31. When in doubt-you go with medium. 32. You use the term 86 in regular conversation. Yet you have no idea where it came from.

And if you haven't seen this next section before, you need to pass it along.

For all of you who don't wait tables: If you go out to eat, or plan to ever again... read this!

HOW TO TIP:

easy tip: take 10% of the total price of the ticket and then double it. $50.00 tab = $5.00 x 2 = $10.00 would be an alright tip.

The next time you're out eating at a resturant, look at your server. Do you think they are really happy to be doing that job? The answer is no, they are not, but it's what we do, and we do it for the money so please help them out. Its a tougher job than you think and you should pay them accordingly!

Also for those who order TOGO at restaurants like Ruby Tuesday, Apple bees, and all those other places with designated TOGO team - yes they do work for tips, especially tip them if they are delivering it to your car!!!! You should tip them like you tip a server more if it is inclement weather, do you really think that they want to walk outside in the rain to take you your food and get nothing? if you don't want to tip go to McDonald's!!

There are so many people out there flooding the restaurants w/o any knowledge of how to tip. Here is a short guide for the general public to follow. Feel free to print out and store in your wallet and/or purse.

1. CHILDREN "THE LITTLE DEVILS": If you have children, DO NOT let them, open and dump anything on the table (ie; salt, sugar, etc). IF YOU DO, you must leave an extra $5 for the server to clean up YOUR CHILD'S mess & to restock the now unusable wasted items. We are neither their babysitter nor their parent. The least you can do is pay us for the extra work. Also make sure you control your kids and don't let them scream or run around the restraunt. It's very distracting and rude to others eating, not to mention dangerous if they get ran over by a server with hot food in their hands.

2. "THE CAMPERS": If you feel the necessity to stay for longer than 15 minutes after you pay, its an extra $3 every 30 minutes. We make our money from the tables. If you are in one and we can't seat it, we don't make money. Not to mention, if you are our last table we have to wait for you to leave before we can leave.

3. COMPLIMENTS: Telling a server they are the best server they've ever had is not a tip. If we are good, let us know by leaving us more money. We cant pay our bills on compliments. Its not that we don't appreciate the praise, its just that if you say that and then leave 10% it's an insult.

4. THE SALVATION PAMPHLETS: Prayer cards and any other religious pamphlet is NOT a tip. It is insulting that you assume we are w/o religion and must save us. Again, like ..3, we can't pay bills w/prayer cards. We'd go to church on Sundays if it wasn't mandatory to work on Sundays because EVERYONE who goes to church follows it by eating out.

5. TIPPING: It is not 1960. Cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. 18% is the MINIMUM amount of what you should be tipping your servers. Look at the first number of your bill. ie. if your bill is $30, double the 3 & you have a $6 tip. If the second number is more than 5 however, you must add a dollar. Remember, our companies pay us LESS THEN minimum wage ( minumum wage for servers is $6.75 in CA, $3.13 in FL, $3.09 in MARYLAND & IA, $2.13 in NJ, 2.65 in MI, 2.15 in OK, $2.13 in TX and $2.13 in VA, by the way the servers do not get a min wage increase along with everyone else ). And we are taxed on 10 percent of your meal automatically anyway. So if your meal is $100 and you leave $10 and we tip out $4-5 to the busser, bartender, and whoever else then we pay tax on 10 dollars and we make $5. It seems small but it adds up. How many times do you eat out per week and do this?

6. THE COMPLAINERS: If you get a discount because your food was prepared wrong or something, do not take it out of our tip. We didn't cook it. The cooks get paid hourly regardless if the food sucks. However, we only make what you give us.

7. THE FREE STUFF: If you happen to get anything for free and you did not have a problem with your dining experience, most of the time it is because the server thinks you will realize that they are giving it to you for free. There should be extra tip thanking the server for the free item. They could get in a lot of trouble giving away free stuff. You should give them hazard pay for it.

8. THE LATE ONES: If you come into the restaurant 10 mins before closing or any time near closing hurry up and order your food and get out. Closed means closed, not social hour. It is so rude to sit there and take your sweet ass time. We can't leave until you leave because we have to do side work and clean the table you are sitting at. We don't want to stand there waiting for you for an extra hour just because you don't want to go home. We recommend 24 hour establishments such as Denny's if you wish to sit into the wee hours of the night.

9. THE TABLE HOGGERS: If you only come in for coffee or a dessert, to do paper work, or to have a meeting, don't sit there taking up our booths for hours. We are not Starbucks or a hotel restraunt. If you want to sit for hours, go there or else you better leave a good tip for us and camping fee included.

10. THE GREET: When we come up to the table to greet you and we ask how you are doing, please let us know. We honestly want to know how you are doing. And ask us how we are doing as well. It's called manners. If you are in a bad mood we want to know that from the beginning. A confused stare or complete silence does not suffice as a reply to " How are you doing? ". Also most of us are REQUIRED to say certain things during the greeting, so please don't interrupt our greeting and say " I want coffee ", " Can we get some bread? ", or " What are the soups? " Just sit tight for a god**** minute & let us talk. You're not helping us out & saving us time by stopping our greet, you are pissing us off.

11. THOSE DAMN CELL PHONES: Don't ever talk on your cell phone in a restaurant. This is probably the rudest thing to do. If you must be on your cell, at least keep your voice down in respect for other customers. If you are on your cell phone when we walk up to greet your table we will walk away and not return until you get off your phone. Just show some respect and give us your attention for a couple of minutes.

12. THE PICKY PEOPLE: When you're taken to a table, sit there. There's a reason you were taken to that table and it's because that server is next on the rotation. If you prefer a certain table, section, window seat etc. specify that to the host/hostess BEFORE they walk you to your table!! Don't wait till they get to the VERY back of the restaraunt then ask " can we have a booth? " " Can we sit by the window? " No! The reason you weren't sat by the window or in a booth is most likely because the server by the window or the server with the booths just got sat and you will receive better service if you stay put. If you ask BEFOREHAND the hostess has time to sit you accordingly. They have time to find you a table where you will be happy to sit AND receive good service!

13. THE WAVERS: If you wave at me or try to talk to me while I am talking to another table or have a huge tray in my hand, I WILL ignore you. We have other people besides you to take care of and unless we are standing still or hanging out by a computer, we are doing something. It is rude to think we will stop what we are doing for one table just to come help you. Let me put this heavy ass tray down in the middle of the dining room to find out you want more sauce. Do not grab me, or wave, or shake your glass, or call me ma'am or waiter or any other pet-name you want to call me because you were on your cell, or talking, or interrupted my initial greet where I told you my d*** name!

Hmm...I didn't know it was wrong to leave a tip with change so I can get a round number.  I always do that.

@stephanie63087  Do you work an 8 hour shift?  Because 120 bucks in one night adds up to 15 bucks an hour...which seems like pretty good money for a server.  And while you don't get a check you know that after you get done working you'll have cash and won't have to wait a week to get your money. 

@stephanie you're right...there's no reason for them to be rude to you for something you have no control over.  I worked as a server and bartender at a country club.  The people there were extremely snooty and rude and basically treated me like I was shit.  I was like you...just working there through college.  But since I've had that experience I make it a point to always be nice to our server and if our order is wrong or something is messed up I never take that on them because I know it's the kitchen's fault.  But if they don't pay attention to my drink needing a refill or take forever before they even come over and greet us that's when I start getting pissed.

I served in a restaurant for a year and then bartended in a bar for a year.  I so feel you!!  I am in the camp of "if you can't afford the tip, don't eat out".  As a server, I made $2.15 an hour.  We tipped out 10% of our tips to the bar and 3% to the busers/host stand.  In addition to that, I worked at a popular seafood restaurant, so I was required to dance for the whole restaurant every 30 minutes and do all the silly celebratory spectacles for birthdays, etc.  That said, the servers there make better tips than most high end restaurants in my city, but we worked hard for it!

The thing you have to realize about service industry workers is that our hourly wage usually just covers our taxes, if that.  Your tip is what we actually take home at the end of the day.

FYI- If it is under $50, I usually tip $10 no matter the amount unless service was completely ridiculously horrible.  Anything over $50, I tip 30% on.  I figure I can help balance out the bad tippers that night :)  However, the other night FI and I went to a restaurant that we go to every single week and had the most horrible experience.  Our waitress was ridiculously slow with her service, despite the restaurant not being busy and not attentive when she was talking to us.  She asked for my drink order and then interrupted me twice while I was ordering it and then (surprise) got it wrong.  She also got FI's drink wrong.  Once I waited til she came over to ask her for a condiment and she just grabbed my empty glass off the table as I was talking to her and walked off.  And so on.  It was just so ridiculous and while we had her fix FI's drink order, I didn't want to be a pain since we love the bartender there, so I just rolled my eyes over mine and moved on.  But by the end of our meal I was so livid.  FI was done eating and I asked for a box for my food.  After she brought the box, we waited 30 more minutes for her to reappear so we could ask for the check.  Another 10 minutes for that.  Our service is usually so great there and we were really kind of upset that we had such a bad night there.  So our bill was $30-something and I only left her a $3 tip.  I couldn't bring myself not to leave her a tip at all and only leaving $3 really hurt me lol.

Sorry this is so long, but now that I don't serve (and therefore CAN say something about it), I'm a huge advocator for good tipping :)  Here, 20% is standard, 15% is passable, anything under that is an insult.  PS- The bar was MUCH better money!