CNN poll on tipping - 49% of responders leave no tip for bad service.

[cbdo2007]

Here is a link to the poll:

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/07/13/tipping-points-on-stiffing-for-poor-service/?hpt=C2

Question: Have you ever left a restaurant meal without tipping?

I sure have - the service was that bad - 49%
I've left a very low tip - 29%
I would NEVER! Never even less than 15-20% - 15%
I've left a penny - 5%
Other (tip us off in the comments) - 2%
Total Votes: 45,571

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I think it is ok to not leave a tip for poor service. I regularly leave 20-25% for average-great service.

[madinmaryland]

1. I think only once did I leave a miniscule tip. The service, food, and the

entire dinner was very poor.

[AngryOldDem]

3. We once tipped the bus boy....

Who was much more attentive and friendly than our server. The kid was stunned, but we told him he deserved it.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. I'd love to leave no tip for terrible service

if it were clear cut that the issues were solely the fault of the server. I've yet to be in that position so the worst I've done is given a low tip.

It's really a shame that everyone isn't paid mostly through tips. Cops would lose those tasers. Doctors would suddenly have plenty of time to chat with patients. Bankers would give away toasters again.

[gvstn]

4. No

I have left 10% for very poor service. 15% is my usual minimum for run of the mill service.

[Xithras]

5. I have. But it has to be REALLY, REALLY bad service.

Such as...

After getting my food and discovering that A) it's already cold, and B) I have no fork, I spent the next 10 minutes vigorously trying to flag down the waitress. When I finally walked over to HER and complained, she walked over to my table, dropped the fork off like she was doing me a favor, and started to walk away. I asked her if it was going to be reheated, and she turned around and said, "You should have eaten it 10 minutes ago". I tried to argue with her that it was cold WHEN IT CAME OUT, but she rolled her eyes at me. I paid without eating my food, left two pennies on the table as a tip (gave her my two cents...heh), and left.

Not all waitresses are poor, misunderstood workers who simply can't get a fair shake. Some are genuine asses who have no business holding any job that requires contact with the public. I have no interest in contributing extra income to people like that.

[pinstikfartherin]

6. I refuse to leave no tip.

My boyfriend would do it in a heartbeat. Having worked as a waitress, I at least leave 3 dollars and that's only if I know the waiter was not attentive even though they had time. I know sometimes when it is busy, things fall by the wayside; however, if you're standing a few feet off chatting it up with a co-worker while my drink needs refilled, it's an entirely different story.

I would never leave no tip though. I've been given crappy tips even though I know the table never wanted for a thing. I think everyone should have to work for tips at some point in their lives.

[BlueJazz]

16. What She Said.

:)

[Crystal Clarity]

7. That's really rotten. The SERVICE would have to be awful

before I'd even consider doing that.

I stressed the word 'service' because many times people don't realize that the waiter/waitress has no control over all other factors BUT his or her service. And to make matters worse, restaurants can (and do) pay their waitstaff less then minimum wage.

I waitressed one summer when I was in HS but after that, never again! I've been sympathetic to wait people everywhere ever since. I've never NOT tipped but I have given a few skimpy ones for what was clearly very bad service. Tails up so they knew it was a purposeful gesture and not just some random cheap person. ;-)

But if the food sucks, the atmosphere isn't great, the portion size is not right, the wait for a seat too long, ect I know not to blame the server.

[BurtWorm]

8. That bears repeating, because most people may not know: Waiters are paid LESS than minimum wage.

[BurtWorm]

9. It's not ok actually, unless the service is essentially nonexistent.

Wait staff are paid less than minimum wage with the "understanding" that they'll make it up through tips. Your tip is not a reward for good service. It's a waiter's bread and butter.

PS: People who don't leave tips shouldn't pat themselves on the back. They should admit to themselves that they're fucking cheapskates.

[whistler162]

10. Your tip IS a reward for good service.

[BurtWorm]

11. The amount of the tip may reflect your feelings about the service.

But the wait person relies on your tip to make up for the substandard wage the restaurant pays them.

It's funny how when people talk about tipping people who wait on them, they always think about the ones who sucked, as though the tip is the chance they have to express their opinion about the waitperson's performance. But every single time you eat at a restaurant where you're waited on, the tip you leave is supplementing your waitperson's substandard wages, no matter how excellent or competent or good enough or abysmal your waiter is.

I'll bet most people who stiff bad waiters don't pay more than 20% to good waiters. The "gratuity" aspect of the tip they probably believe gives them full license to be cheapskates with everyone.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. No, it's a gratuity meted out by people who have no professional means of judging the service

and that's why both tips as an expected add-on regardless of the competency of service and subminimum wage for servers should go the way of the dodo bird. The argument for the subminimum wage for servers is that they need the incentive to do a good job. I live in a state where servers get the standard minimum wage no matter how crappy their skills are and I still don't encounter many instances where I would consider lowering the tip. Let's face it, the managers/owners don't want or need crappy servers. The bosses should set the incentives, not the customers.

Too bad there's no movement to remove this exception from the Federal minimum wage regs.

[BurtWorm]

18. I agree with you about that!

Just pay the wait person (and every other working stiff) a living wage, damn it, and conversations like this will also go the way of the dodo bird.

:patriot:

[noamnety]

12. I've only done it once

in a few decades of restaurant going. The service was memorably bad - wrong order which happens and I figure is usually the cook's fault, but instead of just being professional about it they were rude and self-righteous with a flat-out refusal to fix it even after I said I couldn't eat what they brought me because of diet restrictions. I was stunned.

[RandomThoughts]

13. If someone tries to tip me bad.

Beavis and Butt head Cow Tipping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SQdFPBkKQ

(Note this post is a really bad idea LOL)




AC/DC - Thunderstruck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoeeq-BH4w

[Riftaxe]

15. I have left a penny tip before

Worst damn service i have ever had, perhaps the waitress does better when she is sober.

[unpossibles]

17. I never stiff them, but I will leave a "bad" (10%) tip if they suck

and maybe less if they really go to the extra effort to be an a$$hole. Servers make almost nothing, and the problems are not always their fault. 20-25% is baseline for me, and I will leave more if they are exceptional.