Why do restaurants allow this?

[porkpa]

I was having lunch this week with two friends at a TGIFridays type restaurant. The total check came to $67.00. I gave the waitress a hundred dollar bill and she asked me if I needed any change. I have two problems with this.

(1)I generally do not tip in excess of forty percent even if the service is exemplary. I usually give twenty percent, slightly less if the service has not been up to snuff.

(2)I feel that type of response is rude. In effect she is asking for a tip and trying to influence its amount. I think that the customer should not be asked or influenced into giving a tip. I eventually tipped my regular twenty percent, but I've since had regrets. What do you think?

Porkpa

Edited April 10, 2004 by porkpa (log)

[Fat Guy]

It's a pretty standard question for a server to ask. It doesn't bother me. I just answer yes or no.

[Jinmyo]

It's just part of the general patter. Like "How is everything?"

[Jensen]

I'm with Fat Guy ... I've always thought it to be part of the regular schtick. I don't even think they look at the tray before asking; I'm sure they're just trying to find out if they need to come back unnecessarily.

[tommy]

yeah, they just kinda ask it. i mean, did the server open the billfold, count the amount, refer back to the check, do the math, and think "hey, maybe i can get 40% of out this diner." no, i doubt it. even if it didn't go down like that, the server just asked as he/she always does. they just say it, like robots. makes for efficiency at the end of the day, and i'm all for efficiency.

however, i once had a server take the cash and not say anything and *not* come back. we approached the manager, and he sided with the server. my friend said something along the lines of "listen, *i'll* decide how much i tip if that's ok with you and your restaurant." we never, ever, ever went back, nor i have i recommended the place (and we did actually like the food - korean place in midtown manhattan for the curious).

Edited April 10, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Jinmyo]

Now, that's bad.

[Pan]

Tommy, I really would like to know the name of the restaurant.

[Anna N]

We once visited a high-class Japanese restaurant (here in Canada) and when the bill came we paid in cash. The server returned with the change (a substantial amount) and we just left it on the table while we finished a conversation. Suddenly, the server returned and whipped away our change! We were simply too stunned to react. It was a very expensive meal.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Porkpa, think about it for a sec... You were at TGIFridays for criminy-sake! I doubt the same response would have been heard at - oh... someplace like The French Laundry or some swanky NY joint (sorry, I can't think of the name of one now).

Okay, that was two different extremes. But you get the picture. A place like TGIF, where there are huge crowds and a need for fast turnaround would necessitate a server utilizing such a schtick for economy of their time in needing to service possibly ten or twelve other tables simulatenously. I certainly would, if I had to work in such an establishment.

[tommy]

Tommy, I really would like to know the name of the restaurant.

i forget the name. it's that big korean place somewhere around 49/50th and 5/6th. the only one in the area, as far as i know. it's one of the first korean places i had ever gone to as well. so, it's a shame all around.

[robert40]

It is their job to return your change and I believe it's in poor taste to ask if you need change.

In the case of the waitress at Friday's I would have likely responded, ARE YOU MAD? DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE FRENCH LAUNDRY!!

[NeroW]

I always thought it was a time-saving thing.

[bleachboy]

It doesn't bother me really, although I would be taken aback as well if somebody asked if I was really leaving a 75% tip or whatever. Usually if I'm eating "cheap", at a bar or something, I have enough small bills to leave a decent approximation of a 20% tip.

[robert40]

In a few casual restaurant's I managed I was dead set against the front of the house asking a customer if they needed change.

I would condone a statement like, I will be right back with your change.

In which case your leaving the door open for the customer to let you know if they wish for you to keep it.

[srhcb]

Often the people sitting at the table are splitting the bill and will need some change to complete the transaction amongst themselves.

The server has no way of knowing this, and the offer to bring change may imply nothing more than a thoughtful inquiry having nothing at all to do with a tip.

[maggiethecat]

While I agree that the question is often posed harmlessly, or even helpfully, it still catches me by surprise. I think that the waitron should wait for the customer to say:"Keep the change," rather than ask if it's his.

[Mabelline]

At a very famous music and drinking establishment, the waitrons are taught to bring change back in large bills only as available, and to present the money on their tray slightly higher than the customer can see. The purpose of course is to get folks that are getting 'comfortable' to start being woefully unconscious of money manipulation. I feel that the feebler attempts by folks like TGIF are just a trickle down affect from the real pros at this.

[Fat Guy]

If I ran a restaurant, or if I had to draw up a wish list, I wouldn't include this particular query as part of the training manual. But it doesn't bother me at all when it happens.

[Pickles]

Suddenly, the server returned and whipped away our change! We were simply too stunned to react. It was a very expensive meal.

I would never be too stunned to stop someone from stealing money from me...which is what happened there. You holler out "EXCUSE ME!?" and if that doesn't work, you pounce!

[Mabelline]

Yeah, that'd be me, but I'd probably be a front pager on the morning edition.

[Richard Kilgore]

I think it is in poor taste. I see it increasingly in this part of the country (and seldom is related to how busy a place is), and it always strikes me as presumtious and manipulative. They never ask that if the change amounts to less than 15 or 20%, only if it is more, in my experience.

[Mabelline]

Yeah, but there you go. The people working hard are probably not going to get the tips that the "In your face" pushy people are. Don't you think?

[Toasted]

We got this question tonight in fact and I had to laugh because I had looked at this thread earlier today. The waitress hadn't even looked at the stack of bills before she asked it, I think she was so busy and was trying to let us get out of there and save herself a second trip back to the table too. It didn't both me though.

[tommy]

The waitress hadn't even looked at the stack of bills before she asked it,

it makes the most sense when they *haven't* counted the money and looked at the bill as that proves that they're not being presumptuous or trying to strong arm the customer. as i've stated, i don't think they're being pushy or presumptuous, but others seem to see the worst in everyone.

[jo-mel]

I never gave a thought that it would have been a time-saver. I just thought it was an assumption. I'll have to re-think it and examine the situation next time it happens.

I don't like to be manipulated, but if the wait/ress/er is saving steps, then I guess it is OK. Sometimes I do put the tip on the tray with the bill, but most of all I leave it right on the table.

How long has this practice been in place. I think I first became aware of it a year or two ago.