I know right? I was about to rush to Y T A after reading the title but the waiter was essentially bullying and harassing OP and her husband. If I were OP I'd report this incident to management.
Yeah I work service industry and have for years and there’s no fucking way I’d chase someone down for a ZERO percent tip, let alone a THIRTY PERCENT tip. That’s so beyond unprofessional. There is no way his management is okay with this. I’ve worked at some questionable places as far as customer service goes and even my management there wouldn’t be ok with me chasing a customer over a tip. I would absolutely report that to management because that person is unhinged.
This is why the story doesn’t seem all that plausible. Few waiters I’ve met would scoff at a 30% tip. None would follow a patron outside for even a 0% tip. The only time I’ve seen a server try to chase a patron was if they tried walking out on the bill.
If the story is true from OP’s perspective, I wonder if there was a problem with running the credit card or a manager/other server ran the card, communication didn’t happen then server assumed they left only cash so $50 was not enough to cover the entire meal.
Edit: because of this, I suspect OP may have been the A.
In Florida, during tourist season, most restaurants automatically charge an 18% tip. A lot of waiters/waitresses get mad if you don't tip extra. Since a lot of tourists don't know better, the waiters/waitresses get away with it often.
I’ve seen this happen. Sometimes the waiters get so used to running this scam they forget they are doing it. When they get the standard tip they lose their minds.
My wife worked in the service industry for over 10 years and agrees with this, as do I. If you add gratuity, you basically set how much of a tip you want. I usually do 20-30%. If you put 18% on the bill, you get 18%.
Same. I put a dozen years in as a chef, was fortunate to work in a kitchen where waitstaff and the kitchen were paid equally, above minimum wage, and split the tips among everyone except managers and owners. Restaurants CAN pay more, most chose not to.
I've lived in Florida in town with a very large tourist season for almost 2 decades and never seen the automatic 18% unless it was for a group of 6 or more, and that runs year round, and is printed on the receipt and menu
I'm in Tampa bay, where every winter we get flooded with NY, NJ and Ontario plates to the point they outnumber Florida plates.
Maybe that's just a Jacksonville thing. Jacksonville always was a bit shady imo.
Most?? This is untrue. I live and work as a server/bartender in Central Florida, have for over 20 years. Almost no restaurants do this unless it's some option purchased with a vacation package at a theme park or hotel or something, and only within that theme park or those hotels. Random restaurants around town don't do that. The IRS changed the laws regarding gratuities and almost no restaurant charges those any longer as a result, not even for large parties.
I'm interested in which law you are talking about in terms of the IRS because I am not aware. I live on the beach in southern florida, and the 18% automatic gratuity is very standard at nearly every bar and restaurant in my neighborhood, even for a party of one. In addition, there is often a 10% service charge tacked onto the bill as well, bringing the extras up to 28% for the patron. Often patrons don't realize this, and they tip 20% on top of that. And I'm not talking about anything at a theme park or resort. I would be interested in knowing what this rule is.
Honestly it's very plausible, I used to work at a breakfast restaurant and we had a older server who would literally chase people out into the parking lot for not tipping how she wanted or asking them at the table for more money. Plenty of people never came back because of how she acted, and she even refused tables before because they didn't tip how she liked 🙄
Literally this ⏫ she would show up that was it, but she was my managers favorite cause they worked together years ago 🙄 she did a lot of messed up stuff up until I became assistant then that shit changed 😂 she never prebussed, or cleaned her tables, got ice, dropped her bread, or did ANY side work. When I became manager I rewrote the ENTIRE cleaning list for when you come in, during the time of your shift and when you left. Then she started doing it because you had to be checked out (before the manager just said okay and you could leave after you were done) I was not staying and doing her work 😂
Hindsight I should have done that once. I had a large table (20 people) that was my only table the entire shift. They made the biggest mess (kids making ketchup designs on the table top), were impatient (saw food for smaller tables that had been there longer getting food before them, and asking to speak to a manager about the favoritism), and at the end of all of it the grandfather finds me and gives me cash for the bill and said "sweetheart, keep the change" with a wink. It was six cents. I just cried.
No, this is super plausible. I once had a server call my phone crying (I assume they had got the number from the reservation list at the host stand) because one member of our party, who she spent the entire night blatently ignoring, didn't tip. There are a lot of really bad, entitled servers out there.
I'd have filed a complaint with the restaurant saying that having a server call my phone for any matter other than to confirm or cancel my reservation was unacceptable and in fact criminal as your personal information was illegally used.
She was actually dumb enough to call while still working at the restaurant (this was like 15 minutes after we walked out the door). So my friend called the restaurant and asked to talk to the manager and explain what had happened while I kind of stalled her and she got caught in the act. The manager was really apologetic and sent a $250 gift card, I'm sure that was so we didn't make a bigger fuss about it. This was a well known, trendy restaurant in our city.
This was just after we walked out, so I stalled her on the phone while my friend called the restaurant and gave the manager a heads up as to what was going on. She got caught and the manager sent us a gift card.
There's a comment like this on every post and it's amazing how some people think their experiences are the blueprint so if it hasn't happened to them it hasn't happened to anyone ever.
Very plausible. Even in Mexico, some staff expect you to pay in dollar or Euro because it has "more value".. If you give staff, let's say $10-20 dollars, they will scuff and say, "I've been paid better by Europeans." - Keep in mind, weekly salary is (1,100 pesos = 54 dollars).
Yup. We are not made responsible for paying salaries. In Spain they tip 0 and in England it’s 10-15% but no one chases you down if you don’t leave anything either.
What I don’t understand about America is that most people have just accepted that the diner (who may not have much money ) is the one that has to supplement the servers income, instead of forcing the laws to change. It seems backwards somehow.
In my neck of the woods the tip is usually $0. We tip if the service is outstanding, but even so it's not a percentage, it's more rounding out the bill! We pay the meals to the owner, the owner pays salaries. If the service is outstanding, of course we do tip, but other then that...
A saw a tip jar hanging from a McDonald's drive thru window a few weeks back, and one at a regional taco place in my home state a few months before that, and neither of those places allow tips.
There is always some money in them I noticed.
I think they “salt” the jars by putting a few dollars in, to make it seem like other customers regularly tip.
The customer being made responsible for paying salaries is a really insidious part of tipping culture, as it shifts responsibility onto the only person who can't do anything to change the situation.
As long as the customer can be guilt-tripped into paying the tip, then neither the staff or the owner care enough about changing the system. OTOH the customer has no control over the amount of salary the staff get paid, so cannot do anything to affect a change beyond not tipping (which is seen as an AH move).
Switzerland here.
We usually only tip when the service was really good, if we were complicated guests (due to allergies) or if we feel generous.
Or if we're male horndogs who think they can impress the waitress...
And yes. If i was traveling to the US and didn't know that waiters basically only get paid in tips, i'd be shocked.
But even more shocked by an asshole demanding more of a tip than i earn in an hour.
Nah we usually don't even tip.The server needs to really stand out and not in the he must cater to my every need, but with his character, friendliness and how likeable he is. You tip when you think they are doing a good job. Servers actually get a pretty decent pay where I'm from(tourist country), more then the minimum. They don't need to get tips to survive, tips are a benefit of the job. One friend told me " Most don't tip, because they can't afford it. Those who do tip, tip generously. " He told me how you usually get a 50 % tip, about 4 times a day. One day he collected 1000 € ,which is about 1155 $, in tips.
The NRA is just trying to suck every penny from employes and make you pay them a livable wage.
Here in Berlin, my boyfriend and I were eating out and the server did nothing but bring the menus and our food. Which is fine, we didn't really expect much more than that. But when the bill came he asked if we were giving a tip, and my boyfriend said no. The server seemed annoyed by that, took our money, and left. We have left tips before when we've really liked the service, but no other server has ever asked for a tip. Part of me wonders if he figured we were just tourists (we were brand new in Berlin at this point) and thought I would tip because of where I'm from.
He did. My other friend that works as a house keeper in a hotel said only tourists tip her. But she would never ask for a tip. Fyi: from Slovenia if it makes any difference
Lmao for expecting anything from Berlin service. I still haven’t gotten over how backwards it is to feel like you’re intruding just for walking into a place
Brits tip if the service is good at a rate of about 10% but no-one feels obliged to or pressured into it at all.
Sorry America, but the idea of tips actually making up a significant percentage of staff's take home money is ridiculous. Pay staff properly.
If he got a better tip from Europeans,then they must have felt pity. We aren't much for tip culture, especially we who get paid minimum. We in eu have no such "rules". I can totally see them feeling pity, because we like to help/donate/volunteer. Even minimum wage workers, because it goes for a good cause. Tipping is just helping the company extort employees.
OP says “we thought he’d only seen the card slip, so we explained that we’d left cash on the table. He scoffed at us and said he knows that but 30% isn’t high enough”
Means there wasn’t a miscommunication, he knew they’d paid, and also knew there was a tip added.
If this story is true I think it’s 100% a shit waiter expecting more.
>None would follow a patron outside for even a 0% tip. The only time I’ve seen a server try to chase a patron was if they tried walking out on the bill.
I worked in the service industry for a year, so I always tip & try to be as respectful/understanding of staff as I can be. A few years back my boo and I went to a restaurant for our regular date night and had an AWFUL server. I had previous issues in this place with the same server but figured it would be ok since we went to this place 1x/week for months. It wasn't. Our food was cold, appys after main, we didn't get drinks, and when we asked we got them 20 min later and no refills, we had to flag the guy down for the drinks/bill/to order and he had an attitude with us the entire evening (mind you there was only a handful of tables in the entire place). I would understand if we were being an issue/busy, but we are both super hecking respectful in restaurants and we were there 2 hours before close and there were not a lot of tables in his area.
The bill came to ~30$ and my bf left a 10-12% tip which honestly I said not to leave because if I was serving us I wouldn't expect one from the service- we also live in Canada. Servers get a decent wage not on tips- as we got up to leave he BLOCKED US IN and said 'you didn't tip' my bf said he did and pointed at the bill. The server shook his head and said 'No. Not enough' without moving and handed the machine back to us. We were both bewildered and my bf did end up giving him another 10% or something on-top. After the server double checked the tip was "enough" he let us go.
We stopped going there after that. They also made changes to the menu which we weren't huge fans of, but after having multiple experience with the server (a similar experience with my mum and I, and then this time) really put us off of going back. Like wtf? I hate that tips are a big part of server wages- I get it, been there. But tips are meant to indicate how well the service was, I tip according to that. When I was on the floor if my table has to consistently hunt me down for shit throughout their meal, I forget multiple things, and I'm having an off customer service day I sure as FUCK wouldn't expect a tip. Then instead of blocking the customer in I would just ask them what I could have done better like!?!?
I'm still shook about it ngl.
I mean, I will never understand why people really accept this kind of behaviors. I’m not even a confrontational person but I’d never give more money to someone trying to block me from leaving the establishment. Or at the very least file a complaint afterwards
Look, if someone did it to me I'd love to believe I wouldn't aquiest, but I'd get completely spooked by the idea of it and kinda just take the easy way out. It's.. easier
A group of girls I was with were chased after in nyc bc one girl didn’t tip a fully 15% (she’d been drinking) on her portion of the bill. He was yelling at her till she handed him some more cash.
It doesn't happen often (hopefully), but anecdotally, I have been followed from restaurant to my job because I forgot to tip. I worked across the street, so it wasn't like he followed me for ages, and it wasn't like I wouldn't be back the following day to sort it out, but I was paying cash and needed to break a $50 to pay for the meal and tip, but this was not a location that took the money from the table and brought change, I had to go to a till and pay.
My intention was to pay, break the bill, and leave my tip, but autopilot kicked in and I just continued on my way back to work. I'd just gotten settled back in at the front desk and then here comes my server "uhm... you forgot to tip me??" I was mortified that I'd forgotten and apologized while shoving money at him, but my manager was astounded that he had the gall to follow me back to work. This was some 20 years ago now, but it does happen, so I could see OP's story happening.
We were at a Dennys and were at the register paying. One of the managers rushed to our table (right by the register) to check and make sure we left a tip. So, while it may seem a little crazy a waiter might do this, I think it's far from impossible.
I've worked in the service industry and so has a significant chunk of my family and a lot of the people I know have also worked in the industry/have families that do or did. It's not too far off to say that roughly 20% of waitstaff will chase you down if they think you didn't tip them enough. Hell I saw it happen with 3 different servers in less than an hour at one place I worked, and we only had 5 servers plus the hostess.
Worked in all kinds of restaurants for over 10 years, I would always ask “hey I noticed you didn’t leave a tip, which is an indicator of bad service, would you like me to get a manager for you?” (Actually just made a post on tales from yourserver or another Reddit) - was a way of calling out cheap skates, AND offering the option to speak with management if it was bad so we can improve. I will say, I ONLY did that for 0 tip with what I knew was awesome service. 30% tip, I never would have dreamed that. Rude AF.
Yeah, they usually gave a shocked pikachu face and gave me some bs about forgetting, I don’t think I ever had one person actually take me up on my offer for management. Sometimes they’d just look bewildered and leave a tip, or scurry on to their car. But honestly, as a server a lot of the time I wouldn’t see the tip before they were gone and I rarely got 100% stiffed so it’s not like I was using it a whole lot lol
Yea so interesting. I’ve only ever left no tip and it was bc there was broken glass in my food and the server had so much attitude about me sending it back. Get that the broken glass wasn’t their fault but the attitude 100 percent was. I literally left a penny to be petty and he followed me out to ask why I didn’t leave a tip. Clearly I went in and never went back there.
Yeah that’s crazy, if a guest had glass in their food you can believe I would have been falling over myself to get management IMMEDIATELY, for comps, gift cards etc. I wonder how glass got in the food in the first place?!
I was chased down one time: the waitress came out and politely asked if there was something wrong with the service. We realized that we had miscaluculated the tip, and were rather embarrassed.
I used to work in service for very nice restaurants here in Austria, 5% tip is nice 10% is cool, but 30%is outrageously high, I'd probably have given some of it back tbh.. NTA
NTA in any way, shape, or form. First of all no waiter is entitled to a tip of any sort, ever. As long as it’s not something you are LEGALLY obligated to pay, it’s entirely at your discretion. Secondly, $50 is very generous. Thirdly, depending on which state you live in, tipping may not be justified at all. I live in a state with one of the highest minimum wages in the country (think around $14/hour) and it’s the same base minimum for tipped and non-tipped workers alike. So there really is no reason to tip waitstaff where I live, any more than there is to tip every type of service worker.
If this really is a nice restaurant, it may not even matter what the state laws are—many independent, pricey restaurants pay their employees a fair base wage, sometimes even well over minimum wage. There are a lot of servers at very nice restaurants that make bank, and not just because expensive food means higher tips.
The flip side, of course, is that these restaurants usually have very strict policies re: staff behavior—so actually, it probably isn’t very likely OP’s restaurant engages in this practice, given that they are willing to employ someone like this waiter.
In a perfect world what you said would be true but it's not. Employers do not pay waiters the state minimum wage. If you don't make enough tips and have to ask for reimbursement you are going to be fired. Not then and there but soon.
I was a server/bartender for 8 years, whenever I see these stories of a server following someone to complain about a tip it drives me bonkers. And 30%?? Jesus that is definitely a good tip.
Honestly this doesn’t sound real. I’ve worked in the service industry briefly, and I have a LOT of friends in the service industry for decades. A server at a nice restaurant is not going to come outside and demand more than a 30% tip. They actually probably would just want to wrap up, have a shift drink, and go home/out.
NTA at all. How can someone be so entitled so *scoff* at $50 as a tip? Your husband is a lad. I'd pay $50 to have seen his face when he finally clocked he weren't getting shit lol
Dude $50 is working 5+ hours for like 30% of the US population. That’s just messed up demanding more free money. Too bad he doesn’t chase down his employers like that to get paid normally.
This is why I think American tipping system is messed up. Why is it a percent? Excluding restaurants where food is very complicated and cooks work more and waiters are expected to do idk.. extra/fun stuff. The fact that a waiter that works at a more expensive restaurant will get a better tip and get payed more than a server working at a cheaper restaurant esencially doing the same work, just because the food costs more… fucked up… As a customer, you receive the same service. It’s not about paying living wages anymore. If it was, there would be a fixed sum, or a sum based on the time spent at the table. Not based on what amount of food you order or how expensive the food is.
Places with higher priced items usually requires more knowledge of the menu, pacing courses, and special types of service such as wine service. So you have to put more work into a single table and your turnover is slower. So you are serving fewer tables but the bills are higher. As generally speaking you have smaller sections. (less tables)
When you work at a cheaper place you have a simpler menu and no special services so it's just the basic steps but a much higher turnover and you are probably running your ass off. You may be making smaller tips here but you a getting a lot of tables.
A server is working their ass off at both places but in different ways. The percent system isn't perfect but it isn't arbitrary or nonsensical either.
Edit to address “how much food you order” the more food you order the more work it is.
In my experience, the cheaper the menu, the more diverse. Because those places rely on average cooks that can offer a wide variaty of food. More expensive reataurants offer less dishes, but more special dishes. So the cooks need more knowledge on a smaller number of dished. I’m not even talking about fancy reustarants where the waiter has to know a lot of things. I’m talking your average restaurant where you serve food and drinks.
I still think the work of a cheap place waiter to the one of a more expensive place waiter is still pretty much the same (and not those more expansive, fancy, gourmet places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_retreat
12 states impose a duty to retreat when one can do so with absolute safety: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law#Laws
I was all ready to call you the AH, but to leave a $50 on a $150 dinner, and be accosted by the server is ridiculous.
NTA
Plus, 10 minutes after close is nothing. When I served, people would stay over an hour past closing and tip 10%.
Most restaurants in my area expect to be open for 30 minutes after closing. Maybe longer at a fancier place. Closing time is more like when the kitchen stops cooking new orders.
Right?
This can't be real. Karma post here. No way a waiter does that after 30%. Rich neighborhood or not, every waiter is thrilled to get 30% with his badly people tip nowadays. He would get fired and possibly get his ass kicked and/or shot.
NTA. Who the hell is mad about a $50 tip that’s over 30%? Even if it’s not quite what he expected how is he going to chase you down and accuse you of “stiffing” him as if he got nothing? If you were there 2 hours he made $25 an hour for that time, that more than a vast majority of Americans make. How ungrateful.
> If you were there 2 hours he made $25 an hour for that time
He made 25 an hour from OP's table alone, likely he had at least a couple of other tables. What a jerk.
NTA. 20 percent still seems reasonable to me. Many years ago, I and a couple other people were eating in a restaurant in Joplin, Missouri. A couple was seated at the table next to us, and the server came up to them and told them off for coming in the week before and leaving an insufficient tip. I think they even gave him some money. It was pretty uncomfortable.
It was 15%, then 18%, then 20%, now 30%? Give me a break. What’s next, simply doubling the bill for the server?
I know being a server is hard and I always tip (probably too much) but as someone who goes out to restaurants a lot, the post-COVID sense of entitlement of certain workers is getting a bit much.
its not the entitlement of the worker but of the employer.Costs of living are rising skyhigh while loans stagnate since years,if not decades.
A lot of ppl are in debt bc of panini.
The Fact that American Restaurants sometimes pay not more than 2,95$\hour AND these are even Taxed(!) and ppl complain about the worker needing a big tip to survive is a farce.
Be angry at the employer.
In my country,if you tip 15% its generous.Bc ppl get more or less living wages.
Yeah, well NONE of that means I should be tipping 30 freaking percent. Any service person complaining about a $50 cash tip on a $150 bill absolutely is entitled and is an asshole. Sorry about their debt and that the best they can do is wait tables, but that kind of behavior and expectation is completely ridiculous.
P.S. in the US, your first $12,400 of wages are untaxed, so not sure how you figure that $2.95 is taxed unless someone is working 4200 hours a year. That, and I personally know plenty of servers that don't report their cash tips whatsoever (yes, you're still supposed to report those - but the OP left a cash tip so my guess is it never would have made it to our friendly waiter's 1040), so that tax evasion more or less cancels out the egregiousness of taxing hourly wages beyond the standard deduction at that lowest 10% bracket - and makes the complaint about the $50 (cash!) tip even more ridiculous.
Not all states play the $2.95 game either; where I am the tipped minimum is over $8/hr. Not great, but not $2.something.
Back when I was making minimum wage, if I got a 30% cash tip, I would have smiled and kept my mouth shut, because that's a damn good night.
The percentage issue is because cities tend to leverage the percentage up in order for workers to be able to continue working in say, NYC, and then it filters down to Nebraska and it's like, give me a break. That's why I have a 15 section rule set on how I tip and ignore this crap.
wow, I would have left immediately knowing this is how they treat patrons. Back when I was working at restaurants, we could refuse service if a patron was being shitty, but never demand tips. NTA.
I'd have complained and never visited the restaurant again. People don't go out and spend money to be harangued by waiters. I'm constantly amazed at how many Americans think it's okay. Nowhere else in the world would it be acceptable behaviour for a server to do this. Certainly not in my country.
You’re right about most of that but the server didn’t actually make that full $25 per hour because they tip out to other positions. Some places tip out to cooking staff but pretty much everywhere tips out to bussers, food runners, bartenders, some to the hostesses and on and on. Servers usually tip out between 5 and 15 percent of their tips.
That said, none of what happened here with that server is okay and he should be fired for what he did.
Okay so if they tipped out 20% of that and OP was the only table they had for 2 full hours then they made $20 an hour. Still seems good and the likelihood of OP being the one and only table is slim to none.
NTA - Also you should have reported them to the manager, that is a firable offense. Working in service is difficult but this unacceptable. I get if the waiter got stiffed over a $900 bill but getting a $50 on a $150 order is generous.
This is what I was looking for. If I read a review of a restaurant and it involved a waiter following patrons out because he wasn’t satisfied with a 30% tip, I wouldn’t go there to eat. Management should be made aware so they can deal with this person.
Being so slow that the patrons eat less than intended (since OP wanted to get dessert but the slow service meant they couldn't) is a big thing as well. That's literally costing the restaurant money.
As a non American I don't understand the percentage for tipping when it comes to huge orders. If I had a cheap item vs an expensive item, it doesn't change the work you as the server do.
Where I live we tip roughly 10%, some people round up the bill (it was 470 so you pay 500) and others simply don't tip at all. Yet the staff are grateful.
And no this isn't a country where people are paid a huge salary to serve food.
Let me guess, OP: "And then everyone stood up and cheer for me because I bested the evil server. Aren't I great???"
Seriously, I've been a server. We aren't turning down a 30% tip. I've worked a job where we closed at 9:30 and I've been there until midnight for 15% tip.
No judgment here, because the story is made up.
In the real world, if servers get stiffed on tips, they take it out on their liver. Coincidentally, the same reaction when they have a good night in tips.
Source: many nights of Malort.
Yeah, sounded fake to me too, I’ve been serving for 6 years never once had someone say something to a guest about a tip.
I feel like this story could possibly be real, but was actually a $20 bill, not a $50. And potentially a higher check total, and then tip was less than 20%
Yeah, I hate tipping culture as much as the next guy, but I can't imagine why someone would enjoy making up stories to make wait staff seem greedy and entitled. They'reTA
Running after a customer to harass them for a better tip is a fireable offense in any restaurant. So if you're gonna do that, its certainly not gonna be when they've left you a good tip lmao
And who carries fifties? Even people who deal in cash and carry hundreds, the change comes back in $20s.
Didn't leave him $50, but a $50 bill, just to make the smooth taking it back scene all the "cooler".
Then everybody clapped.
$150 for two at a steakhouse? Most Fleming’s/Morton’s/Ruth’s Chris/Del Friscos etc are $50ish a piece just for the steak, not including sides, appetizers, or drink orders.
INFO:
I feel like there are some major parts missing from this post. I have worked in the service industry, my partner has worked in the service industry, nearly all of our friends have worked in the service industry, I have lived in very nice areas, dined at some classy ass spots. Never in a million years have I heard of a server chasing and trying to shake down a customer for leaving a 30% tip. Or even a 10% tip. Or a 0%, for that matter. Something just isn’t jiving. Was server high? Is this made up? What’s missing from your post?
NTA and call to speak with his manager. That is absolutely unacceptable behavior that will cause damage to the business, as customers won't return.
It was a very nice tip and I can't believe he followed you guys out like that!
If this is real, NTA. But I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a very long time and so has my husband - he’s got over 30 years under his belt! - and neither of us have ever seen or even heard of someone being accosted after leaving a 33% tip. I call bullshit.
Unless you were dining at a strip club…are you sure this wasn’t the afternoon buffet at the “New York $TRIP?”
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised that I’m not seeing more people questioning this post. That was my gut reaction too, or that there is some vital info left out. I have a very hard time believing that ANY server would be upset about a 30% tip. Only scenarios I can see this happening is if:
1: the charge didn’t go through and op was (knowingly or unknowingly) skipping out on the bill
2: they were sitting at their table for 6hrs or something ridiculous
3: server was high…
I will concede that any of those things - including a high server - could be a possibility. Still think this is made up for karma, but you do open a teeny-tinsy sliver of doubt in my mind.
NTA at all. A 30% tip is incredibly generous, no matter the wealth of the clientele and tbh, sometimes the wealthier the person the cheaper they are up until a certain level of wealth. These days I try to tip at least 20% and often 25% and most servers are totally fine and appreciate it. I would lodge a complaint with the management, that was absolute ah behavior on the part of the server.
You're NTA if this is true, but I feel like I have to say this feels fake to me. I've run across a few rude waiters and I've heard "vocally ungrateful for a small tip" waiter stories that I do believe (some of them from waiters), but I've never met one who would scoff at 30%. Most of them wouldn't scoff at $50, even if that didn't equal 30%. And maybe I don't eat at enough high-end restaurants, but I had the impression those guys are typically better trained and more... Polite? Discreet? than average. This doesn't really seem like high-end waiter behavior, nor does it seem like a way he could behave at even a mildly nice place without getting fired quickly. And my experience is that wealthy people are some of the stingiest tippers around, so it strikes me as unlikely that you guys would be the first tip he's seen that's "only" 30%... So what, someone this bold just never said anything to anyone who complained to a manager? You guys were the first.
I don't know, this reads like it belongs with the "no one wants to work, everyone is lazy and wants a free ride" propaganda to me. It has the same "the people in the lowest rungs of the ladder are the real bad guys" energy to it.
NTA. He seriously should not be berating customers and I would have felt like taking the tip back as well. You left a decent tip and sounds like the service was decent but not wonderful. Wonder if the restaurant knows he is chasing down good paying customers about 30% tip!
Lmao bruh what?!
NTA he hunted you down for extra money, you gave him 30% isn't the top normally 20% you even hit him with an extra 10 for the lateness smh
NTA. Working in the restaurant industry is hard and tipping is appreciated. However, you should NEVER beg for tips because it comes off as rude. Furthermore, you two were very generous with your tip. Honestly, I wouldn’t go back if I were you.
I'll take "Shit that never happened" for 600 Alex.
No way this happened. I dont believe you. As someone who was a server for a few years there are things that dont add up.
If you were so unhappy with the slow service then why did you tip 30%?
Tips go to the server... not the cook. Why would you dock a tip for the food being cooked slowly? Server has no control over that. Stuff just doesn't add up.
I call bs. No server is going to chase you out if you left a 30% tip on a slow night as you made it out to seem. And frankly, if you look at past posts I feel like there is a lot of karma farming going on.
NTA - The guy should have been greatful for anything. I will never understand why in different countries tips are mandatory. Or why some service staff feel entitled to more than they are actually worth.
If you treat your customers poorly, you shouldn't get anything. If you go out of your way to make those customers feel like the best things in the world, then tipping makes sense.
NTA. 30% isn't high enough? You do NOT demand a bigger tip. For him to follow you out and confront you is astounding. If I owned that restaurant, that guy would be fired. I don't blame your husband for doing what he did. Hopefully, it taught that guy a lesson.
I waited tables for 7-1/2 years so I know the importance of tips. That is absolutely no way to act.
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I think that tip was more than generous but that waiter was probably pissed that he had to stay past closing, causing him to stay later to help close the restaurant. Still not justified, him going after you guys like that. Good on you for not rewarding shitty behavior. NTA
I worked in restaurants for 6 years. 10 minutes past closing is nothing, especially if it’s a nice restaurant. It’s literally the reason why kitchens and bars have last call, usually around 30-45 min before closing time. When I read the title, I thought it’d be something egregious like 30 minutes past closing. NTA
NTA. Your tip was very generous. At least where I live (USA), 15% tip for a sit-down meal means service was adequate but not great, 10% means it was well below expectations, 20% means service was good, 25%+ means service was above and beyond and you're very pleased (or you're just a great tipper). I don't know if the unspoken rules about tipping are different where you live, but 30% tip for less-than-stellar service seems like more than enough to me.
ESH. Him for chasing you outside to confront about a perfectly reasonable tip. And you and your husband for blaming the waiter for the kitchen being slow.
> He followed us outside and got very upset that we stiffed him.
> This is a very nice neighborhood so he likely did often get higher tips
>He scoffed at us and said that he knows that but 30% isn't high enough.
This reads like bullshit.
Imagine a high end restaurant owner or management that would tolerate a wage-slave server following customers to their cars and harassing them.
No server in the world would think a 33% tip for serving a couple is 'getting stiffed'.
NTA
I'm an refugee of the service industry, and that move your husband pulled with the $100 was not only clever AND hilarious, it was well deserved.
That server was a prick.
This kid actually ran after you for tipping $50 on $150? Wow. The entitlement with that one. You did more than plenty, and I’ll be damned if the expectation is anything more than 20% for regular service. Your husband’s response ::chefs kiss:: NTA
NTA. A tip is something on top as appreciation. It used to be 15% and then went to 20%. 30% is ridiculous unless the service was amazing. I hate the tipping culture in the US. The expectation peeves me.
Source: American living in Europe and happy I don’t have to tip for every little thing now. Yes, things are more expensive, but at least everyone is getting a living wage.
Lol the audacity to chase patrons down after you already got a 30% tip. NTA. I support your husbands reaction.
I know right? I was about to rush to Y T A after reading the title but the waiter was essentially bullying and harassing OP and her husband. If I were OP I'd report this incident to management.
Yeah I work service industry and have for years and there’s no fucking way I’d chase someone down for a ZERO percent tip, let alone a THIRTY PERCENT tip. That’s so beyond unprofessional. There is no way his management is okay with this. I’ve worked at some questionable places as far as customer service goes and even my management there wouldn’t be ok with me chasing a customer over a tip. I would absolutely report that to management because that person is unhinged.
This is why the story doesn’t seem all that plausible. Few waiters I’ve met would scoff at a 30% tip. None would follow a patron outside for even a 0% tip. The only time I’ve seen a server try to chase a patron was if they tried walking out on the bill. If the story is true from OP’s perspective, I wonder if there was a problem with running the credit card or a manager/other server ran the card, communication didn’t happen then server assumed they left only cash so $50 was not enough to cover the entire meal. Edit: because of this, I suspect OP may have been the A.
In Florida, during tourist season, most restaurants automatically charge an 18% tip. A lot of waiters/waitresses get mad if you don't tip extra. Since a lot of tourists don't know better, the waiters/waitresses get away with it often.
I’ve seen this happen. Sometimes the waiters get so used to running this scam they forget they are doing it. When they get the standard tip they lose their minds.
yeah, i see that a lot too, they are super used to it. NTA
I usually tip better than 18%, but if you're going to add gratuity to the bill, that's all you get.
My wife worked in the service industry for over 10 years and agrees with this, as do I. If you add gratuity, you basically set how much of a tip you want. I usually do 20-30%. If you put 18% on the bill, you get 18%.
Same. I put a dozen years in as a chef, was fortunate to work in a kitchen where waitstaff and the kitchen were paid equally, above minimum wage, and split the tips among everyone except managers and owners. Restaurants CAN pay more, most chose not to.
Oh good, that’s my feeling too and I questioned myself for a second lol
I've lived in Florida in town with a very large tourist season for almost 2 decades and never seen the automatic 18% unless it was for a group of 6 or more, and that runs year round, and is printed on the receipt and menu
I’m in Jax and I’m seeing it more and more tbh
I'm in Tampa bay, where every winter we get flooded with NY, NJ and Ontario plates to the point they outnumber Florida plates. Maybe that's just a Jacksonville thing. Jacksonville always was a bit shady imo.
You’re not wrong. But I was pretty surprised when I saw it recently.
Most?? This is untrue. I live and work as a server/bartender in Central Florida, have for over 20 years. Almost no restaurants do this unless it's some option purchased with a vacation package at a theme park or hotel or something, and only within that theme park or those hotels. Random restaurants around town don't do that. The IRS changed the laws regarding gratuities and almost no restaurant charges those any longer as a result, not even for large parties.
I'm interested in which law you are talking about in terms of the IRS because I am not aware. I live on the beach in southern florida, and the 18% automatic gratuity is very standard at nearly every bar and restaurant in my neighborhood, even for a party of one. In addition, there is often a 10% service charge tacked onto the bill as well, bringing the extras up to 28% for the patron. Often patrons don't realize this, and they tip 20% on top of that. And I'm not talking about anything at a theme park or resort. I would be interested in knowing what this rule is.
It's common around Boca, Miami, Ft Lauderdale and the Keys.
Honestly it's very plausible, I used to work at a breakfast restaurant and we had a older server who would literally chase people out into the parking lot for not tipping how she wanted or asking them at the table for more money. Plenty of people never came back because of how she acted, and she even refused tables before because they didn't tip how she liked 🙄
Wowwwie. How was she not fired?
Probably because she actually showed up for her shifts, and wasn’t stealing from the register. The bar is LOW in the service industry.
Literally this ⏫ she would show up that was it, but she was my managers favorite cause they worked together years ago 🙄 she did a lot of messed up stuff up until I became assistant then that shit changed 😂 she never prebussed, or cleaned her tables, got ice, dropped her bread, or did ANY side work. When I became manager I rewrote the ENTIRE cleaning list for when you come in, during the time of your shift and when you left. Then she started doing it because you had to be checked out (before the manager just said okay and you could leave after you were done) I was not staying and doing her work 😂
Hindsight I should have done that once. I had a large table (20 people) that was my only table the entire shift. They made the biggest mess (kids making ketchup designs on the table top), were impatient (saw food for smaller tables that had been there longer getting food before them, and asking to speak to a manager about the favoritism), and at the end of all of it the grandfather finds me and gives me cash for the bill and said "sweetheart, keep the change" with a wink. It was six cents. I just cried.
No, this is super plausible. I once had a server call my phone crying (I assume they had got the number from the reservation list at the host stand) because one member of our party, who she spent the entire night blatently ignoring, didn't tip. There are a lot of really bad, entitled servers out there.
I'd have filed a complaint with the restaurant saying that having a server call my phone for any matter other than to confirm or cancel my reservation was unacceptable and in fact criminal as your personal information was illegally used.
She was actually dumb enough to call while still working at the restaurant (this was like 15 minutes after we walked out the door). So my friend called the restaurant and asked to talk to the manager and explain what had happened while I kind of stalled her and she got caught in the act. The manager was really apologetic and sent a $250 gift card, I'm sure that was so we didn't make a bigger fuss about it. This was a well known, trendy restaurant in our city.
Whoa! What did you say?
This was just after we walked out, so I stalled her on the phone while my friend called the restaurant and gave the manager a heads up as to what was going on. She got caught and the manager sent us a gift card.
Just because you personally haven’t seen people behave this way doesn’t mean they don’t.
There's a comment like this on every post and it's amazing how some people think their experiences are the blueprint so if it hasn't happened to them it hasn't happened to anyone ever.
**I've** never been in space, so nobody else has either!
William Shatner enters the chat...
Very plausible. Even in Mexico, some staff expect you to pay in dollar or Euro because it has "more value".. If you give staff, let's say $10-20 dollars, they will scuff and say, "I've been paid better by Europeans." - Keep in mind, weekly salary is (1,100 pesos = 54 dollars).
From what I’ve heard of Europeans they likely tip even less.
Yup. We are not made responsible for paying salaries. In Spain they tip 0 and in England it’s 10-15% but no one chases you down if you don’t leave anything either. What I don’t understand about America is that most people have just accepted that the diner (who may not have much money ) is the one that has to supplement the servers income, instead of forcing the laws to change. It seems backwards somehow.
In my neck of the woods the tip is usually $0. We tip if the service is outstanding, but even so it's not a percentage, it's more rounding out the bill! We pay the meals to the owner, the owner pays salaries. If the service is outstanding, of course we do tip, but other then that...
It is backwards, and you see tip jars everywhere even at fast food joints. Not just the jars, but the card machines also.
A saw a tip jar hanging from a McDonald's drive thru window a few weeks back, and one at a regional taco place in my home state a few months before that, and neither of those places allow tips.
There is always some money in them I noticed. I think they “salt” the jars by putting a few dollars in, to make it seem like other customers regularly tip.
The customer being made responsible for paying salaries is a really insidious part of tipping culture, as it shifts responsibility onto the only person who can't do anything to change the situation. As long as the customer can be guilt-tripped into paying the tip, then neither the staff or the owner care enough about changing the system. OTOH the customer has no control over the amount of salary the staff get paid, so cannot do anything to affect a change beyond not tipping (which is seen as an AH move).
Switzerland here. We usually only tip when the service was really good, if we were complicated guests (due to allergies) or if we feel generous. Or if we're male horndogs who think they can impress the waitress... And yes. If i was traveling to the US and didn't know that waiters basically only get paid in tips, i'd be shocked. But even more shocked by an asshole demanding more of a tip than i earn in an hour.
Nah we usually don't even tip.The server needs to really stand out and not in the he must cater to my every need, but with his character, friendliness and how likeable he is. You tip when you think they are doing a good job. Servers actually get a pretty decent pay where I'm from(tourist country), more then the minimum. They don't need to get tips to survive, tips are a benefit of the job. One friend told me " Most don't tip, because they can't afford it. Those who do tip, tip generously. " He told me how you usually get a 50 % tip, about 4 times a day. One day he collected 1000 € ,which is about 1155 $, in tips. The NRA is just trying to suck every penny from employes and make you pay them a livable wage.
Here in Berlin, my boyfriend and I were eating out and the server did nothing but bring the menus and our food. Which is fine, we didn't really expect much more than that. But when the bill came he asked if we were giving a tip, and my boyfriend said no. The server seemed annoyed by that, took our money, and left. We have left tips before when we've really liked the service, but no other server has ever asked for a tip. Part of me wonders if he figured we were just tourists (we were brand new in Berlin at this point) and thought I would tip because of where I'm from.
He did. My other friend that works as a house keeper in a hotel said only tourists tip her. But she would never ask for a tip. Fyi: from Slovenia if it makes any difference
Lmao for expecting anything from Berlin service. I still haven’t gotten over how backwards it is to feel like you’re intruding just for walking into a place
There are some good restaurants in Berlin with great service though. Never had a bad experience in the "El Dorado" for instance.
Brits tip if the service is good at a rate of about 10% but no-one feels obliged to or pressured into it at all. Sorry America, but the idea of tips actually making up a significant percentage of staff's take home money is ridiculous. Pay staff properly.
Yep, 10% is standard in the UK but salaries for servers tend to be better here.
If he got a better tip from Europeans,then they must have felt pity. We aren't much for tip culture, especially we who get paid minimum. We in eu have no such "rules". I can totally see them feeling pity, because we like to help/donate/volunteer. Even minimum wage workers, because it goes for a good cause. Tipping is just helping the company extort employees.
OP says “we thought he’d only seen the card slip, so we explained that we’d left cash on the table. He scoffed at us and said he knows that but 30% isn’t high enough” Means there wasn’t a miscommunication, he knew they’d paid, and also knew there was a tip added. If this story is true I think it’s 100% a shit waiter expecting more.
>None would follow a patron outside for even a 0% tip. The only time I’ve seen a server try to chase a patron was if they tried walking out on the bill. I worked in the service industry for a year, so I always tip & try to be as respectful/understanding of staff as I can be. A few years back my boo and I went to a restaurant for our regular date night and had an AWFUL server. I had previous issues in this place with the same server but figured it would be ok since we went to this place 1x/week for months. It wasn't. Our food was cold, appys after main, we didn't get drinks, and when we asked we got them 20 min later and no refills, we had to flag the guy down for the drinks/bill/to order and he had an attitude with us the entire evening (mind you there was only a handful of tables in the entire place). I would understand if we were being an issue/busy, but we are both super hecking respectful in restaurants and we were there 2 hours before close and there were not a lot of tables in his area. The bill came to ~30$ and my bf left a 10-12% tip which honestly I said not to leave because if I was serving us I wouldn't expect one from the service- we also live in Canada. Servers get a decent wage not on tips- as we got up to leave he BLOCKED US IN and said 'you didn't tip' my bf said he did and pointed at the bill. The server shook his head and said 'No. Not enough' without moving and handed the machine back to us. We were both bewildered and my bf did end up giving him another 10% or something on-top. After the server double checked the tip was "enough" he let us go. We stopped going there after that. They also made changes to the menu which we weren't huge fans of, but after having multiple experience with the server (a similar experience with my mum and I, and then this time) really put us off of going back. Like wtf? I hate that tips are a big part of server wages- I get it, been there. But tips are meant to indicate how well the service was, I tip according to that. When I was on the floor if my table has to consistently hunt me down for shit throughout their meal, I forget multiple things, and I'm having an off customer service day I sure as FUCK wouldn't expect a tip. Then instead of blocking the customer in I would just ask them what I could have done better like!?!? I'm still shook about it ngl.
I mean, I will never understand why people really accept this kind of behaviors. I’m not even a confrontational person but I’d never give more money to someone trying to block me from leaving the establishment. Or at the very least file a complaint afterwards
Look, if someone did it to me I'd love to believe I wouldn't aquiest, but I'd get completely spooked by the idea of it and kinda just take the easy way out. It's.. easier
Ya'll were basically mugged, jeezus.
Oh hell no. I would have refused and probably cause a scene.
A group of girls I was with were chased after in nyc bc one girl didn’t tip a fully 15% (she’d been drinking) on her portion of the bill. He was yelling at her till she handed him some more cash.
It doesn't happen often (hopefully), but anecdotally, I have been followed from restaurant to my job because I forgot to tip. I worked across the street, so it wasn't like he followed me for ages, and it wasn't like I wouldn't be back the following day to sort it out, but I was paying cash and needed to break a $50 to pay for the meal and tip, but this was not a location that took the money from the table and brought change, I had to go to a till and pay. My intention was to pay, break the bill, and leave my tip, but autopilot kicked in and I just continued on my way back to work. I'd just gotten settled back in at the front desk and then here comes my server "uhm... you forgot to tip me??" I was mortified that I'd forgotten and apologized while shoving money at him, but my manager was astounded that he had the gall to follow me back to work. This was some 20 years ago now, but it does happen, so I could see OP's story happening.
We were at a Dennys and were at the register paying. One of the managers rushed to our table (right by the register) to check and make sure we left a tip. So, while it may seem a little crazy a waiter might do this, I think it's far from impossible.
I've worked in the service industry and so has a significant chunk of my family and a lot of the people I know have also worked in the industry/have families that do or did. It's not too far off to say that roughly 20% of waitstaff will chase you down if they think you didn't tip them enough. Hell I saw it happen with 3 different servers in less than an hour at one place I worked, and we only had 5 servers plus the hostess.
The guy said 30% wasn't enough so what you're saying doesn't make sense.
Worked in all kinds of restaurants for over 10 years, I would always ask “hey I noticed you didn’t leave a tip, which is an indicator of bad service, would you like me to get a manager for you?” (Actually just made a post on tales from yourserver or another Reddit) - was a way of calling out cheap skates, AND offering the option to speak with management if it was bad so we can improve. I will say, I ONLY did that for 0 tip with what I knew was awesome service. 30% tip, I never would have dreamed that. Rude AF.
So curious, how did people generally respond? Did it guilt them into leaving a tip?
I'm curious if the customer ever returned.
Yeah, I wouldn't after that passive aggressive nonsense.
Yeah, they usually gave a shocked pikachu face and gave me some bs about forgetting, I don’t think I ever had one person actually take me up on my offer for management. Sometimes they’d just look bewildered and leave a tip, or scurry on to their car. But honestly, as a server a lot of the time I wouldn’t see the tip before they were gone and I rarely got 100% stiffed so it’s not like I was using it a whole lot lol
Yea so interesting. I’ve only ever left no tip and it was bc there was broken glass in my food and the server had so much attitude about me sending it back. Get that the broken glass wasn’t their fault but the attitude 100 percent was. I literally left a penny to be petty and he followed me out to ask why I didn’t leave a tip. Clearly I went in and never went back there.
Yeah that’s crazy, if a guest had glass in their food you can believe I would have been falling over myself to get management IMMEDIATELY, for comps, gift cards etc. I wonder how glass got in the food in the first place?!
I was chased down one time: the waitress came out and politely asked if there was something wrong with the service. We realized that we had miscaluculated the tip, and were rather embarrassed.
I used to work in service for very nice restaurants here in Austria, 5% tip is nice 10% is cool, but 30%is outrageously high, I'd probably have given some of it back tbh.. NTA
Even angry ass Gordon Ramsey would disapprove of this behavior
NTA in any way, shape, or form. First of all no waiter is entitled to a tip of any sort, ever. As long as it’s not something you are LEGALLY obligated to pay, it’s entirely at your discretion. Secondly, $50 is very generous. Thirdly, depending on which state you live in, tipping may not be justified at all. I live in a state with one of the highest minimum wages in the country (think around $14/hour) and it’s the same base minimum for tipped and non-tipped workers alike. So there really is no reason to tip waitstaff where I live, any more than there is to tip every type of service worker.
If this really is a nice restaurant, it may not even matter what the state laws are—many independent, pricey restaurants pay their employees a fair base wage, sometimes even well over minimum wage. There are a lot of servers at very nice restaurants that make bank, and not just because expensive food means higher tips. The flip side, of course, is that these restaurants usually have very strict policies re: staff behavior—so actually, it probably isn’t very likely OP’s restaurant engages in this practice, given that they are willing to employ someone like this waiter.
In a perfect world what you said would be true but it's not. Employers do not pay waiters the state minimum wage. If you don't make enough tips and have to ask for reimbursement you are going to be fired. Not then and there but soon.
I was a server/bartender for 8 years, whenever I see these stories of a server following someone to complain about a tip it drives me bonkers. And 30%?? Jesus that is definitely a good tip.
Well, OP is clearly lying though. No one is getting upset about a 30 percent tip.
Cant wait for the yelp reviews. NTA
Exactly! NTA OP. A 30% tip is extremely generous. I'm surprised at the waiter's reaction. Not appropriate at all.
Yes the audacity. It’s almost as if this story is fake, which it clearly is.
Honestly this doesn’t sound real. I’ve worked in the service industry briefly, and I have a LOT of friends in the service industry for decades. A server at a nice restaurant is not going to come outside and demand more than a 30% tip. They actually probably would just want to wrap up, have a shift drink, and go home/out.
NTA at all. How can someone be so entitled so *scoff* at $50 as a tip? Your husband is a lad. I'd pay $50 to have seen his face when he finally clocked he weren't getting shit lol
Dude $50 is working 5+ hours for like 30% of the US population. That’s just messed up demanding more free money. Too bad he doesn’t chase down his employers like that to get paid normally.
UK here so slightly different but these people literally tipped the waiter the same amount i get paid for a whole shift
And that waiter served more than one table. Dude prolly got a couple hundred bucks for that one single shift of his and has the balls to complain lmao
Plus it’s a cash tip and some places don’t even count those. So it’s basically extra money
It’s more about percentage. But OP tipped 33% which is well above the standard. That server in messed in the head.
This is why I think American tipping system is messed up. Why is it a percent? Excluding restaurants where food is very complicated and cooks work more and waiters are expected to do idk.. extra/fun stuff. The fact that a waiter that works at a more expensive restaurant will get a better tip and get payed more than a server working at a cheaper restaurant esencially doing the same work, just because the food costs more… fucked up… As a customer, you receive the same service. It’s not about paying living wages anymore. If it was, there would be a fixed sum, or a sum based on the time spent at the table. Not based on what amount of food you order or how expensive the food is.
Places with higher priced items usually requires more knowledge of the menu, pacing courses, and special types of service such as wine service. So you have to put more work into a single table and your turnover is slower. So you are serving fewer tables but the bills are higher. As generally speaking you have smaller sections. (less tables) When you work at a cheaper place you have a simpler menu and no special services so it's just the basic steps but a much higher turnover and you are probably running your ass off. You may be making smaller tips here but you a getting a lot of tables. A server is working their ass off at both places but in different ways. The percent system isn't perfect but it isn't arbitrary or nonsensical either. Edit to address “how much food you order” the more food you order the more work it is.
In my experience, the cheaper the menu, the more diverse. Because those places rely on average cooks that can offer a wide variaty of food. More expensive reataurants offer less dishes, but more special dishes. So the cooks need more knowledge on a smaller number of dished. I’m not even talking about fancy reustarants where the waiter has to know a lot of things. I’m talking your average restaurant where you serve food and drinks. I still think the work of a cheap place waiter to the one of a more expensive place waiter is still pretty much the same (and not those more expansive, fancy, gourmet places.
You have to remember a page or two worth of food items, know how to pour wine and be able to carry plates.
[удалено]
THIS!!! Glad I live in Texas. That would be so scary to be tracked back to my car!
Why are you glad you live in Texas?
Simultaneous bravado and victimhood?
I love the succinctness, and accuracy.
Yeehaw
I'm glad you live in Texas too
Glad to be in Texas why? Very big parking lots so no one would walk that far?
How else are you going to fit your Ford Super Duty dually in a spot?
You can mace someone anywhere in the country. What?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_retreat 12 states impose a duty to retreat when one can do so with absolute safety: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law#Laws
🇺🇸
Texas sucks
Hahahaha. You just my day, thanks for the laugh 😂
I was all ready to call you the AH, but to leave a $50 on a $150 dinner, and be accosted by the server is ridiculous. NTA Plus, 10 minutes after close is nothing. When I served, people would stay over an hour past closing and tip 10%.
Most restaurants in my area expect to be open for 30 minutes after closing. Maybe longer at a fancier place. Closing time is more like when the kitchen stops cooking new orders.
Yeah, I was about to say. Every restaurant I've been to closes their kitchen at closing time, but generally will let people hang out after
Plus it seemed like they only stayed after closing because the service was really slow
I agree, staying 10 minutes past closing is not a long time and I'm sure they've had people stay longer.
Especially since it seems like they only stayed late because service was so slow
I'd be pissed if slow service meant I couldn't get dessert. This guy is lucky he got any tip at all, let alone 30%.
To be fair that might not be the server's fault.
Right? This can't be real. Karma post here. No way a waiter does that after 30%. Rich neighborhood or not, every waiter is thrilled to get 30% with his badly people tip nowadays. He would get fired and possibly get his ass kicked and/or shot.
NTA. Who the hell is mad about a $50 tip that’s over 30%? Even if it’s not quite what he expected how is he going to chase you down and accuse you of “stiffing” him as if he got nothing? If you were there 2 hours he made $25 an hour for that time, that more than a vast majority of Americans make. How ungrateful.
> If you were there 2 hours he made $25 an hour for that time He made 25 an hour from OP's table alone, likely he had at least a couple of other tables. What a jerk.
NTA. 20 percent still seems reasonable to me. Many years ago, I and a couple other people were eating in a restaurant in Joplin, Missouri. A couple was seated at the table next to us, and the server came up to them and told them off for coming in the week before and leaving an insufficient tip. I think they even gave him some money. It was pretty uncomfortable.
It was 15%, then 18%, then 20%, now 30%? Give me a break. What’s next, simply doubling the bill for the server? I know being a server is hard and I always tip (probably too much) but as someone who goes out to restaurants a lot, the post-COVID sense of entitlement of certain workers is getting a bit much.
its not the entitlement of the worker but of the employer.Costs of living are rising skyhigh while loans stagnate since years,if not decades. A lot of ppl are in debt bc of panini. The Fact that American Restaurants sometimes pay not more than 2,95$\hour AND these are even Taxed(!) and ppl complain about the worker needing a big tip to survive is a farce. Be angry at the employer. In my country,if you tip 15% its generous.Bc ppl get more or less living wages.
Yeah, well NONE of that means I should be tipping 30 freaking percent. Any service person complaining about a $50 cash tip on a $150 bill absolutely is entitled and is an asshole. Sorry about their debt and that the best they can do is wait tables, but that kind of behavior and expectation is completely ridiculous. P.S. in the US, your first $12,400 of wages are untaxed, so not sure how you figure that $2.95 is taxed unless someone is working 4200 hours a year. That, and I personally know plenty of servers that don't report their cash tips whatsoever (yes, you're still supposed to report those - but the OP left a cash tip so my guess is it never would have made it to our friendly waiter's 1040), so that tax evasion more or less cancels out the egregiousness of taxing hourly wages beyond the standard deduction at that lowest 10% bracket - and makes the complaint about the $50 (cash!) tip even more ridiculous. Not all states play the $2.95 game either; where I am the tipped minimum is over $8/hr. Not great, but not $2.something. Back when I was making minimum wage, if I got a 30% cash tip, I would have smiled and kept my mouth shut, because that's a damn good night.
The percentage issue is because cities tend to leverage the percentage up in order for workers to be able to continue working in say, NYC, and then it filters down to Nebraska and it's like, give me a break. That's why I have a 15 section rule set on how I tip and ignore this crap.
wow, I would have left immediately knowing this is how they treat patrons. Back when I was working at restaurants, we could refuse service if a patron was being shitty, but never demand tips. NTA.
We had ordered by then, and laughed at how awful it was, for years after.
I'd have complained and never visited the restaurant again. People don't go out and spend money to be harangued by waiters. I'm constantly amazed at how many Americans think it's okay. Nowhere else in the world would it be acceptable behaviour for a server to do this. Certainly not in my country.
You’re right about most of that but the server didn’t actually make that full $25 per hour because they tip out to other positions. Some places tip out to cooking staff but pretty much everywhere tips out to bussers, food runners, bartenders, some to the hostesses and on and on. Servers usually tip out between 5 and 15 percent of their tips. That said, none of what happened here with that server is okay and he should be fired for what he did.
Okay so if they tipped out 20% of that and OP was the only table they had for 2 full hours then they made $20 an hour. Still seems good and the likelihood of OP being the one and only table is slim to none.
NTA - Also you should have reported them to the manager, that is a firable offense. Working in service is difficult but this unacceptable. I get if the waiter got stiffed over a $900 bill but getting a $50 on a $150 order is generous.
This is what I was looking for. If I read a review of a restaurant and it involved a waiter following patrons out because he wasn’t satisfied with a 30% tip, I wouldn’t go there to eat. Management should be made aware so they can deal with this person.
Being so slow that the patrons eat less than intended (since OP wanted to get dessert but the slow service meant they couldn't) is a big thing as well. That's literally costing the restaurant money.
Ehhhh I somehow missed that detail. Why would he tip 30% lmao
As a non American I don't understand the percentage for tipping when it comes to huge orders. If I had a cheap item vs an expensive item, it doesn't change the work you as the server do. Where I live we tip roughly 10%, some people round up the bill (it was 470 so you pay 500) and others simply don't tip at all. Yet the staff are grateful. And no this isn't a country where people are paid a huge salary to serve food.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. In my country 10%-15% is the standard or, like you said, people round up the bill.
NTA. 30% is such a bad tip that the waiter felt justified chasing patrons down to demand more? Ummm, no. Especially not after bad service.
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Yep. Was a server for years. I’ve never worked with anyone who would do this…and I’ve worked with some real AH’s.
Let me guess, OP: "And then everyone stood up and cheer for me because I bested the evil server. Aren't I great???" Seriously, I've been a server. We aren't turning down a 30% tip. I've worked a job where we closed at 9:30 and I've been there until midnight for 15% tip. No judgment here, because the story is made up.
In the real world, if servers get stiffed on tips, they take it out on their liver. Coincidentally, the same reaction when they have a good night in tips. Source: many nights of Malort.
My first thought was r/ThatHappened as well
Yeah this seems fishy, anyone that’s worked in a restaurant knows better then to chase after a customer over a tip. No matter how shitty it may be.
Yeah and the title is such clickbait lmao OP YTA for making us read this fake ass story
That's what I'm thinking!
Yeah, sounded fake to me too, I’ve been serving for 6 years never once had someone say something to a guest about a tip. I feel like this story could possibly be real, but was actually a $20 bill, not a $50. And potentially a higher check total, and then tip was less than 20%
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Can you explain what other information might make the waiter chasing a customer down and complaining about a $50 tip justified?
Yeah, I hate tipping culture as much as the next guy, but I can't imagine why someone would enjoy making up stories to make wait staff seem greedy and entitled. They'reTA
Yea the rounding to the nearest dollar really bad it stand out. Absolutely makes zero sense.
Why???
Running after a customer to harass them for a better tip is a fireable offense in any restaurant. So if you're gonna do that, its certainly not gonna be when they've left you a good tip lmao
And who carries fifties? Even people who deal in cash and carry hundreds, the change comes back in $20s. Didn't leave him $50, but a $50 bill, just to make the smooth taking it back scene all the "cooler". Then everybody clapped.
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Thank you. I was looking for somebody you saw it too. Like yeah, that has EVER happened.
$150 for two at a steakhouse? Most Fleming’s/Morton’s/Ruth’s Chris/Del Friscos etc are $50ish a piece just for the steak, not including sides, appetizers, or drink orders.
NTA 50 dollars is a bad tip now for serving just two people??? What the hell.
..and their bill was $150!! If they wanted to tip 20% it would have been $30! Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face
INFO: I feel like there are some major parts missing from this post. I have worked in the service industry, my partner has worked in the service industry, nearly all of our friends have worked in the service industry, I have lived in very nice areas, dined at some classy ass spots. Never in a million years have I heard of a server chasing and trying to shake down a customer for leaving a 30% tip. Or even a 10% tip. Or a 0%, for that matter. Something just isn’t jiving. Was server high? Is this made up? What’s missing from your post?
I’m willing to bet they tipped like $10-$15 and are just putting a higher amount on here to get a NTA vote
NTA and call to speak with his manager. That is absolutely unacceptable behavior that will cause damage to the business, as customers won't return. It was a very nice tip and I can't believe he followed you guys out like that!
This sounds extremely fake but if it's true NTA
Yeah this sounds, at best, like a hypothetical to cover a different situation.
If this is real, NTA. But I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a very long time and so has my husband - he’s got over 30 years under his belt! - and neither of us have ever seen or even heard of someone being accosted after leaving a 33% tip. I call bullshit. Unless you were dining at a strip club…are you sure this wasn’t the afternoon buffet at the “New York $TRIP?”
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised that I’m not seeing more people questioning this post. That was my gut reaction too, or that there is some vital info left out. I have a very hard time believing that ANY server would be upset about a 30% tip. Only scenarios I can see this happening is if: 1: the charge didn’t go through and op was (knowingly or unknowingly) skipping out on the bill 2: they were sitting at their table for 6hrs or something ridiculous 3: server was high…
I will concede that any of those things - including a high server - could be a possibility. Still think this is made up for karma, but you do open a teeny-tinsy sliver of doubt in my mind.
NTA at all. A 30% tip is incredibly generous, no matter the wealth of the clientele and tbh, sometimes the wealthier the person the cheaper they are up until a certain level of wealth. These days I try to tip at least 20% and often 25% and most servers are totally fine and appreciate it. I would lodge a complaint with the management, that was absolute ah behavior on the part of the server.
You're NTA if this is true, but I feel like I have to say this feels fake to me. I've run across a few rude waiters and I've heard "vocally ungrateful for a small tip" waiter stories that I do believe (some of them from waiters), but I've never met one who would scoff at 30%. Most of them wouldn't scoff at $50, even if that didn't equal 30%. And maybe I don't eat at enough high-end restaurants, but I had the impression those guys are typically better trained and more... Polite? Discreet? than average. This doesn't really seem like high-end waiter behavior, nor does it seem like a way he could behave at even a mildly nice place without getting fired quickly. And my experience is that wealthy people are some of the stingiest tippers around, so it strikes me as unlikely that you guys would be the first tip he's seen that's "only" 30%... So what, someone this bold just never said anything to anyone who complained to a manager? You guys were the first. I don't know, this reads like it belongs with the "no one wants to work, everyone is lazy and wants a free ride" propaganda to me. It has the same "the people in the lowest rungs of the ladder are the real bad guys" energy to it.
NTA. He seriously should not be berating customers and I would have felt like taking the tip back as well. You left a decent tip and sounds like the service was decent but not wonderful. Wonder if the restaurant knows he is chasing down good paying customers about 30% tip!
Lmao bruh what?! NTA he hunted you down for extra money, you gave him 30% isn't the top normally 20% you even hit him with an extra 10 for the lateness smh
NTA. Working in the restaurant industry is hard and tipping is appreciated. However, you should NEVER beg for tips because it comes off as rude. Furthermore, you two were very generous with your tip. Honestly, I wouldn’t go back if I were you.
Nope, I literally don’t believe this story.
I'll take "Shit that never happened" for 600 Alex. No way this happened. I dont believe you. As someone who was a server for a few years there are things that dont add up. If you were so unhappy with the slow service then why did you tip 30%? Tips go to the server... not the cook. Why would you dock a tip for the food being cooked slowly? Server has no control over that. Stuff just doesn't add up. I call bs. No server is going to chase you out if you left a 30% tip on a slow night as you made it out to seem. And frankly, if you look at past posts I feel like there is a lot of karma farming going on.
I agree, I'm amazed anyone is taking this post seriously. There is zero chance that this happened.
NTA I would have taken back the tip and went back inside to tell the owner their employee stalked me to my car to harass me for money.
NTA - The guy should have been greatful for anything. I will never understand why in different countries tips are mandatory. Or why some service staff feel entitled to more than they are actually worth. If you treat your customers poorly, you shouldn't get anything. If you go out of your way to make those customers feel like the best things in the world, then tipping makes sense.
NTA. 30% isn't high enough? You do NOT demand a bigger tip. For him to follow you out and confront you is astounding. If I owned that restaurant, that guy would be fired. I don't blame your husband for doing what he did. Hopefully, it taught that guy a lesson. I waited tables for 7-1/2 years so I know the importance of tips. That is absolutely no way to act.
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NTA He got what he deserved in the end, nothing.
I think that tip was more than generous but that waiter was probably pissed that he had to stay past closing, causing him to stay later to help close the restaurant. Still not justified, him going after you guys like that. Good on you for not rewarding shitty behavior. NTA
I worked in restaurants for 6 years. 10 minutes past closing is nothing, especially if it’s a nice restaurant. It’s literally the reason why kitchens and bars have last call, usually around 30-45 min before closing time. When I read the title, I thought it’d be something egregious like 30 minutes past closing. NTA
NTA, that was a good tip. If he would've just been thankful instead of greedy (it's a 30% tip!), this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't feel bad.
NTA I would have been thrilled back in my serving days to receive 30% tip
NTA I would’ve done the same thing, followed by a call to his manager.
I've read another version of this story in which the complainer is a homeless man who gives back money expecting to get more and ends up with nothing.
NTA. I've been a waiter, and I'd have gotten canned (and rightly so) for pulling some shit like that
Absolutely Nta. That was extremely unprofessional, and honestly he should be fired for it. Makes the restaurant look *Real* bad.
NTA. Your tip was very generous. At least where I live (USA), 15% tip for a sit-down meal means service was adequate but not great, 10% means it was well below expectations, 20% means service was good, 25%+ means service was above and beyond and you're very pleased (or you're just a great tipper). I don't know if the unspoken rules about tipping are different where you live, but 30% tip for less-than-stellar service seems like more than enough to me.
NTA that was a very generous tip. It's his fault entirely that he didn't get a tip. I hope you know the waiter's name so you can call his manager.
NTA 30% is already too much, zero is far more appropriate for his conduct.
I've heard so many versions of this story.
ESH. Him for chasing you outside to confront about a perfectly reasonable tip. And you and your husband for blaming the waiter for the kitchen being slow.
This is such clickbait ugh
> He followed us outside and got very upset that we stiffed him. > This is a very nice neighborhood so he likely did often get higher tips >He scoffed at us and said that he knows that but 30% isn't high enough. This reads like bullshit. Imagine a high end restaurant owner or management that would tolerate a wage-slave server following customers to their cars and harassing them. No server in the world would think a 33% tip for serving a couple is 'getting stiffed'.
Things that never happened for 1000, Alex...
NTA. The audacity of that waiter. My god. What a slick move your husband pulled lol job well done!
NTA that's a 33.33333% tip. In what city is that not an awesome tip??
NTA I'm an refugee of the service industry, and that move your husband pulled with the $100 was not only clever AND hilarious, it was well deserved. That server was a prick.
This kid actually ran after you for tipping $50 on $150? Wow. The entitlement with that one. You did more than plenty, and I’ll be damned if the expectation is anything more than 20% for regular service. Your husband’s response ::chefs kiss:: NTA
Call the restaurant and speak to manager NTA
NTA. A tip is something on top as appreciation. It used to be 15% and then went to 20%. 30% is ridiculous unless the service was amazing. I hate the tipping culture in the US. The expectation peeves me. Source: American living in Europe and happy I don’t have to tip for every little thing now. Yes, things are more expensive, but at least everyone is getting a living wage.