Quote:
Originally Posted by kane
You are right. I'm sure if you asked 100 waiters if they would rather make $50 on a $500 bill from a group of 10 or nothing, they would take the $50.
If you asked them whether they would prefer to serve a group of 10 and make a $50 or serve five couples that each tipped them $15 you would get a different answer.
If you asked them if they would rather serve a group of 10 that left a zero tip or have them go elsewhere, they likely wouldn't care if the people ate somewhere else.
I have never waited tables, but the current GF put herself through college doing just that and she tells me that on an average night about 15-20% of the people leave a token tip or no tip at all. It wasn't just her or that she sucked at the job. She was good at the job and she is hot so guys often tipped her well, but she said it was that way for all of the servers. Maybe it was just where she worked. She just told me that if she had her choice she would stay away from big groups unless she knew them because the odds are they were going to tip like 5% and she could make more serving smaller tables.
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From that perspective it makes sense, I'm not viewing it from the perspective of the waiter. I look at it from the perspective of the restaurant owner.
The restaurant owner is the one who have the final call about wages, food quality and service levels.
Normally I go to the better rated places so I usually don't run into those problems, if going to a $10-$15 / dish place there is a clear difference in the service. The places they try and "guess" the tips you'll give upfront is usually the worst. You'll either end up with a obviously fake friend of a waiter who smell some easy tips or someone just ignores you if you are out with kids etc
The waiter is usually THE person who can give you a good or bad feeling about a restaurant almost regardless of how the food is. I tip based on how "special" the waiter/waiters made me or my guests feel.