Recently, a friend invited me out to a new restaurant. I was so impressed with the friendly and humble ways of the waitress, that the already excellent food seemed to go up even a notch higher in my personal evaluation. Throughout dinner, this lovely waitress had a natural smile on her face, ready to attend to all our needs. Needless to say, that I was very happy to leave her a generous tip. I find it amazing how much the attitude of the staff in restaurants contributes to my overall enjoyment of a meal. How about you? Does grumpy wait staff spoil your appetite, or do you just ignore them and focus on the food? On the other hand, do you reward good service?
I've never in my life had a grumpy waitress. Each and every one of them has been beyond cheery and helpful. I personally would rather not be bothered during my meal, but I understand they need to make sure we have everything we need and have no issues. It's just, my mouth is ALWAYS full when they come back to ask lol. So for me, it doesn't make for a better experience. but I'm sure I'd notice the difference if I ever got a grumpy waitress. I do appreciate what they do though and I always tip accordingly.
I had one bad experience with a waiter where he slammed the condiments on the table we were asking him repeatedly since the place was packed. This was actually witnessed by the head waiter as if waiting for me to go ahead and complain to him. I did and the staff was fired right then and there. This of course affected our appetite but we did go on ahead to finish our meal. For a good service, I do leave some generous tips.
If I have an especially rude waiter I admit it will put a damper on things. If the food is still good it makes up for it though. Bad food and poor service is a bad situation. I definitely do reward good service because it's somewhat of a rare thing. Leaving a generous tip can make someone's day...I like that idea.
It doesn't really affect me much unless they do something negative. If they are just neutral and not trying to be pleasant then I don't mind, and if they do try to be pleasant and friendly, I honestly don't care that much but I can admire their work ethic at the very least. I do reward with tips for good service, but I do so anyway for average service just as long as I can afford it.
It doesn't really affect me unless they are astonishingly bad. I used to work as a server myself, and in the restaurant biz as a whole for several years from when I was a teenager through college. I know it's stressful work and when things go wrong it's often not the servers fault in the first place - the kitchen may have delayed the order and or screwed it up, an expediter might have put the wrong dishes on the servers tray, someone else other than the server such as a food runner might have grabbed the wrong stuff to bring to you, etc... Plus they are getting paid nearly nothing, and are being forced to live off their tips as wages, which we all know how stingy customers can be when it comes to tipping. I would say in many cases, being angry and demanding with your sever is counterproductive because it will cause them to dread coming back to your table, and they will want you out of there asap. If you see that your sever is really slammed and under a lot of pressure, some smiles and thank you's here and there, as well as saying "I can see you're really busy..." before asking them for something can go a long way. At the very least your server will know you don't hate their guts and will be more inclined to check in on you while you're eating. If you have a serious problem with your meal, get a manager involved instead of taking it out on the server by not tipping them. Instead, the manager may comp your meal entirely or offer some gift cards for a free meal or appetizer on a future visit as compensation for your troubles. That way you can still leave the server a good tip, but be compensated for your inconvenience.
I'll second Ohio Tom's statement. Being rude or short with your waiter or waitress is counterproductive. I waited a lot of tables because I was in college for a very long time. Not only did I dread going back to rude tables, I noticed this Murphy's law sort of thing happened where the kitchen would end up making a mistake with their food, or not having one of the dishes they ordered in stock. Or, maybe that is in fact karma. Waiting tables was by far the hardest job I ever had. In any other job, you can make mistakes or take a little time to yourself to deal with stress. Servers work long hours, miss almost every weekend and holiday with family. They miss weddings and funerals and studying for exams because most restaurants do not offer vacation or sick time. So, be nice to them! Also, since this is a money saving forum...In all of my years as a server, I never found a money saving deal for a table that was rude to me- or just had unreasonable expectations. However, I tried to find ways to comp drinks or desserts for my favorite tables.
I have also worked as a server and when it was really busy or I felt a table had not received good service not because of me but something I had no control over I would ask my manager to give the table a discount which always helped to make the table feel better about their meal and coming back. It can be a very hard job at times but it can me fun also.
Absolutely. Good customer service to me is a big part of the dining experience. If your food is late, if your waiter never shows up again, it's just an irritating factor that really shouldn't happen when dining out. I always tip extra when I feel like the wait staff had done an excellent job and made my dining experience more enjoyable.
They do for me. That's part of the experience when dining out. If the server came out with a attitude and poor service, it would be a big disappointment. Not for the food, but the experience.
