Definitely have not left a tip before. Tips are suppose to be for good service and if you don’t receive it they don’t deserve it. Good for u!
NOTE: There is a BIG question at the bottom of this post that I would love for you to answer. Looking forward to your response :)
So, yesterday Lisa (my fiance) and I decided to go for what ended up to be a rather lengthy walk along the water throughout the Davis Islands district of Tampa Bay. Some nice houses back there, including the nearly finished skeleton of Derek Jeter’s new 30,875 square foot mansion.
It’s the one on the right. More on Derek in just a minute.
As the walk went on, we realized 1) I was hungry and wanted Mexican food, 2) Lisa was hungry and didn’t care and 3) we both needed a break as we’d been walking way longer than anticipated.
So we stopped off at Estella’s, the supposed “go to” restaurant on Davis Islands. We even saw Derek and his fiance Minka Kelly (best known from the NBC television show Friday Night Lights – if you don’t know about it, know about it…one of the best shows on TV) sitting outside dining there as we passed by a few weeks ago.
So, we figured it was probably pretty good. I mean, we heard good things, and hot chicks dine there…Lisa would fit right in.
Wrong.
Place. Was. Awful.
From the service to the food. Bleh. Worst of all, I sat through my entire “meal” (if you even want to call it that) with no beverage, only to have the waiter bring me my requested Corona Light after I was finished eating.
Screw up my food, okay. Screw up my beer…that just landed you a ——— through the tip line of the check. And that’s coming from someone who usually leaves a generous 20+ percent. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I didn’t tip…had to be when I was a broke college kid and by total accident.
But this was deliberate, and I hope they got the el message. People want their beer with their meal.
Soooooo…this morning I was still in the mood for Mexican (because that place certainly did NOT hit the spot), leaving me to turn to my old staple “simple” Mexican Omelet Recipe.
Enjoy:
The Easiest Mexican Omelet in the World
Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 slices of organic pepper-jack cheese
3-4 tbsp salsa
You can probably figure out what to do with that, but I’ll still include directions:
Directions:
Pre-heat an omelet pan on medium heat. Whip the eggs in a small bowl. Transfer eggs to the omelet pan. Allow eggs to cook, lifting the edge of the omelet throughout to allow any uncooked egg to run under.
Once mostly cooked, flip the omelet shell. Lay the two slices of jack on one side an fold the omelet over. Transfer to a plate and top with salsa. If you want to get really fancy, add some sliced avocado on the side. That’s what I did. It was delicioso.
Alright, so here’s my question? Did you ever NOT leave a tip? What was the service like that caused you to make that bold move? Share your experience below! I’m really curious.
Looking forward to the responses!
Joel
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148 comments - add yours
I have actually left “2 cents” a few times. It is my “2 cents” of what their service was worth. That way they know it’s because I was upset with the service and not just cheap. I’m not saying you are, but leaving nothings seems like it. I always leave a note with the 2 cents so there is no question. If it makes them a better server, good for them. If it doesn’t, they won’t last long anyway.
One time I left a penny for a tip because in an empty restaurant the server never made it back to the table the entire time until she came to leave the check! Of course, she didn’t find it amusing that I left a penny and tried to comment when I left. I told her and the manager that if she wanted a tip, she needed to provide better service!
A few times my wife and I had gone out to relax and enjoy ourselves. You expect reasonably good service from a restaurant. If the water never gets filled up and nobody checks on your from the delivery of your food on, that is when we do NOT leave a tip.
I rarely have to – but I will leave a SUPER BAD tip (a nickel or a couple of pennies) before I leave nothing at all. It sends a bigger message IMHO. Leaving nothing could be interpreted as an oversight – leaving a few pieces of change says “Here’s what your bad service deserved”
Definitely haven’t left a tip before. Ordered a water didn’t get it till halfway through the horrible tasting meal and then only saw here once after ordering and it was to drop the check off which she didnt split like we asked earlier so on the tip line she got “get a better job”
Funny!- it was in a Mexican restaurant also. I asked for a little rice – they gave me half a dinner plate. I asked for more refried beans – they gave me a tablespoon amount. I asked for a side of tortilla and I got none. I ate half of my pepper and all the beans and got up. When the waiter came with the bill for $22.50 I just signed it and left. No tip. When people with a pad and pencil can’t get an order right, they don’t earn a tip.
On the very, very rare occasion of really, really, really bad sercice instead of no tip, I have left a one penny tip and on the receipt clearly spelled out that the service was terrible. My intent was that there would no way that the server would not understand that the service was unacceptable. Hopefully this method flaged the terrible service not only the waiter, but also to the management. I don’t know if it worked but it sure made me feel like I was making the world a better place!
Never stiff the wait staff. It makes you look like a jerk. My advise, if you are having bad service discuss it first with your server then if necessary the manager. There may be a reason why the server is having a bad day (like he just put his dog down- true story) or maybe the kitchen or bar staff is the cause. If he is truly a bad waiter, telling the manager is more useful than stiffing the waiter. Not only does it give the manager a chance to make your bad experience right but he is ultimately responsible for the terrible service.
Had a waitress that got our order wrong…accused me of giving the wrong order…never came back to see if we needed anything…but the busboy was super attentive…so I gave HIM the $10!!
They must be deporting undocumented Mexicans in mass because i got the same or worse service as well when i went to a Mexican REstaurant that i also heard was a great spot.
To make things worse,
the food took forever to come out,
the salsa for the chips was watered down and sucked
the waitress was not warm or pretty as usual and spoke perfect English
and worst of all, my favorite guacamole that comes almost identically standard in all mexican restaruants was so horrid that I had to make sure that wahat they brought was actually edible.
and check this out.
I went to the Italian restarunt yesterday and they were going crazy with their sevice and opoligizing for being slow with the service. the food great as usual, but apparently the Mexican waiter mentioned that 3 other cooks were a no show.
Hmm…..that was ironic.
Somethings happening and its kinda scary to think that i might not be able to get great service and great tasting food as usual.
One time a waiter shouted at me in front of everyone about a mistake that he made. I quietly ordered him to fetch his manager, correct his mistake, and left a few cents, just because I was too irritated to wait for change :)
A few years ago, I went to a nice restaurant in Santa Cruz, CA with my then-boyfriend. Maybe it was because we looked young and naive, but the service was horrible. We didn’t get the drinks we ordered – at all – and we were given the wrong food. When I politely pointed this out to the waitress, she got upset and stomped off to go get the food we had really ordered. My steak, when it came, was overcooked instead of medium rare, the veggies were limp, and the potato was completely bare of any toppings. My date’s food was no better – his pasta was not thoroughly cooked and the sauce was lackluster. Needless to say, we TRIED to leave no tip due to the really bad service we received. As we were walking out, the manager actually ran out after us and demanded we leave a tip for the waitress. We NEVER went back there again!
My bugaboo is those places that decide to add a mandatory 18-20% gratuity when it’s a large party. I have no problem leaving a generous tip. I DO have a problem 1) with it added to my bill (usually guarantees service won’t be good because they know they’re gonna get a generous tip) and 2) with an ADDITIONAL tip line below that! How many people have added another 20% forgetting the “service charge” is actually mandatory gratuity?
I leave nothing when the service is lousy. They KNOW why you leave nothing.
Have definitely left change for service that was horrible. It was a dinner for my husband for his birthday and the waitress just couldn’t get anything right. Frogetting to give us our packed leftovers sent me over the top. I had to leave soemthing but wanted to send a message. She was in the wrong line of work.
Definitely have not left tips…..but then I am an Aussie and we only ever give tips for outstanding service! Can’t quite understand why I should pay the wages of restaurant staff, but don’t mind rewarding someone who has gone the extra mile to make sure I have a great night out.
The American concept of having to tip everyone and their dog is rather novel to me. Some people do tip in the country where I’m from (Easter Europe), but where I currently live (Iceland), the people insist on giving you the exact change at the supermarket or restaurant. The idea of tipping is foreign to them and some find it almost offensive. If you want to get rid of some small change, many stores and some restaurants have donation boxes for UNICEF or whatnot.
Add to this that the vast majority of people don’t use cash when paying, only cards.
I did leave tips when I went to Mexico with my company – for the guides on a particularly awesome trip and for the room cleaning staff who made funny shapes out of towels every morning. I thought they really deserved it.
I not only didn’t leave a tip, but our whole party walked out of the restaurant the service was so bad. We waited to be seated for 90 minutes, then we couldn’t get menues. After flagging down a waitress (and being told this was not her station!) I went in search of a manager. The manager said he was sorry but they were very busy. I told him I had a party of 10 who were very hungry and if we didn’t get service in the next 10 minutes, we were gone. We waited another 15 minutes (still looking for menues), a waitress finally came over and took drink orders (but no menues). After we waited another 20 minutes for our drinks and menues to show up we gave up and left. I told the manager on the way out that he blew it and we were gone. The restaurant? I HOP.
Having worked as a waiter when at college I knew you had to earn tips. Move forward 15 years. Having just flown from UK, then US immigration decided to keep us sitting on the plane for 45 mins because they were on lunch. Got stuck in traffic getting into NY. First thing I did on checking into Hilton on Avenue of the Americas was order a beer from room service. 35 minutes later after 3 further calls the beer finally arrived. The guy stood there expecting a tip – no way. It was only later I realised that he probably blamed it not on his crap service but rather that I was a cheap Scotsman!
You bet! Actually several times. When I order something I expect it to be edible. If not, I let the server know how I feel then leave. NEVER SEND IT BACK! Pissed off kitchen people will mess with your food!
There have been plenty of times I have left little to no tip; I usually write on the back of my credit card receipt why, so that anyone who looks at it knows exactly why. It is a liitle harder to hide bad service when more than your server knows why no gratuity was left.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...