Originally Posted by
davie355
At lunch today, 15 minutes after we ordered entrees, our server said they'd be out in a few minutes. After another 15 minutes, she said they'd be a few more minutes because she had forgotten to submit our order to the kitchen
Our server provided all this info on her own initiative; we never asked. She was polite, and she apologized in passing for the delay, but this was a substantial delay, relative to the times I've dined in the past. (The restaurant is attached to a full-service boutique hotel.)
We did not complain in any way about the delay, or about anything, for that matter. I decided that if we received any compensation, such as dessert, I'd tip a normal amount, but that if we received nothing, I would tip nothing.
We didn't ask for or receive any compensation. My dining companion insisted I tip something because the server wasn't rude, and I agreed, so I gave 12.5%.
What would you have done?
Have had my entree completely rung up entirely wrong(server admitted to it), had my husband had the same thing as well happen at another restaurant, had forgotten to put in appetizer orders, side salads/cups of soup, etc. Have had lots of bar drinks forgotten from the bar(twice a long time(once 30 minutes, another time 25 minutes), etc.
In your situation, since that server didn't even pay for a soft drink off your bill(could have out of their own pocket if the manager didn't comp anything with YOUR SERVER asking(NOT YOU), I would have completely stiffed. Now if you would have been offered a comp from the server(meaning you didn't ask the manager), 8%-10%. Now if you had to ask for a manager and you did the complaining to get the freebie yourself, then stiff would be in the server's future. Usually the reason why this happens is that they either are playing around or purposely going out of order of turns so that's why they forget. In a situation before, our waiter was playing around on the job instead of WORKING, so he forgot what he was going to do.
It all depends on the situation. Once, our waiter admitted he forgot to put an appetizer order in(we ordered it at the greeting along with our drinks). I did see why though. I had remembered he went to hug someone he knew. Well, anyway, unlike most that don't care, our waiter PROFUSELY apologized twice(so sorry's), and offered something for free(chips and salsa, which was a menu item, not free of charge). So I told him we had enough food, that I'd rather have something off the bill even if it's just a coke. So he got $5 off our check(meaning WE didn't have to talk to a manager at all about it). We gave him 16% BEFORE the $5 discount. Now, if he would have not gotten us a comp and not apologized, we would have left absolutely nothing at all. If he would have just apologized a tiny sorry, not a "so sorry" and no comp, 6%. If he would have said "so sorry", but no comp 10%.
Now in our situation, it was just an appetizer, not our entire meals, but it still delayed things a lot.(at least 15 minutes I would think or so) In our situation, we found out due to my husband asking about where our appetizer order was and that's how we found out before our entrees came out.
Originally Posted by
Eastbay1K
A harsh result for what sounds like a one-off by a nice server. Depending on the place, a server might be quite limited in the ability to comp an item.
The server's candor was rare. I don't need to ruin her day or perhaps her livelihood by anything more than perhaps a reduced tip.
There are plenty of reasons to "talk to management" as a customer of the service industry. For me, this is not one.
It depends *WHY* it happened. In my situation from my previous post right before this one, the waiter me and my husband had HUGGED someone. He PLAYED on the job. So if he wouldn't have apologized or gotten something comped, he wouldn't have had a tip. So what they were honest. That doesn't mean they weren't playing around as to WHY it happened in the first place.
I had a waitress once when another server ran the food, part of my order was missing(a condiment and a side dish). I had seen our waitress when I had gone to the bathroom after I ordered putting on make-up. She was not in the dining area and she could have brought out the condiment out ahead of time rather than PLAYING on the job. So that hurt her tip to see WHY I got my order wrong. Wasn't that my server was doing her job, was it?