Originally Posted by
PTravel
Speaking as a former waiter, the wait staff is at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to influencing management. As far as management is concerned, as long as the bill is paid, it doesn't care whether the wait staff is tipped or not. As noted in the anecdote I related in this thread, I have no qualms about punishing a business for rudeness and/or sneaky policies that discriminate against my credit card of choice. However, I would never punish a waiter or waitress unless they gave me the same attitude as the salesman in my story.
Yeah, I tipped the waiter 20%. Though in retrospect, I certainly wished he would have pushed harder on the decline or suggested calling AMEX to confirm the decline, rather than coming back to the table and embarrassing me based on what the machine said.
By the way, thanks Jimbo 99--you are right. The restuarant didn't admit fault at the time.