Let me start this off with a friendly reminder that the minimum wage for tipped employees in America is $2.13 an hour. That means that no matter where you go out to eat, be it a Friday’s or a five-star steakhouse, you need to tip your server. You need to tip them, at the very least, above 15%; no ifs, ands, or buts. Having been on the receiving end of those ifs, ands, or buts for over two years now, I’ve compiled this list of excuses people make for not tipping (or for tipping less than 20%) that just don’t cut it anymore. If you are making any of these excuses every time you dine out, consider buying groceries and cooking for yourself, because chances are, restaurants don’t want or need your patronage anyway.
1. “My food was cold/not cooked right.”
Your server isn’t the one who cooks your food. Surely, you know that, but perhaps in the heat of your frustration that your steak was undercooked or your mashed potatoes felt like they weren’t nuked, you mistook your server for the cook. The kitchen of a restaurant has many moving parts that most patrons aren’t privy to. Most of the time, on busy nights, your server doesn’t even look at your food before it arrives at your table. There are server assistants or food runners (who also get paid $2.13 an hour and collect a percentage of your server’s tips) who take the food to your table, while your server refills your drinks and takes care of their other tables. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s that they literally have one hundred other things to worry about and being blamed for the temperature of food that they didn’t prepare shouldn’t have to be one of them. So don’t hand your server a $5 bill on a $120 check as if they should be thankful that you’re even tipping them in the first place since your steak came out medium when you asked for it to be medium well. Don’t tip less than 20% for something your server has no control over.
2. "My food took too long."
Look around you. How many other people do you see dining in this restaurant? If the answer is zero, you have cause to complain. If you see that your server is running around like a chicken with their head cut off and not only are they serving three or four tables, but they’re also trying to help their fellow servers by taking the food out to their tables, you have no room to complain. If your food is taking an unusually long amount of time, given how busy the restaurant is, I’m sure your server has noticed it and has addressed the issue with the cook or the manager. Trust me, if your server could get behind the line and cook your food for you so that it would come out faster, they would.
3. “I didn’t like the way my food tasted.”
Maybe your server suggested you try an entree that you are less than pleased with. No biggie, just let them know you didn’t like it and they’ll be happy to find you something that you do like. Again, if a dish is too spicy, too bland, over/under seasoned, these are all issues that should be taken up with the manager, who can then relay that information to the cooks. Saying, “I’ll just take it out of their tip” is not only rude and misplaced, it is not solving anything. Feedback from guests helps make the food better so that restaurants stay in business. Complaints are constructive, stiffing your server is not.
The only thing you should hold your server accountable for is their attitude and demeanor. If your food came out cold or undercooked, and your server apologized immediately and handled the situation with a smile and remained calm and pleasant, tip them 20%. If your food took a while to arrive at your table and your server apologized for the wait, thanked you for your patience, and notified the manager to see if they could offer you dessert on the house or a coupon to come back, tip them 20%. If your food didn’t taste right and your server grabbed the menu to suggest a different entree or just took the entree you disliked off the bill entirely, and remained friendly throughout the exchange, tip them 20%. You can tell when a server is really busting their ass to make sure you have an enjoyable experience, but for God’s sake, stop determining how much of a tip your server deserves based on things that are out of their hands.
