Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant
 

There doesn't seem to be another forum for this, so sorry if you don't like the thread. Anyways, just curious.

You're the manager or manager/owner of a restaurant, a person comes into the restaurant, and one of your waitstaff says that this person doesn't tip, and that they'd prefer not to serve them.

As far as you know, there hasn't been horrible service when this happened.

What do you do?

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(No industry experience here)

I'd probably either autograt them, or maybe just tell them (politely) to go elsewhere. While I realize that it technically shouldn't matter to the owner if the waitstaff does a freebie, part of the responsibility of the owner is to ensure that my employees are paid for their jobs (by the patrons as well as myself).

I think probably the first thing I'd do is ask them about their last visit and if they remember it, remember how they were treated, etc. To try to figure out what had happened.

Comments are appreciated.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant
 

In before another tipping catfight.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Do serving staff in the USA not get a wage from the restaurant?

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Do serving staff in the USA not get a wage from the restaurant?

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$2/hr.


/thread now please.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Should have just put this in the other tipping thread.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Should have just put this in the "What is the Most Tragic Thing You Ever Had To Deal With" thread.

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Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Waiters shouldn't expect a tip, and they should just be happy to get any tips at all. I only tip if the service is exceptional.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Waiters shouldn't expect a tip, and they should just be happy to get any tips at all. I only tip if the service is exceptional.

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What country do you live in?

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant
 

I wouldn't do anything without corroboration. If another waiter backed up the story, or I had personal knowledge of previous incidents, I'd probably just ask the guy to leave.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

anyone who thinks the owner will turn a customer away here is crazy.

he'll either tell the waitstaff to deal with it, or, in some very exceptional circumstances, deal with the customer himself.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Where my mom works, she said that there are some regulars who are bad/non tippers or just generally annoying customers and the hostess just rotates them through people's sections. That way, if the annoying/non-tipping people come in weekly, you end up only having to deal with them once a month or less.

Seems like a fine solution, since manager isn't going to turn away a regular customer.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Ugly English blokes like myself shouldn't expect to get laid, and they should just be happy to get handjobs from themselves. As far as tipping goes, I only tip if the service is exceptional.

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Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

I worked in a village restaurant, I knew some of the people wouldn't tip, I still served them. Suck it up.

If you're a manager with an interesting bent to "seeing from the server's perspective", why not try serving them yourself?

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant
 

So not only do we have to put up with tipping threads we now have to put up with tipping threads about hypothetical situations. Oh that's just fecking great that is.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

i'd tell the waiter to suck it up or get a new job. tipping is not mandatory in my establishment.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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So not only do we have to put up with tipping threads we now have to put up with tipping threads about hypothetical situations. Oh that's just fecking great that is.

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I suspect if you offer a mod a gratuity, they might lock/delete this thread.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Not a chance the regular is getting turned away.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

When you are a manager and realize your profit margins in a restaurant, solely on food, are so slim, you will not walk them. Secondly, if the waitstaff complains to you that the customer is a bad/non tipper, you just expect them to give the customer proper service.

I guess a way around it, not sure if it has been discussed, is adding the tip into the guest check. Generally its for parties of 6+ but I have seen it with parties of 2 and so forth, very rare though. The percentage added was 15% fwiw.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

autograt? isn't that illegal?

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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So not only do we have to put up with tipping threads we now have to put up with tipping threads about hypothetical situations. Oh that's just fecking great that is.

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I suspect if you offer a mod a gratuity, they might lock/delete this thread.

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Can you start a thread in ATF discussing the proper amount for mod gratuities for locking threads?


Also, adding in the tip is gonna get them to never come back as fast as confronting them.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Hypothetically if we know the guy is just a cheap [censored] and doesn't have a reason, as a manager I would be comfortable turning the guy away (assuming I don't have to answer to somebody above and empowered to make this decusions). I don't think there's much long term negative outcomes form this beyond losing one worthless [censored] customer.

And autograt would be the dumbest possible idea.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

Take 6 hours to serve them

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

At the middle-of-the-road family-style chain restaurant at which I waited tables, the manager would've told me to do my job or get out. At the fine-dining white-tablecloth restaurant at which I later waited tables, the manager/owner would've talked to the patron and asked them to leave if they refused to tip (or if they were a big customer the manager/owner would've compensated me herself). Once, at the nice restaurant, a couple came in for an anniversary dinner and some friends of theirs called ahead to leave a credit card number to pay for the meal. The owner told the friend that she was automatically adding an 18% tip, which the person agreed to. At the end of the meal the anniversary couple was so thrilled with the whole situation they gave me a hundred bucks, even while knowing that I was still getting tipped on the meal itself (which was probably $250 or so). So that worked out well for me.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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And autograt would be the dumbest possible idea.

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That's just another way to tell the customer not to come back. Too bad he wouldn't get the hint.

BTW, people in the US who don't tip suck. Pay a minimal tip (10-15%) and work to get their wages raised. It's the culture in the US to tip and it's built into their income, so don't [censored] them because the system sucks.

Work to eliminate the need to tip.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.

I never add an additional tip when I get autogratted for large parties anyway. I [censored] loathe the autograt.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

if you know they won't tip...spit in their food

Check out Waiting w/ Ryan Reynolds...pure jokes

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

man, if show restaurant without an autograt policy randomly autograt'd me, I'd throw a [censored] storm like you've never seen. I think i'd go absolutly ape-[censored]

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Work to eliminate the need to tip.

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Yea, we'll get right on that.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.


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they basically are stealing from you if they do that

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.


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they basically are stealing from you if they do that

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This happened to me the other night. The wife and I went out for dinner at Bennigans since we had a buy one meal with two drinks get a meal free coupon. We use it, bill came out to like $17.30 (should have been $14) after tax, it was like $22 before coupon. I see an autogratted charge for $3.30 at the bottom.

I understand why they did this, so the server gets tipped pre-coupon, but I always tip before and her service was exceptional and I was going to leave a $20 and call it a night. Instead I left nothing except the autograt because I was so pissed off about it. Server ended up losing out because of what I thought was company policy, do I feel bad about it, a little, but I should never get the autograt on a party of 2.

Random note: My parents used the same coupon (had 2 and they were expiring) at a different Bennigans, 5 miles down the road, on the same night and ran up a bill closer to $40, no autograt.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

If a waiter ever autograts me, and it's not within a posted policy, they can expect a complaint to the manager, and 0% tip. I'd probably never return to the restaraunt either.

If I get autograt'ed within a posted policy, and I'm not made aware of it by the wait staff, I work tirelessly to make sure our party does not tip beyond the autograt.

that [censored] pisses me off. It's a hustle.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

As someone who has waited tables for a living and owned a restaurant:

Tips are optional. Some people leave great tips irregard of service quality, and some people leave bad/no tip. The correct attitude for a server to have is that they are "owed" a tip by the guests, they are "given" them. Be grateful for the tips that you get, and don't begrudge the tips that you don't.

The hostess rotating a regular through the different servers' sections is certainly appropriate.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

To all those denouncing the autograt: Yeah, it sucks in principle and probably shouldn't exist, BUT. As a former waiter, nothing sucked more than waiting on some redneck's entire extended family for 3 hours only to get like 5 bucks. And it was pretty common, cuz from the perspective of a retard, why should someone get $30 (or whatever) just for waiting on one table?

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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[ QUOTE ]
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If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.


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they basically are stealing from you if they do that

[/ QUOTE ]

This happened to me the other night. The wife and I went out for dinner at Bennigans since we had a buy one meal with two drinks get a meal free coupon. We use it, bill came out to like $17.30 (should have been $14) after tax, it was like $22 before coupon. I see an autogratted charge for $3.30 at the bottom.

I understand why they did this, so the server gets tipped pre-coupon, but I always tip before and her service was exceptional and I was going to leave a $20 and call it a night. Instead I left nothing except the autograt because I was so pissed off about it. Server ended up losing out because of what I thought was company policy, do I feel bad about it, a little, but I should never get the autograt on a party of 2.

Random note: My parents used the same coupon (had 2 and they were expiring) at a different Bennigans, 5 miles down the road, on the same night and ran up a bill closer to $40, no autograt.

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What are you pissed off about? First, these coupons always say there's a gratuity included, so it shouldn't have surprised you. Second, when you don't add the grat in these situations, I'd say half the time you wind up getting tipped on the discounted amount. The fact that you're a good tipper is nice, but irrelevant to the waitron trying not to get screwed.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.

I never add an additional tip when I get autogratted for large parties anyway. I [censored] loathe the autograt.

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Also, wtf do you loathe about the autograt? It's usually 17 or 18%, so it can't be that it's more than you want to leave, right? Do you understand the reason for it? Big parties are exponentially more difficult and time-consuming to serve than smaller ones. On top of that, have you noticed the tendency people have to turn into miserly math-retarded Communists in big groups? Everyone puts in what they think is right and, poof, 12%.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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To all those denouncing the autograt: Yeah, it sucks in principle and probably shouldn't exist, BUT. As a former waiter, nothing sucked more than waiting on some redneck's entire extended family for 3 hours only to get like 5 bucks.

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Paying a bunch of money so a restaurant can try to steal from you would probably be worse. It's never happened to me, but if some restaurant did try to autograt me outside of a posted policy, I'm not paying it and I'm not tipping.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

I obviously understand it. I just dislike it. Were I running an establishment, it's not a choice I'd make. Because they've made a choice to do something I don't like, they're likely getting 2% less than normal.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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I obviously understand it. I just dislike it. Were I running an establishment, it's not a choice I'd make. Because they've made a choice to do something I don't like, they're likely getting 2% less than normal.

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Well, if you understand it, it seems strangely spiteful not to leave that extra 2%, assuming the service was good. Because you'd understand that the autograt is not aimed at you, the clued-in 20% tipper, but at bad tippers, and particularly, bad tippers en masse. It's just an insurance policy to protect a server who devotes a disproportionate amount of time and energy to one table.

That said, you can't autograt a single bad-tipping customer. If I were manager in this OP, I'd talk to them and find out what the problem is--and more likely than not, get replied to in an Australian or British accent.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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If I was the customer and I got autogratted without being in a party of 6, I would essentially feel like you were trying to steal from me.


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they basically are stealing from you if they do that

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they are costing themselves money if they do it to me since i tip more than the autograt.

Re: Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaur
 

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Big parties are exponentially more difficult and time-consuming to serve than smaller ones.

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i don't think this is true. it wouldn't surprise me if the returns to scale aren't significant, but i'd be shocked if it was on average more difficult to serve a table of 12 than 3 tables of 4.

now, your other point is certainly valid and a good reason to institute an autograt. when splitting the bill, people often make huge mistakes when calculating their share of the bill, and these mistakes are almost always biased towards paying less (forgetting to add tax, forgetting about your share of that appetizer you split with a friend, etc).

that said, i really think the autograt should be 15% and not 18%. the few times i've seen a %20 autograt i've stiffed (left 15%, not 0) them out of principle.