Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant

[jbrent33]

I haven't posted in a while but feel infinitely qualified to post about this. I started working in restaurants (as a busboy) when I was 14. I worked my way through college as a bartender and server. I worked for 6+ years at a place that was named top 5 in the US by Bon Appetite, Playboy, Gourmet, and others. The chef was a recipient of a James Beard Award.

After several years of flipping houses I recently invested in an upscale restaurant in Austin (PPA=$45+) I have found myself on the floor quite a bit lately in order to show employees with less experience than myself exactly the level of service that I believe should be delivered.

I have held my irritation in several recent threads, (Stiffing, etc) but I am blown away by the number of people who will walk into a restuarant and purchase a $30+ piece of beef or fish and end up tipping 15% or less.

People who come in parties of 3-6 take up a table for an entire service, then ring up a 300-500 dollar tab and tip 15% are scumbags. We originally didn't have an autograt policy (18%), but I became a convert after a saw the pathetic tips that some parties left when the bill was split.

If you buy a $500 bottle of wine 20% is not expected on that, but you better damn sure tip on the food.

For all those [censored] who say they don't tip , go [censored] yourself and I hope you never set foot in my restaurant. If there is some problem with your service I can assure you it came with good reason, and steps are being taken to eliminate the problem.

Sorry for my rant, but the my position is, when you tip and have to wonder if you should have tipped more, guess what? you should have.