I never ate at a restaurant that generally hired "indifferent and aloof young kids."
Managers find out pretty quickly the servers who are just going through the motions. If you have one of those, by all means, let the manager know. Chain restaurants give pretty much the same level of service and hire basically the same broad range of people. You might get better service at an Olive Garden because they restrict their servers to only 3 table sections. (Unlike other restaurants, a small table section is worthwhile for the servers there because of the high table turnover rate and the high check averages). But by and large, your overall service at chain restaurants isn't going to differ very much from place to place for casual dining. Unless some of the smaller restaurants in your area somehow don't care about its wait staff? Some of these smaller, ultimately unsuccessful businesses don't always have the right acumen on hiring and firing.
Funny you mention Olive Garden,, I met with family there about two months ago (not my idea to go there) and I got to see a show where one waiter was chewing out the seating host because they did not bring us to his "area" or territory and the restaurant was slow. I think his point was that he felt he would not make much in terms of tip income when the host seated us in another waiters "area" / territory.
You just gotta love casual dining places which do nothing well.
By the way not but just a week or two ago in one day Darden restaurants who is the parent of Olive Garden stock fell 25% in value or about $8 bucks a share. I shed no tears...
I do however frequent much better run restaurants with no regret.
Oh and in reply to "I never ate at a restaurant that generally hired "indifferent and aloof young kids." You have never been to a brinker restaurant such as Chili's in the DFW area have you??? When you have you will know what I am talking about.
People are very very resistant to challenges to their tipping standards.
You seem to have some sort of standard, but once again, it's not very ethical when you get right down to it. You're tipping for a smile? I'm sorry but that shouldn't have anything to do with paying someone their earnings.
I tip anywhere from nothing to huge. By huge I mean I've tipped 200-300% before on fairly sizable tabs. I pay for service and if I don't get it I don't tip. That service is supposed to make me happy and if a smile is what I want you better pony one up and I AM DAMN GLAD it costs a server money if I don't tip.
15% is the standard. 20% is not. Neither matters as most folks tip more than 15% to be slightly above average. Few folks will tip more than 20% if that was the standard.
If you want better tips and you work Outback or Applebees its not that damned hard.
1) SMILE.
2) Introduce yourself.
3) Squat next to the table to be at the customer's eye level
4) repeat the order
5) upsell if there are questions on what to get (answering you don't know or being abivalent is dumb)
6) thank customers by name (its on the credit card)
7) build a rapport with the customer with a touch or extras or smilies or whatever seems to fit the demographic.
Studies have shown anywhere from 10%-100% incease in tips if you follow basic steps in building a rapport with your customers.
So damn straight people tip for a smile. If they haven't clued into that as a server then they aren't a very good server and it costs them. Too bad...they should learn the tricks of their trade.
Quote:
This is where arbitrariness comes into play here. What if one server isn't quick to smile like another server? These people generally work *very hard* on weekend nights, so no matter how many mistakes they make, they are all doing their job.
No way. If they are making mistakes they aren't doing their job. Period. There are always ways of making it up so you end up back at neutral (15%) but if you aren't even trying then expect 0% from some customers. Tough...you had a bad night, you got bad tips. Makes sense right? Mostly tips aren't even affected by service anyway and you really need to be screwing up to take an overall hit.
Quote:
I'm increasingly convinced that good service is really a matter of luck. If you knew how chaotic kitchens are on a busy night at an average restaurant, you'd be more sympathetic to this view.
I do know and I know that good restaurants can manage good service regardless. It isn't luck, its skill. No sympathy. Getting the staffing right is part of the job of running a restaurant. Sometimes you fall short if someone is out and you can't get a replacement but on an average busy night you should have zero issues.
If you're a low end or nearly dead restaurant I can see how you might not make a lot of money but even at the medium chains you can do pretty well (in comparison to minimum wage) if you aren't a sourpuss and they have decent traffic. If you aren't clearing a decent wage you need to get a better slot at your (or some other) restaurant or do a better job at making customers like you or wear more flair or something.
Jeez, it's hard work but its not like its rocket science to figure out how to max your income potential.
Comments
I never ate at a restaurant that generally hired "indifferent and aloof young kids."
Managers find out pretty quickly the servers who are just going through the motions. If you have one of those, by all means, let the manager know. Chain restaurants give pretty much the same level of service and hire basically the same broad range of people. You might get better service at an Olive Garden because they restrict their servers to only 3 table sections. (Unlike other restaurants, a small table section is worthwhile for the servers there because of the high table turnover rate and the high check averages). But by and large, your overall service at chain restaurants isn't going to differ very much from place to place for casual dining. Unless some of the smaller restaurants in your area somehow don't care about its wait staff? Some of these smaller, ultimately unsuccessful businesses don't always have the right acumen on hiring and firing.
Funny you mention Olive Garden,, I met with family there about two months ago (not my idea to go there) and I got to see a show where one waiter was chewing out the seating host because they did not bring us to his "area" or territory and the restaurant was slow. I think his point was that he felt he would not make much in terms of tip income when the host seated us in another waiters "area" / territory.
You just gotta love casual dining places which do nothing well.
By the way not but just a week or two ago in one day Darden restaurants who is the parent of Olive Garden stock fell 25% in value or about $8 bucks a share. I shed no tears...
I do however frequent much better run restaurants with no regret.
Oh and in reply to "I never ate at a restaurant that generally hired "indifferent and aloof young kids." You have never been to a brinker restaurant such as Chili's in the DFW area have you??? When you have you will know what I am talking about.
Fellows
People are very very resistant to challenges to their tipping standards.
You seem to have some sort of standard, but once again, it's not very ethical when you get right down to it. You're tipping for a smile? I'm sorry but that shouldn't have anything to do with paying someone their earnings.
I tip anywhere from nothing to huge. By huge I mean I've tipped 200-300% before on fairly sizable tabs. I pay for service and if I don't get it I don't tip. That service is supposed to make me happy and if a smile is what I want you better pony one up and I AM DAMN GLAD it costs a server money if I don't tip.
15% is the standard. 20% is not. Neither matters as most folks tip more than 15% to be slightly above average. Few folks will tip more than 20% if that was the standard.
If you want better tips and you work Outback or Applebees its not that damned hard.
1) SMILE.
2) Introduce yourself.
3) Squat next to the table to be at the customer's eye level
4) repeat the order
5) upsell if there are questions on what to get (answering you don't know or being abivalent is dumb)
6) thank customers by name (its on the credit card)
7) build a rapport with the customer with a touch or extras or smilies or whatever seems to fit the demographic.
Studies have shown anywhere from 10%-100% incease in tips if you follow basic steps in building a rapport with your customers.
So damn straight people tip for a smile. If they haven't clued into that as a server then they aren't a very good server and it costs them. Too bad...they should learn the tricks of their trade.
This is where arbitrariness comes into play here. What if one server isn't quick to smile like another server? These people generally work *very hard* on weekend nights, so no matter how many mistakes they make, they are all doing their job.
No way. If they are making mistakes they aren't doing their job. Period. There are always ways of making it up so you end up back at neutral (15%) but if you aren't even trying then expect 0% from some customers. Tough...you had a bad night, you got bad tips. Makes sense right? Mostly tips aren't even affected by service anyway and you really need to be screwing up to take an overall hit.
I'm increasingly convinced that good service is really a matter of luck. If you knew how chaotic kitchens are on a busy night at an average restaurant, you'd be more sympathetic to this view.
I do know and I know that good restaurants can manage good service regardless. It isn't luck, its skill. No sympathy. Getting the staffing right is part of the job of running a restaurant. Sometimes you fall short if someone is out and you can't get a replacement but on an average busy night you should have zero issues.
If you're a low end or nearly dead restaurant I can see how you might not make a lot of money but even at the medium chains you can do pretty well (in comparison to minimum wage) if you aren't a sourpuss and they have decent traffic. If you aren't clearing a decent wage you need to get a better slot at your (or some other) restaurant or do a better job at making customers like you or wear more flair or something.
Jeez, it's hard work but its not like its rocket science to figure out how to max your income potential.
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/wml3/pdf/megatips.pdf