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MstrssScarlet -> RE: How much do you tip your waitress? (6/4/2010 5:50:46 PM)
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I worked as a waitress for a whole 3 months before I quit because no matter how hard I worked, I never seemed to make more than $5 an hour. I was enticed to take a job with one of those chains because I wanted the bartneder's job. After I was hired, I discovered that job was promised to almost everyone who applied. I had no previous experience as a waitress and was only given 2 partial days worth of training before getting saddled with the largest booth in the place. I'm sure my service was far from perfect, but I never should have been given that many people so soon. When they left, I discovered that at least one person managed to leave without even paying for their meal because I not only didn't come out with a tip, but was short on the amount for the meals. It was up to me to get everyone's drinks within 5 minutes after they were seated. We had to buy our own pads for taking orders which I needed badly, not having any previous experience. Before the first week was out, I was expected to know how to enter all the orders into a computer screen QUICKLY while the girls that already knew what they were doing huffed and puffed impatiently behind me. The way you entered the order changed depending on the time of day. Once the meal was over, it was up to me to collect the money and process it through the computer system. I cleaned the table and prepared it for the next customers. We had to run into the back and help with the dishes because the manager refused to hire a full time dishwasher. Before we could leave at the end of our shift we had to roll silverware, refill containers, etc. About once a week we all had to clean the place from top to bottom and were all given our own jobs to complete before we left that day. My manager may have been one of those not giving me all my tips because even on good days I was coming up short. I also had to leave a tip for the person that did the seating and the bartender, even if she didn't make any drinks for any of my customers.
After my stint in that boot camp, I always tip 20% unless the service really stinks. If I see the waitress flirting with another employee while I'm trying to get her attention, she may only get 10-15%. I NEVER leave without tipping something.
Scarlet
Edited to add that I also tend to clean the table before the waitress arives.
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