It was late and the restaurant was emptying out, the woman's party of twelve just finishing up. Since they were my last table of the evening, I was feeling relaxed.
"We have some members of our group who would like to
pay individually," she said. "I can help you figure out who is with
who."
"So you want separate checks?" I clarified.
She looked at me like I'd said a dirty word. "Checks? I
guess that's how you call it. We have people
who would like to pay for their own items."
I never figured I'd ever see anyone get touchy-feely over
being referred to as a "check" vs. a person. I wondered if I should
take the woman back to our computer terminal and introduce her: Computer, this guest would like to be recognized
by her name, and not as check #432, got that?
Instead I blinked and got to the more pressing matter at
hand. "We can do separate checks here, but typically we ask that groups
make this request in advance. If we know beforehand we can keep track of
everything, otherwise it gets complicated."
"I can help you..." she offered.
"It's OK I still have my map." I actually had the
table mostly memorized since it was one of my last, but I wanted her to see my
map with my god-awful handwriting. "Alright, who is together?"
She pointed out each person who would get a check, and who
they were paying for. I made some more chicken scratches on my map to indicate this,
then nodded and walked away, leaving her to cross her fingers as to the outcome
of this exercise.
I handed them six bills, which had each beverage, appetizer,
salad, main and dessert perfectly accounted for. As this took a while, I didn't
want to keep them waiting even longer by adding gratuity to each bill. Also, when
couples pay separately they usually tip better (since they aren't subsidizing
Uncle Bob's 30 dollar steak or whatever the case may be;) for this reason, I personally
don't mind doing individual checks.
I'd forgotten one thing however, which my boss pointed out
when I came back with five credit cards and a cash payment: most of them were
from out of town. Four of the six "checks" tipped 10%.
Of the necessary transactions that take place in a restaurant
day to day, it's almost always the tip line on a credit card slip that dehumanizes
the most.
In what part of town is 10% okay?! More work and less money, pretty suckie in my book.
ReplyDeleteBy their accents I'm guessing they were from Texas or thereabouts. There's a little sticker shock for the out of town folks when they come to major CA markets. Sticker shock always translates into crappy tips :P I know better than to skip adding gratuity on large parties, so my bad
DeleteWhen people visit me in LA they often ask me if I work 3 jobs to live here. I know all about that sticker shock.
ReplyDeleteI should be working three jobs, but instead I'm just broke
Delete"I'm a person, not a check." That one is new to me! LOL. Re: shitty tips, sorry about that. In my personal experience, separate checks = cheapskates who don't want to drink water and pay for somebody's else's glass of wine, so I always add gratuity for those tables. I thought it was interesting that you had a different experience with separate checks.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the oddest conversations I've had with a customer. There's two different scenarios with the separate checks thing for sure, but usually when it's a six top of friends and they throw me 3 credit cards, they tip better than if one person pays for the whole table. With family gatherings I should always, always add tip
DeleteGood point, when a group of friends wants the bill divided evenly among so many cards, tips are usually good!
DeleteUrgh, I hate people who want separate checks, they should always say at the beginning xxx
ReplyDeleteHappens all. the. time. Our poor new server this weekend was asked to split a check 7 ways on an 14-top (and not split equally, but itemized) at the end of their meal when it was 8 pm and she still had three other tables.
DeleteIf anyone ever wonders why their server "disappears" it's often because of situations like this!
Ohhhh that sucks - the automatic tip on the "table over #" is so helpful all around. Anyone who has never been a server has no clue about all the little things that keep the machine flowing. Especially at the high-end* level. (*I'd imagine. Friendly's wasn't quite high-end.)
ReplyDeleteWe do quite a few large groups in our restaurant, my income variance would be huge without the auto-grat option, so I'm thankful for it
Delete10%??? Where do people pay only 10%? I always thought 15% was the standard tip? Although I had fun with my co-workers, I don't miss waiting tables. We tip pretty well even when the server isn't that great. I feel for you.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think it's the sticker shock of eating out in California. I get it, but it's lame for me!
DeleteOh that just sucks. It really does. I used to wait tables, so I can empathize. I used to live in Ohio and now I'm in Jersey. We tip 20%, but really, I just think that's the right thing to do wherever you are. 15% at the very least. And for a large party like that, you deserve 20% at minimum.
ReplyDeleteI worked in the service industry for about six years - four as a bartender and two as a bellman - and I was continually amazed by the inability of the average person to understand the etiquette of tipping. It should be mandatory that everyone over the age of 18 works at least one year in a job that relies on tips. Then they would understand the ridiculousness of asking for separate checks as the end of the meal, and of tipping 10%.
ReplyDeleteI'm fortunate that almost every night I average 18-20%. In the past I wasn't so lucky to have such a nice clientele
DeleteWhere my wife and I live, it's generally 15% with the odd place now adding 20% right into the bill. I've never worked in the food service field but I have been served by both ends of the spectrum when it comes to servers.
ReplyDeleteWhile we always leave a tip voluntarily, I'm curious as to whether it's acceptable to leave less of a tip when the service has been awful?
Interesting post. It's not a topic I deal with too often, from your side of the table. :)
When I dine out, if service is really awful I try to tell management what's going on. If nothing is done, then a bad tip is fair. If service is merely annoying, indifferent or bad-ish I'll leave 15% (when I usually leave 20) because I don't want to punish the support staff. In my restaurant we tip out 37% of our tips to bussers, bartender and a food runner.
DeleteThe worst is if someone doesn't like their food, or I've messed something up, and they don't tell me and then leave a horrible tip. And then Yelp about it. Ugh!
I guess letting management know is the best course of action. It's a shame that everyone down the line has to suffer when one step along the way falls below average.
DeleteAnd I was just reading today about Yelp. People only complain and rarely leave comments praising an establishment. And also, people are now using it to blackmail for better service. As in, "I'm going to be leaving a review about the service tonight, you had better treat me exceptionally well!" That sucks! I don't envy you at all. I hope the good outweighs the bad.
I could write a book about Yelp at this point (maybe I should!) People do try to extort restaurants for free things, though usually not overtly. Yelp themselves offers to "bury" or filter bad reviews if you advertise with them. If you choose not to advertise with them, they will filter out your good reviews. This has happened to us! Fortunately we still average 4 stars. Bosses bear the brunt of this stress, though I've seen servers singled out on Yelp.
DeleteWow. That is just ridiculous. Isn't 20% the standard now? And more if you're going to be a pain in the ass about it?
ReplyDeleteI worked at a low end restaurant and usually received 10%, so I always give 20% tips when we go out now. Sticker shock should have nothing to do with how much you tip. It's the service that counts!
ReplyDeleteI worked at a 24/7 diner in college where I was lucky if they paid the bill, let alone tipped well. I appreciate any tip over 15% now
DeleteUgh, not cool! Especially after you did all that work for them!
ReplyDelete"most always the tip line on a credit card slip that dehumanizes the most." I've never waited tables but this says it all. There always is that moment when a patron has to decide. I always try to tip 20% -- if I make a mistake, it's usually because of my math. Ha. You sound like a wonderfully patient waitperson.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I've mastered patience, but I've seen enough over the years to know not to take any of this kind of stuff to heart.
DeleteArgh! I hate bad tippers! Unless our server totally sucks I always tip 20%.
ReplyDeleteWow you so didn't deserve that! I am a native Californian who moved to NY (near NYC) 2 years ago. We have always tipped 20% on both sides of the country (unless the service is really appalling). We tip more if the server goes out of their way to fix something (like if there is an issue with the food, they fix it, and then don't charge us or comp a drink - they get that back in the tip ;).
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy when people tip on what the total bill would have been before the comp. But if they want to throw in a little extra (I always do) then sweet!
DeleteMy sister worked tables for a long time and she can relate: customers, for some unknown reason, do not always treat staff as real people. :(
ReplyDeleteDoesn't everyone know that you tip at least 20% on the whole bill or your portion thereof so that all the 20%s together equal what it would have been if it was one check? Or maybe that's just what I do. And if I see someone in my party being stingy, I usually make up for it. They should have tipped you more for being annoying with the check. I'm sorry - the people who wanted to pay.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate when people pay a little extra to make up for stingy friends, but I feel really bad when this happens. I had some friends like this who never paid their fair share and I stopped ever going anywhere with them
Delete