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Horrific dining experience! Need to vent!

3K views 54 replies 42 participants last post by  jdean33442 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

I know this is the wrong forum but it is cigar related as well. Me and my girlfriend went out for our two year anniversary tonight to an extremely fancy restaurant. The food was great but the customer service was absolutely horrific. The gentleman service us was completely rude and did not smile once during his two hour service with us.

By the time the bill came I was so upset with him I was not going to reward him with a $20.00 tip. The bill came to $152.00 and I felt the cooks did a great job so I'll give them a tip, I ended up paying $160.00 in cash.

As we were leaving our waiter approached us and said "Heres your 8 dollars back." I said no its not necessary and proceeded to leave. He became more aggressive and demanded we take the change. At this point I was so upset and disgusted by him, one because he was being so rude and expecting me to provide him with a $20.00 tip even if he doesn't do his job, and two because this was in front of the entire dining room.

At this point my temper boiled over as he was become extremely aggressive and upsetting my girlfriend. I politely told him he could take the $8.00 and go F himself. I know this is not very gentleman like but at this point I'm not caring.

I was planning on enjoying a nice Cohiba tonight but am so disgusted and rattled by my experience I can't bring myself to it. I have sent lengthly emails to the manager and owner of the restaurant.

So my question is, do you BOTL's feel I was in the wrong with my tip? And should I give the tip even if the service isn't great? Also if anyone else has any other similar instances such as mine please let me know as I would love to know how you dealt with it.

Thanks for letting me rant!
 
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#3 ·
Hey everyone,

I know this is the wrong forum but it is cigar related as well. Me and my girlfriend went out for our two year anniversary tonight to an extremely fancy restaurant. The food was great but the customer service was absolutely horrific. The gentleman service us was completely rude and did not smile once during his two hour service with us.

By the time the bill came I was so upset with him I was not going to reward him with a $20.00 tip. The bill came to $152.00 and I felt the cooks did a great job so I'll give them a tip, I ended up paying $160.00 in cash.

As we were leaving our waiter approached us and said "Heres your 8 dollars back." I said no its not necessary and proceeded to leave. He became more aggressive and demanded we take the change. At this point I was so upset and disgusted by him, one because he was being so rude and expecting me to provide him with a $20.00 tip even if he doesn't do his job, and two because this was in front of the entire dining room.

At this point my temper boiled over as he was become extremely aggressive and upsetting my girlfriend. I politely told him he could take the $8.00 and go F himself. I know this is not very gentleman like but at this point I'm not caring.

I was planning on enjoying a nice Cohiba tonight but am so disgusted and rattled by my experience I can't bring myself to it. I have sent lengthly emails to the manager and owner of the restaurant.

So my question is, do you BOTL's feel I was in the wrong with my tip? And should I give the tip even if the service isn't great? Also if anyone else has any other similar instances such as mine please let me know as I would love to know how you dealt with it.

Thanks for letting me rant!
I would have gotten a manager involved right then. I would have explained to him everything. I have a VERY short fuse when I get bad service at a restaurant. This is one of my pet peeves. (Ask the guys from the ACC herf ;) ) I usually leave some form of tip either very large or very small depending on the service. Sorry you had a bad experience.
 
#6 ·
More power to you man... If the guy was being an ass then he has to suffer the consequences. Especially if hes working a nice restaurant. Its not like you were in Denny's and experienced an asshat. Most people working there may not be too happy about their position. Just because he was having a bad day doesn't give him the right to take it out on you. From the sound of his behavior i think he was lucky to get an 8 dollar tip!

Althought i do disagree with you not smoking that cohiba... I love smoking cigars after a bad day. It allows me to relax more efficiently. Either way. Sorry to hear about you experience, on the plus side the food was good. I hope all future experiences at the restaurant or similar restaurants especially nice ones for a special occasion go well. :D
 
#7 ·
Here's my take:

These people are supposed to provide a certain type of service that equates to you having a nice dining experience at that particular restaurant. If you are not satisfied with your experience, you should not feel obligated to pay a certain amount regardless of the "house" rules or what anyone says you should pay. In essense, you should get quality service without any attitude and/or arogance toward your time and money you spend to dine.

If I do not feel I had a good experience, regardless if I'm at a $20 dollar per person place or not, I refuse to tip freely. If my waiter was good to me, I will be to good to him or her. Bottom Line. Congrats and I hope this doesn't ruin your whole day! :tu
 
#8 ·
You can always request to talk to the Chef. Tip him if the food wad good and let him or her know you you would come back IF the service was better...Believe me he will demand the weak link in that chain be removed!!
 
#9 ·
I appreciate all the feedback. I felt it was ridiculous he expected a large tip. His service was absolutley horrific. I have emailed the executive chef as well about this because of your input. Thankyou very much for the support.

The best part was when a rainbow appeared right in front of the tower. That was great, too bad it was overshadowed by one person who had a bad day. I completley understand bad days, but in a customer service orientated business leave your personal life at home. You do more then serve food your there to make my experience pleasing.
 
#10 ·
First, let me say I have a huge problem with mandatory gratuity. These places that add a 15% or greater gratuity to the bill kind of tick me off.

Now, that being said, the waiter that served you probably makes below minimum wage. I would never stiff someone who makes under $5 per hour. But, as your post states, you tried to tip $8 or about 5%. That would probably me the minimum I would every leave even for bad service. That alone should leave a message that the service was bad. And I think he got the message based on your altercation.

I think I may have handled it a little different than you. When he came back and said take the $8, I would have said "no, thats your tip." When he insisted, I probably would have said "ok then, you didn't earn it anyhow."

I am a very generous tipper as is my wife. I rarely ever leave under 20% for decent service. I have also left as much as 50%, and that wasn't for breakfast at Denny's but for amazing service at Morton's. And the bill for my wife and I was about $200 without the tip.

I hope the service from this one waiter doesn't discourage you to return to that restaurant for a great meal. And in the future, as soon as you realize your not happy with your server, ask the host(ess) to have your server changed. That speaks volumes to management much more than a weak tip.
 
#12 ·
The average wage at a restaurant which is upscale in my city is about 10-12$.
I don't even know why you'd bother tipping if they're paid that well. I mean, the reason you tip is because thats where most waiter's money comes from. At $10-$12/hr they better do a darn good job to be getting a tip, and definitely wouldn't get a tip if they did a bad job. Hell, I've not left tips for the $2/hr waiters when they do bad jobs. I normally tip around 15% (I always round so I end up paying full dollar amounts). Then again, I've never paid $160 for a meal...
 
#13 ·
Let us know what the manager/owner says about the experience. I wouldn't have tipped him a dime, and would've requested a manager if I got service that was that bad in a nice restaurant.
If I were the manager there, I would want to hear about service like that. Maybe the guy was just having a bad day or something, but that's not how you keep the customer coming back.
 
#14 ·
First of all, tips should NOT be expected... they should be earned. If he made it so that you cannot enjoy your dining experience, then he does not deserve a tip. Now, if he was even MORE rude after that, you should have told him why the "little somethin' extra" was just that... little.:tu:ss
 
#15 ·
I think you actually held yourself much better then I would have. If this happened to me, especially in a very high scale restaurant, I probably would have knocked him out. I really think you need to call up the restaurant and do everything you can to have that guy fired (if he hasn't been already) because he should not be waiting on people.
 
#16 ·
I worked as a waiter for a while a time back, and let me tell you, it's not a cake walk. Any number of things can go wrong for any variety of reasons, and it's not always the server trying to be rude, he may be unfairly overworked. I pulled a straight 12 hours of work one Sat because there was no one else to work, and I was the unlucky guy who was listed that day. By the end of the night, I KNOW I could have been nicer, or more prompt with service to people. I tried, but 12 straight hours on my feet serving food took it's toll on me.

Honestly, I wouldn't have handled it that way myself...but I've been on the other side of the fence, so I know how it can be sometimes.


He should not, under any circumstances, have been confrontational about it though. That was his biggest failure.
 
#17 ·
My old friend Henry makes about $3.50 per hour (after expenses) producing cigar tools. There are times when he's worked 16-hour days to keep up with orders. He never complains, because he enjoys the satisfaction of knowing that others enjoy the fruits of his efforts.

If it were Henry in that restaurant, he would have taken the 8 bucks back, handed the waiter a White Owl Pineapple tubo, and said, "Thank you my good man... Enjoy your cigar!"
 
#19 ·
I worked as a waiter for a while a time back, and let me tell you, it's not a cake walk. Any number of things can go wrong for any variety of reasons, and it's not always the server trying to be rude, he may be unfairly overworked. I pulled a straight 12 hours of work one Sat because there was no one else to work, and I was the unlucky guy who was listed that day. By the end of the night, I KNOW I could have been nicer, or more prompt with service to people. I tried, but 12 straight hours on my feet serving food took it's toll on me....
First off Im sorry to hear you had such a bad experience on your anniversary. I dont think you handled yourself poorly under the circumstances. I wouldnt have tipped much either and I dont know what I would have done if the toolshed tried to return what tip I did offer :bx.

As for Silound's point of view....I have never worked in the food service industry but I can totally understand how that happens and that it is more often than not. I also realize there can be kitchen problems, prep problems, etc etc that all end up falling on the shoulders of the server as he/she is the only one the customer interacts with, but for me all I need is to be acknowledged. Dont be an asshat and ignore me, dont try to hide from the table until the food comes up, just tell me whats going on...even if its :BS

For example...
If the food is slow..tell me a chef cut himself and had to get stitches, the kitchen is backed up because there is a party of 20 upstairs, one of the chefs had go butcher another cow.
or
If the server is on the end of a 12 hour shift...apologize for being a little runned down and tell me your roomate works there and you had to pick up his shift so he could go see his sick mother or go to his kids play at school or cover for him so he could bang the owners wife (j/k). I dont care just tell me something even if its a lie and try to smooth it over with a free app or free desert if possible.

I dont want a server that whines about these problems at every visit to the table but a single mention and an appropriate action would go a long way to making both my experience and their tip much much better!
 
#22 ·
If service or food is bad, I always ask for the manager. If his actions take care of the situation then I consider it over. If not, I pay the bill and leave without a tip. This has only happened once that I can remember.

Some info I read:

Restaurants report a percentage (around 12%) of the gross sales for food and beverage to the IRS for their staff. This means that if you have a $200 food bill and $200 wine bill, the restaurant will report 12% of $400 or $48 as income to the server. In other words, the server has to pay tax on it whether you tip it or not. If the restaurants do not report it accurately, the restaurant and the wait staff get audited by the IRS.
 
#25 ·
Nein,
What restaurant was it?
Sounds like 'Q Haute Cuisine", where I had a similar experience. (what used to be La Caille on the Bow)
I am kinda curious myself as to what the place is since we live in the same city.

Although I have been to La Caille on the Bow a few times (Didn't even know it changed names though so that tells that is has been a while) but the service was always awesome.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience though.
 
#26 ·
I would have gotten a manager involved right then. I would have explained to him everything. I have a VERY short fuse when I get bad service at a restaurant. This is one of my pet peeves. (Ask the guys from the ACC herf ;) ) I usually leave some form of tip either very large or very small depending on the service. Sorry you had a bad experience.
This is basically how I roll as well. I can be a waiter/waitress best dream if they are good at what they do, and your worst nightmare if you suck. I have only left a zero tip once, and it was because everything sucked, even talking to the manager. I am of the opinion that a small tip will sting more than a zero tip. It shows some forethought.

We have a waitress we will usually wait for at our RedLobster (we live in KS, dont bust my balls) and we usually tip 25 to 30%. But I have been known to take it to an uncomfortable low level when the service sucks, and I always talk to the manager.
 
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