Chastised for not tipping on a to go order

[Anonymous]

I ordered pizza a couple weeks ago for my family. I added a tip on the card on the website at the time of purchase. There was the pizza, taxes, a delivery fee, plus my tip. The delivery man handed me a receipt to fill out. I told him I added the tip on the card when I paid online. He told me that I didn't. He didn't speak good English. He raised his voice. He set down the pizza bags. He stepped towards the door. At this point my husband came towards the door because it was getting a little scary. The delivery man just kept telling me no, I didn't leave a tip. We don't have loose dollar bills around the front door or I may have tipped him again. But I HAD tipped him. It was scary because I didn't feel comfortable closing my door. We were just repeating the same things over and over again.

Afterwards I called the restaurant and told them what happened. They said the driver must have misunderstood how tipping worked on the card at the point of purchase. But I felt like a dirtbag even though I HAD tipped. Because he thought I hadn't. And we were scared because he was demanding another tip. People shouldn't demand a tip even if they're getting stiffed. To the point of being scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you used a gift card = you got a free meal!

Totally CHEAP OF YOU not to give $5 (or whatever) of your own money.

Yes, I tip on carryout at restaurants that we frequent. If I don't feel like spending money, we eat at home. If you eat or drink out, you can help out others that are serving you in some manner.

So typical of DCUM...where did you go for Christmas break? Private schools, SLACS, enrichment this and that, test prepping, blah blah blah.

WHAT, you want me to leave a few bucks for carryout, are you nuts???

gd
You sound like the disgruntled service worker I suspect you are. A gift card is same as cash. It's none of your concern who actually PAID for it. Do you tip McDonald's workers? I suspect you don't. Shameful of you.

I don't go to McDonalds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really dislike the tipping screen that forces you to press no tip or a percent or dollar amount while the cashier looks at you that have popped up in the past year. It has made me reluctant to get take out at these places. Prices have increased as well. I just bought an expensive coffee maker to brew my own coffee and started buying take to bake products at supermarkets.

No one cares

[Anonymous]

I’m boycotting cash tips across the board. Instead, I provide advisory tips, like fortune cookie predictions. Unsolicited, constructive advice is much more valuable than cash.

[Anonymous]

A friend mentioned to me the other day that there was a tip option listed when making a purchase at a gas station convenience store.

[Anonymous]

All those screens that give you the opportunity to tip in situations where nobody used to tip are just a chance to leave a tip if you want, not a law or an edict or a requirement. Just don't if you don't want to. Believe it or not some people don't mind leaving a tip in those situations.

If any service worker asks for a tip or calls you out for not tipping report them to the manager, that's against policy at most establishments and often results in them getting fired.

With that said, if you can't manage to leave a 15-20% tip for servers, including those who put together take out orders, then just eat at home. You'll save lots of money.

[Anonymous]

If I spend $50 in takeout, I’m not going to leave a $10 tip, that expectation makes me (and a lot of people) reluctant to get takeout, and the restaurant will suffer.

I do not give more than 10%. These are salaried employees that are making my meal. I’m not getting any “service.” It used to be that there were cups for cash tips, and people would throw a couple bucks in. The expectation of 15-20% is ridiculous. And I worked as a waitress for years.

[Anonymous]

Years ago friends and I are at Pussers in Annapolis on a Saturday night. The hostess sat our party of 8 at a table set for 10. Our waiter from the get-go had trouble with the fact that we were seated at his largest table and only a party of eight.

Ordered drinks, appetizers/salads and approx 10 minutes later we ordered our entrees. Our party received our drinks and entrees, and after we finished our entrees the salads and appetizers were brought out. We refused our salads and appetizers. Our waiter asked if there was a problem. We kindly explained that our entrees were brought out first and after we had finished our entrees the salads and appetizers were brought to the table which we refused and asked that the cost for the appetizers be removed from the check.

We asked for our check, in reviewed of the check, we saw that nothing had been adjusted, the check for our party of eight was over $400. I took the check to the hostess stand and spoke with the manager. The manager understood the confusion with the meal and adjusted our check for the “missed” salads and appetizers. The manager asked about our dining experience, I explained that our waiter had an attitude from the moment we sat down about a party of eight at a large table set for ten and poor service, hard to get drink refills etc. I paid the adjusted check and left a 10% tip for lousy service.
The manager must have handed the signed check to our waiter to “close” our table. The waiter followed our party out of the restaurant into the hotel lobby and took issue that he felt his service level was above average and warranted a larger tip.
I walked back in to the restaurant, asked for the manager, and told him what just occurred in the hotel lobby. Beside me were two friends who witnessed the confrontation. The manager took the waiter into the kitchen and handled the situation. He returned moments later and apologized for the poor service, explained that the waiter was no longer an employee of his, thanked us for bringing these issues to his attention and handed us free drink coupons for use another time.
Poor service doesn’t require a tip, I left something but certainly nowhere near what our waiter thought he was worth. I regret tipping him anything after he confronted me and his behavior was ‘off the charts’, and warranted speaking with the manager again. Not only did that guy miss out on what could have been a $100 tip, he lost his job that night as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. I don't tip for takeout. We are in Austin, and the prices have risen astronomically, we do mostly take outs only due to the same reason. The madness has to stop. The labor market is tight right now, if the waiters are not making enough, they should consider alternate careers. Look at how many teachers quit in the pandemic. A few teachers in my kids school went to higher paying corporate learning & development jobs

I agree. I am also tired of the "Support Restaurants/Restaurant Workers" narrative that is all over social media these days. I just saw something today that was posted by an Influencer I follow on Instagram, where he was imploring people to go out dine in restaurants because January is such a tough month for restaurants/restaurant workers, and they all struggle to make rent in January. The restaurant industry is a billion dollar industry - if it needs to resort to basically begging for charity diners on social media, the industry is seriously broken and there is a major reckoning coming. Nobody has any patience for the MLM "Boss Moms" on social media that harass their friends into supporting their "business" by joining their team or buying their leggings/skin care/diet shakes, etc. etc. How are these restaurant owners and restaurant workers any different? If you need to resort to harassing your friends or the public into supporting your business, you have a failing business model and you need to go out of business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were both rude. You are supposed to tip on takeout. The server was also rude for asking directly for a tip.

No, you don't have to tip on take out. Do you tip at McDonald's? I bet you don't.

I went to a sporting event in the Midwest in the last week and the arena was asking concessions customers to leave a tip. No thanks.

It appears you enjoyed your sporting event and having concessions customers serve you.

The concessions worker does the same thing your kids’ cafeteria worker does or the movie theater concessions worker does. Do you tip there, even if you enjoyed your time at that location? Grab a hot cocoa or apple cider at the local nursery - do you tip there? This is ridiculous. I’m not sure how the argument went from:

- I don’t want to tip non servers for basic and minimal job tasks because that’s not what tipping is for…

To

- you’re cheap
- did you enjoy the items?
- don’t eat out if you don’t want to pay these funds

It’s not a customer’s job to supplement the incomes of everyone who does anything for me. Walgreens guy looks up my name and hands me my photos puts in the same effort as a hostess looking my name up and handing my order. (Actually, with online ordering and payment, the hostess does less work bc at least Walgreens needs to scan that the items were picked up. The Panera guy who picked up a bagel, runs it through a slicer and toaster and then charges me, puts out similar effort to the post office employee who weighs my packages, bills me for stamps and applies the sticker of correct postage to my package and rings up the transaction.

I’m not tipping to keep a business open. I also give very generously and tip generously to those whom tips are generally expected.

Thank you!

You’re right. It’s perplexing. You’re a cheapskate if you don’t tip this worker performing a service for you, but it’s perfectly okay to not leave a tip for this *other* worker performing a service for you. If they both work hard, why is one more deserving than the other?

[Anonymous]

Just a note to look out for automatic tips on iPads. We had our air ducts cleaned and the invoice included an option to include a 25 percent plus tip. I already planned to give the guy $20 for lunch (I know some of you might disagree, but he spent a fair amount of time and did a good job). But I thought the company-automated 25 percent of the professional service fee tip was a bit much. Pretty sure that would not have gone to him anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago friends and I are at Pussers in Annapolis on a Saturday night. The hostess sat our party of 8 at a table set for 10. Our waiter from the get-go had trouble with the fact that we were seated at his largest table and only a party of eight.

Ordered drinks, appetizers/salads and approx 10 minutes later we ordered our entrees. Our party received our drinks and entrees, and after we finished our entrees the salads and appetizers were brought out. We refused our salads and appetizers. Our waiter asked if there was a problem. We kindly explained that our entrees were brought out first and after we had finished our entrees the salads and appetizers were brought to the table which we refused and asked that the cost for the appetizers be removed from the check.

We asked for our check, in reviewed of the check, we saw that nothing had been adjusted, the check for our party of eight was over $400. I took the check to the hostess stand and spoke with the manager. The manager understood the confusion with the meal and adjusted our check for the “missed” salads and appetizers. The manager asked about our dining experience, I explained that our waiter had an attitude from the moment we sat down about a party of eight at a large table set for ten and poor service, hard to get drink refills etc. I paid the adjusted check and left a 10% tip for lousy service.
The manager must have handed the signed check to our waiter to “close” our table. The waiter followed our party out of the restaurant into the hotel lobby and took issue that he felt his service level was above average and warranted a larger tip.
I walked back in to the restaurant, asked for the manager, and told him what just occurred in the hotel lobby. Beside me were two friends who witnessed the confrontation. The manager took the waiter into the kitchen and handled the situation. He returned moments later and apologized for the poor service, explained that the waiter was no longer an employee of his, thanked us for bringing these issues to his attention and handed us free drink coupons for use another time.
Poor service doesn’t require a tip, I left something but certainly nowhere near what our waiter thought he was worth. I regret tipping him anything after he confronted me and his behavior was ‘off the charts’, and warranted speaking with the manager again. Not only did that guy miss out on what could have been a $100 tip, he lost his job that night as well.

That is exactly how that situation should have been handled by you and by the manager. Good story, but what does it have to do with not tipping on a to go order, other than the similarity in the server confronting you about the tip which is absolutely a fireable offense. Was that your point? If so, I agree, but I also tip on to go orders.

[Anonymous]

I think the people who tip generously should continue to tip even more generous for the "deadbeats" who don't tip for take-out orders.

I, for one, don't intend to tip on take-out orders. Neither will I feel guilty for not tipping when I am at a restaurant, ordering and picking up my stuff at the cashier. For those who want to tip 20% or 30%, be my guest.

[Anonymous]

I think tipping got all upended during the early pandemic, when it felt like people were putting their lives at risk by working at a takeout counter or coffee shop. For a while it was 20% for everyone. Now I'm back to status quo: I tip 20% for restaurant service, 15% for delivery, 5-10% for takeout. I don't tip for coffee or anyone who just hands me something across the counter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have drawn a hard line on what I will and will not tip for.

Take out is a no. Starbucks is a no. Any counter service is a no. Any professional service provided by the business owner is a no.

I will tip restaurant servers, bartenders, my barber, taxi/Lyft, food DELIVERY.

Yeah I’m done as well. I also never tip Uber or grocery delivery. I put zero tip up front. If you know there’s no tip and choose to take my order, that’s on you. I live in LA so have no problem getting deliveries as there are tons of people.