At the place where I work we automatically add an 18% gratuity to parties of 8 or more. I do believe this is the case in most restaurants. Sometimes it's a good thing but most of the time it's a bad thing.
Back in the day we would be allowed to add the gratuity at our discretion. This meant that if we had a 10 top and 7 of the people happened to be children we usually would decide to leave off the gratuity in hopes that we would get 20% or more as a tip. Also, if we felt a vibe from the table that we may do better without the auto-grat, we would leave it off. Most of the time this worked to our advantage.
Over the past few months, however, our managers have made it their mission in life to monitor this and have decided that, no matter what, if there are 8 or more people, we add the gratuity. This happened because a specific server would get parties of 7, 6, and sometimes 5, and would add the gratuity because she thought she may be in jeopardy of getting stiffed. She ruined it for everyone.
Anyhoo, my beef has to do with adding the grat. I hate it! In about 99% of the cases we almost always get ONLY 18%, nothing extra. So no matter how well you take care of the table you're stuck with 18%.
I waited on a table last night, 15 people. They received exceptional service. Their cocktails stayed full as well as their waters. They received all of their meals in a timely manner and they were served piping hot. The table was immaculately prebussed. They also received 3 deserts on the house because of 2 birthdays and an anniversary. When they left, the only thing on the table was napkins and water glasses. They had my full attention the entire time.
I didn't receive not an extra dollar from any of them. I worked my ass off to make sure they had an exceptional dining experience. They told me how I took such great care of them and how great of a server I was and thanked me for an enjoyable night.
Complaining about this may make me sound unappreciative but who cares, I'm venting! We, as servers, work so very hard to make our money. With each table comes the opportunity for us to do whatever it takes so that we can make that 20% or more as a tip. A lot of us go above and beyond just to get shot down. A little extra would have been nice since, by your own words, I did a fantastic job. A $19.93 check with an added 3.59 just doesn't cut it for me. I usually get a $5 tip off of a $20 check.
Come on people! If you really feel that your server was that awesome, then show them a little love and throw in a little extra. I threw in an extra effort to make sure you had a great dining experience didn't I? I scratched your back so why don't you scratch mine?
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