MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Would you ask for your tip back?

steam_dan

taytay wrote: »

Why tip anyway? I worked in restaurants for over 8 years and still dont understand.
In USA OK, In UK no way.

I always tip. I never used to until I worked in the restaurant cars in InterCity trains, before privatisation. At first I refused to leave the bottom line open on credit card slips but found that about 80% of the customers actually wanted to leave a tip and that I was having to tear up my previously completed credit card slip to write out another one. Therefore I began to leave the bottom line open. The tips I got made up a very substantial part of what was otherwise a very low income so I fully understand tipping and also know that if I am a regular customer and tip well the staff are always pleased to see me.

In this case I would ask for the £10 back. The restaurant could give me the cash out of the till if they are concerned about additional merchant charges. Normally I tip in cash only so this situation is unlikely to arise.

relynutz

Zazen999 wrote: »

Is there a way of knowing which restaurants corrupt the system? I'm guessing not.

Thus, the only choice I have to try and ensure that the staff who deserve the tip get it - is by paying in cash after the bill has been paid.

our restaurant has signed to some thing called " FAIRTIPS" four our workers
we have a sticker on our door... like this 1
Unite campaign on tips and service charges - sign our online petition here!


Waiting staff in Unite want to eradicate some of the scams regularly applied by employers in restaurants and hotels when it comes to distributing tips left by customers. Join our campaign to support restaurant and hotel workers get the tips they have rightfully earned - sign our petition and download a voucher to send to the government here!


http://www.fairtips.org/ list here or restaurants that have signed up

Chez1830

I would definitely ask for it back...but very politely.

I actually asked for a tip back once when they automatically added it it to my bill and I only realised after they gave me my receipt. I am not usually fussy but in this instance the food was awfully dry and my glass was cracked and had lipstick around the edge. I would possibly had overlooked it but it was a self-service buffet and I had waited on myself! Very cheeky of them I thought.
:beer:

englishmac

Wouldn't ask for a refund - my own daft fault for not checking. But like a lot of previous posters, don't tip on my card (cc or account card). I once asked the waitress in an Italian restaurant to remove the service charge on our bill, so we could leave a cash tip although I didn't make this clear at the time of asking. She was horrified that we thought the service so poor that we had asked for the charge to be removed. Needless to say she was chuffed when we subsequently tipped her in cash.

I hate tipping. I don't tip everywhere and any tip I leave is based on good service (not self-service such as KFC, etc). Cost (or rather, value) is also a factor eg in areas where the taxi charges are high, don't leave a tip. Left a £10 tip for the waitress at the Windsor Cafe Rouge a couple of years ago. Celebrated our anniversary there. They didn't have any cigarettes on sale but our waitress offered to get some from the nearby shop. The shop turned out to be not so near and they didn't sell the brand requested. So our waitress returned to the restaurant to check whether another brand was satisfactory (complete with egs of the brands sold). She then returned to the shop, bought the cigarettes and added them to the bill (having provided the receipt as proof of the amount paid). Very much over and above the call of duty, much appreciated/impressed and very much earned the tip then and throughout the rest of the meal.

pineapple

I would regard it as a done deal. My mistake and I'd probably find it really embarrassing to ask for it back. But in real life I would only leave a tip in cash anyway.
That said I've never had to enter the amount - just the pin no. Maybe I've lead a sheltered life!

Solomon_Broad

If I'd checked and made sure it said £4 before I put my PIN in, then I'd definitely ask for it back.

If I hadn't checked, then I'd chalk it up to experience. It's nobody's fault but my own if I don't check. I'm giving these people my financial details - it behoves me to check everything about the transaction. If I'm stupid enough to not check how much I'm being charged, then it's my own fault.

Rosirox

In the first restaurant (more like restaurant pub!) I worked in, we would have to share all the tips between each other. This is extremely unfair as I always worked on the restaurant floor and so was busy all the time whereas the waitresses in the kitchen didn't have to do as much. Also, there were lots of times when I would get around £10 or so tips in a night and put it in the jar and at the end there would only be about £12 in there. Other people just took theirs probably!

In the last restaurant I worked in, we all got to keep the tips that we had made. Although we gave about £2-5 each to the kitchen staff. Any tips that were service charge and done on the card would come through to us in our fortnightly pay slips. [These tips were used to make up the wage] I work really hard to please customers and it is upsetting when you've been helpful and nice and you're not left a tip!

This wouldn't happen in that restaurant as the screen comes up saying that the grats is above 15% and to check with the person. I would be surprised that someone was leaving me such a high tip and have queried this in the past (eg. someone paid £20 service charge and also left £10 tip).

ALSO, you can't say 'why don't they just go and get a better job that pays more?!' I'm a student. I hopefully will have a better job but for now it's what I need to pay to live!

(haha what an essay...)

Glosjools_2

If I were stupid enough to overtip, I wouldn't admit it... just treat it as the education it is and be glad that someone has probably gone home very happy (unless, of course, their employer has pocketed it....)

stephy192

Yep I would ask for £10 back why not it was a genuine mistake. If they refused then I wouldn't eat there again plenty of other places to go to.

jgriggle

In this circumstance I would ask for it back. How many times do you leave a tip because it's 'expected' rather than because you were genuinely impressed with the service? The thing I really object to however, and I have been caught out by this, is restaurants and hotels who use tips to bring staff wages up to minimum wage. Quite legal but morally suspect. This means that you think you're giving the waiter/waitress a little something for their efforts, when in actual fact it's going straight into the owner's pocket.
Can we use this forum to name and shame restaurants that do this?
I'll start with Stonehouse Court Hotel, Gloucestershire.
If anyone knows different, let me know.