Should I Leave A Tip?

I was out a couple of nights ago at this great local bar and grill called Carolina Ale House in Wake Forest. We decided to eat at the bar instead of getting a table because it was almost 10 pm and we wanted to be more casual. There was a nice crowd at the bar but not enough for us to receive bad service. The girl greeted us and gave us menus, she even got our first round of drinks but then she walked away and didn’t check on us for 30 minutes.

We actually decided to change bartenders and afterwards received better service. “Mr. Fish”, that’s what we were calling him because his name tag said Fish, was great. He remembered what we were drinking, placed our food order, chatted us up… gave us the type of service we deserved.  So my question to you is who did we give our tip to? Even though the girl started us out, Mr. Fish took care of us so we gave him the tip, and we left him 20%! We had decided not to tip the girl because she was not friendly, didn’t smile, and her service was terrible, she didn’t even make eye contact and if Mr. Fish had not come to her rescue I probably would have never gone back to that restaurant.

When you work in the service industry 85% of what you make comes from the attitude you give and how close you pay attention to detail. If my cup is empty it is your job as a server or bartender to notice and offer another, it is not the customers job to flag you down. If a customer asks for a menu it should not take 30 minutes for someone to take my order. Not only that but while I was sitting at the bar I noticed dried food on the counter top which means that they had not wiped it down. This is what I mean by paying attention to detail. It is the servers job to check their section when they come in. This means the tables, chairs, and floor should all be clean and the silverware, glasses should be polished otherwise the server has not done his or her job. When people go to a restaurant in which they are spending their hard-earned money they should receive quality service in a clean and friendly environment. Think about these things when you go out to eat and base your tip on the quality of service you receive.