The Joy of Tipping

Had lunch at an Addison restaurant yesterday, and the subject of how much to tip for lackluster service arose. My co-worker and I were seated around 12:45 and were told our waitress would be with us soon. We noticed a lot of waiters milling about (filling water glasses, supplying salsa & chips) but no waitresses.

Our hostess provided us with menus as we were seated, and after another few waiters came by (to refill our water, etc.) one took my menu (but left my co-worker's menu)! I can only assume he thought my order had been taken while my co-worker's had not ... Another 10 minutes passed, and we started thinking about walking out. Did someone put a sign on our backs saying "ignore this table"?

My co-worker was able to flag down a waiter and ask if he could take our order. He appeared a bit baffled as to why a) one menu had been "confiscated", and b) why our waitress was nowhere to be found, but he took our order for soups and an entree, and we waited.

Our soups were delivered by (yet another) waiter, and water refilled by a fourth. Still no signs of our waitress. The entrees arrived, and a few minutes later (as if by magic, and on queue with a fresh mouthful of food) our waitress finally appeared - to ask "does the food taste okay?" (note: this was probably 20-25 minutes after we were seated) We asked about a refill of the chips and salsa; she said "sure" and then vanished again.

We finished our meal (those roving waiters kept coming by to refill water and ice tea) and -- once again as if by magic -- our waitress appeared to ask about desert. We declined, and she quickly produced our check (along with the credit card receipt for someone else's table).

We had enough cash to cover the meal (good thing I didn't need to produce a delay-inducing credit card!) .. I paid and left a $1.06 tip .. about 50c each, and far below my usual 17-25% tip. My co-worker said my tip was excessive for the service we received, but I assumed (never assume?) that the waiters would get at least some of it.

As far as the waitress was concerned, her only presence was to ask if the food tasted okay, and to present the check. Sadly, I probably won't go back to that restaurant again soon .. due to one waitress who hid (?) for 74 minutes of our 75 minute "lunchtime dining experience".

And then what really frosted my brownie was (unrelated-yet-timely) finding a web site called bitterwaitress.com where she whines about dealing with customers, and makes it appear that we're all to blame for her place in society. Oh, please.