I worked at mortons through college.. and yes the service is either as close to perfect as you can get, or you are gone. These people do work hard and now that I experienced it, I tend to leave a larger tip. Do you realize how difficult it is to please everyone you meet? especially when those people are so rich that they think they own the world... There were basically two different kinds of people who came to Mortons... those who were snotty I-think-I'm-rich bastards and those who were some of the nicest and wealthiest men and women you could hope to meet. At least I learned which NOT to become.
Yes I agree. I work in the golf industry and have had the good fortune to meet countless politicians, CEOs, wealthy beneficiaries, etc -- and I can vouch that there are people with money that you would know how wealthy they were if you saw them on the street and then there are the one's who have to flaunt it as every opportunity they get. The second group is strictly a psychological need for attention and admiration (i.e. Madonna, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears), whereas other people could care less what they drive to work (Jeff Bezos = Honda Civic, etc)
In advance, I apologize for offending anyone. I think because everyone tips automatically, a lot of servers have become complacent. A lot of them feel by doing just the bare minimum they'll receive an automatic 10-15%. I do not agree with that mentality. If I get the bare minimum, they're getting minimum wage. If it was just average service, I'll tip an average amount. When servers go beyond to provide excellent service, I will go beyond and tip well. The tricks they do by drawing smiley faces, or complimenting and so forth are tactics they use to make more money. I do pay attention to what they do and how busy they are. If they are totally slammed with orders, I will understand if I receive poor service and I will tip them very well. If they do put up the effort, I will recognize it and will reward them accordingly. It's a tough business. I know they rely on tips for survival, but I do not think just because everyone else tips automatically that I should tip automatically. I used to work in the restaurant business. If I didn't make much off tips, I do not blame my customers. I blame myself for my performance. The better I performed, the better the pay. The ones that do complain about how they're getting screwed over with the tax laws or not getting much tips... then I suggest that they look for another occupation. hmm... this may sound contradicting.. but I give money to the homeless. I usually don't... but it's the holiday season. I wonder how you guys feel about donating to the homeless/needy. happy holidays... Andy
i agree. i've never waited tables, but i'd rather give 5-10% for crummy service so that i can give 25-30% for good service...rather than give everyone 15% regardless of how they behave...
Makes perfect sense. And if the wait people have a brain (some do, some don't...lots of students and starving artists), you are doing them a service if they learn they need to EARN their tips. It should not be automatic. Peace, rs7
This is off topic but Alphie mentioned Doom III a few posts back. Alphie - I played a pre beta version! The graphics were insane. The shadowing and lighting made the whole experience pretty wild. That's the good news. The bad news is that the three levels I played didn't make me beg for more. I might take a miss when it goes gold.
I heard that the 300+ pre-demo got leaked by ATI. Apparently the programmers over at ID Software were pretty pissed about it. However, from what I've heard (I haven't downloaded the Demo off Kazaa, yet), the DEMO will bring even a top configured computers to its knees. The AI is supposed to superior to any other game and they've gone so far as to provide scenes where you will see the monster approaching in a reflection. You might want to give it another shot when they release!
I guess I tip well, restaurants 20% + IF THE SERVICE WAS GOOD. If the service is terrible, I have no qualms about leaving little or nothing (but that's rare). I was a bellboy in college and a parking valet once for awhile after being laid-off, so I know how it is to have a tip job. Man, I busted my ass and it pissed me off to no end to get either a shitty tip or no tip. When you're making less than minimum wage (legal if it's a tip job - maybe varies state to state, I don't know) to start with, the tips are what make you or break you. At my bellboy job in college (Univ. of Hawaii - Go Warriors!), the worst tippers were Canadians and Australians. Getting a tip from them was an event as frequent as Haley's Comet. The running joke was "What's the difference between a canoe and an Australian/Canadian?" Answer = Canoes tip. So I usually tip bellmen well, because I've been there, but I must say that my last couple of stays in Vegas it took FOREVER to get my bags, like almost an hour! Unacceptable. If it happens again I'm not going to tip much. My valet job was at the Esplenade in Phoenix. There's a Morton's there so we had a lot of their customers. Average tip was $3 I'd say. What blew my mind was how sometimes obviously well-off people would arrive in expensive cars, say a Mercedes, I'd be totally polite to them and quickly retrieve their car when they came out, and they'd either tip me nothing or a buck, or worst of all - loose change! Just insulting.....But there were cool people as well. A lot of the Phoenix Suns players would park with us and they'd usually tip $20. Cliff Robinson was way cool. Tony Delk, Marbury, and Penny Hardaway - good tippers. Absolute worst = Vinnie Del Negro. Cheapest SOB "celebrity" I ever met. He was notorious for not only not wanting to tip, but not paying the base parking fee of $3! Haven't seen him playing recently. Good, I hope the bastard has his entire savings in Enron. That's another thing: when you have your car valet parked and you see there's a charge up-front, say $3, DO NOT assume that the valets are getting that money! They get a tiny percentage, say 50 cents of that $3! Most of it goes to the owner. The valet guys are earning 2 bucks an hour + tips. Hotel maids I have a sweet spot for. Those ladies earn their keep. Imagine all the disgusting stuff they see and have to clean every day (not my room of course!). I talked to one at the Rio in Vegas, and she told me horror stories that made me sick. Amazing how people can turn into animals when they're not staying at home...
lol... i can understand that! tipping simply isn't something that's part of the culture in australia (dont' know about canada). when i was living in vegas, one of the toughest habits to break was not leaving tips. and not only cos i wasn't used to doing it... i totally can't stand leaving tips! paying for the meal because that's how much it costs isn't good enough? having my room serviced cos i paid the hotel's room rate isn't good enough?? these people demand MORE??? not from me! no way jose! so the poor service people rely on it -- that's their tough luck! i mean, it's not like waiting at a table is exactly a very demanding, skillfull task... personally, i'd rather meals and other services costs were increased rather than hand out tips. that way the owners - with their $$ on the line - get the money and can pay their staff a bit more, rather than me handing tips directly to their worthless staff... D)