<p>I just quit my retail job, and I feel so damn good. :)</p>
<p>Nothing feels better than quitting a retail job! I remember having to keep myself from smiling! And then when the manager said “But why???” I just wanted to be like “Are you freaking kidding me?!” lol. But management is a whole other retail horror story!</p>
<p>DCHurricane I agree! I’ve heard people say that there should be classes in school about customer service. Not a bad idea!</p>
<p>I’m so glad I’ve never worked in retail. You get similarly stupid people in food service, though.</p>
<p>-WHY, oh why, do you need your drink plus a water? It’s one thing if you’re drinking something alcoholic. I get it. Someone has to drive. But what could you possibly be doing with a Dr Pepper and a water? Honestly.
-20. Percent. Is. A. Standard. Tip. 15% means that I did a subpar job. And yes, we can tell when you’ve sat there and figured what your bill x .15 equals. It’s much easier for you to figure out 20% anyways, and honestly, how hard is it to give me that extra 1-2 dollars when your bill is over $90?
-To-go hosts (at least where I work) can–and should!–be tipped. Please. I’m making minimum wage and literally running around the restaurant so you can get your food in the 20 minute time period I told you. Please respect that I am doing all of the work that doesn’t consist of food preparation.
-When I serve, it isn’t my fault if the steak is cooked incorrectly. I will take it back to be upcooked/recooked, but I am not the one on broil. I will do everything possible to fix it for you, but please please do not take it out on me, either verbally or financially.
-Verbal tips don’t pay my bills! Yes, it’s wonderful to know that I’m “one of the best servers [you’ve] ever had,” however, when you say that then leave me <20%, I tend to doubt your credibility.
-Please recognize that you’re not my only table. I know that your mommy said you’re a very special person and that the world does, in fact, revolve around you, but if I just got triple sat, I can only give you so much of my attention.
–On a related note, consolidate your requests, please please please. If I can get both your water refill (ugh, water) and the dipping sauce you need in the kitchen at the same time, that would be great if you could tell me that before I make an unnecessary trip back to the place I just was.
-As wonderful as water is for you, please order something bigger as your entree as compensation. Our computers calculate how much we’re selling per person, and water seriously brings it down.
-Don’t order kids’ meals if you’re not a kid! I used to be guilty of this before I was a server, but now I hate myself. Also, why would you come to a restaurant if you’re “not that hungry” and just want a baked potato? Make one at home. It’s cheaper and you won’t have to ask a disgruntled employee for drink refills.
-If you use a coupon, tip on the original ticket! Once again, comps make my price per person lower, which can actually get me in trouble with my managers if you use too many. At least make it up to me in some other way. (Also, it’s a free kids meal WITH adult entree, so no, you can’t have your kids’ birthday party all eat free while you’re the only parent in attendance.)
-Host quotes are B.S. Just because we say that it should be about 20-25 minutes does not give you the right to come up to me exactly 22 minutes later, wondering why you haven’t been sat yet. I promise, you will be contacted when it’s your turn.
-I’ve gotten sadly amazing at stereotyping. As problematic as it is, they hold true for a reason–especially in restaurants. Elderly and teenagers buy a little and tip even less; foreigners are obsessed with coupons; large parties without alcohol are a pain in my ass, but those with are my favorite people; and rednecks really like t-bones.</p>
<p>It’s harder for me to give nice customers free things, but if I can throw in an extra side or some rolls for free, I do my best to. I like to reward nice behavior. And yes, as a server and past Sonic carhop, I always overtip when money allows, because I understand how much farther that $1-2 can go.</p>
<p>I didn’t know the tip was 20% these days. I tend to tip hesitantly; I think it is ridiculous that we are EXPECTED to pay a restaurant’s employees. Although I do tip, I think tipping should be restricted to especially good service, and that restaurant employees be paid at least minimum wage.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual at all to ask for water as well. Some people might want to have a Dr. Pepper with their burger or whatever, but they don’t want so many sugary refills so they just drink a bunch of water and then one Dr. Pepper. I don’t find that odd at all. If the place doesn’t offer free refills (like on drinks like orange juice) I definitely get water as well.</p>
<p>I’m sorry but if a host is making minimum wage why does he deserve a tip? If they’ve got a tip jar yeah I might toss my coins in there or a dollar bill, but it’s his job to get me my food. And if he’s getting minimum wage he kinda loses the reason why waiters get tips.</p>
<p>I see your point. I wish I got tips for walking the customer all through the store, helping them put together outfits and finding all the right sizes for them, offering to get them new sizes or styles while they’re in the fitting room, and putting back their huge piles of clothes once they left the store- all of which could easily take an hour per person, but at the same time I’d be helping other people, running the cash register, and somehow keeping the store looking good through all of this. But sadly, that was just my job, and I had to do it.</p>
<p>Sometimes if hosts asks for tips then it might be because it’s a smaller, lower-budgeted place. The tips might be mainly what they make their living off of. Otherwise, I don’t really know.</p>
<p>Karabee - I can understand why that would be frustrating, but I don’ tthink a soda and a water is unreasonable - I do it all the time. Most restaurants don’t offer free refills, and I usually satisfy my soda craving after one drink, but I want to save it until my food actually comes, so I get a water as well. I think it’s pretty common…almost everyone I’ve eaten with does it.</p>
<p>And add me to the list who never knew that 20% was the tip now. I’ve always been taught that 15% is for a decent job, 20% is for a spectacular job, and below 15% is a subpar job. I usually tip around 18%, and almost everyone I know does about the same thing…</p>
<p>^ oh, I also didn’t know about the 20% either! I usually tip fairly well, though, unless the service was just insanely terrible. Which again, has really only happened once. If the waitress has done a great job I’ll definitely be nice, but if a restaurant says a tip like that is required and then bad service is given I wouldn’t be a happy camper. Sadly I’ve heard horror stories on the news about how customers have gotten in trouble for not giving tips after their service was terrible. That’s an absolutely ridiculous way to treat customers! If you’re that concerned about tips just pay your staff a little bit more!</p>
<p>I’ve always done 15% when they’ve simply done a satisfactory job.</p>
<p>I used to be a waitress and I understand most of the stuff Karabee is complaining about. Like if the person doesn’t like their food, well they’re not gonna go to the kitchen and complain to the chef, they’re going to yell at the waitress like I cooked it myself! And then they’re not going to leave me a tip (or a sucky one) because of something I didn’t do. On the other hand, I also understand it from the customer’s point of view, since of course I eat out like anyone else: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Most people want to minimize the amount of money they spend - if they have coupons, naturally they’re going to use them, why shouldn’t they? The restaurant offers coupons so customers can use them, with the knowledge it means those customers will spend less per meal than they normally would have.</p></li>
<li><p>A lot of people have the mentality that serving is what you get paid minimum wage for, and that a tip should be if service was really good. In some places servers get below minimum wage and that sucks. But I got minimum wage + tips so low tips didn’t bother me too much because I am already getting paid for serving people. Also in most places 15% is standard. I always do 20% since it’s easier to calculate and I usually overtip a little. But 90% of the time all the waitress does is bring you your food, then stop by once to ask if you need anything. This varies depending on if it’s a nice restaurant or diner or what kind of place it is. </p></li>
<li><p>When I was a waitress I hated getting the “teen table” because they would each get a cheap meal and leave a small tip. But in real life I am a teen and I do the same thing. I don’t have much money to spend when I go out, and I don’t eat much (generally in small portions).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Hahaha so my sister works at a bookstore and she came home today and told me someone took a dump on the floor. Then another customer stepped in it and complained. I figured maybe someone’s dog pooped and the customer was too lazy to clean it up, but my sister says that it definitely looked like human feces.</p>
<p>Oh my god, that’s absolutely disusting! I am so sorry for your sister.</p>
<p>Oh…customers. I was actually having pretty much this exact discussion with a few friends at a party last night. My favorite was from my friend, who works in food service, and has people complaining that their ice cream melted ** only fifteen minutes after she gave it to them, ** because ice cream, you know, isn’t supposed to melt for at least thirty minutes.</p>
<p>Yesterday when I was at work, I was the fitting room attendant for awhile, and there was a lady who was shopping with her daughter who tried to grab the clothes of another customer to see what size it was and then proceeded to ask me what the smallest size of the dress was we had in the store! I definitely don’t know the specific sizes of every specific article of clothing in the store!</p>
<p>I’m not sure where yall are working, but around here, all servers get $2.13 an hour, which basically is there for tax purposes. I’ve had $0 paychecks before. We live (and die) off people’s tips.</p>
<p>And I work at a restaurant that offers free refills, so that’s a moot point. I understand that people have reasons behind it, but when I’m carrying 9 drinks (a rather heavy tray) for 4 people, it gets frustrating.</p>
<p>And not the host getting tips–they get tipshare where I work. But the one working on to-go’s is doing almost the exact same job as a waiter (and definitely more responsibility than a Sonic carhop), except putting the food in a box instead of on a tray. I don’t expect 20% tips since for those shifts, since I make more than 2/hour, but really a dollar from each customer is nice. Not as standard as tipping waiters, but just throwing it out there.</p>
<p>^ That’s absurd! Around here (as in, in New York state), you can’t get less than $4.65/hour if you get tips!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA</p>
<p>Thank you for that story. That really made my night.</p>
<p>I used to work at a Pizza Hut. And OH. MY. GOSH. I have received the weirdest questions and complaints. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>“Even if the coupon is expired, can I still use it?” NO. There is an expiration date on there for a reason. NO. </p></li>
<li><p>This one lady complained about her pizza which had the Thin 'n Crispy crust being too crispy. </p></li>
<li><p>I’ve had customers tell me that they wanted separate checks after I have already printed out the check and handed it to them. -.-</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It goes on and on and on. On my last day there I literally skipped out of that place because I was so happy.</p>
<p>I work retail and I can honestly say I hate my job more and more everyday. Customers are idiots. ABSOLUTE IDIOTS.</p>
<p>My favorite was:
“It says swipe my card, so what do I do?”</p>
<p>-______-</p>
<p>Oh man, you would not believe the number of times customers would get upset because they weren’t able to use their coupon that expired over two weeks ago! Then they would actually complain and ask for management! </p>
<p>Of course sometimes management would actually give them their way because, you know, it’s perfectly acceptable to give someone 50% off their purchase for an entire month. Then again, I guess the management’s not the one whose salary is based off their sales goals and rather or not they have met them- which is hard to do when everyone’s getting 50% off! But that’s a management issue…again, a whole other story!</p>