Ok time for me to chime in here. I have been a Waiter and or Bartender for the better part of 25 years, been working in the Industry for 30 years. As far as good service is concerned, that everyone has their own opinion on. A seasoned Server can sense wich guests like to be interacted with and wich just want sufficient service. Now tipping is a aurgument that has two sides, kinda like States going non Smoking. But in the US we use a tipping system, thats the way it is. We all have bills and rent to pay and families to support. If we went to a regular hourly wage I would get out of the business, although at my age I dont know what I would do. I have also heard from many world travelers, and I work in a business Hotel so I meet many, that the service in the US is much better than in Europe and they attribute it to the tipping system. And I hear this from Americans and Foriegn guests alike. But I will tell you Europeans are the worst tippers if they tip at all. And I cannot believe they do not know our customs. When ever you are going to another country you find out what their customs are. Due to this, whenever I hear a Euroipean accent I think to myself "here we go", but I bite my lip and give the same professional service I give everyone. I know there are a lot of unprofessional servers out there, who feel all they need to do is throw down the food and collect the tips. Beloeve me I encounter them when i go out and it pisses me off. And I tip accordingly, although I have only once stiffed a server in my life, but when I did I brought it to the managements attention and told the why. If i recieve adequate to good service I always tip 20%, poor to mediocre 15% but you really have to be a bad server to get 10 % out of me. So please take care of tipped employees, for many this is their liveliehood, and also remember everybody has bad days.
Joey B
Joey B