You know, we've all read stories about what is the "proper" amount to tip a waiter, or maitre d', etc. Some say 15% for average service, some 20% for very good service, and even more for exceptional service.Well, during a wedding last weekend, I was asked by a guest if he could order a few bottles of wine and have it served at his table. "Sure", I said. I went to get our full wine menu and brought it to him. He ordered 4 very good bottles of wine and I looked forward to a nice bill. I set up a separate bar tab for him and he was going to put the charges on his credit card later on, no problem.
My staff gave freshly polished red and white glass to each guest and got the wine bucket ready. I performed the usual wine presentation procedure, and opened all 4 bottles table-side. He tasted the wines and was very happy. Then I served all his table guests and followed up during the next
hour or so. They were having a great time. So far so good!A short while later he ordered 2 more bottles. Now the tab came to just shy of $1400.00. Not bad for a little extra revenue during a wedding.
As the night came to a close, he approached me and asked if he could settle the bill. "Sure" I said, "I would be happy to". I rang-up the charges and presented the check to him without adding a service charge (BIG mistake)!
He gave me his credit card but didn't add ANY gratuity to the bill. He said "I'll take care of you later". Ok, what can I do now? Nothing but wait I guess.
I processed his card for over $1400.00, after tax, and gave him his receipt. Then I waited...and waited, and waited...
Well, as you guessed it, the night ended. He was totally wasted at this point and came over to me all sweaty from dancing with his clothes all a mess.
"Hey, thanks a lot for the wine", he said, and placed some bills in my hand. "Thank you sir" I said then he was off. I put the money in my pocket and went about checking my staff to make sure they were clearing the room so we could all go home.
Later on I put my hand in my pocket to retrieve the "nice tip" on a $1400 tab. All I got was $15.00. A 1% tip...
Just another day as a banquet manager.
I need a REAL job!
5 comments:
Dude, I'm sorry, but just b/c the 6 wine bottles cost $1400, doesn't mean you should get 15-20% of $1400. That's ridiculous. Granted he should of given you more than $15, but there is nothing rational about that, especially when it comes to wine...
anonymous- i doubt if BanqMgr. would expect 15%....but never saw 1% coming! Anyone with any class at all would have left...hmmm...they would have put 100 dollars on the Credit card.
Having said that, I remeber a waiter that got a $2 tip on a $100 tab...went to the customer and said:
"sir , your tip offends me!"
customer says
"Doesn't offend me"
"Don't you know I rely on tips for a living"
"Better find another way to live"
I just cracked up.
That Waiter was never worth a damn anyway....probably deserved to get stiffed.
I would agree on your $ 100,00 estimate, but you got me curious about what wine you served for $230,00 the bottle.
that is why I vigorously follow what ever the grat policy is with no exceptions. I have had managers drop checks to larger paries before I wouldnt grat as a I would see that a regular would get the check and the manager gives it to the friend who wasnt doing the wine buying and guess who suffered. I once force a flunkie manager to make up the diff on a grat on a party where he dropped it w/o grat while I was dealing with the table's to go orders-this was a pharma rep meal/presentation so why he didnt get for it being grat'ed I was clueless-our POS required grat to be added at the very end.
In your case what bad was you had to do a full presentation and took time out special to maintain it when you obviously doing other things.
The problem with excluding wine from the total when calculating the tip is that regardless of the gratuity, most servers/bartenders pay a flat percentage of teh tab as 'tip-out' to pay the bussers, expeditors, food runners, host, water/bread guy, etc. Most of the restaurants I've worked at it's around 5% of sales, so 100$ tab would cost the server 5$ in tip-out, and the rest they keep.
Problem is, if you buy a 50$ bottle of wine and spend 50$ on food, and tip 15% on food only, then the waiter only gets a $2.50 tip on a 100$ tab.
That may not be an issue at smaller places that don't have a big support staff, but it can be a big financial strain at a larger place with a high tipout percentage.
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