Perhaps you have heard about the pastor who stiffed a waitress at Applebee’s? The server who got sitffed showed the receipt to a fellow server who was enraged at the comment on the receipt and posted it on the internet. Next thing you know, the pastor found out, complained to Applebee’s and the waitress who posted it got fired for violating Applebee’s privacy policy. I call bull shit on both the pastor and on Applebee’s.
In an interview on CNN, the pastor lied and said that she did in fact tip the waitress and that her only take away from this bruha is that she will never write anything on a restaurant receipt again. This woman has no business being a pastor if that is all she has learned from this, as this was not only un-Christian-like but unfair to both servers involved,
The standard restaurant receipt shows the total for food and tax, then allows you to add the tip amount in. For groups, most restaurants show the 18% amount as a convenience and allow you to add an additional amount if you would like to tip more than the 18% suggested. (I usually add more to make it at least 20% and know from experience how difficult it is to serve a large group and give everyone the attention they deserve. ) The receipt leaves the “total” line blank and it is up to the customer to add the tip amount and manually fill in the total line.
The $34.93 amount is without any tip at all and is all that the credit company will pay for that transaction and is the only amount that the cash register can legally ring up.
Of course, some people prefer to keep the tip off their charge card and leave cash on the table for the tip. There are some restaurants that withhold the tip amounts from servers if it is on the charge cards and the only way you can be sure the server gets the tip is to hand them the cash yourself. I always tip cash and hand it to the server with a thank rather than leave it on the table so I know it ends up in the right hands.
Some restaurants and bars require the servers to put all tips into a common jar and split the amounts at the end of the night. This usually gives the bus boys a better chance at getting the right share of tips and it fosters a team spirit between all wait staff as they all have an interest in everyone being tipped well.
If any restaurant patron has an issue with a server, bar tender or the kitchen, they should ask to speak to the manager and give the restaurant a chance to make things right. Stiffing the server is not the right way to express dissatisfaction with your service, many times the problem is not even the waitress’ fault, and in this case the pastor had said that the service was good. She just did not want to leave a tip. I say that if you cannot tip the server a fair amount after getting good service at a restaurant, then you have no business eating at a restaurant and accepting the service along with the food in the first place.