The most awesome tipper EVAH!. Oh...wait...

[Saydrah]

I'd give him a voucher all right... A voucher for a one-way ticket to Timbuktu! What an ass.

[spookysonata]

Update:

Apparently Awesome Tipper has been calling about this since Friday night. We finally decided to offer vouchers and fortunately AT was satisfied.

As the server (and somebody here) pointed out, the tips have to be declared, and she can't bloody well just give it back!

[JLRodgers]

I know that if i owned a restaurant.... OK I would've told the guy off in a "nice" way... but if I did offer money... I would've offered a $20 gift certificate or food worth $20. As I'd say "I have no proof you gave $20" and $20 in food isn't $20 in actual money (it might be closer to $5 depending on what it is).

[iradney]

I would say give the guy 20 Zimbabwe dollars, but you can't find a 20 Zim dollar for love or money. (This is an African country who's inflation is at something like 17000% - their money has expiry dates stamped on it!)

That was sucky tho. That's like giving something to charity, and calling them the next day saying "oh, yeah, that food I gave for the starving orphans? I need it back, having a party tonight..."

[Hyndis]

I tip 20% for average service. 25% for good, 30% or more for outstanding. I only leave no tip for truly horrific, epic fail service, but thats only happened to me once in my entire life. It was epic fail all around.

Asking for a tip back is just absurd. Incredible balls to do that!

And not in the good way, either! Its ballsy to be that monumentally sucky.

[icmedia]

Two things I'm curious about:

1) Did the guy get his $20.00 back?
2) What would other managers (not servers, since we already know how you feel on this topic) on this board do if encounterd with a similar situation?

Let's be honest here. It isn't nice. Legally the server was supposed to claim this money for taxes (whether she did or not is a separate issue), so this customer is basically screwing her out of the tip as well as the government's cut. The money is gone, I don't think it's right for the server to give it back. If the restaurant chooses to return the money themselves, that's different.

Just my two cents.

The tax angle is very true; once the tips are recorded, that's that. The IRS isn't likely to believe that a server gave back some of his/her tips.

On top of that, I would expect that the money would have already been spent. I know that when I drive deliveries, a lot of that money either goes into my gas tank, groceries, or the occasional bar trip. Point being, most servers I know live fairly hand-to-mouth and wouldn't have that $20 in their pocket the day after they earned it.

[Hon'ya-chan]

Give him back the $20. BUT, do it with $20 in Dollar Coins. Or Quarters. Or if your REALLY Evil....Pennies. Or even worse, $20 in Canadian Currency.

Hey, he never specified HOW he wanted it back. And the server can claim that he left $28 in Dollar Coins. Technically, he's returning back what was left.

[the toy guy]

I wonder...

If the server had accidentally given him an extra $20 with his change, would he return it?

[bainsidhe]

Two things I'm curious about:

1) Did the guy get his $20.00 back?
2) What would other managers (not servers, since we already know how you feel on this topic) on this board do if encounterd with a similar situation?

Let's be honest here. It isn't nice. Legally the server was supposed to claim this money for taxes (whether she did or not is a separate issue), so this customer is basically screwing her out of the tip as well as the government's cut. The money is gone, I don't think it's right for the server to give it back. If the restaurant chooses to return the money themselves, that's different.

Just my two cents.

[Becks]

That SC hit an all-time low in douchebaggery and cheapness.

Nope. It would hit if he'd asked for all $28 back.

[Bobsentme]

I was at a bar with a buddy, and when cashing out with the waitress, handed her a $20 for a tip...

Or so I thought.

What I ACTUALLY handed the waitress was 2, yes TWO $20 bills.

I get out to the parking lot and only then realized how badly I screwed up.

Could I have used the $20 back? Maybe.
Was it worth me going back in and ruining a waitresses night? No.

I put the extra money down as a tip towards my Karma. Maybe she needed it more than I did.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

You don't call the next day and ask for your tip back. You put on you BIg Human panties and suck it up.

In this instance, I prefer the phrase "Big Boy BVDs"

[Bramblerose]

o_O

However, its a little sucky to call him a dick over it. Most of us wouldn't have called over it, but...

You don't call the next day and ask for your tip back. You put on you BIg Human panties and suck it up.

[shelliebelle]

o_O
He might make very low pay, and decided to reward himself. 20 bucks could easily be five hours of work, and food for a week.

As much as I believe that could honestly be the case, it comes down to this: if you cannot afford to leave an appropriate tip, you cannot afford to eat out.

That is seriously sucky.

I learned to tip from my dad, who frequently quotes Steve Martin - "I don't believe in tipping, I believe in over-tipping."

If I'm eating out, I typically tip between 25-30%. I also frequent the same restaurants routinely, so it ensures that the waitstaff remembers me and I receive excellent service whenever I go in.

Pretty much if I tip anything less than 20% it's because there was something seriously wrong with the service, and I make sure to let either the server or the management know what it was.

But that guy's behavior was inexcusable - he should have chalked it up to a lesson learned and counted more carefully.

[Eric the Grey]

Coworker: "...you want to take back the tip you left?"

Awesome tipper: "Yeah. Hey, the food and service was great, but you know, $20 is $20."

"Sorry, but all tips are deposited nightly into long-term certificates of deposits. I cannot return it to you before they mature in 12 months."

Seriously, that has to take some balls.


Eric the Grey