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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Was I just mean?

20 replies

PrincessFiorimonde · 02/08/2010 08:14

Yesterday DP and I had food and drinks in a local fish and chips place. Both food and service were ok: not remarkable, but perfectly acceptable. Bill came to £19.20. We put £22 on the plate. A couple of minutes later, as we were finishing our drinks, the waitress returned £1 to us on the plate. DP was really embarrassed, saying we can't have tipped her enough. I maintain that £2.80 (c. 14%) was a reasonable tip.

Was the waitress just making a point by returning £1 to us? (Please note that she did not return the whole tip of £2.80.) Or was ours a reasonable tip for reasonable food/service?

OP posts:

moondog · 02/08/2010 08:17

It wasn't for her to decide what tip to take.
Unless told otherwise ('Keep thechange') she should have brought it all back then you decide what she mertied from change.

sapphireblue · 02/08/2010 08:17

it was a reasonable tip. i guess the waitress thought she was giving you all your change and couldn't add up!

BouncingTurtle · 02/08/2010 08:19

That seems odd of the waitress!

I think what you left was perfectly reasonable. Did you have a few drinks then because £20 for fish and chips seems rather a lot (unless it was very posh fish and chips )

gorionine · 02/08/2010 08:20

I do rrally not understand why the waitress did that! If she was unsure as to how much tip you were actually leaving her she should have given all the change back to you and see if you told her to keep it all IMHO.

£2.80 is reasonable tip BTW.

Goblinchild · 02/08/2010 08:21

She got your change wrong.

TheAtomicBum · 02/08/2010 08:26

Firstly, that's more of a tip than I leave. But then, I am a very sgrouge-like skin flint.

I can think of 3 explanations for this odd return:

Perhaps, as Sapphireblue said, the waitress was not mathematical.
Perhaps she was trying to swindle you. One of our local shopkeepers always seems to shortchange you whenever the kids distract.
Maybe there is a service charge. £1.80 is 9.375% of you bill.

gorionine · 02/08/2010 08:36

Usually the service charge is included in the bill non? as in

Fish and chip £17.10
service charge £ 2.10
Total £19.20

Original poster

PrincessFiorimonde · 02/08/2010 08:56

BouncingTurtle - it was a nice place, and we sat outside, but no, not particularly posh. F&C = £6.20 each (about par for the course here on south coast), plus pint of Stella each = £3.40 each (actually cheaper than some pubs here).

The service charge wasn't (I think) included in the bill, and I would always leave the waitress a tip (have been a waitress myself), but I just think the returning of the quid was odd. Even if she couldn't add up - wouldn't she just have held on to it? Or was she just trying to be nice, and thinking we were over-charged?

OP posts:

Original poster

PrincessFiorimonde · 02/08/2010 08:59

AtomicBun - can't see how she was trying to swindle us by returning a pound! And we left £2.80, which is about 14% of the bill.

OP posts:

tethersend · 02/08/2010 09:02

Hello moondog- you've been missed

DetectivePotato · 02/08/2010 09:23

I wouldn't leave a tip for fish and chips but then I don't see why tipping is necessary really. We do it, but really only cause I feel I have to.

She was a cheeky mare that deducted her own tip IMHO. Or she just got your change very wrong.

AccioPinotGrigio · 02/08/2010 09:37

Maybe she was busy or distracted and gave you someone elses change or made a genuine mistake.

You left a reasonable tip so I really don't think she was trying to make a point. Or maybe she felt you over tipped her

JaneS · 02/08/2010 10:56

She got your change wrong. I don't think our local chippy expects you to tip, she probably didn't expect one either.

fairycake123 · 02/08/2010 11:00

14% is a nice tip. I don't think she was trying to make a point, I think she just made a mistake.

moondog · 02/08/2010 18:16

Have I?
That's very nice, thank you.
I have been well busy with work and am now on 6 week break with dh and kids, travelling the world (well, SE Asia where he works and seeing scattered family members.(

tethersend · 02/08/2010 19:25

Oh, you have indeed... S&B isn't the same without you

I'm on 6 week break too, but am planning on spending it taking in the sights and sounds of east London- nothing as glamorous

Have a great time.

Iklboo · 02/08/2010 19:30

We once took FIL out for a quite pricey meal as a birthday treat - great food, really good & friendly service. He said he'd cover the tip as a thank you to us. After we'd paid the bill he got his wallet out and put

20p on the table as a tip

Now, it's not like he's poor. He said the waitress 'should be grateful for it'.

DH left a more suitable tip

sanielle · 02/08/2010 19:30

If the bill came to under 20 pounds. And the customers leave 22 it is obvious that they are leaving a tip. otherwise they would have left 20 and waited for change.

Think the waitress was being polite and not over tipping herself.

Don't think she was being cheeky at all.

moondog · 02/08/2010 19:37

I had a quick shufti tonight Tether but where I am (Bangladesh) it istoo hot to think of clothes.
It's a Speedo and hair like straw for about 80% of the time.

I will rejoin with vengeance in the autumn!

tethersend · 02/08/2010 20:03

Can't wait

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