Restaurant | Mumsnet

ChungLi · 2022-08-30T13:58:41+00:00

Not sure as to whether this is a bit pushy or totally acceptable so asking for opinions At a restaurant yesterday and when it came to paying the waiter brought the hand held over to the table A prompt on the screen asked do I want to give a tip, I put No (we only tip using cash) and seeing I had put No the waiter asked if there had been any problems with the meal I said no. He then said I've asked as you opted to not leave a tip I've never experienced being pulled up on not leaving a tip via the hand held before. Has anybody else? Not sure if relevant but it was just a standard Italian restaurant, not high end or anything out of the ordinary I left feeling a bit miffed

FourEyesGood · 30/08/2022 15:01

When he explained why he was asking about your meal, did you then explain that you were planning to leave a cash tip?

ErrolTheDragon · 30/08/2022 15:02

Was he 'pulling you up', or was he concerned something had been wrong with his service that he should try to improve?

ChocolateCroissantCafe · 30/08/2022 15:06

I've read plenty of articles lately involving customers keeping their complaints to themselves at the time, when it could be resolved, and later giving a poor score on TripAdvisor. Not that you were planning to, but that might have been his concern?

yellowsmileyface · 30/08/2022 15:07

I do the same. I've not had a waiter question it before but if they did I would simply explain that I prefer to leave cash tips.

YABU to feel miffed about it.

GoAround · 30/08/2022 15:12

He wasn’t pulling you up on not leaving a tip via card, he thought you weren’t leaving a tip at all and most people do tip unless they’ve had a bad experience so I don’t really see the problem. You could have give the cash whilst paying by card or when he asked if there was a problem, you could have also said then that you’re tipping cash. Were you annoyed at his presumption that he deserved a tip unless it was a bad meal or something?

Dotjones · 30/08/2022 15:12

ChocolateCroissantCafe · 30/08/2022 15:06

I've read plenty of articles lately involving customers keeping their complaints to themselves at the time, when it could be resolved, and later giving a poor score on TripAdvisor. Not that you were planning to, but that might have been his concern?

I do this, my view is that by leaving a negative review on TripAdvisor or similar it leaves a permanent record that other people can choose to accept or ignore. If problems are resolved in the restaurant they get swept under the carpet and nobody else will know about the incident.

The point of this is that it forces a business to raise its standards for ALL customers, not just those who are confident enough to complain. The business doesn't know which customer will raise an issue with staff and which customer will just let rip on a review site. Therefore they have to treat all customers with the respect and standard of service they'd normally just reserve for those who complain.

Bubblebubblebah · 30/08/2022 15:14

Dotjones · 30/08/2022 15:12

I do this, my view is that by leaving a negative review on TripAdvisor or similar it leaves a permanent record that other people can choose to accept or ignore. If problems are resolved in the restaurant they get swept under the carpet and nobody else will know about the incident.

The point of this is that it forces a business to raise its standards for ALL customers, not just those who are confident enough to complain. The business doesn't know which customer will raise an issue with staff and which customer will just let rip on a review site. Therefore they have to treat all customers with the respect and standard of service they'd normally just reserve for those who complain.

Show quote history

It's shitty.

It's like the people who do
"Is everything ok with your food?"
"Yes, thanks"
And then leave bad review. It's shitty

ChocolateCroissantCafe · 30/08/2022 16:36

Maybe if there's something like terrible staff attitude that won't be remedied by a quiet word. Even then, we've had e.g. vouchers for a chain restaurant after we emailed them following a specific incident. More often than not, things are easily ironed out, and if you don't let them know then you aren't giving them a chance to fix it.

MajorCarolDanvers · 30/08/2022 16:39

He was polite and giving you the opportunity to provide feedback.

Whataretheodds · 30/08/2022 16:44

I agree he was asking for feedback. Did you say you prefer to leave a cash tip?

HannahSternDefoe · 30/08/2022 16:46

I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

If I intended to leave a cash tip and the waiter got a bit "off" then he wouldn't get any tip...

Meraas · 30/08/2022 16:49

I usually ask them if tips go to them directly. If they say no, I leave a cash tip.

Why not just say you’re leaving a cash tip?

2bazookas · 30/08/2022 17:16

What a bloody cheek.

I would have replied " I always tip in cash for good service . You just disqualified yourself by asking for a tip. Rude impertinence does not deserve a tip. "

chillipenguin · 30/08/2022 17:18

They were checking you weren't allowed to rip into them on trip advisor. And you could have just said you were going to leave a cash tip.

chillipenguin · 30/08/2022 17:19

2bazookas · 30/08/2022 17:16

What a bloody cheek.

I would have replied " I always tip in cash for good service . You just disqualified yourself by asking for a tip. Rude impertinence does not deserve a tip. "

Really? That's an awful way of saying it. Just say ah I was going to tip in cash but I won't now and walk out.

gogohmm · 30/08/2022 17:31

It's a fair comment by him. I've never heard of paying by card then leaving a cash tip myself - I would assume if a customer didn't add a tip they weren't happy

Anonymous48 · 30/08/2022 17:32

gogohmm · 30/08/2022 17:31

It's a fair comment by him. I've never heard of paying by card then leaving a cash tip myself - I would assume if a customer didn't add a tip they weren't happy

Absolutely!

Bubblebubblebah · 30/08/2022 17:34

2bazookas · 30/08/2022 17:16

What a bloody cheek.

I would have replied " I always tip in cash for good service . You just disqualified yourself by asking for a tip. Rude impertinence does not deserve a tip. "

Lol. I like how people here pretend that 1-this is how they talk and 2-they would actually say something

Original poster

ChungLi · 30/08/2022 20:45

The reason I made the post is because it's not something we've experienced before and we eat out a fair bit, less than we used to though

We got the feeling that we were being pulled up on not giving a tip

Maybe the reason he asked if everything was alright was because he didn't want us to leave a bad review

This may not be true but I've been led to believe that if you give a tip via the hand held it very rarely goes to the servers

That's why if we do leave a tip we leave cash as we can at least give it directly the the employee

I think it's because as soon as we opted for No he then said has there been a problem. We got the feeling that you're expected to give a tip there and then by card and because we didn't we were being asked if there had been a problem

Maybe it was the tone of his voice

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