| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Bill's Restaurant DO distribute the service charge | |
| Posted by: | Dan Murphy | |
| Date/Time: | 29/08/15 06:22:00 |
| "The idea that the quality of the service depends solely on one waiter/waitress is a myth" Richard, I disagree with you. Of course I know that the restaurant has a large team including chefs, cleaners, and possibly electricians and air conditioning engineers. But my "experience" is almost always defined by the waiter / waitress. And in my experience, when I am in a restaurant I can tell you the specific individual who is serving my table because they tend to come and introduce themselves when you sit down. I cannot think of an example when I had a crowd of four people hovering around all trying to wait on the table. Well, perhaps in a posh restaurant where they are all wearing white jackets and gloves, with one standing behind each chair, but not on the Chiswick High Road. And for me, it is that one individual who determines whether or not I enjoy my meal in that restaurant (apart from the quality of the food of course, but that's a different argument - let's assume that, ceteris paribus, we are talking about food all of a standard). For me, it's absolutely not a myth. Maybe you prefer that your service charge gets distributed amongst the entire team - that's your choice, and it's a worthy one I'm sure. But when I add a tip, I am tipping my waiter / waitress for being pleasant and making my meal a nice experience. Surely you wouldn't argue that this is the long standing traditional understanding of what tipping is all about? It's how I have understood it all my adult life. I am absolutely convinced that these employees are telling the truth. You say they probably have "an agenda", but in that case they are all telling a remarkably similar story, from many different restaurants. And just because some spokesman from Bills (or any other company) says "Oh no, we would never do that", I don't immediately believe them I'm afraid. |