A Tipping Question

[Batman]

Went out to dinner with the wife tonight. Upscale casual restaurant. Nice place we go to often.
Long story short, the kitchen screwed up while cooking my entree. They apparently messed up a whole batch of one of the specials and after waiting for almost an hour I had to order something else. The manager comped the whole meal (would've been about $65 without tip if we'd paid), and threw in a few extras as well.
The service was good. Appetizers came out on time and we got plenty of refills. Other than the snafu and waiting about 90 minutes total for a main course, it was all top notch.

So, what's the tipping etiquette in that situation? Do you tip like normal? Tip more? Less?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

You're tipping the waitstaff, not the schlubs in the kitchen. Base your tip on their service. At least the manager stood up.

 

[Matt1735]

If the servers were good and genuine and honest about the problem, leave a 20 and be done.

 

[Vombatus]

I might tip on what I originally ordered and not include one on the freebies. Kind of case by case basis. Definitely tip, definitely tip 20% based on your original order. Anything else is a gray area, depending on how good the staff and manager were, if you got ticked off at any point, etc. I would porobably, from what you described, add a bit more tip for the extras, but maybe not at a 20% rate. And add more if you are in Central PA.

 

[Songbird]

Leaving a 20 on the table would've been fine.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Agree with @Twirling Time. Tips are for the servers, etc, and they shouldn't get stiffed. Taking into account that the service was otherwise good, and the restaurant did a ton to try to make good for all of the inconvenience, I personally would have left a really good tip. You got a free meal, with what you said were a bunch of extras. Why not use it as an opportunity to wow the servers with a killer tip -- maybe half of what the bill would have been? You can feel good knowing the money will go right to them. At the least, you should have tipped off of what the bill would have been if they hadn't comped the meal.

 

[Vombatus]

Also, tips are often divided. A friend of mine got a $70 tip because she was excited about her patron's haircut. $70 / 4 isn't going to make that happen.

How could you slip someone $70 directly without getting them in trouble with her job and coworkers?

 

[exmediahack]

Also, tips are often divided. A friend of mine got a $70 tip because she was excited about her patron's haircut. $70 / 4 isn't going to make that happen.

How could you slip someone $70 directly without getting them in trouble with her job and coworkers?

Almost 25 years ago, I was a blackjack dealer in the Midwest. Native casino.

To pass the time, I would count cards in my head. If you were a good tipper at the table, I might tell you the count on an advantageous situation.

There was a man, about 50, who over the course of a Saturday afternoon, won about $6,000 off my table. He said he wanted to tip me half of it but not if they would be shared with the rest of the dealers. I said all tips were pooled.

He looks at me and asks.

"When do you get done today?"

"Six." Only an hour from now.

"You should probably go fill up your car at the gas station down the road."

Sure enough, he was in the corner with an envelope. Thousand bucks.

That tip got split one way.

 

[Batman]

I ended up leaving a $10 tip. Might should've left $20, but I did the math wrong in my head and $20 felt like way too much.
$15 would've actually been my sweet spot -- if the bill had come I probably would've rounded the $65 total up to $80 -- but I only had $10 and $20 bills on me.

 

[exmediahack]

How about this. Go back and leave a $10 or a $20 in an envelope. Or mail it.

You'll feel good about it and you'll make someone's day.

 

[lcjjdnh]

Seems like I'd also want to tip more if it was a place I frequented.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I go 20% across the board, rounding to the nearest dollar because I hate arithmetic.

 

[Joe Williams]

Twenty bucks would have been great.
Never met a dealer in a casino who ever did anything except take my money. Feel like one of them should meet me at the gas station and hand over cash in an envelope to me.

 

[gingerbread]

I ended up leaving a $10 tip. Might should've left $20, but I did the math wrong in my head and $20 felt like way too much.
$15 would've actually been my sweet spot -- if the bill had come I probably would've rounded the $65 total up to $80 -- but I only had $10 and $20 bills on me.

$10 is embarrassing. A restaurant you like and frequent screwed up, and went out of their way to make your night special -- AND FREE! Please go back with another $10 or even $20. The waitress likely had to give the hostess and the bus people AND the cooks/chefs part of her tip, so your $10 seems even more measly.
Signed,
An ex-waitress who still has nightmares about working in restaurants.

 

[Riptide]

$10 is embarrassing. A restaurant you like and frequent screwed up, and went out of their way to make your night special -- AND FREE! Please go back with another $10 or even $20. The waitress likely had to give the hostess and the bus people AND the cooks/chefs part of her tip, so your $10 seems even more measly.
Signed,
An ex-waitress who still has nightmares about working in restaurants.

Definitely.

In cases like this, think of what you would have spent, including tip. Then, since you ate for free, consider tipping 50 percent. You still save a bundle. At the least, tip 30 percent.

$10? Jesus, that's embarrassing. Not even a decent tip for the "top notch" meal you ate, even though the restaurant staff bent over backwards to make things right.

I would have tipped $30 or $40 here. That shows good faith in return.

 

[Batman]

$10 is embarrassing. A restaurant you like and frequent screwed up, and went out of their way to make your night special -- AND FREE! Please go back with another $10 or even $20. The waitress likely had to give the hostess and the bus people AND the cooks/chefs part of her tip, so your $10 seems even more measly.
Signed,
An ex-waitress who still has nightmares about working in restaurants.

So I'm supposed to drive across town, taking an hour out of my day, in the hopes that the waiter who served us is working that day, and beg for his forgiveness while giving him an extra $20? And that's if he even remembers us several days later?
****. That.
Next time we go there, we'll throw a little extra into the tip. Otherwise it's a life lesson learned.
The Tip Nazis of this world are out of control.

 

[Batman]

Definitely.

In cases like this, think of what you would have spent, including tip. Then, since you ate for free, consider tipping 50 percent. You still save a bundle. At the least, tip 30 percent.

$10? Jesus, that's embarrassing. Not even a decent tip for the "top notch" meal you ate, even though the restaurant staff bent over backwards to make things right.

I would have tipped $30 or $40 here. That shows good faith in return.

Well, ****. Why not just give him the whole $80 I would have spent? And maybe an extra $100 while I'm at it?

 

[JC]

So I'm supposed to drive across town, taking an hour out of my day, in the hopes that the waiter who served us is working that day, and beg for his forgiveness while giving him an extra $20? And that's if he even remembers us several days later?
****. That.
Next time we go there, we'll throw a little extra into the tip. Otherwise it's a life lesson learned.
The Tip Nazis of this world are out of control.

You tipped ten whole bucks on a free meal. This is not Tip Nazis, this you being cheap.

 

[Riptide]

Well, ****. Why not just give him the whole $80 I would have spent? And maybe an extra $100 while I'm at it?

Didn't say that. But you took the cheap way out.

 

[Batman]

You tipped ten whole bucks on a free meal. This is not Tip Nazis, this you being cheap.

The funny/annoying thing is, I'm usually a really good tipper. I grew up with parents who would've considered it a great deed to leave a $5 bill on the table on a $100 check, so I've spent years making karmic amends for that. It's not uncommon for me to tip 25 or 30 percent. I wasn't being cheap in this case. I obviously miscalculated.
That said, I'm not going back to grovel for forgiveness when the restaurant did what it felt it needed to do to make an aggrieved customer happy. They'll get my business again with no hard feelings about a potentially disastrous experience.