Why are waiters and Waitresses so pissy...?

Question

whn people don't leave a tip? Many waiters and waitresses are very rude when serving and then they expect to get tipped well? What do they expect? I go to a restaurant in order to have a good eating experience, not get treated badly by the employees. And I know that they make less than minimum wage and need the tips, but they should have thought of that before they took that kind of job!

Answer 1

I think they are pissed they didnt get a good education and have to work there butts off to earn a living. If you are a bad and I mean rude,wrong order and didnt check to see if I need refills I will give $1 but I was at Steak-n-Shake( a really low class quick bite to eat place) and the waitress was SO excellent I gave her a $10 tip on a $15 order, I bet she has never seen that in her life. I know what your saying though they need to work for there money just like we do. I think there minimum wage is like $3.15. Best Wishes!

Answer 2

I LOVE THIS POST!!!  First, if you are encountering 'many' rude servers when dining out, quite possibly it's you who may be the problem in the equation.  Maybe you're a complainer from the get-go.  Maybe you asked questions when the answer is clearly written on the menu that you don't want read. Maybe you're not friendly( it's a 2 way street).  Maybe everytime your server comes to the table you make him/her run for something different every 30 sec like you've never been out to dinner before.  There could be a variety of reasons for getting a 'pissy' server.  But if you're experiencing this often, I'm just saying that maybe you should look at the whole picture.  And while servers want to make good money, sometimes it's just not worth the $2 to be pleasant to people who treat you like a slave.  

FYI... Servers can calculate their tips within a dollar 99% of the time before a customer has even placed their order.  Hmmm?

PS contrary to popular belief, most servers are either college educated, going to college or have 'real' jobs and are supplementing their income.

Answer 3

you should maybe consider changing your dining choice. being a server in my past life time i made that i would never ***** about a tip or let anybody else ***** to me.  i figured if they gave 2 bucks it was 2 bucks more then i had before.  these are either young and untrained servers or old and burned out.  it is easy to forget the large tips and easy to get stuck in the woe is me category.  restaurants are fun because fun people work there.  

if everywhere you go the servers act like this to you then maybe you should pay attention to how you are treating them.  they are there to serve you not be your slave.  the attitude is dependent on both ends.

i hope your luck changes.

Answer 4

Its a bad experience but some times people go through a lot of problem and cannot control them self.

Answer 5

they are tired of dealing with picky, annoying customers

Answer 6

I understand not wanting to reward a bad employee and you NEED to do something...stiffing them however isn't the answer.

When you get poor service you call the manager (they dont want bad service at their restaurant anymore than you do)  and leave 10% tip. This is the minimum tip amount. I don't treat tipping as an optional unless the service is HORRIFIC and that has only happened to me ONCE.

Answer 7

Taking "that kind of job" is just like taking any other kind of job. It has its ups and downs. I feel like the good tippers and bad tippers even themselves out into something decent. Pissy servers are the ones that shouldn't be working in food service. It takes a ceratin type of person to excel here, but many are enticed by the promise of lots of money, but that tends to give us great servers a bad name. Give your money as you think needed (15-20%) or less for bad servers. Try being a server sometime. I've worked in retail and find myself straightening racks when I'm shopping, organizing CDs... you're more sympathetic once you've experienced it.

The world is a crazy place.

I'm curious as to what you do for work?

Answer 8

not all of them are like that. i have met very friendly servers.

Answer 9

I've never had a pissy water or waitress, but some are better then others, but i think the waiters outbeat the waitresses by a mile. I'd drather have a waiter.

Answer 10

a tip is a gift for their service.  if they give good service they should get a good tip.  if they give good service and don't get a tip, then they have a right to be upset, not only are they not getting a tip from that table, those people took up that table that might have been occupied by a good tipper.

Answer 11

You should not tip if you get bad service. When I go out I treat my waitresses or waiters with respect, and 99% of the time I get respect in return and really good service.

You should always estimate the cost of your meal and the tip before you go out. If you cannot afford your food +tip. Then you cannot truly afford to eat out. Stay at home, be sure not to order a pizza. I say drive thru McDonalds.

Or maybe, YOU get a better job--That way you can afford your tip.

Answer 12

You may look at tips as optional but they mean: To Insure Prompt Service.If you are going to the same restaurants numerous times and the wait staff already knows you are a poor tipper and you are put in their section they are pissed off at you.The person is waiting on you so if they provide you a  service and you are supposed to compensate them for it.I think you should stick to food you can pick up at the counter yourself you cheap ***.Maybe you should not go into restaurants  since you don't want to follow the proper procedure.If you don't respect people they won't respect you bottom line .

Answer 13

That's why you go to their boss and take up the problem with them. I know what you are talking about, those one's don't get a penny from me.

Answer 14

I agree with a lot of what others have to say above b/c many of them have been through this just like me! Most of us are  working our ways through college! (and if they are like me they are paying for everything on their own b/c their parents can't help and we can't get anything but loans from the government) for the past two years I have worked for 40 hours waiting tables and taking 16 hours during a regular semester and 8 during each summer semester.  So yes we are extremely stressed and we try to have a professional manner about us. We leave our problems at the door, put on a smile and try our best to take care of you (the customer). With this job you can't work overtime they just won't allow it on top of that if something big happened like a death...they dont care they need you there and if you can't find a replacement tough cookies.That $2.13 an hour really comes out to about $1.78 when taxes come out. Then at some places the house (the resturant) sells the dishes to the servers...and if you complain about it we have it taken out of our already small pay checks. Then most customers will run you to death asking for one small thing at a time everytime you go to the table. Now imagine that times the 4 tables you have. So you are trying to keep about 20-24 people happy and bend to their every need. Working so hard for that $2-5 dollars they will leave on the table. (an average night for a server can be anywhere from $20 to that rare $100 or more and sometimes you can't even make that on a good night) And there are some days where people are just looking for a reason to not tip. Some days you could have already of had 5 or 6 tables and only made $10 so far, plus on top of that they have set there for long periods of time, which is cutting into your tips also. Why? Because your tables are taken up and now you can't get any tips until you get a new table. From the sounds of it you are one of those customers that tends to just do everything to make a server mad. And yes you can complain to our managers and they will sometimes chew us out in front of you or say they are going to take care of things....FYI it is all acting that is the second part of our job we act like we care, we act like you matter! Believe me not just anyone can do this job!!!!

Answer 15

they work too much and some people dont tip them that good... also stress and they get tired because of all the walking around carrying hot food or cold

Answer 16

It's an awful, hard job and people can be awful to deal with. If yu are a girl you tend to get hit on too.

You should tip minimally though, don't stiff them.

Answer 17

I know when I was a waitress, it was one of the only jobs that I could do with the school schedule I had.  But who knows why they were pissy, maybe they found out that their rent went up, or that something was wrong with a family member, or they had a stick up the rear. Sorry that you had a bad experience.

Answer 18

Their hourly pay is extremely low. They rely on their tips. You don't want to tip cook at home or go thru the drive thru.

Answer 19

It's not easy doing a waitresses job. Allot of the time there not really being pissy, there just stressed because you need to have your order taken and drinks brought to the table another couple just walked in the door and now there waiting impatiently on menus and all the while 2 orders just came up in the kitchen that need to be taken to a table. Now I understand how frustrating it is as a customer to have your waitress come to the table hand you menus and walk away but if those orders don't get to the table they'll get cold and nobody likes cold food. I have seen a few waitress that are older in age that are a little pissy and I think that's because they haven't done anything else with there life, and they hate going to work everyday. Another thing that is aggravating as a waitress is all the guys that come in the restaurant think that they can hit on you, its not a strip club its a family restaurant.... But for the most part its not being pissy just under allot of pressure.

Answer 20

because the only make about $2 an hour so in essence they work for their tips. Wouldn't you be upset if no one gave you any money and you were not sure you would make enough money to pay for gas to get you home?

Answer 21

see the archives on waiterrant.net for good discussions about tipping. Basically tipping is part of dining out. If you don't do it you invite bad restaurant karma! Also, you never know, one day you just might find yourself waiting tables yourself...

Answer 22

they are tired and take it out on us

Answer 23

Maybe you should think about how it looks to other people (like dates) when you power trip over people in service jobs.

It makes you look like a stingy, abusive, petty, in other words, like a bad person.

But I am guessing from your post that you are.