The difficulties of tipping and providing excellent customer service are highlighted by a recent eating experience that Amelia (30F) related. Everything went smoothly till the very end when she and her husband (30M) celebrated his promotion by going to a restaurant.
Amelia placed a $10 tip on a $85 bill when the check arrived. “Ten bucks?,” the waitress sneered as she scooped up the money. You know, this isn’t the 1950s anymore. Amelia was taken aback by her patronizing tone. “I believe that ten dollars on an eighty-five dollar bill is more than reasonable,” she said.
“Cheapskate, it’s a standard 20% tip these days,” the waitress shot back, rolling her eyes. Are you unable of calculating that? Now furious, Amelia retorted, “You don’t deserve a tip at all with that kind of nasty attitude!” Then she returned the ten-dollar bill.
The waitress started angrily reprimanding Amelia, which led to a commotion. Amelia and her husband departed without leaving a tip after the manager had to remove the waitress. Amelia acknowledges that she may have overreacted, but she still thinks the waitress’ actions were inappropriate.
“That $10 was over 11%, which is a decent tip by any measure,” Amelia said. Her sense of entitlement truly annoyed me. The couple’s joyous evening was marred by the waitress’s public altercation, which left them feeling ashamed and distressed.
Important considerations regarding tipping customs and managing conflict in service settings are brought up by this incident. Was Amelia right to remain calm, or was her response appropriate in light of the waitress’s demeanor? The discussion goes on as other people provide their opinions on how to handle these circumstances without making the conflict worse.