To clarify my stance on tipping in general - I do tip, but only because the system is structured that way. My rule of thumb is to tip ~20% for great service, ~10% for subpar service, and in a case like this, pennies (just so the server knows I didn't just forget). And I tweak that depending on how expensive the meal was.

My point is just that in a true free market everyone would make the wage that they deserved to make, within a small margin of error - there wouldn't be this constant drama of guilt and hurt feelings and psychological calculating. If a 15% tip is the standard, then anything less, while it technically is a bonus, can only create bad feelings.

I tend to leave 20 to 25 percent. Though if the service is awful, I write "improve your skills" instead of a dollar amount.

Tipping really sucks. I mean, if your server does an excellent job and you want to give them some extra cash to show them you appreciated how attentive they were, that's fine but the fact that servers literally make their money on tips alone is bullshit. We make $5 an hour (I'm sure some places pay more than this, but it is the minimum wage for a server, normal minimum wage is $7.25, I think) and then on top of that, we have to claim our tips. My pay checks are literally like $45 or $50 dollars a week. That's how much we depend on tips.

Add to the fact that at Applebee's (i'm not sure if most restaurants are like this, it is the only place I have ever served), they don't give you a set time that you are leaving. They will say for example that you are in at 10:30AM and on the schedule they will give you a section. They can cut you at any given time. There were times I was on the floor for two hours, not having a table for the first hour and in my second hour only had two tables and I get cut. TWO TABLES!!! So I make nothing in tips, and then I also make nothing from my normal pay because it is so little. It's bullshit.

There are definitely perks to it though. I mean, on good nights when all is said and done, I can be making like $25 an hour thanks to my tips but you are only working 3-5 hours and my store only gives people three or four days a week, so... It still sucks but isn't as bad as it could be, I guess.

I leave 0% unless it's down as a "service charge", therefore I can't do anything about it.

Wait... you NEVER tip?

To be fair, tipping isn't really customary overseas like it is here.

That was shit service fo sho, had i been her manager I would have been sent home for the day and had someone else, probably myself, finish off that section till the next shift. No one likes a waiter in a bad mood.

Ahh! You mean they don't underpay their servers an INSANE amount?

I don't know if "insult" is the correct term. Impolite or disrespectful are better words to describe it.

Leaving money on the table will basically either result in the waiter being confused and likely trying to locate you to return the money or having them thinking you're looking down on them and/or the business by giving them money. I'm sure the managers or bosses would find it quite disrespectful as well. Customer service is viewed much differently in Asia and most other parts of the world than in the US. It's expected, a custom, that the business offers the best service possible.

Never

I hate shitty service and yet 75% of the time when I go to restaurants the servers are miserable. I don't know what it is about Denny's but I've had the worst restaurant experiences there.

What a drama.

LOL! Yes, there is totally something about going to Denny's. You will always get awful service. When all of my friends went to see Paranormal Activity 4 we went after the movie and our server was this very loud black woman and it took her FOREVER to do anything. She kept coming to the table and was like "alright, are you guys ready to order? Be right back!" She did that like three times. Then she was bitching about her job constantly. And then she kept coming to the table saying whomever was going to be taking over because she was going on her break because she needed a cigarette. She came back three or four times about going on her break. I didn't get pissed off or whatever. It was terrible service and I definitely didn't tip but it was kind of humorous.

It's probably because it's FUCKING DENNY'S.

That doesn't mean you can be a douche.

Denny's was there for Tim Allen and his son when no one else was.