Well Handled - Waiter handles awkward situation well

[kherbert05]

2 friends and I went out to eat yesterday after school/before our carnival. One friend and I paid by credit card. The other friend paid in cash, and told him she didn't need change. Her daughter is a waitress so she always tips nicely and we had had excellent service.


The waiter came back with the credit slips and her money. He asked if he had dropped money when he walked away. Turned out  that friend had misread the total and given him to little money. She apologized and gave him the correct amount.


We all agreed he handled it very diplomatically - especially since she had made it clear she thought she had included a tip in the original amount.

[NyaChan]

I don't think I agree about this being handled well.  If perhaps your friend had intended to leave the amount she did, he essentially tried to shame her into tipping more.

[Sophie Jenkins]

I don't think I agree about this being handled well.  If perhaps your friend had intended to leave the amount she did, he essentially tried to shame her into tipping more.

It sounds like the friend didn't give him enough money to cover her bill, not that she'd covered her bill and left a too-small tip.

The waiter handled it beautifully.

[NyaChan]

OP, was the money too little to pay even the bill?  Then my answer would be different - I figured he had been shorted on the tip because there were references to how she is normally a good tipper.

[kherbert05]

The amount she gave did not even cover the bill much less a tip. She was talking and it was one of those super long go to the website and do a survey receipts so she mistook the subtotal for the total.

[Zilla]

I am glad your friend was honest and did not 'take' him up on his excuse that he dropped the money.   

But I the previous poster might be right in that the waiter wanted a bigger tip.

Subtotal is pretax, so an average 6%-10%. A generous tip as you mentioned would be 20%.  So she paid him a 10% top at least.  Or is my math wrong?

The amount she gave did not even cover the bill much less a tip. She was talking and it was one of those super long go to the website and do a survey receipts so she mistook the subtotal for the total.

[rose red]

I don't think he was angling for a bigger tip since what she gave didn't cover the amount after tax.  What I'm reading is, for example, the amount is $12.  With tax, it's $15.  She only gave $14. 

Is that scenario correct or am I confused? 

[Zilla]

I don't think he was angling for a bigger tip since what she gave didn't cover the amount after tax.  What I'm reading is, for example, the amount is $12.  With tax, it's $15.  She only gave $14. 

Is that scenario correct or am I confused? 

if local tax is high 10%, on $12 your total would be $13.20.  A generous tip would be 20%, so on $12, $14.40   You would have covered the total of $13.20 but leaving $1.20 tip.

[LadyR]

I don't think he was angling for a bigger tip since what she gave didn't cover the amount after tax.  What I'm reading is, for example, the amount is $12.  With tax, it's $15.  She only gave $14. 

Is that scenario correct or am I confused? 

if local tax is high 10%, on $12 your total would be $13.20.  A generous tip would be 20%, so on $12, $14.40   You would have covered the total of $13.20 but leaving $1.20 tip.

If there was alcohol involved, then there would be an additional tax. Tax here is 13%. And then liquor tax.

[Knitterly]

I don't think he was angling for a bigger tip since what she gave didn't cover the amount after tax.  What I'm reading is, for example, the amount is $12.  With tax, it's $15.  She only gave $14. 

Is that scenario correct or am I confused? 

if local tax is high 10%, on $12 your total would be $13.20.  A generous tip would be 20%, so on $12, $14.40   You would have covered the total of $13.20 but leaving $1.20 tip.

Except kherbert has already said that the amount her friend gave did NOT cover the total bill amount.

I agree that the waiter handled it well in that case.

Also, local taxes differ enormously from area to area.  Where I live it is 13% - 8% provincial and 5% federal.  If someone considered 10% to be a good tip, then a total with a 10% tip would still fall short of the total post-tax amount.

[rose red]

In some areas, restaurant tax is higher than local sales tax.

[Zilla]

Ooh got it.  I was comparing it to my local sales tax here which is under 10%.  And it isn't a bad thing that the waiter came back either.  But I definitely would change his tactic with the, "Did I drop some money?" since a dishonest customer would then say, "Why yes you did."  This board is full of posts about people like that.   

[m2kbug]

Is there something wrong with just saying that she didn't give him enough money to cover her meal? 

If he was gently alerting her that she didn't give enough money to cover the tip she was alluding to, then I'd say he did a very nice job.