Tips for buffet staff?

[OCruisers]

It is a buffet and nobody has an assigned server. Also, your server may not be the person who cleans up your table and takes the money. How do you know that the person who did the good work actually gets the money? Have you thought about that?

DON

 

Very true! ;)

[capriccio]

There are restaurants that automatically add a gratuity to a bill when it is a group of 6 or more. Groups historically tip far less than the even suggested standards. Some in the group will put in 20%, where some cheapskates will put in nothing. Serving a group is more difficult than servicing a couple. And the server who gets the group frequently gets far less for more work. As for the automatic tip, if you object to it, don't go out of the US - automatic gratuity is there in other countries, too.

 

This is quite common in restaurants - especially those that attract lots of foreign tourists or snowbirds who have a reputation (rightly or wrongly I don't know since I'm not in the industry) for either not tipping at all or being miserly - in South Florida for groups of 4 or more. The tip is usually 18% or 20%. In 2014 we (a group of 7) also encountered it in restaurants in Jasper and Banff (Alberta, Canada) but the included tip was 15%.

[Fern Crest]

....... I do understand where a little personal "thank you" goes a long way to help you get over all the nasty people you had to deal with that day.

 

That's it, right there! I would hate to have to clean up and see some of the stuff people do, like entire plates of food that were never touched, all kinds of foods mixed together just to make a mess, drinks poured over the entire tray, not to mention the entitled attitudes and such. After awhile, I think it would be nice to be reminded that there are considerate beings still around.

More on the level of a random act of kindness than anything else. :)

[Arzeena]

Has anyone ever left a dollar or two on/under their tray during the lunch hours? I typically do, seeing the staff work really hard to try and stay ahead of the carnage, and nearly always with a smile.

Just curious.

 

Yes, we do that many times in appreciation of their service, if service was provided personally.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Arzeena

[LHT28]

This is quite common in restaurants - especially those that attract lots of foreign tourists or snowbirds who have a reputation (rightly or wrongly I don't know since I'm not in the industry) for either not tipping at all or being miserly - in South Florida for groups of 4 or more. The tip is usually 18% or 20%. In 2014 we (a group of 7) also encountered it in restaurants in Jasper and Banff (Alberta, Canada) but the included tip was 15%.

Common in some restaurants here with groups they do add 15% tip to the bill because many groups do not tip

 

They do advise you upfront

 

We mostly tip 15 - 20% in the USA unless the service is bad then 10%

 

In Hawaii in a medium priced restaurant we witnessed 2 American ladies (you could tell by their accent)

 

They ran the waiter ragged with little requests then at the end of the meal counted out all their pennies to leave as a tip & there were not a lot of them :eek:

 

We were so mortified

 

So not just foreign visitors or snowbirds that rip off the waitstaff

[Ashland]

"Tray's" :confused::confused:. What cruiseline has tray's in the buffet ?

 

We eat often during the dinner hours in the WJ and usually sit in the same area...Many times we have given an extra gratuity to a few waitstaff at the end of the cruise.

[Luckynana]

Geez, my husband and I are snowbirds...we never leave less than a 20% tip!! BTW, we also tip extra around the shjp...just sayin...

 

 

 

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