When do you not tip at a cafe?

I only stiffed one waiter in the last 20 years. I was driving all day and night to visit my parents and stopped at the half-way point to eat and drink a bunch of coffee. I was nearly the only patron in the restaurant. It seems that a bunch of my server’s friends were at another table and my server was more concerned in hanging out with friends than taking care of me. It took him 15 minutes to come get my drink order before he went back to his friends. He never refilled my coffee once; I eventually gave up and walked behind the counter to get my own refills. After I got my food he never came back to check on me and never brought the check; I ended up just going to the casheer and telling him what I got so I could settle up. I didn’t leave that waiter anything.

I generally consider 15% my minimum tip. Waiters are paid based on getting tips so if I don’t tip 15% I feel like I’m literally stealing their pay. The waiter I stiffed wasn’t doing his job so I didn’t feel like he deserved to be paid to hang with his friends.

One thing I’m conscious of is the unfairness of tipping a percentage of your check. If I eat someplace with $5 entrees and another place with $20 entrees did the second waiter do 4 times as much work? Tipping a percentage makes it seem that way. When I eat at an expensive place the waiter will have to really be good to get above 15% but at cheap places when a waiter really does a good job I’ve left as much as 100% gratuity. Why should a waiter be penalized for working at a reasonably priced restaurant?

Of course always tip well at restaurants you are a regular at. You don’t want them spitting in your food or worse when they see you. Since I’m a pretty good tipper I’ve had waiters fight to serve me when they saw me come in the door. Also, when there was something wrong with my food or service the waitresses who know me usually comp my meal to be sure I’m happy and will come back.

You should definitely NOT tip him if you didn’t like the service! You are right, tipping is only up to you! Especially in a cafe! In a restaurant it’s a little different and you should generally tip (up to 10% of the bill), unless it’s written that the tip is included in the bill already. Be less generous, ok?

In the extremely rare situation that service is so bad that it would be appropriate to not leave a tip at all. You should speak to the manager.

If service is merely, “not good”, I like to leave a less than par tip, say 10-15%.

I have been known in the past to write a not on the bill explaining the problem.

Personally i’m a pretty good tipper, about 20 percent, if the service is horrible i still tip but i tip in the 5-10 percent range instead.

I can see both sides of this issue. Not tipping may lead to the waiter being rude to you in the future. At the same time, it may lead to them improving service.

Inept waiters don’t remain inept waiters for long.

However, I believe that you are more upset with your dining partner, then with the waiter, because he took the waiter’s side! Am I correct?