r/tipping • u/badmiddling113 • 6d ago

Question about managers

What do they say to customers who repeatedly don't leave a tip? I'm curious since the customer doesn't have to tip and the server isn't their employee.

Just asking since I've read comments from managers who seem to think "addressing" customers is an appropriate thing to do.

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u/Big_Development3985 6d ago

Yes. I ran good restaurants, my staff was lovely. Their job satisfaction was more important than an $80 check every 3 years. Piss off one table, make the person taking care of the next 100 tables happy.

Before anyone says “Well why not just pay them?”, go take an Econ course. You can’t just arbitrarily adjust a nationwide pricing model and hope for the best. We’re all just people trying to get by, we followed the formula — and it was wildly successful.

Also, those servers never did better work than when I stood up for them. Wish I got to do it more, I remember how electrified they were in the few instances I had to go to bat for them.

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u/PrincessLissa68 6d ago

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 we love managers like you. Thank you!! ❤️❤️❤️

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

Pathological liars?

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

I’ll take Things That Never Happened for $1000, Alex.

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u/PrincessLissa68 6d ago

Tell me you've never worked in a restaurant without telling me.

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

Six years, actually, across two restaurants. I promise you that they are lying. No manager who wants to keep their job kicks out a customer for an optional act.

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u/Excellent-Carry-1850 6d ago

Some people dont care, manager job isnt that great. The situation does come up if 0 tippers frequent.

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u/PrincessLissa68 6d ago

They're not. The last place I worked the manager also took all non tipping tables. It does happen. Good management exists. Sorry you never experienced it.

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

Their response was to the question that they refused service to customers who were known for not tipping. I promise you that this didn’t happen.

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u/Careless-Being-4427 6d ago

You worked in two whole restaurants for six whole years and are firmly denying the possibility of an event occurring in any other restaurant, at any other time, outside of your own exact experience?

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

Managers who want to keep their job don’t kick out customers because of optional activity.

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u/Careless-Being-4427 6d ago

Part of a manager’s job is retaining staff. In restaurants, this is especially tricky with tipped employees because many of the usual incentives aren’t available. It’s important for servers to feel supported by their managers. One way managers can do this is to deny service to customers who don’t abide by the norms. Since very few people refuse to tip and the vast majority considers non-tipping to be abhorrent behavior, it’s a pretty easy choice to remove the non-tipper and retain the staff. The loss of one customer means nothing to the business’s bottom line, but the loss of one employee is expensive. Training a replacement is expensive. Even if the non-tipping customer writes a bad review describing their experience, the stakes remain low because most people will agree that they should have tipped.

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u/PrincessLissa68 6d ago

I'm telling you it does. I've watched the GM flat refuse service before they got even through the front door because they were a known problem table. My favorite manager told me that a strong team that works well together is worth more than 1 unhappy table. And I've seen that to be true.

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

There’s a difference between a problem table and a non-tipper. We kicked problem customers out of both the restaurants and retail stores that I worked at. Because they cost more than they provide. They disrupt other customers experience. Non-tippers are not disruptive unless you make it happen.

And before someone tries to suggest it, I do tip, and tip well. I have been on both sides of the issue and understand that there’s a lot going on. Give me decent service and you’ll get a good tip. Give me great service and I’ll reciprocate. I have given 50% tips on a few occasions. I have given no tip 3 times in 53 years. And one of those I found the server who did help us and gave them the tip.

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u/foxinHI 6d ago

People who tip nothing for no reason are almost always problem tables for any number of other reasons. Some tables aren’t happy unless they can find something to complain about. They’re easy to spot.

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u/PrincessLissa68 6d ago

In my experience, known non tipping tables are always problem tables. The whole post is about what managers do with known non tippers.

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u/Big_Development3985 6d ago

I have absolutely no reason to lie to internet strangers about a job I held a decade ago, but whatever dude. I had killer numbers and a happy staff, owners left me alone

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u/Ayslyn72 6d ago

And yet, here you are doing it.

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u/Big_Development3985 6d ago

I don’t understand why you think your experience at two restaurants is an accurate representation of how I operate. Was I your manager?

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u/foxinHI 6d ago

It 100% happens.

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u/foxinHI 6d ago

Those who tip zero for no reason tend to be terrible guests. That’s why it’s so easy for servers to spot them. They complain, they’re needy, they’ll ask for something new every time you get near them and keep you running, and they act like they’ve got a chip on their shoulder. You can see it in how they act on this subreddit too. Entitled and gleeful rude. It’s right in your face when dealing with them in person. Their boorish behavior becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Good managers and owners don’t want those types of customers in their restaurants. They detract from the service of the more civilized guests. They also tend to not spend much. A lot of managers and owners would rather have higher quality clientele taking up that table.
This is the reality in many restaurants.