I waited tables in college. I was pretty good at it, and I actually enjoyed it. I was never a fan of the automatic gratuity, as most people tip more than what it would be. Of course, you will always have the table that stiffs you or cheaps out. Sometimes, people just don't have the extra money. This review isn't about whether or not to tip. It's about the automatic gratuity.
First off, it's not a gratuity if it is automatically added to your bill. I understand the thought process behind the creation, but I don't like it. I will tip more if you do not hit me with it than if you do.
Usually, as long as you are a table of less than eight, it's not a problem. Of course, each establishment decides what the minimum guest number is for their checks. At Disney, we were slapped with the automatic gratuity when we had six people. Six. That's not a huge number. Needless to say, I think that's a bit ridiculous, but I deal with it. I love Disney, and I'm willing to pay that particular sin tax.
One time, a server applied an automatic gratuity to just Mark and I. We were a party of two, and she put the gratuity on there. It wasn't right, and we actually avoided that restaurant for a while. We thought maybe it was policy. When we finally returned, months down the road, we asked about it. It wasn't their policy. She just decided to do it. Boo on her.
Now, I suppose I should explain why I feel the need to review this concept tonight. My fellow co-workers and I had a Christmas dinner of sorts at the Carrabbas here in Myrtle Beach. I had called yesterday to warm them of our numbers. No one reminded me about the automatic gratuity, but I should have remembered it existed. That's not my beef with the concept.
Mark was having a bad night, so he decided not to accompany me. To try and cheer him up, I decided to order him Chicken Bryan* to go. The servers said that wouldn't be a problem and to give them fifteen minutes notice. That's cool. I can do that. She brought my bill, and I paid with cash. It wasn't until I was trying to decide how much to leave as a little tip that I realized she had charged me that automatic gratuity on my to go order. To me, that is an abuse of the idea.
The automatic gratuity exists to benefit servers. It is one thing to have three tables over an hour and gamble that one will stiff you. When there is a large table, meaning you can only have that one table, that changes things. If they still you, you're out money. If they only tip you two dollars, it's just sad. I understand the positive reasons for the automatic gratuity, but when a server abuses it, that is when I have a problem with it.
There was absolutely no reason to charge me $3.71 for a tip on a to go order. She punched in the order. They cooked it. They plated it. She put it in a bag. She didn't have to gather up dirty dishes from it. She didn't have to refill drinks for it. The time spent on that order was not sufficient to garner that large of a tip. I'm sorry, but it just was not.
Servers have a rough job. Some people are never happy. Some people don't believe in tipping. When you get on the wrong end of an automatic gratuity, you start to see why people don't believe in it. Once again, I had no problem with them applying a tip on the table, but adding it to the to go orders was wrong.
In short:
Dear Carrabbas,
I had a bad experience last time I visited, which was months ago. After your server charging me $3.71 to procure my to go order, it will be even longer before I give you another go. It's sad, really, as I absolutely adore some of the people that work there.
Regards,
Holly
*It's amazing.
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