The Auto-Gratuity's Effect on Service, Part 2

Folks I'm working a double today - on the blog that is! 

Here's another thrilling installment of my series on restaurant tipping. If you're new to this site please read Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 and Part 8. Part 8 is actually Part 1 to this entry, which could more appropriately have been titled ...
"Why Restaurants That Don't Auto-Grat Suck." 

IMHO, it's in your best interest to avoid them actually. Here's why...

Image Source - Menu PDF from Ruby Tuesday on NorthShore, Kroger Pike, Knoxville TN

Hey I'm going to pick on a Ruby Tuesday today, partly because I used to work at Ruby Tuesday in Knoxville TN (not this one, but in stores #1 and #20), and partly because of what this ONE Ruby Tuesday's menu states about tipping. From what I've researched for this post, what you see above is not Ruby Tuesday's "overall corporate policy" and many of them DO include gratuity on large parties.

One more thing before they try to sue me : I'll also say that Ruby Tuesday was my first job waiting tables ever, and in my three years as a server (and later bartender) for Ruby's, I learned quite a bit about how to give great service, and much that I employ still today. The training was quite sufficient (and I'm not just saying that because I was a trainer for them at one time) and the "by the book" standards of service for their "Waitrons" (seriously, the manual at the time called us Waitrons) set the bar pretty high as far as knowing what was expected of me a server.

With that said, back to real life.

As we discussed earlier, when you see an auto-grat on your bill for a large party, it generally means that you're being assigned one of the better servers which that restaurant has to offer you at the time... at least to whatever extent the selection of which server you get, falls under the reasonable ability of the manager or hostess to pick and choose for you. 

GO READ that whole story now, before proceeding here. 

And hurry up, you're holding up the line.

Now that you understand how that concept plays out in the restaurants you go to every day, the key to following me here lies in taking that same logic, then seeing how to apply it to a much larger picture. The picture not so much being the restaurant you walk into and the waiter or waitress they choose to give to you, but rather "the picture" being the town or city you are in, and the restaurant(s) you choose to walk into.

You'll also need to allow me to take you out of your point of view for today - as a customer who (hopefully) has choices about where to eat - and now enter my world as a waiter who (hopefully) has choices about where to apply for work. Sound like fun?

Cool. Now, with the table being properly set ... 

Tonight's Special begins with a few words from my fellow server/bartender/blogger Steve Nicolle, who has also tackled the topic at hand in his article "Automatic Gratuities and The Continuing Free-Fall of Fine Dining." First quoting, then building upon his revelation...

Steve writes 

 "Corporate restaurants serve to the masses... It is a business decision plain and simple. In and out pay the bill and next please. It is all about volume..."

Because of this, he correctly (to my mind) argues that many corporate giants are moving away from auto-gratting large tables, simply because they know that "the masses" are cheap (Hey blame the economy if you want to). Large chains are starting to snap to the idea that if they DO NOT auto-grat, they will be perceived by the population as a whole as being less expensive places to dine, and therefore more people will choose to go there to eat, and therefore the corporation will make lots more money. 

To my mind, Steve is 100% correct. People are more strapped these days, and many are understandably looking to pay less. I've no problem with this reasoning, but as I get back to your point of view in a moment, you also might be interested in seeing how this business model negatively affects you, and makes the quality of service you receive at these places worse and worse and worse as this trend continues.

Here's why. If you've been following me since the beginning, you've seen me get stiffed on both a $200 tab and a $600 tab, which literally costs me money out of pocket. You've seen a girl cry over getting stiffed on $300, and you've seen my friend almost get fired for his reaction to a table that tipped him poorly. While not covered here in such detail here to date, I've witnessed many other servers either walk out of their shifts - and their jobs - over this factor, and many others get fired for confronting or cussing out their customers who didn't tip.

It's hard to keep good help that way people. As I've detailed, the automatic gratuity is one of, if not THE essential ingredient in retaining good staffers, long-term, who genuinely want to work hard and be known for giving exceptional service. Because otherwise, human nature will eventually over-ride our calmer selves, and we would all walk out or get fired from our positions. We may regret it later, but it is indeed what happens in places that don't include the tip on larger parties, leaving their waiters to earn nothing for their shift. It's insulting, it's degrading, and we can't forever just take it. It HURTS having our hopes for a $100+ night dashed when bills are due, by some redneck, foreigner, or all around Cheap-O who thinks it's okay to stiff us for no good reason. 

But the above ugliness doesn't happen with even 1/10th of the frequency (I'm guessing) in restaurants where the server gets their autograt. We can happily and productively move on with our shift to the next round of tables and be pleasant to them, knowing we've already had a decent night. 

So if I - speaking as a very experienced server - have any choice in the matter, I will not apply to work in a place that does not have an auto-grat policy in place. Neither will most other experienced, excellent servers. Our experience shows us already that we're going to earn considerably less income there, and who wants to work for a place that so clearly cares so very little about their employees' overall well-being? Have you, dear reader, ever had to make perhaps a similar choice in your own professional life?

Getting back to the Northshore Ruby Tuesday in Knoxville Tennessee, I'm not *only* not going to work there, I'm reluctant to eat there as well. And mostly not because I'm offended by their policy. I am a bit, sure... But Hey, this is 2012. Nobody boycotts or chooses a restaurant based on things that have nothing to do with the quality of the food, right? Ummm.... 

It's just that in this case, because of knowing about this particular policy, I wouldn't expect to get near as good of service as I might at any of their nearby competitors, that do auto-grat larger tables. 

I can surmise this because I know the secret code required to translate the policy stated on their menu!

"... and unlike other restaurants, we don't add an automatic gratuity. We believe the amount you reward your server should be your choice."

That sounds reasonable at first, and I'm sure many Knoxvillians go there for that very reason. They can leave $5 on their hundred-dollar tab and not feel guilty about it, because the menu said it was their choice. This implies a belief by the owner and/or management that there are no industry standards to go by, and that there is no right or wrong to go by when tipping. Well hopefully you know better by now reader. How this statement actually reads to me, goes a little more like this :

"... and unlike other restaurants, we don't care so much whether our staff takes home any money, just our corporate owners and officers. Our staff is mostly college kids who don't have much experience waiting tables, and probably won't be here next time you come in, because they've either graduated or moved on to a restaurant where they will be treated with more dignity by both the company and the customers, and will make more money. 

"We know good and well that you come here for great food, and if you honestly expected or demanded outstanding service, you'd be willing to pay for it elsewhere. Sure, if you complain about the service, we'll take it seriously and might have to fire the kid... But that's okay, because we know that we have thousands more inexperienced workers coming in every year to replace them with. So feel free to come leave your money in our cash registers, without thinking twice about how much you leave in your servers' pockets. We know they matter even less to you than they do to us."

But maybe that's just how I read it.

Not to single out this one restaurant, I just want you to know that any place that offers sit-down service - whether they call it "fine dining" or not - has made an important and key decision about their service levels, one way or the other, which will be quite apparent by their auto-grat policies. If there's an auto-grat, they'd prefer to retain their more experienced and skilled employees by meeting their financial needs, and believe that enough people will come in for both their food and the superior service which their experienced staff provides, to make up for the value diners they lose. If there's not an auto-grat, they're probably courting less sophisticated diners who care more about saving money than paying for top-notch service. And they're betting that these days, there's more people like that than those willing or able to pay for top-notch service.

So that's another way that an auto-grat actually works in your favor - even if you're not part of a large party but are just wanting a nice dinner out for two. The more skilled and experienced servers will tend to gravitate towards working for restaurants that have such a policy (and those that generally demand more experience to get hired). Just as the less experienced servers who are getting stiffed on 10-tops will tend to cry, break things, and walk out in the middle of their shifts - perhaps leaving you and your date waiting for some other server who already has 4 or 5 tables going - to be told by the manager to add you to their workload.

I'm speaking solely in averages and probabilities based on years of observation and experience here, of course. I'm sure this Ruby Tuesday (and many other non-grat restaurants) have some fantastic servers on their payroll. I was one, so to speak. But I'm equally sure that the good ones who are there now, who are still waiting tables a few years from now, will have taken their skill-set somewhere else, just like I did.

You have the same choice of course, and I respect you either way. Take your money where you like, but I will caution you to not take expectations for the best service to places that don't auto-grat large tables. The servers most likely qualified to meet those expectations for you... have left the building.


"Oh yeah, smart fellow? Well, as a matter of fact I woulda tipped you a lot MORE if the tip hadn't been included!"

You sir, are a liar.

Next, on Guy's Work Blog.