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Life

Should Restaurants Ban Non-Tipping Customers?

Restaurant bill and cash in a check binder at a tableDeposit Photos

Restaurant workers hate non-tipping customers and I understand the anger. But should restaurants be able to actually ban them for it?

I came across an interesting post on Facebook the other day. It was in a food and beverage group that I joined out of curiosity a couple of years ago. I find it interesting to hear their perspective on customer service sometimes. But this post was a screengrab of a text message apparently sent from a restaurant to one of its non-tipping customers.

The message began with notice that the restaurant was canceling the man’s reservation for the following Saturday. The sender, apparently a manager of the restaurant, said he or she though the first non-tipping incident was “an isolated incident.” He sent a gift card and an apology to the man’s wife.

“Since that day, I personally oversaw the service you received and you continued to not tip or leave less than a dollar,” the message continued. “I will not subject my staff to that type of behavior. Moving forward, both you and your wife [something redacted] are no longer allowed at our establishment.”

I’m sure you can imagine how the comments went, especially since they’re from a group of restaurant employees.

“Way to stand up for your staff,” one person wrote. “Wish there was more [people] like you!!”

“Ain’t a damn thing wrong with that. Just taking out the trash,” another wrote.

“That’s how it should be. Servers work for tips,” another one said.

Is that really ‘how it should be’?

Servers like to say that anyone who can’t afford to tip has no right to eat at a restaurant that employs servers. I understand their perspective, of course. Restaurants have been allowed to get away with underpaying their workers. That means that workers rely on tips.

However tips, by definition, are optional.

Sure, there’s a moral obligation to leave a gratuity. But there’s no legal obligation to do so. It may be the right thing to do. You might even be a jerk if you refuse to tip without a really, really good reason.

But that brings up an interesting question: How bad does service have to be before a bad tip (the “less than a dollar” that text message mentions) or no tip at all? And who gets to decide how “tip-worthy” the server is? The answer would have to be the customer. The customer is the one who gets to decide how much of a tip he or she leaves.

Restaurant managers and workers are free to complain about bad tips. But banning someone over a tip seems a bit extreme to me.

One of the commenters had an interesting idea: “Managers should get an instant text notification whenever someone tips below 15%, so they can approach the customers to see why they placed low value on the service they received.”

From the perspective of a server or even a restaurant manager, I’m sure that sounds like a wonderful idea.

From the perspective of most customers, I suspect that would feel quite intrusive. If tipping is optional, then it’s optional. If I were to give a low tip, that’s my choice. I shouldn’t have to explain it to anyone. If the service I received was so bad that I actually did give a bad tip, the server should already be more than aware of the reason.

Some non-tipping customers may just be jerks. But if they pay their bill and choose not to add on a fee that isn’t mandatory, they’re still fulfilling their obligation as our current system officially defines it. Otherwise, people could be prosecuted for theft for not tipping. Anyone ever heard of that happening?

A better solution?

As long as we’re going to involve tips in a server’s salary, this is going to happen.

Maybe it’s time we eliminated tips altogether. Instead, let a restaurant add a 20% service fee. That way, servers at restaurants that still refuse to pay a reasonable wage would still get the income they expect.

Customers would no longer have the option to not tip. They wouldn’t be able to “punish” a server for sub-par service (whether it’s on the part of the server or the kitchen or something else). If that were the case, I’d buy the argument that if a customer can’t afford the fee, they should eat somewhere else. But in that case, there’d be no argument; the customer would have no choice but to pay.

They might well exercise their choice not to eat out at all. That would hurt the restaurants and that, in turn, would hurt the servers. They might lose hours. Some jobs might be eliminated. Some restaurants might have to shut down.

But we’d have solved the problem of non-tipping customers!

Which is more important?

For the record…

When I eat out at a sit-down restaurant, I round up when I leave the tip amount. If the total is $18.95, I call it $19, multiply by two to get $38, then move the decimal to the right one slot to get $3.80. I leave a tip of $4 or $5. So I usually tip more than 20%.

When a restaurant brings me one of those new-fangled credit card readers or a QR code so I can pay via an electronic system that lets me pre-select a tip, I will usually select the 20% option…so the server actually loses a little in that transaction.

I think it’s reasonable to leave a 20% tip. If the service is extraordinary, maybe a 25% tip.

If the service is bad, I will probably leave a 20% tip anyway, but let the manager know on my way out how bad things were and why I probably won’t be back. Unless I know the server was the real problem, I’m probably not going to penalize that person.

But if the industry is serious about “going after” non-tipping customers and it isn’t willing to address bad service and low quality, it seems to me that removing tips from the equation in favor of a service fee that isn’t added to would be the obvious answer.

Would you prefer the current tip system or a service fee that eliminates tips?

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.