Today's Sentinel (here we go again)

[flyrr100]

There are two concerning tipping today!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/featu...1139592.column

[wrpac00]

Can only see 1 by the British guy, am I am missing one somewhere.

I have to agree with though, that's how we tip. I refuse to tip if the service is poor. If it is very good I tip very good. I know that they don't get paid that much but it should not be a given that they get a 15% tip.

[Daybreak]

We actually had a very bad experience last year regarding tipping and i must admit even now it's quite hard to talk about it
We were over to close on our villa and surprise surprise the minute we landed our realator told us he had been trying to contact us but we had been our way over as the mortgage company had now decided at the 11th hour that they needed more documentation
We spent nearly all day trying to get the info they needed but had to wait another day to see if we had been succesful, so didn't even know if we could go ahead and close
Our furniture company then informed us that the living room furniture we had ordered 11mths prior hadn't been ordered[msnsad]
To say we were all down that night is an understatement
Anyway we all went out for a meal and the table next to us gave a very large tip, we know this as the waitress made a big deal of it
We paid our bill gave what we thought was a fair tip, the service had been good, but the waitress approached us and said she felt she should give it back
We assumed she didn't think it was enough and i must admit feeling tearful
It was just the perfect ending to a perfect day, not!!
The upside was we did close, although a few days late, and we did manage to get furniture but the episode has left us all very confused and if i admit it quite mad on reflection

Dawn

[caroline]

Dawn, can I be cheeky and ask how much of a tip you left and on what size bill? I've never heard of a server giving a tip back before[confused]

[Cruella DeVilla]

She felt she should give it back, but did she?

[Ray&Sarah]

Thats a new one Dawn, never had this happen.

Glad the villa problems were resolved in the end.[msnsmile2]

[Ray&Sarah]

On the subject of the article, I must admit that I agree with the British tourist who was quoted, if we are all to be tarred with the same brush makes you wonder if you dhould bother. We usually leave a good tip when we eat out, even here in the UK. As we don't have a tipping culture it is sometimes hard to work out who and how much to tip.

[Daybreak]

I'm afraid i can't remember how much the bill was or how much we tipped but she gave it back
I'll check with Lynne, see if she can remember
I think we tried to block out the whole day as it has to be one of the worst [msnsad]

Dawn

[Jules]

On our first visit to Orlando we had a lovely meal at The Butchers Shop in the Mercardo. It was my birthday so we had ordered some of the more expensive items on the menu as well as wine and dessert, this was in 1993 when we got $1.95 to the £1 so we were feeling flush! When the bill came we spent a while working out how much to tip and then added a little more as the waitress had been very helpful. She took the money but then came back with the tip in her hand and gave it back to us with a really embarrased look on her face.
At first we thought the same as you Dawn, "Oh dear we didn't give her enough" but then she explained. As the bill was above average for a party of 4 she had already added the tip as she was worried that as brits we would not be aware of the tipping "rules" and that she would be out of pocket. She could not appologise enough as she now felt awful that she had misjudged us. We had been so concerned that we got the amount right we hadn't noticed the bit at the end of the bill where the tip had been added. We thanked her for being so honest and gave some of the extra back, we also learnt to check the bill carefully! Maybe your server had done the same.

[sundowner]

You see, there are some very honest staff around. I tip according to service and no matter what they think, I will still tip according to service and explain to them why they may have a smaller tip than expected...... Oh, and probably never go back again!!!