The Tip System
Here is an evaluation system, albeit waggish. It’s about tipping in restaurants, and I’ll preface things by saying I don’t believe a tip is a diner’s obligation. It’s a tip—something extra that one earns if the service he or she delivers is at least good.
Linda and I sit down for a meal in a restaurant. At this point, before even saying a word, the waitperson, in this case a female, has earned a twenty five percent tip. It’s downhill from there. If she greets us with “how are you guys today?” there is an immediate five percent deduction in the tip for off -handedly calling my wife a “guy.” Now the tip can be no more than twenty percent. If the waitperson delivers the food and walks away with a semi-pretentious, air-headed “enjoy,” there is another five percent discount. If she delivers the check along with the food (working man’s diners accepted), there’s another five percent off the top. If she checks to see how we are doing at mid-meal and blatantly interrupts one of us mid-sentence, yes, there is another five percent deduction. Now we’re getting to no tip at all.
Although I don’t sit there tallying things on paper, or even in my head, and seldom does a waitperson go without being tipped, the essence of my thinking process is in the above formula. Call me persnickety. It is systems-thinking both at its best and at its most ridiculous.
How does this relate? If I were the owner of a restaurant, understanding serving food is a process that repeats itself, I would be watching my own reactions while dining at someone else’s restaurant. I’d take notes. In my own restaurant, I would produce a Working Procedure of “never use” phrases and actions and then would make sure every single one of my servers knew it by heart. It would be called the Forbidden Phrases and Actions Procedure. (Yes, really. That is exactly what I would call it.) This Working Procedure would be my obsession and my staff’s center of attention. We would continuously update it, using my own experience as well as feedback from customers, open-eyed staff, or whomever. Only one or two pages in length, it would be alive; the continuous centerpiece of discussion and action, a document that old-hands and new people would study, discuss, and tweak. With everyone’s input it would improve steadily over time.
For the owner of a restaurant, how much work is this? A simple document like this could quickly take a restaurant’s service quality from mediocre to superb—an incredible payback for a tiny investment of time and effort.
To summarize: A propensity to analyze other’s service quality has two benefits.
The first, it is a reminder the customer has a visceral inclination never to return if there is a bad experience. (Conversely, a customer will dogmatically return when there is a good experience). The customer has a potent memory.
Second, one becomes inspired to devise ways to reduce their own customers’ bad experiences.
Sam Carpenter is author of the book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Working Less and Making More.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Good post! As a business owner myself I try to constantly go over my experiences with other companies to help determine what to do and not to do with my own business. Great reminder.
And while I know the example wasn’t the point of the post, I have to chime in -
While I could understand feeling that the question “how are you guys today?” is too informal for a certain restaurant, the use of the word guys when addressing you and your wife is completely correct.
Pick any major current dictionary - the Oxford English dictionary at http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/guy_1?view=uk will do - and all concur that the informal use of the word guys applies to any group of people, regardless of gender.
So - if your concern is with the informality, that is fair and should be stated. If you are honestly tipping a waitress less because you disagree with the origin of what has become common vernacular, I think your system has a flaw.
Every process needs to be open to re-evaluation and updating!
Cheers!
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I would call you persnickety :). “Guys” offends you and while I get it, it is beyond the capacity of *anyone* to be able to imagine the gamut of possible language usage that will offend some diners. Were someone to select perfectly inoffensive language, they’d then not be conversational, likely remote and thus, possibly garner your (or others) disdain for lacking warmth or being welcoming and friendly. Seriously.
I’m not suggesting your complaints are not valid but your expectations -and who you choose to hold accountable- is a bit contradictory. Imo.
For example, I agree it is a matter of responsibility and good management for restaurant owners to create, monitor and insist specific procedures to be followed at all times. Servers are a product of the organization; they are the expression of management’s policies and demonstrate how (and whether) policies are followed and enforced. Unfortunately, you are advocating and directing sanctions -as an expression of your displeasure with poor management- against servers rather than the owners who are most liable.
Restaurant owners are offsetting the costs of operation through reduced wages for servers, paying less than $3 an hour. Iow, they are relying on you to cover the shortfall; presumptively making you party to their financial responsibilities. As such, you should be more inclined to hold your “partner” accountable for the transaction (your dining experience) rather than the instrument (server). However, you’re penalizing the server rather than the party most liable. It strikes me as fundamentally unfair.
And yeah, there is little that annoys me more when servers interrupt conversations -repeatedly- in mid sentence. If it appears this is a habitual behavior, I will tell the server that this hijacks my thought process and would they please wait a moment so we can give them our full attention. I realize it is not my responsibility to train a server for management but if the server is well-meaning (no callousness or malice intended) and the food is good and I’d like to continue patronizing the establishment, I will do it. If server training is such a deficit that it will impact my decision to continue eating there, I usually write a letter.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Miranda and Kathleen: “Guys” bothers ME and I am the customer and my tips vary greatly depending on the service quality! I am not alone — I’ve informally checked with male friends. In any case, my point was the manager and/or owner would do well to ask customers what bothers them — and they should do it frequently. But, of course, most are too caught up with fire-killing to take the time to do that.
As for staff, what a great thing it would be to put together a punch-list of do’s and don’ts. Staff would create the lsit with management’s approval of the details. Performing each function, large and small, at 100% efficeincy and throughtfullness, would do well to make everyone’s reward greater.
-sam c
send me your amiling lsit and I wills end youa copy fo my gook (info@workthesystem.com)
I’m on facebook at facebook.com/samcarpenter. The fan bpage is under “work the system. Website is http://www.workthesystem.com.
Thanks!