Denis,

Those are honourable sentiments (it's probably not the poor waiter's fault so why penalize him/her) but I don't think your approach solves anything...

How can a problem be fixed if the problem is not made clear to the person(s) you deal with???
This, by the way, is how many businesses structure their "customer service" - you reach someone who cannot make ANY decision and who has NO say in fixing the problem you called about, and you realize this so go 'easy' on them. Escalating usually gives the same 'powered' person, just the service rep's boss.

My point of view is that the waiter is your 'interface' with the rest of the place. It is the waiter's responsibility to ensure that you are satisfied. If, say, the kitchen is slow tonight, he can warn you when he first approaches. Later he can come back and add information, if only to show real concern. It can get to the point that you call for the manager or ask the waiter to tell the manager that you are dissatisfied.

If the food is bad/cold/wrong you tell the waiter and ask them to fix it. Yes, I worry too about what might come back (I've heard stories of spitting in the retuned stuff) and there are cases where i will not return it. But I surely will tell the waiter so that s/he knows why the tip will be bad.

Sure, not returning to a place should give the owner the message, and I do that frequently, but usually after once only (place is new to me) and rarely after 2 problems in a row. Never after a third (I'm long gone after 2 or 1).
I had a case where I drove 60km at least once a month for a very specific caesar salad and rib steak (hard to find in Toronto (the steak)). After a few years cam a time when I got a very tough rib steak. I talked to the waiter, then the manager and told them both that I was sure I had been given a wing steak and not a rib steak. The manager brought out a package that the meat comes in and it was clearly labelled "rib steak". Next time I went I had exactly the same thing. Same routine again, but this time I examined the steak in the package carefully. I was as sure as I could be that it was a wing steak even though it said rib steak. The manager said there was nothing he could do (both times I refused an offered refund because I 'knew' the place well). I haven't been back since.

Different strokes...


>>>You're not obliged to pay tips here is US too, if you don't like the service. My husband and I usually do this way: if we don't really like the service (say, we waited too long in the restaurant) we pay 10%, otherwise we usually pay 15-17%.
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>>If the service is normal, I will tip %10-%15. If it is great, then 20%, if it is poor, then nothing. I think it is best to send a clear message to the server. Then they can decide to change jobs or change attitude.
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>Ok but perhaps the server does'nt have a thing to do with what is going on.
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>If you give a hard time to the server you could make it harder for him/her to make ends meet. So at worst that person could have to look for another job. So server goes out and another (perhaps desperate) comes in. What have changed after that. Perhaps not much. Perhaps same crappy service could go on.
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>If there were a lot of jobs with great salaries available I'd be ok with cutting on the tip. But in the end it's not the server I want to sent a message to but the owner.
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>So for me it goes like this. Tip is always at least 15% no matter what. I give them a couple of chances. If the situation is still bad after a couple of times at a given place I just stop going there.
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>Oh and by the way if there's something wrong with what I ordered (too cold, not enough...) I NEVER return it. Who knows what they'll bring me back <bg>.
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>After losing some customers the owner will figure out that something is wrong.