Tag: customer service

Here’s a tip: give better service!

Photo courtesy of: passiveaggressivenotes.com

A friend of mine posted the following joke on his Facebook status recently:

“What’s the difference between a canoe and a Canadian? A canoe will tip.”

He went on to say that he finds American customers tip better than resident Canadians.
 
Tips (or gratuities) are an amount of money given voluntarily in addition to the total amount billed for a service before taxes. Most common service industry where tips are given is the restaurant industry.
 
In giving tips, a certain level of service is expected. If achieved or surpassed, North American custom is to tip 15-20%. If not achieved, it is the right of the customer to give as much as 10%, or nothing at all to make a point of being unhappy with the service they received.
 
In recent years I have found that the level of service received, especially from sit down and fast food restaurants alike, to be mediocre at best. It is very hard to find a waiter or waitress (especially in Lethbridge) that really goes above and beyond the expectations of a regular worker in the industry.
 

I’ve gone through long waits before a waiter/waitress comes around to receive drink orders, and even longer waits (or not receiving at all) for refills on those drinks. When they notice their mistake or have it pointed out to them, they just don’t seem to care and don’t apologize for it.

If these people want us to give them extra money on top of our meals (which are already expensive no matter where you go), we need to start seeing some effort put into their hospitality. Even if the job is part-time, minimum wage and something you need to do for an income, still put some care into your position. Don’t just do a half-assed job and expect to still receive tips “just because”.

You earn your tips by the type of service you provide. You don’t provide good service, you don’t get good tips. Now I’m not saying my friend mentioned above doesn’t provide good service (I’ve only been attended to by him once at his workplace and I had no complaints), but if you are finding that you are lacking in tips, it could be due to your customer service skills.