(Heartwarming Story) Friendly and Generous Couple Help Me Out in a Tight Money Pinch

I'm 27 and wasn't aware you should tip at Disneyland. So thank you to the OP - you've now made sure however many waiters/waitresses I encounter on my upcoming trip won't be stiffed.

Also love your plan of carrying an emergency fund, done that in the past and it really does come in handy.

Really nice story :D That's seriously the magic of Disneyland!

Just remember to "Pay it Forward" one of these days....It's a great feeling. I've done this sort of thing for younger couples all the time at restaurants...especially when I can tell they're having a tough time keeping their little kids quiet. I just flag down the waitress, tell her that I'll pick up their tab & keep it to myself. It's amazing the look on their faces when they find out their tab was completely paid for, and quite funny when they start looking around trying to find out who it was that paid it for them. :) Pay it forward, my friend.

I tried to do this for a couple in front of me at Zocalo a few months back. Their card was being declined for whatever reason and I offered and insisted on paying for their meal. It was really no big deal to me but they wouldn't let me and just left. lol

I've been a longtime lurker on this site but this post made me want to comment for the first time.

I agree with those who've said that it's not right to be patting this young man on the back. I can see clearly that he told this story with the best of intentions, but I'm glad that some of you have pointed out that this young man caused some problems that day and it was only a stroke of luck that saved the day with those people overhearing and pitching in.

My son worked in a restaurant through college and used to tell me horror stories of not being tipped. What many of you might not know is that the servers are reported to the IRS for 15% of the sales on their registers. Meaning, whether a server is tipped or not, the restaurant tells the IRS that the server made 15% of his register's sales that day in tips, plus the nominal $2.85/hour in pay the restaurant gives him.

If a guest does not tip a server at a sit down restaurant, that server LOSES money out of his own pocket by waiting on you because he will have to pay tax on your meal as if you had given him 15% of the bill as a tip.

I don't know if Disney does this, but at some restaurants the servers also have to "tip out" the people who bus the tables, run the food, and also tend bar. It's pretty standard for a server to have to pony up 1% of their sales to the busier, 1% of their sales to the food runner, and 3% of their alcohol sales to the bartender (which Disney doesn't serve, but sometimes bartenders make special milkshakes or other fancy drinks and are tipped out).

Here is a situation that happened to my son that I will never forget, even though it's been about 15 years already. He still talks about this whenever we go out to eat as a restaurant horror story. He had a table with 8 guests at it. Each one of them ran him ragged the whole meal. They'd actually play a game where one would ask him for a lemon, and he'd ask if he could get anyone else anything, and they'd say no. He'd come back with the lemon and someone else would now want a lime. Then they'd giggle. It was like this all night, with people asking for things just to keep him jumping. This was a hamburger place that I guess you'd say would be similar to a Marie Calendar's or a Denny's, but there was a bar. All of these people ordered the surf and turf and strawberry daiquiris and all sorts of things that kept my son hopping.

Their bill was over $400 (back in 2000 prices). That meant my son should have gotten $60 as a tip from these awful people. They left him $3...that's THREE DOLLARS!!! All in nickels and dimes and pennies and quarters. They all rushed out of the restaurant in a hurry, but one of them was sheepish and looked guilty and the manager caught her on the way out. She told the manager my son was the best server they'd ever had and took good care of them....but she admitted that they "got carried away" with the menu and the drinks and they didn't have any money left for the tip. So she said she felt bad and hoped that "it would even out" for my son somehow with other tables.

My son had to report 15% of his total sales that night on his FICA slip, even though he did not get the 15% tip the IRS expected him to get. He also had to tip out $4 to the buser, $4 to the food runner, and $12 to the bartender because of everything those people ordered from the bar. My son had to give out $20 to his coworkers even though those pigs only left him $3 in tips when they should have left at least $60 to honor the 15% standard in this country.

I have taken the time to communicate all this because I don't think some people understand just how hard waiting tables is. There are people who go out to eat who have no intention of leaving a tip before they even set foot in the restaurant.

And I am sorry, but if you have just $20 in your pocket you do not go to a sit down restaurant for a meal: you go to a counter and you order a burger and fries so you do not have to worry about tipping someone. You do not spend everything you've got enjoying yourself and then leave the service staff in the lurch because you were not taught properly how to budget your money.

With only $20 in your pocket if you MUST go to a sit down restaurant you better be ordering the bowl of chicken soup for $4.95 and a small side salad for $5.95, because you'd know that would be $11.00 right there on food with more than enough leftover to cover tax and tip. You'd be drinking ice water unless there was coffee or tea on that menu for under $2.00.

If I ever caught my niece or nephew going to a sit down restaurant without enough money to pay the tip I think I would disown them.

^ I understand your frustration, but for every crappy group like that one that stiffs on the tip, there will be someone who over-tips to balance it out. I'm sure your son had nights where he made a killing on a few big tippers. Any restaurant where 8 guests can have a $400 bill ($50/person) means that there are some high priced items on that menu, and therefore the tips will come. You mention that your son told you the horror stories, but did he tell you about the nights when someone dropped a C-note on the table for a tip?

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Originally Posted by simba

^ I understand your frustration, but for every crappy group like that one that stiffs on the tip, there will be someone who over-tips to balance it out. I'm sure your son had nights where he made a killing on a few big tippers. Any restaurant where 8 guests can have a $400 bill ($50/person) means that there are some high priced items on that menu, and therefore the tips will come. You mention that your son told you the horror stories, but did he tell you about the nights when someone dropped a C-note on the table for a tip?

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Of course my son had good nights. I said in my note that even one of the members of the no-tip party said it would all "balance out" in the end. But for that night, my son came to work and actually LOST money by working his shift because people came into the restaurant without enough money to pay the bill AND properly tip the server.

It's my opinion that if you know you have a very small amount in your pocket that you should not take up a table so that you do not have to worry about tipping. If this restaurant was the only one open at the time the young man who started this post wanted to eat, he could have ordered the food to go from the hostess if he didn't want to order from a counter service place in the park.

It's my opinion that it should be in no way encouraged to go to a sit down restaurant with very limited funds when there are other options available to you that are better for your budget. Potentially shirking the server or having to depend on luck that strangers will help you should not be anything you consider as options when going out to eat.

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Originally Posted by Pattymelt1957

It's my opinion that it should be in no way encouraged to go to a sit down restaurant with very limited funds when there are other options available to you that are better for your budget. Potentially shirking the server or having to depend on luck that strangers will help you should not be anything you consider as options when going out to eat.

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I don't see where anyone is encouraging people to do this. If anything, the OP's story stands as a lesson to others. We're talking about a 16 year old here. He made a mistake and knows it. This is not someone who intentionally walked into a restaurant hoping to sneak out without paying a tip or hoping that someone else would pay the tip for him, and his post wasn't bragging about how awesome it was that he didn't have to pay a tip.

I also don't recall a single post in this thread encouraging people not to tip, to skimp on a tip, or anything of the sort. Most of us on here are good people, and it seemed like everyone agreed that not tipping a server is a bad thing to do. Your post sounded a bit preachy towards the OP, that's all. Nobody in this entire thread, original poster included, claimed that going into a restaurant short on funds was a good idea or that it's no big deal if a server doesn't get tipped.

People occasionally make errors in judgment. We've all done it, and often times, other people have payed for our mistakes. This was an example of an error judgment, nothing more. The server got a tip, the OP learned something, and other people have been informed about some things they might not have known. It's win-win all around. I just didn't see the need for the harshness.

I'd like to do a quick update and inform you guys that I took this report up to Carnation Cafe and City Hall to commend the waitress that served me. The manager of Carnation Cafe said he'd be glad to do something special for her, and the man at guest relations actually read this thread before he went to work! He asked me when I showed the receipt to him. Coincidence, eh? I post a story about great service, he reads the post before he goes to work, and we two meet each other; him doing his job at guest relations and me reporting a great waitress.

I dont think anyone should ever feel pressured to tip and its pretty sad we have gotten to a point where if one does not tip they are made to feel guilty. Tipping should be something extra when a server does a good job and the customer should never be required to or made to feel that its wrong to not tip.

As for wages, well its not the customers responsibility to make up the difference because the owners are too cheap to pay a decent wage.

Also remember in California there is no server wage, everyone will be making atleast min. wage.

There are lots of service industry jobs where the employee gets no tips and work just as hard as a server if not harder, and I for one never understood why we need to feel pressured to tip restaurant employees.

We tip because it makes us...feel good?

We mostly say we tip to be nice.

Being nice = positive emotions.

Tipping is part of our culture. I always tip based on performance, but it's pretty standard tip waitresses when you sit down ... anywhere. Anyway, I think the OP learned a lesson - next time skip the coke. ;)

But it's so good! :))

awwwww Thank you for telling us about your inspirational experience. Global news is filled with man's inhumanity to man, and it's much more pleasant to be reminded of the good in people. Keep being You, fellow Disney fan!

Waiters and waitresses depend on their tips, more so than their salaries, which are way below minimum wage. My dad was a waiter, and I remember my mom commenting so many times about how we must wait until our father got home, to see how much his tips were that day. Those tips bought our shoes, and clothes, and if he wasn't tipped well, we many times had to do without things until a future day in time.