Occasionally on The 12 Angry Men, we will post rants from invited guests. In lieu of our normally scheduled segment, today we feature our first invited rant, from an Angry Guest Woman. Our guest in this article had a run in with customer service which was so severe that she couldn’t help but rant about the situation, proving once again that not only men can be angry.
– The Staff of The 12 Angry Men
This morning I had an early morning flight from Oakland Airport. Since I had to leave so early in the morning, I had booked an airport shuttle from my downtown San Francisco hotel the day before. In my early-morning groggy state I asked for directions to the shuttle pick-up point from the hotel bellman. I found the shuttle exactly where it should be. The driver immediately asked for my name, remind me there was a strict policy of “reservations only.” He said he had checked me off on his electronic manifest, took my bag, and asked for my receipt. I should mention here that my receipt said “OAK” across the top and that the concierge had circled this for extra emphasis as well. After waiting for about 10 or 15 minutes, another shuttle arrived. The people on my shuttle were annoyed that we were so late another shuttle had arrived already. The other shuttle driver was looking for someone to pick up, compared manifests with my shuttle driver as they were each missing a passenger, and eventually both decided they should leave anyway after one last check of the lobby. I overheard them stating that someone with my name was going to be left behind then.”Wait!” I yelled out at them. Did you just call my name? “No” they replied in unison and then the other shuttle driver stated there was no one matching his passenger’s name in my shuttle. I got out and argued with them for a bit, finally discovering I was supposed to be on the other shuttle. (The one I had been on was leaving for SFO.) We were already late and still had to pick up other passengers. At at least one other hotel, my shuttle driver parked in the wrong spot and had to drive around the block and change locations. At one point, we were waiting around in front of a hotel and I expressed concern that we were behind schedule and asked to pay the remainder of my balance while we waited. My request was denied.
When we got to the airport and the driver noticed I had paid him the exact balance (with no tip) he approached me and asked for more. “I got you here before your flight” he said, “how can you be unhappy with my service?”
I reiterated to him: the shuttle to Oakland was late to begin with and both drivers missed the obvious signs of my name and receipt which indicated where I was to go. They very nearly made me miss my flight — I would have ended up in the wrong place had I not eavesdropped on their conversation! “But that was the other driver’s fault” insisted my driver. “At this point, I don’t care whose fault all of this is” I told him. This is not behavior worthy of reward.
Since when did “I didn’t screw up as badly as I could have” become the sole merit for a juicy tip? Maybe in the eyes of my fellow Americans this makes me a soul-less cheapskate but if someone proves to be incapable at doing the basic job for which they are being paid, they do not deserve a bonus for their incompetence. Sure, as my driver pointed out, things could have been much worse. He could have showed up significantly late instead of just a bit late. There could have been horrible traffic (although I doubt there is horrible traffic anywhere at 5am on Sunday). He could have gotten lost on the way to the airport when in fact he took a fairly efficient route. And the shuttle service didn’t actually drive me to the wrong place and cause me to miss my flight, they just almost did.
But those things are irrelevant! The shuttle driver’s job was to pick up pre-booked passengers on-time and deliver them to the airport. Just approximately completing this task is doing your job. Going the extra mile and doing it well is what earns you a tip. And before all of you living-wage-liberals out there jump down my throat about the driver needing to eat, I’ll remind you of the real details of this situation. This shuttle carries 6-8 pre-booked people at $25/head for the 20-30 minute drive to the airport then picks up a waiting crowd for the return trip. Do the math and it’s pulling in at least $300/hour; they can certainly afford to pay the driver. And if he really wants a tip from me, it’s not that hard to do a better job.
We do the same thing with waiters at restaurants. How many waiters take your order, drop off the food, and then ignore you for the next hour? Frequently they get your order wrong or you finish your drink and need a refill or you decide to order something else and they are no where to be found. Yet they still expect a 20% tip! Restaurant prices seem to grow exponentially each year yet the food doesn’t improve, the service slowly gets worse, and the tips go up with the food prices. Has no one else noticed what’s wrong with this picture? And I can’t remember the last time someone actually thanked me for a tip as if it were a gift instead of a requirement.
Perhaps I’m just more critical because I just moved here from a college town in England were a generous tip was 5% and groups of students frequently just emptied the change from their pockets onto the table at the end of a meal. In this country that would be considered an insult but over there the waitress always thanked us sincerely for whatever we left. It was nice.
In France, people in service industries take so much pride in their work, I’ve even had a tip returned to me because the restaurant staff said it was too generous. I thought the food was excellent but the chef felt he hadn’t done as well as he could have that night. This would absolutely never happen in the US.
So the moral of this story is, if you’re hired into a service position, do your job. And if you want a tip, go the extra mile. Streamline your work and be efficient and attentive. Add those little extra touches. Throw in some humorous retorts if that’s your style. If nothing else, good, old-fashioned courtesy goes a long way with me. But don’t ever tell me I should gift you my hard-earned cash just because during our brief encounter you weren’t as incompetent as you could have been. Band together with me, my fellow Americans, to bring tipping back into its proper place. Tips need once again to be an incentive for doing well, a reward for excellence, an expression of the customer’s gratitude which must be earned. They are not just an un-written tax to be paid to whomever shows up for work independently of whether or not the job gets done.
– Angry East Coast Guest Woman
The 12 Angry Men Blog 
March 11, 2007 at 3:57 pm
(In response to the comment accidentally posted on Saturday’s rant…) The reason for the *no* tip instead of a small one was that the driver ended up getting me to the airport only 1 hour before my flight, which is when check-in closes. So, had I not checked in online the day before, I would still have missed my flight.
March 11, 2007 at 6:31 pm
While I agree with you in principle, there are realities to the situation which make tipping required to some extent in restaurant situations(I have no idea of the wages of hotel bus drivers). In America, waiters are allowed to be paid ridiculously low wages because of the tipping culture. It’s not fair to give 0%-tip to standard service in America, because you can’t realistically expect all waiters to go above and beyond the call of duty to get that extra money that brings their income back to minimum wage. You don’t expect more than standard from McDonald’s employees, and they make MORE than minimum wage. By living in America, you are accepting the cultural burden of tipping to some extent(but definately not up to 20%).
I don’t think that this requires giving tip to bad service. However, if the service is bad enough to warrant no-tip, I would expect it’s bad enough to warrant speaking with the manager about your waiter’s incompetence. Shafting the servers on tip isn’t going to tell The Boss that you find the level of service unacceptable, it just makes you look like a cheap asshole. If you really want to change the expectations of service, you need to communicate your expectations to the ones hiring the servers.
Or… you could take the route I did: move to Japan where service is spectacular and tipping is unheard of.
March 12, 2007 at 10:25 am
I’ve never left a restaurant without leaving a tip because you’re right — if the service is really that bad it’s more worthwhile to talk to the manager. So, for instance, the time we waited 2 hours after ordering and our food never came, we talked to the manager instead. However, it’s definitely true that if you get my order wrong, never refill my drink, etc. I’ll tip enough to ensure you’re making more than minimum wage (like 10%) but definitely not 20%.
February 18, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I realize this is a year after-the-fact (just came across this blog), but I have to add my two cents, no pun intended. Beef #1 with tipping is the expectation, regardless of the quality of service you receive, as well as the growing number of professions which society says we must either tip or provide a gift during the holidays. Delivery drivers, postal carriers, garbage collectors. Ridiculous.
Beef #2 is the increase of restaurant prices, up 20% last year. Think my income went up 20% to keep up with that ridiculous increase, let alone keeping up with the continuous growing costs of energy, gas, housing, insurance, etc. etc.? Not even close.
I would be more than willing to tip a variety of professionals if the System would also address and seek to resolve the following very important issues: 1) The lack of a living wage many of us try and survive on and 2) the ever-increasing cost of living expenses. Going out to eat is now a luxury for myself and my spouse, even at a fast food restaurant. (The above poster who claims fast food employees are paid above minimum wage–on what planet do you reside?? That’s the standard wage in my neck of the woods and always has been.)
We need to restructure how we do things so that tipping isn’t even an issue. Pay these workers a living wage and make tipping an option left up to the customer instead of a societal expectation/moral/etiquette issue.
February 18, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Nina wrote:
We need to restructure how we do things so that tipping isn’t even an issue.
A friend of mine who is an American who moved to Australia (where tipping is not the norm) told me he has a hard time remembering to tip when he’s back in the USA.
I agree with you, it’s a crummy “custom.” The ubiquitous tip jar is even more annoying—I’m never sure what to put in one of those.
April 16, 2008 at 10:00 am
Wow.. That seems like quite a rigid airport shuttle company that is more concerned with keeping to their system than the happiness of their customers.
Since you came from England, I don’t need to tell you how great our tipping culture is! We just give when we’re happy with what we got and can afford to.
May 26, 2008 at 12:02 pm
In response to Nina:
“Beef #2 is the increase of restaurant prices, up 20% last year. Think my income went up 20% to keep up with that ridiculous increase, let alone keeping up with the continuous growing costs of energy, gas, housing, insurance, etc. etc.? Not even close.”
Did you ever think that restaurant prices go up because of the increase in prices from the food suppliers? Or because of the shortages of food? Or that waiters and servers also go out to eat at restaurants and also need to keep up with the growing costs of energy, gas, housing, insurance, etc. etc.?
Waiters and servers need to make a living also. I am not saying that bad service needs tip, but if America is setup with a tipping structure, then people eating in America should follow the custom. If you don’t like it, then stay at home and eat at home.
July 7, 2008 at 3:45 am
Hello. I enjoyed reading your website.
Have a wonderful day and keep up the good work.
Brutellio.
July 10, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I have served and bartended for over 5 years. I would gladly have it to where servers got paid minumum wage and tips were “extra and for good service” but it will never happen. I think that if tips were for great service and not “expected” for servers livelihood, then the standard for service would be much higher. For example, I make so much more money bartending and I feel like its easier to give better service because I am more motivated. It is directly affected, but resturaunts will never take the fall.
November 30, 2009 at 12:53 pm
In America, tips are a payment for services rendered. Servers everywhere are paid less than half of minimum wage. I make $2.13 an hour. This does not even cover the taxes on the tips I make. My pay checks are ALWAYS voided across the front. I do not receive ANY money for coming to work. All the money I make comes from tips.
Waiting tables is exactly like being a mechanic or a plumber. You wouldn’t just pay your mechanic for the parts, you also have to pay for the labor. Understandably, the service is not always good, but it still represents a person working just for you. Taking their time to take care for your specific needs. Tipping is optional, and it should be based on merit, but, you should think of this before you cross out the tip line: If I made a small mistake at my job, one time, would I expect my pay check that week to reflect that? Would someone else who takes their own time to give personally taylored customer service specifically for you (a plumber, mechanic, hair dresser) expect to be paid for their time? Would you have completed all the specified and unspecified tasks that this person completed for you for the amount of money you’re about to give them?
May 25, 2011 at 12:22 pm
keyless locks are the proper way so that you can safe any doorstep. Typical seals that will opened having primary contain generated many people secureness situations. An important crook been competing in picking these folks can certainly explanation security measures breaching aided by the best hardware. Hence, keyless entrance lcks really are seriously favored. You will find differing types which really can be ran without the use of baby stroller. Many people incorporate biometric, touch pad in addition to remote controlled wild hair. Selecting which unfortunately fastener is the best for you will depend on your very own basic safety desires.