under that circumstance i think the 10% tip was adequate. in other circumstances as in if you have a friend who got you a discount or a comped meal, tip as if it was full price or at least try to. once a friend of my moms wouldnt let her tip, but when my friends uncle took care of the check we still tipped as if it was a full priced meal.

Yes

I am an event planner so I often get meals comped. If someone from the venue dines with us we do not tip, but if we are guests for a trial meal (or in the two instances similar to what's described above that I've been in) you definitely tip. I have dated a waiter and have many friends who have worked in the service industry and they work just as hard for a table that doesn't pay - they often work harder actually, to leave a good impression to make up for the bad previous service or to win business) than you'd usually receive so YES, definitely, absolutely tip! I get that you might not tip as much as you usually would but still, tip something. 10%, as said above, sounds about right to me.

YES. Anyone who is friends with a waiter could answer this. As the post above said, that waiter did just as much work whether you brought in a coupon, got comped, etc.

Here is the bottom line. At the end of the night, the total of her meals is added up. She then enters the amount of tips she has to claim. This is for IRS purposes. She has - HAS to claim that she made a tip of 8% of your meal, whether you tipped her or not. She is flagged for audit when she claims she didnt make any tips.

No matter WHAT you tip, no matter how much the meal is, no matter whether it is comped or not, the IRS is going to require 8% of the total bill in taxes. That waitress makes less than $3 an hour. then she pays to the IRS 8% of your bill regardless of whether you tip her or not.

We all have screwed up on the job. Servers are the only ones that still have to pay a percentage of the screw up back to the government.

Not to mention:

She is still tipping out the bartender 5% of the total amount of her sales (not tips) that day.
She is still tipping out the busboy or runner 5% of the totally amount of her sales (not tips) that day.

So think of it this way. You had a $100 meal. You were there for two hours You didnt tip her. For you to eat there, she got paid $6 in wages. Then, she paid $5 to the bar tender for you to eat there. and $5 to the busboy and/or runner to clean up after you. She also told the IRS that you gave her $8 in tip when she didnt get anything. So she paid the staff $10 to serve you and paid the IRS $8 to serve you. In the end, she paid $12 for you to eat there.

tip. at least 20 percent. as much as you can.

and dont forget - it could have been the damn hostesses fault for not letting the waiter know you were there, or for seating you in a section that didnt belong to someone. It isnt always the waiter's fault.

Whether you are a server or not, it is always important to tip! Mind you if the service was horrible and usually if it is, it isnt the servers fault. You should automatically tip. It should be as habitual as saying thank you.

Suzannah's right, too many people are completely ignorant to the fact that it costs us money to serve them.

It's insanely cheap of you to tip LESS than a fair amount when you don't have to pay anything else. 10% doesn't even cover what we tip out.

i disagree slightly:

-if a meal is comped because we have a coupon or because someone we know works there or something of that nature, i would tip what would have been 20% if i paid the full bill

BUT

-if my meal was comped due to the scenario you explained (bad service) then who are you tipping exactly? the waiter who f-ed up the order is getting the tip, and they don't deserve it (unless it was blatantly someone elses fault and you feel genuinely bad for the waitress)

-if the MANAGER was the one who graciously fixed the problem but you still leave a tip, the waitress who messed up is STILL getting the money even though they wouldn't necessarily deserve it

so in the above circumstance, if i were pissed when leaving, i doubt i would have tipped

I have to slightly disagree with Suzannah above--most of the time even in establishments using computers IF a manager gets involved and comps a meal then the server does not enter that meal total into their nightly total---and IF she did enter the total it would be $0. 8% of 0 is 0. So I just have to disagree that the IRS is getting 8% of anything in that scenario as I am sure the manager in this situation would make sure that didn't happen and affect her nightly totals in anyway, when you comp a bill you a wiping it out of the computer---therefore not hurting the server's totals (at least in my short serving experience).

I am more inclined to agree with skigurl. IF the experience was terrible because of the server I would be hesitant to leave a tip, but if it was clear the the server was TRYING to make up for one problem after another I would leave one.

I would always tip. Definitely if you have a coupon or are being comped for a good reason, but still if you're comped to make up for bad service. You were already planning on paying for your meal, right? So it's still an overall big savings for you.

Suzannah is right except for one small thing. If my bill is $100, my waitress doesn't pay $8 to the IRS in taxes. She has to claim $8 as income and pay taxes on it, so if she ends up in the 25% tax bracket that year, she will pay $2 in tax on that $8 income, to use an oversimplified example.

I agree with skigurl. I used to be a server, and am very very conscious of leaving a proper tip, but in a case like this, it was the server's fault that the meal was comped. There are many situations where it is not the server's fault, and more of the kitchen's fault, and then a tip based on what the meal would have cost is appropriate. This server should have stepped in way before she did, and should be tipped accordingly.

I'd like to preface this by saying I always tip 20% or more if the server has gone out of his or her way to make it a great meal.

But in this situation, it sounds like it was the server who screwed up and then management had to step in to make the customers happy. Not only that, but the waiter LIED to the customers and said "you're next!" That would drive me nuts.

And Suzannah, when I screw up at my job, I have to pay a price as well. If I miss an error and something requires a reprint, then I'm paying for the client to get a reprint. When you mess up at your job you have to take care of it. That's how it works.

tip — perhaps not 20% for terrible service, but you should for sure tip something.

i'd tip the minimum in this case (minimum to me is 10-15%). but if you're comped/use a coupon, etc. you should pay 20% tip for the cost of total meal.

Yeah, I would still tip.