I owned my own place for years, and in all that time, there were only two instances where I told someone I wouldn't serve them without mandatory gratuity add tothe check; ussually, if a notorious "non-tipper" showed up, I made the girls draw straws...short straw "lost".
The two folks I made tipping mandatory for were so unpleasant and demanding (they would demand instant service for everything, all the time and expected a server to stand by the table "waiting" for someone to "need" something for the three hours they were there) ; then tell them that the prime rib wasn't rare enough, and that if they wanted a tip, "they'd have to do better next time"......
Then they would tell the server they needed to see the manager, and complain about portion sizes, lack of service, that theyhad to wait to get more water......expecting me to comp the check. Did it once or twice when they first started coming then realized we were NEVER going to see any money from these people. One came in on a Friday night with a large group18-20 ppl, no reservation, natch, and they bitched because they were going to have to wait an hour...(40 seat dining room, used to do 4 "turns" on a Friday night.
I finally told them that if they wanted private service, that they would have to pay that servers for the whole shift, as that person would lose out on 6-8 (between $150-$200) tables during the busy part of the dinner period.
Both times they were "shocked" that I would suggest such a thing, and how dare I!
Imagine that...we actually wanted to get paid.............
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