BEWARE of Chicago Pizza!!!

[Jaxson]

My experience at the Baymeadows location was great.

[Jerry Moran]

Jerry why do you post these horror stories about bad service and shitty attitudes from people working in restaurants.  You give the impression that restaurant workers should be marched out and shot at sunrise.  Most people in the industry are much better human beings than this pond swill whose essay is going to be discussed with the Tuscon Management this morning.

On the contrary, I thought this fellow had a wonderful attitude and went way beyond the call of duty serving these awful people, and all he got was a kick in the ass.  Just an illustration of what servers have to deal with. That tipping website is a hoot to read, though sadly, the content is often quite true.

when the prevailing attitude presents a gauntlet of unrealistic expectations a guest uses to reduce the amount of tip to give someone

A memorable line, and quite true.  Honest workers are due honest wages.  In this country, tipping is customary and expected, with 15% of the entire net bill as minimum payment for bare bones service.  If you are unwilling to follow the convention, don't go to full service restaurants, period.  The customer should not act like a judge at a personality or beauty contest.  For instance:  Yeah, well, everything was great, until the server brought the check and only gave half a smile.  I think I'll knock 4% off the tip.  

Personally, I don't agree with auto gratuity, unless it has been pre-arranged for a group or party.  Also, there is no such thing as a mandatory gratuity.  A gratuity is given gratuitously.  A service charge is itemized on the bill, and must be rung up as an element of sales (just like food or beverage), and have sales tax applied to it.  The house can do anything it wants to do with the service charge, except give it directly to the employee before payroll taxes have been applied.

[ChriswUfGator]

Honest workers are due honest wages.

If the restaurant really felt that way, then management would pay a living wage instead of guilt tripping the customers about how it's their responsibility to pay the restaurant's employee regardless of whether the service sucks or not. Personally, I think the waiter in that post you quoted was a putrid twit, and I can only imagine what his attitude must be like towards his guests. If it were my restaurant, I'd can him.

The truth is that you simply can't have every cake at once and eat them all too. Either stand by your morals and pay the server what you think they're worth, or else acknowledge the fact that if you leave it up to the customer to judge the value of the service and compensate the server accordingly, then their opinion of whether the service was good or not will sometimes differ from your own. And if you choose this option, then the customer will have the final say since it's their money.

You really can't have it both ways. Which, incidentally, is exactly what Chicago Pizza is trying to do. They are insisting their customers pay XX% when obviously the customer base doesn't think the service is worth it. If they disagree, then management is free to pay the server what they think they're worth. Their current stance is just going to run their customers off.

[reednavy]

Damn, 7 pages already, can this beat the epic Moon River Pizza thread?!

[ChriswUfGator]

Damn, 7 pages already, can this beat the epic Moon River Pizza thread?!

Well, after Asault & Battery River Pizza's obnoxious antics, assaulting and throwing an older retired couple out of the restaurant, at least you can be sure that nobody will say Chicago Pizza has the worst service in town. LMAO, at least 15% automatic gratuity doesn't involve violence.

[Jaxson]

Jerry why do you post these horror stories about bad service and shitty attitudes from people working in restaurants.  You give the impression that restaurant workers should be marched out and shot at sunrise.  Most people in the industry are much better human beings than this pond swill whose essay is going to be discussed with the Tuscon Management this morning.

On the contrary, I thought this fellow had a wonderful attitude and went way beyond the call of duty serving these awful people, and all he got was a kick in the ass.  Just an illustration of what servers have to deal with. That tipping website is a hoot to read, though sadly, the content is often quite true.

when the prevailing attitude presents a gauntlet of unrealistic expectations a guest uses to reduce the amount of tip to give someone

A memorable line, and quite true.  Honest workers are due honest wages.  In this country, tipping is customary and expected, with 15% of the entire net bill as minimum payment for bare bones service.  If you are unwilling to follow the convention, don't go to full service restaurants, period.  The customer should not act like a judge at a personality or beauty contest.  For instance:  Yeah, well, everything was great, until the server brought the check and only gave half a smile.  I think I'll knock 4% off the tip.  

Personally, I don't agree with auto gratuity, unless it has been pre-arranged for a group or party.  Also, there is no such thing as a mandatory gratuity.  A gratuity is given gratuitously.  A service charge is itemized on the bill, and must be rung up as an element of sales (just like food or beverage), and have sales tax applied to it.  The house can do anything it wants to do with the service charge, except give it directly to the employee before payroll taxes have been applied.

Apparently, the server did not have a good attitude.  Instead of doing something about it, he chose to disguise his contempt and chose to whine about it later.  Let's think about his neglect of other customers simply to please a group that could not be pleased.  I still maintain that he should have gone through proper channels (a more experienced server or a manager) to addres the situation.  I can understand trying to accomodate a customer, but this server went too far in trying to placate those folks.  It was a poor judgment call to provide all of those extras at the expense of the restaurant.

As for the tipping issue, I agree that the tip should not be used as a weapon by customers to combat superficial or perceived errors on the part of the server.  I, however, believe that customers are entitled to tip in accordance with the quality of the server's overall service or to at least complain to the manager.  As a single guy with little cooking experience, I enjoy dining out and I am used to receiving good service.  I have rarely encountered rude servers, and have not hesitated to tip accordingly.  I understand that they are working people, but it would go a long way for a server to explain to me what is going on instead of forcing a customer to cool his heels while the service takes eons...  I do not mind tipping 20% or more if a server simply says, "Sorry about the lag time, we are short in the kichen" or "I am covering two areas today, please bear with me."  A little communication would go a long way and customers are more unerstanding than you think.  Otherwise, the perception is that the server is out back taking an extended break.
If we believe that every server should be tipped the exact same, why don't we abolish graituities and tips and just pay them an hourly rate?  

[Jaxson]

Honest workers are due honest wages.

If the restaurant really felt that way, then management would pay a living wage instead of guilt tripping the customers about how it's their responsibility to pay the restaurant's employee regardless of whether the service sucks or not. Personally, I think the waiter in that post you quoted was a putrid twit, and I can only imagine what his attitude must be like towards his guests. If it were my restaurant, I'd can him.

The truth is that you simply can't have every cake at once and eat them all too. Either stand by your morals and pay the server what you think they're worth, or else acknowledge the fact that if you leave it up to the customer to judge the value of the service and compensate the server accordingly, then their opinion of whether the service was good or not will sometimes differ from your own. And if you choose this option, then the customer will have the final say since it's their money.

You really can't have it both ways. Which, incidentally, is exactly what Chicago Pizza is trying to do. They are insisting their customers pay XX% when obviously the customer base doesn't think the service is worth it. If they disagree, then management is free to pay the server what they think they're worth. Their current stance is just going to run their customers off.

Amen!

[Bativac]

Honest workers are due honest wages.

If the restaurant really felt that way, then management would pay a living wage instead of guilt tripping the customers about how it's their responsibility to pay the restaurant's employee regardless of whether the service sucks or not. Personally, I think the waiter in that post you quoted was a putrid twit, and I can only imagine what his attitude must be like towards his guests. If it were my restaurant, I'd can him.

The truth is that you simply can't have every cake at once and eat them all too. Either stand by your morals and pay the server what you think they're worth, or else acknowledge the fact that if you leave it up to the customer to judge the value of the service and compensate the server accordingly, then their opinion of whether the service was good or not will sometimes differ from your own. And if you choose this option, then the customer will have the final say since it's their money.

You really can't have it both ways. Which, incidentally, is exactly what Chicago Pizza is trying to do. They are insisting their customers pay XX% when obviously the customer base doesn't think the service is worth it. If they disagree, then management is free to pay the server what they think they're worth. Their current stance is just going to run their customers off.

Chris you said it better than I ever could. It's not a "tip" if it's not optional. Then it becomes a "service fee."

[Jaxson]

I just got off the phone with corporate Olive Garden, and needless to say they are appalled.  This definitely does not in any way represent the corporate philosophy of the company, and they are going to track down the source.

Its pretty obvious that this is the result of the culture of the restaurant, and everyone from the manager down should be retrained, if this is what is happening at the location.

I don't know if the corporate guy was just embarrassed by the letter, but they are supposed to follow up with the response, we shall see.

If not, then I suppose this will be another place to avoid.

Thanks, Stephen!

[coredumped]

A tip is supposed to inspire a server to provide great service. If the tip is already added, what incentive is there for a server to provide better than average service?  You EARN your tip.  And what usually happens is that with the one cheapskate that doesn't tip, there are several other tables that tip more than 15% to compensate...

That's SPOT on!

If they were paid let's say 20% over minimum wage, what incentive is there to do a good job? I understand we're paying them to be nice, but eating out is a luxury, if it's unpleasant I won't go. I can make my own food and enjoy it at home. The service is part of the experience, and when it's good I reward it, usually with 20% or more.

So at Chicago Pizza you get a bill for $20, the server will AUTOMATICALLY get $3 (total $23). I have the option to tip more, say 20% which is $4 ($24 total bill). If I was still a server I don't know if it would be worth all the extra work for just $1 (in my example).

[ChriswUfGator]

I just got off the phone with corporate Olive Garden, and needless to say they are appalled.  This definitely does not in any way represent the corporate philosophy of the company, and they are going to track down the source.

Its pretty obvious that this is the result of the culture of the restaurant, and everyone from the manager down should be retrained, if this is what is happening at the location.

I don't know if the corporate guy was just embarrassed by the letter, but they are supposed to follow up with the response, we shall see.

If not, then I suppose this will be another place to avoid.

Props to Stephen.

That twit is damaging his employer's business. God knows how many people read his insipid ranting online and say "Geez, I know where I'm NEVER eating..."

[Jerry Moran]

Stephen, Stephen, what is Olive Garden Corporate supposed to say?  They likely went on ad nauseam about their "high professional standards" and "extensive training" and even the Olive Garden Culinary School in Tuscany, but we have both been around long enough to know what really goes on in these places.

I've only worked for one big company in my life, and the facade they put up was incredible when contrasted with the actual goods and services they provided.

Last year, I called a local hotel's corporate office, with love and concern in my heart, to give my impression of just how crappy their guest service was, and how it was negatively affecting my business and the reputation of Downtown Jacksonville.  The comments I made were gathered from their own employees and guests. I got the standard corporate line, and then calls from the local management reiterating the high standard of service they hold themselves to.  Well, they can repeat that until they're blue in the face, but that's was not, and still isn't what their employees and customers are saying.

[Jaxson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKZS4Jn6gRM&feature=related

If you cannot see the above clip, click on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKZS4Jn6gRM&feature=related

[Jerry Moran]

Ive served as a corporate consultant for hospitality services out on the west coast, Jerry.

Stephen, you're too much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUeDuA9AH4g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yzsStVkJvU&feature=related

[CPServer]

The Chicago Pizza automatic gratuity is not included for the benefit of the customer. To understand the reasons behind the policy, you must first understand the way the company deals with its labor costs.  Chicago Pizza's goal is to have an entire waitstaff of full-time employees for zero cost to the company.  The servers do not leave at the end of their shift with any of the 15% gratuity that the guests are paying. The only money a server will leave with is a cash tip that is left on top of the automatic gratuity, which on some nights, may be no more than 5 - 20 dollars.  At the end of every server's shift, Chicago Pizza collects all of the gratuity and pays the server back with it.  The company tells its employees, along with the labor board and the IRS, that all servers are payed $7.25 an hour. That hourly wage is actually being payed out of the gratuity from the guests.  Chicago Pizza pays nothing for labor.

On top of this clear injustice, every employee pays Chicago Pizza $1.75 an hour as a "service support fee".  This money goes to pay the hourly wages of "bus boys, hosts, and food runners". Anyone who has been to Chicago Pizza may have noticed that there are not bus boys, hosts, or food runners. Every server is expected to perform the jobs of four people. Servers seat tables, wait tables, run their own food, and then bus the tables all by themselves.  So please, before anyone judges the waitstaff, please understand the position they are put in.

The advantage to the servers in this pay scenario is that you are guaranteed 15% of your sales as earnings, and in high volume restaurants like the Jacksonville Landing and Jax Beach locations, this can be beneficial. Overall, most employees are upset about it because they do not leave with their tips at the end of the night, and the tips that are paid in the form of a paycheck are $1.75 per hour short of what they actually earned.  On top of personal financial woes, most employees do feel like the customer is being cheated out of money and good service. 

Yes, Chicago Pizza is a fun establishment. Yes, the food is good. Unfortunately, the business model of this company has mutated into a ploy to exist without labor costs at the expense of the servers and guests.