Restaurant Gift Certificate Etiquette
Photograph from massdistraction on Flickr
Do you present the certificate to your server right at the beginning of the meal or wait? Tim Carman, food columnist at the Washington City Paper, says wait.
The server does not have to perform some top-secret, three-key, nuclear-missile-code transaction at the register to accept your certificate. They just punch a different button. It’s no big deal. So if you’re worried that tipping off your waiter will affect your service, just keep the information to yourself.
Sure, the server might "label you a Ruby Tuesday rube," Carman says (my favorite part of the piece). Maybe they'll give you attitude. But at good restaurants, the well-trained staff shouldn't make such judgment calls—or at least not show them. They should just realize you have good taste.
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12 Comments:
How I pay for a meal should make absolutely no difference to a waitperson whether it be by gift card, my own credit card or wampum. My tip will be based on the price of the meal (as though I were paying for it with cash) and the service I received. For a waitperson to treat someone paying with a gift card any differently is seriously stupid.
therealchiffonade at 9:00PM on 02/27/09
Showing the gift certificate before dining is silly. It's kinda like showing your cash or credit card! A gift certificate has been paid for and is treated like cash.
As for the morons who tip on only the amount they pay beyond the gift certificate, I've never heard of that but now that I have I'm astounded. And I believe that they're not ignorant; they've found a new excuse for being cheap.
Gift Certificates are a great business tool for restaurants that enable them to expand their sales volume. They're also great promotion. If indeed there are restaurants who treat gift certificate customers differently, they need a wake-up call.
shaogo at 9:14PM on 02/27/09
@therealchiffonade:
'For the waitperson to treat someone paying with a gift card any differently is seriously stupid' - as a server who takes her job seriously, I would never treat that person differently/worse. However, there is unfortunately an higher proportion of 'rookie diners' (ie. those who have not learned restaurant behaviour) in the ones who show up in the post-christmas gift card rush. I'm not saying that all I want is a super-elite clientele, but I don't like to be treated poorly and used as 'training wheels'!
jojojo at 1:53AM on 02/28/09
All that makes sense but I still refuse to use coupons and fortunately I've never gotten a gift certificate (what kind of gift is that, you might as well just hand me some cash and let me eat where I want).
redfish at 5:56AM on 02/28/09
My girlfriend and I got a lovely gift certificate from a couple of really good friends of ours to one of our favorite places in town. We had no qualms using it, presented it at the end of the meal, and tipped on the whole tab. Ruby Tuesday Rubes? Not us. Attitude? None to be found.
shoneyjoe at 7:44AM on 02/28/09
I am a rube! We look for coupons in the papers and for dining deals for certain days. Recently we went to a restaurant with a buy one entree get one free. We ended getting "kobe" burgers which was a steal. We did present the coupon in the beginning to make sure that there were no hidden catches. The service was pretty good so of course we tipped on the precoupon amount.
eastcoastvb at 10:36AM on 02/28/09
I think GCs should handled as you would if you wanted separate checks for a group. Just mention to your server that you have one and they can deal with with it more efficiently over the course of the the meal. The time saved benefits you and all the guests your server has.
beersnob at 10:40AM on 02/28/09
I don't present a gift card until it's time ot pay.
With a $5 off or buy on get one free coupon from the sunday paper, I normally let it be known up front, to make sure it will be honored.
I expect the same service, and to be treated the same. My tip reflects the service I get. If I am getting a free dish through a coupon and my service is good, I will add around half of what the free dish costs to the tip already determined by the final bill. If it's only a $5 or $4 off coupon, I tip on what it would cost without the coupon.
If I get bad service?
With the free meal coupon, I only tip on the final total of the check after the discount. With a few $$'s off coupon, I leave out a buck or two(maybe three).
I really find it rare that I get truely bad service. I do take into account the situation. Sometimes our host is doing the best they can, but can't provide the service they wish they could.
Raiders757 at 2:19AM on 03/01/09
The restaurant in the gift certificate photo-- Vo's-- used to be my favorite go-to 3x a week dining spot when I lived in Mpls. Memories. :)
bygnerd at 11:40AM on 03/01/09
Service shouldn't change simply because of a gift certificate, however, where we are....you cannot tip off of the gift certificate. The sale of the gift certificate is a sale (current liability) for the restaurant, not the server.
Kim Nyland at 10:39PM on 03/01/09
At some restaurants I've worked at, it defintely is akin to getting the codes for the nuclear football to process a GC. One large, corporate chain particular, a server cannot even do a void, let alone separate checks, gift certificates, or ANY other out of the ordinary transactions without a manager coming over and doing a bunch of things in the computer first, and certain transactions the managers have to process themselves, you aren't even allowed to. If you can let a manager know a few minutes ahead of time that you're going to need them to process a GC, it ups your chances of them not getting entangled in something else for which extricating themselves might be near impossible. Without warning, you might open the book, see the GC and then begin the process of tracking down the manager and then trying to get them to quit what theyr'e doing to come to the register with you to process it, and it can take a LOT longer. They can be locked in the office, checking someone out, they can be expediting a big party's order and can't leave the pass, they can be in the back cutting meat, they could have sneaked out for a smoke and are nowhere to be found, etc.
Also, there are a lot of restrictions on GCs that most customers don't bother to read, so presenting it up front to make sure you can use it avoids the server having to open the book and say "I'm sorry, we can't accept this on holidays, it says so right here at the bottom" at the end of the meal, when the customers have already ordered and eaten assuming they would be saving some money with the GC, now they're pissed off because they can't use it because they didn't read the fine print, and I can guarantee you that means no tip for the server even though it's not their fault. Mention it up front, or, just put it on the table so the server can see it up front, it can save you a lot of hassle.
rockandroller at 1:02PM on 03/02/09
I LOVE Red Lobster for quick, cheap seafood in the suburbs of Illinois and their coupons make it cheap. However, I would never EVER "show my hand" when it comes to coupons. When a waiter has a few coupon users pay lousy tips, they will categorize and underserve other decent tippers such as myself, so why risk ruining the service before it even starts?
Don't show your hand, people! Keep coupons and gift cards hidden until the end and for the commenter above who doesn't dare use coupons, WHAT is up with that? They are literally like money. Would you throw out $4.00 single dollar bills? That's the value of my Red Lobster coupon and to me, that's a lot of potential cash to throw away.
ChicagoDrew at 1:44AM on 03/03/09