Auto Gratuity Policy at Joe's Crab Shack is Not Clear

First, I didn't know Joe's Crab Shack was still around!

Second: The gratuity is a 'suggested' gratuity. You can speak with a
manager to have it removed (though, if I had a problem warranting
that, I'd probably just pay the bill but never return).

Third. As stated before, you should have addressed the price
discrepancy immediately with someone.

Best Wishes.

when i worked at holiday inn we added gratuity to groups of six or
more. some people in these groups would try to get around that by
paying separately. this is not a loophole. if you are sitting
together and obviously together, separate tickets or not, the auto
gratuity applies. the server is waiting on a large group no matter
how the total gets split. it takes more time and is harder and she is
missing out on other tables, that quite frankly would probably be more
lucrative while waiting on you.

While in Orlando last spring we went to a place that added 18% on just
3 people. 2 adults and 1 kid. It was called Carving Station and not
only was it ridiculously overpriced, the food was just average and
dried out.

So the waitress received a near 12 dollar tip for bringing lemonades
and clearing plates. So I guess the restaurant can put into place
whatever auto-grat policy they want. Apparently this place
automatically adds it on to every check no matter what the size the of
the group is.

Going out to eat is really complicated anymore. Servers and customers
alike always expect the worst from each other it seems.

Auto gratuity is put in effect with tables of 8 or more regardless of
how many split the check. It's the whole issue of serving so many
people at once, even though you see yourself as an individual. You are
still indeed part of that big group. All 11 of you can pay for your
own bill, but you will still be charged 18%; however, most places
automatically put the gratuity in the bill amount so they won't get
stiffed. As far as the mystery to your change, either the waitress
assumed that she could keep the change(since you went to the bathroom)
or forgot to bring back the change, or someone at your table kept your
change and didn't admit to it. Hope this helps.

When I did waitressing it was over 8 people that we got to add the 18%
tip. Why because you are all sitting at the same table whether you ask
for seperate checks or not you are a party of 11 people.
That is just how it works. I was lucky that I got $7 an hour but it
was because no one wanted to get up at 5 Am to do the breakfast and
brunch shifts but that wage made up for it on slow days.
I do think that they should raise the wage some more for
servers.Especially if they have to pool their tips like some places
like Applebees, when I worked there I would be excited I made $230 a
night but then realized after tipping the bartenders and also the
hosts and bussers there was not as much to be so excited about.

On a school trip to NYC, we ate at an Italian restaurant that had the
tip and tax all factored in to the price. What you saw on the menu is
what you paid.
Maybe more places should adopt this approach.

start paying the staff real wages.

the whole reason we have tips is because restaurants are allowed to
pay their waiters less than minimum wage.

when i was in Japan, tipping didn't exist (except near the bases,
where the Japanese had gotten more use to American customs)....
because they already paid the staff appropriate wages

I've never seen something like that. I'd be interested in trying that
restaurant.

However if you feel your tip was too much, I suppose you could ask for
the server for your change, less the standard tip, or more if you so
choose.


However... even though you split the bill, it still qualifies for the
mandatory tip.

Why? Because splitting the bill does not split the work the waiters
have to do to service such a large group.

is not the best idea. I am in the camp of the server didn't see you
again, and thought that whatever was in the book was for the bill and
a tip. Now if your *friend* handed the server the book, it would be
reasonable the server return it to her.

If your one drink should have been $9.99, then 18% would be around
$1.80, so I am confused as to how it went up $3.00. I would have
asked about this on the spot, and the 18% if it concerned you. It
should be 18%, as others have pointed out.

Many people have addressed the "party" vs "checks" issue very well, so
I'll leave that.

It seems like your other complaint was that you didn't get your change
back? I suppose the waitress didn't see you at the table when she
returned and assumed you had left and the change was for her? Even
so, I agree she should have checked with someone at the table.

My other thought is that maybe your change ended up with someone else
else by mistake? It sounds like there was confusion at the end of the
meal.

Perhaps you should realize why there is such a thing as auto-gratuity
on large parties. The reason being is because a party of 11 people is
much much more work for the server than a party of 4. An
auto-gratuity ensures that the server gets the proper tip (or any tip)
for the amount of work s/he puts in for that table. It would
certainly be a bigger crime to stiff a server for 20% of a $300 bill
than it would be for a $40-$50 bill.

The fact that the checks were split makes no difference. The amount
of work the server needed to do for your table(s) didn't decrease. As
a matter of fact, it increased, due to having to keep seperate checks.

Even if each individual paid for themself, and there were 11 checks,
you were still there together, making you a PARTY OF 11.

Is that clear?

People try to split checks in large parties thinking they've found a
loophole in the auto-gratuity system. Not everyone does it for that
reason, but many do. Either way, it's not fair for the server to lose
out on the auto-grat because the check was split (for whatever
reason), because splitting checks is actually more work.

You're wrong on one thing: You WERE a large party regardless of how
you split the checks. To expect otherwise is rather naive.

However, to not bring you your change back? You paid over what the
bill stated, and since the bill included gratuity, every penny over
that amount should have been returned to you.

I think you all should get together, figure this out, and speak with
the manager.

Everyone else is hitting on the "just because you split the check,
we're no longer a group of 11" thing.

So, I'll tackle two other things.

First, some say that any form of auto-gratuity is wrong. They say
tipping should always be at the discretion of the customer. On the
other hand, people who work in restaurants will tell you that they
don't get paid well, that tips are how they make a living, and it's a
hard job.

You're not complaining about this, but I anticipate this will turn
into a debate over mandatory tipping vs. not.

So, I'll turn to the other thing: how was the check marked. I'm used
to seeing "18% gratuity" as an explicit line item on a check, in these
cases. Whether or not mandatory tipping is right or not, and whether
or not you were a group of 1 or 11, the fact remains that the check
should call this out.

Which you said it did.

So, I'm wondering: what is your complaint? It seems like you have a
legit beef in that the server did you return change on your $15
($2.01, to be specific). The server had no reason or right to assume
that the entire amount was a bonus tip.

But you don't seem to be complaining about that. You seem to be
complaining about how you were a party of 1, not 11. And, I guess,
this is why you'll get a number of people telling you that you were a
party of 11. In fact, you were worse than a party of 11. Because 11
checks had to be made. Otherwise, isn't it identical?

The policy is quite clear, It says "party of 8 or more", not "checks
of 8 or more". You had a party of 11, this has nothing to do with how
you split up the bill.

Splitting the bill never gets you out of auto gratuity, if that were
the case, alot of people would do it.

You seem to be happy with the service you received, if you are put of
by the price, next time cook a meal at home.


Good Day

Sorry, I have to go with Joe's on this. It doesn't matter that you
were splitting the checks, you were still a party of 11 and required
the attention and space that a party of 11 does. Even more so with
splitting the checks like that.

Maybe the server thought you had left the restaurant and did not want
your change. It could have been an honest error.

Additionally, The auto-gratuity is for parties of people, not how many
people are on the individual checks. It is added to the bill then the
checks are split.

I have never worked at Joes, but being a bartender and server for 15
years I can say that it does not matter if the table has separate
checks or not. The number of people at the table is what qualifies the
gratuity. Even if everybody at the table would have paid individually,
the grat would have been added to each check.

Menus normally read "Gratuity will be added to parties of 8 or more"

Not "Gratuity will be added to checks of 8 or more"