Why not just tip according to how you felt their svc was for YOUR meal?

more volume + good svc = more tips!
more volume + bad svc = more tips

Hard time feeling sorry for them because it's *gasp* busy. Oh no! If you wanna add more, go ahead. But when say other ppl should too, then it's like saying it's also ok to give smaller tips when it's not busy.

you might not be directing it to my reply, but since you were ambiguous with your response, i'll just say that for the record, i never once said people should pay more because of the promotion. however, a few did ask why the servers would deserve more than usual when they were doing the same thing they'd normally do every other day, when it wasn't exactly the case. and judging from the responses in this thread, it seems that the servers did a pretty good job, especially considering the amount of people they must have seen, and tipping should be based on service, so i'd say the service would have been above average on that day, therefore warranting a higher tip.

They probably did have more servers on hand that day because of this promotion too, you know...

anyone feel like shit after eating the breakfast?

it was so greasy haha

regardless, compared to any other day, the volume of people would've been insane. that and like it was mentioned earlier, the chefs enjoy a share of the tips too, and even if they called in a few more of the limited number of chefs, that's still pretty much non-stop cooking for that period of time.

have you never eaten at denny's before?!

that's 1/2 the fun of going there! :P

couldnt make it as I was sick. Will definitely go for free pancakes @ ihop :)

Yes i know tipping is totally up to you. Unless the service was poor, everyone should be tipping the 10%.

If you have any sympathy for what the servers have to put up on a daily basis you'd leave a bit of tip. That and they DEPEND on the tips as their minimum wage job isn't merely enough...and i believe what they do is more worthy than a min waged job.

What makes you think you felt like i got ripped off? I got the free meal didn't I? I believe they deserved my $5 tip.

I'm annoyed b/c you guys think the 10% is enough when the chefs have to pump out a meal every few seconds and the servers had to work extra hard to deliver the food to you while it's still fresh.

I'm pissed off because a few of you were asking for rain cheques for a free breakfast meal. If you're a homeless and asked the same question, I wouldnt have a problem with that, but no don't be so damn cheap.


Exactly. People seem to miss the point of my rant by saying "oh they didn't serve my food any differently..why should i tip more?" The tips benefit the servers AND the cooks.

i felt better after eating two grand slams within a day.

And more people served equals more tips... so why would any individual diner need to tip more?

So if it was dead, I should be tipping less? I don't agree w/ that. That's why I'm saying how busy they are shouldn't affect their tip. But you can work your system however you like.

Maybe when it's dead, the svc is better so you tip more.
And when it's busy, the svc is avg but it's busy, so you tip more.

Sounds like a no-lose system for the server.

wish I coulda taken advantage of the free meal, freekin denny's is a 30 min drive away

you are just reading it how you want to serve your argument lol. i specifically said since by all accounts, the server went beyond the normal standards which would warrant a 10 percent tip, they should be entitled to more. because as we all know, tipping is based on service and better service equals higher tip percentage. but instead, you completely twisted what i said around which may be cute, but sadly, wrong. basically, if it was extremely busy because of a promotion that only benefits you and they still managed to, at the very least, maintain the standard service and then go beyond that by ensuring you have your meal faster than usual and not sour your experience because of the amount of people, then yes, i'd say the service was better than average. is that so hard to understand? you're tipping more because the service is BETTER than average, not strictly because there are more people.

when i tip, i don't factor in how much i think the server made that day in tips. i'm not gunna sit there and think to myself, she must have made 19 dollars in tips today, so i just need to tip a dollar to make it an even 20. i base it solely on the service and if you read above, that is why i think the service would have been above the norm on that day.

But was the service to YOU above the norm? That's really what it comes down to though.

You say you don't factor in how much you think the server made that day in tips, but why do you factor in how busy she is?

If she has five tables to service, and does an exceptional job for each, let's say she warrants $4 tip from each.

If she has ten tables to service, and does an average job for each, let's say she gets $2 tip from each.

If she has twenty tables to service, but because she's so busy, she does a slightly less than average job for each, let's say she gets $1 tip from each.

In all three cases, she'd still end up with the same amount.

But you're arguing that because she's busy, she should get more tips from each diner? That doesn't make sense.

It's based on how good of service she gave to YOU. If she was busy but still gave you exceptional service? Well, hats off to her... and she deserves more tips... but it does not MATTER whether she was busy or not to begin with.

fuck. just tip what you felt was deserved. this was a one off day anyways.
you all think too fucking much.

i consider the amount of tables she has to wait on a factor because if she can keep up the level of service even while dealing with tons of people, that says she cares and is willing to maintain her composure even with the volume of people. she could easily just move from table to table in a lackluster manner, but all the posts so far have said nothing but good things about the service. however, you are really just reiterating what i'm saying. i said if she maintained the level of service despite the amount of people, then her level of service is above average. that and you seemed to have glossed over the fact that it was mentioned multiple times that the chefs also share a portion of the tips. and it was already said somewhere way back that these meals were coming out fast, non-stop. people were getting their food within 5 minutes which is quite exceptional for any restaurant that doesn't serve fast food. you've also left me dumbfounded as you seemed to have completely contradicted yourself at the end.

geez people
it's a one time thing. An extra $1 or $2 in tips won't hurt. As mentioned, if service was good, just tip more because you know it's not easy to maintain the same level of service given the volume of customers.

Stop basing it on technical details and be a man, not an Ebenezer Scrooge.

No, it isn't. Her level of service is still average for each person. Her overall performance may be good, but to each person it's still average, which is FINE.

Because if she waits ten tables with average service and gets $2 per table, she gets $20 in tips.

But because she is efficient, she can wait twenty tables with average service, and if each give her $2, then she got $40.

But you're saying because she can wait twenty tables in a satisfactory manner, she should get more tips PER diner... so she should get $4 each from all twenty diners to make $80 in tips, which is four times what she would make if she waited ten tables with the same satisfactory service? That doesn't make sense.

It's not glossed over whatsoever. It's still the same principle. Because they are serving more people and faster, given that they are able to maintain satisfactory service levels to each diner, they will get more tips BY VIRTUE of them serving more people. No individual diner needs to provide more tips... the volume of diners will give them the extra tips that they deserve.

Nope, there's no contradition. I'm saying if she's providing exceptional service despite being busy, she should deserve more tips. But my point is the "exceptional" is NOT defined by how busy she is.

The point of this discussion now is not to save a dollar or two, it's trying to debate this in a logical manner.

You're right and you do have a point.

Outside of this logical debate, I'm just saying not all decisions and reasoning have to be based on technicality.

Regardless, it was a one time thing, and I know for a fact a lot of people tipped more than they usually would (I actually noticed) + people in this thread have commented on that too. Perhaps it's hard to explain why we feel it's necessary to be "extra nice". I'm not ready to think about that since it's 1:30 in the morning. But yeah I do feel it's deserved (provided the service wasn't abysmal of course).

On the flip side, I wonder if anyone went just for the free meal and didn't tip at all (10% of $0 = $0).

Yeah, I surely hope nobody left without giving SOME tips...

But anyways, the reason some people feel it's necessary to be "extra nice" is because they're rationalizing that since they're getting something for free, they actually feel a little guilty about only leaving the normal tip.

If that's how the person feels, obviously there's nothing wrong with leaving more tip... but I'm just arguing that it's not logical to believe you SHOULD leave more tip because of the fact they were busy or whatever.

I mean, even I felt it was too cheap to just get water and then pay a buck or whatever as tip... so I ended up getting a Razzdango drink for $3. In the end I paid about five bucks.