The Jazz Kitchen Bill Cluster Fornication

[Kevy Baby]

I hate the fact that a major downer is being discussed in two threads that should otherwise be happy (and in the case of the MA thread - feisty for other reasons). So I have created a single clearing-house thread for this topic.

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

Aud called the Jazz kitchen and supposedly the overcharge will be fixed by Wed.

As NM noted in one thread, this is simply in regards to the overcharge on EH's debit card - I am not getting anything back from Jazz Kitchen.
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Susan (and her feisty recovering pit-bull lawyer friend [Jan for those who know her]) stopped by JK last night spoke with Allan, the Manager. He reiterated something that was said on Sunday that I failed to mention. ALL of the individual bills had cash involved. NONE of the bills had tips included in the bill (automatic gratuity). So if no one left tips in the folders after they got change back, then your bill did not leave a tip. When some people on a bill pay by card and some by cash, this needs to be accounted for as everyone does things differently.

The waitress said that very little was left in the folders after she brought back the change after everyone left. If this is true (and she didn't strike me as the type to be fudging on this, but I could be wrong), then it appears that tips were not accounted for. My personal opinion is that this is the single largest contributor to the situation (though I could be wrong).

Also, in reviewing the credit card charges (which I did Sunday night), many of them included no tip or very little tip (for example, somebody had a $40 charge but only added a $2 tip). I assumed that in all of these cases, people had built in the tip in their total (I know I have done this in the past myself).

Also, Susan asked if we could get a copy of the total bill and the answer to that was no as once the "total" bill was split, it was gone.

This situation was a combination of screw ups, probably by both the restaurant and by us (and I place more blame on us whatever confusion the waitress had was caused by our splitting of the bill). I am not blaming anyone for this but at the same time, I hold every person who was at the restaurant that night (myself included) responsible.

The reason I made the decision to leave the $120 for her tip was that I personally counted all of the monies taken in from us (charges and cash) and it did not account for what should have been there (there was about $730 between the charges and the cash). That was the acid test that I ran at the beginning and no matter how many different ways we looked at it, that was the end result. Unless the waitress pocketed some of the cash (which I don't believe she did), she was going to get shafted - no tip. There was no way that I could have walked out of the restaurant with that on my conscience.

And I believe that I mentioned the quick math in another thread, but I will reiterate it here (numbers are rounded, so things may not add up neatly):

• The original master bill was $796+ including tax but before discount
• Assuming that the 10% discount was taken on everything This would leave a pre-tip total of approximately $720
• The tip should be based on the PRE DISCOUNT total (though others may not agree), and I believe 20% is a fair amount (again, others may not agree). This means the tip should have been $160
• The total collected was only $730. This amount I PERSONALLY confirmed.
• I had $38 cash that someone handed me as left over from one of the bills. $160 - $38 = $122. There was also approximately $10 additional above the $720 needed, but I fudged a little to be sure.

[BarTopDancer]

Thanks for the explanation. How do we get you monies to make up for this.

Paypal? snailmail? Flying pigs?

[Chernabog]

OOOOOH flying pigs.

I like that idea. Kevy can we paypal you some money? Don't worry, the LoT has your back here. I feel terrible that this happened.

That being said, thanks for taking care of this and fronting us the money. How was Brennans throughout this whole ordeal? I mean, were they trying to help figure it out, or were they snotty?

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

The tip should be based on the PRE DISCOUNT total (though others may not agree)

Tips are always to be calculated on the full, non-discounted amount. It doesn't matter if the discount was 10% or 100%, one must figure tip as if there was no discount. The server's job is not any easier because one has a coupon or is boning the manager.

[wendybeth]

Agreed, SM- the tip is always based on the total ticket, pre-discount. I don't know about California, but up here in Wa tips are taxed on total food bill, before any discounts. Plus, it's the right thing to do. Didn't something like this happen during our ToJo's meet a few years back? I know we wound up paying substantially more, as did KB if memory serves, because people either didn't pay their entire amount or stiffed on tips.

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

Tips are always to be calculated on the full, non-discounted amount. It doesn't matter if the discount was 10% or 100%, one must figure tip as if there was no discount. The server's job is not any easier because one has a coupon or is boning the manager.

What about boning the server as a tip?

Wow.... this thread already devolved.

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

Tips are always to be calculated on the full, non-discounted amount. It doesn't matter if the discount was 10% or 100%, one must figure tip as if there was no discount. The server's job is not any easier because one has a coupon or is boning the manager.

Agree but will play devil's advocate as this is something that always puzzled me.

Is the servers job harder at a more expensive restaurant than a TGI Friday's or Denny's? The food is much cheaper at those sorts of places (which I don't frequent anyway, but for the sake of the argument) but are they working any less hard?

Anyway, I agree you tip on pre-discount but you also tip on pre-tax. Those pretty much net out in this case.

While we are at it, what is the proper ettiquite for tipping on booze with dinner? Standard at a pub is generally a buck a drink. Now a bit different when you are talking about a $250 bottle of wine. I mean, it's no different than opening a $50 bottle of wine. I have heard different rules for this. Wonder what everyone's thoughts are?

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

While we are at it, what is the proper ettiquite for tipping on booze with dinner? Standard at a pub is generally a buck a drink. Now a bit different when you are talking about a $250 bottle of wine. I mean, it's no different than opening a $50 bottle of wine. I have heard different rules for this. Wonder what everyone's thoughts are?

itipping.com and tippingetiquette are one of many tipping advice sites. ymmv, of course.

I found this interestding on the tippingetiquette site:

Dog walker or sitter - 1-2 week's pay.

Hello, NA, do you get tipped?

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I respectfully disagree Chernabog. I was not there so I don't know what happened, but after reading the discussion, it seems tip calculations may have been a factor is this event.

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

I respectfully disagree Chernabog.

Huh? With what?