The "Spit List"
Recently in customers_suck I've noticed posts about foodservice employees placing people on "spit lists." The concept behind these unwritten lists is that employees take some sort of revenge on customers who are consistently bad by spitting on or otherwise mistreating their food. Often, the offense can be as small as just not tipping, or even not tipping enough. (The person who led me to think about this was a pizza delivery driver) The basic complaint was that people treat the employees badly by taking advantage of the idea of "the customer is always right"; the customers should instead treat the employees with respect and understand that tips are expected because the employee's pay is otherwise not enough.
First of all, I find the practice repulsive. Whatever a customer may have done, I can't see any reason to mistreat their food. However, I can see the logic beyond such a behavior. Faced with the threat of getting fired if they expressed their anger directly to a customer, an employee might see no method of recourse except the hidden "spit list" approach. The unfortunate thing about this approach is that the customer may not even know that they are doing anything wrong, especially in the case of not tipping enough. (For those who may be wondering, a tip of 2-3 dollars was considered good for an average pizza delivery)
So I think that the employees' reactions are inappropriate, if understandable. But I think it's important to think about how that situation came about. First, there is the idea of "the customer is always right". Frankly, I think this is just plain wrong. I have no issue with trying to please customers, within reason. However, if a customer takes advantage of this, I don't think it's unreasonable to refuse to do business with them any further. Maybe that's bad for business, but I think there has to be a point where the manager can say "no."
On the topic of tipping, I have mixed emotions. I have no problem with rewarding someone for a job well done. However, if a tip is expected with every act of service, it loses the element of reward and becomes an obligation. It can also be a punishment, if a person refuses to tip because of bad service. The problem with this is that not tipping doesn't solve the problem; all it does is cause anger. If the service was really bad, a complaint to the manager is more likely to have actual consequences for the employee, and it (at least theoretically) gives them a chance to explain themselves if, for instance, they were unable to serve a table promptly because another table was taking up all of their time. Personally, I would prefer that the cost of the tip be included in the meal and the employees be paid a good wage before tips; that way a tip would mean something significant, not just be an expectation.
Of course, I'm idealistic like that. In the meantime, a summary: tip the people who give you service, tip good service extra well, don't be a sucky customer who expects to get his or her way no matter what, and if you have a real problem with an employee, speak to a manager instead of treating the employee poorly.
First of all, I find the practice repulsive. Whatever a customer may have done, I can't see any reason to mistreat their food. However, I can see the logic beyond such a behavior. Faced with the threat of getting fired if they expressed their anger directly to a customer, an employee might see no method of recourse except the hidden "spit list" approach. The unfortunate thing about this approach is that the customer may not even know that they are doing anything wrong, especially in the case of not tipping enough. (For those who may be wondering, a tip of 2-3 dollars was considered good for an average pizza delivery)
So I think that the employees' reactions are inappropriate, if understandable. But I think it's important to think about how that situation came about. First, there is the idea of "the customer is always right". Frankly, I think this is just plain wrong. I have no issue with trying to please customers, within reason. However, if a customer takes advantage of this, I don't think it's unreasonable to refuse to do business with them any further. Maybe that's bad for business, but I think there has to be a point where the manager can say "no."
On the topic of tipping, I have mixed emotions. I have no problem with rewarding someone for a job well done. However, if a tip is expected with every act of service, it loses the element of reward and becomes an obligation. It can also be a punishment, if a person refuses to tip because of bad service. The problem with this is that not tipping doesn't solve the problem; all it does is cause anger. If the service was really bad, a complaint to the manager is more likely to have actual consequences for the employee, and it (at least theoretically) gives them a chance to explain themselves if, for instance, they were unable to serve a table promptly because another table was taking up all of their time. Personally, I would prefer that the cost of the tip be included in the meal and the employees be paid a good wage before tips; that way a tip would mean something significant, not just be an expectation.
Of course, I'm idealistic like that. In the meantime, a summary: tip the people who give you service, tip good service extra well, don't be a sucky customer who expects to get his or her way no matter what, and if you have a real problem with an employee, speak to a manager instead of treating the employee poorly.