The Dark Truth of Tips

As a restaurant server for practically 5+ years, I have had a fair share of experiences and opportunities to sell products. I have always been the server to just get the work done, focusing on getting it right. Through the years, I have learned to make the experience personal–not just for the customer, but for myself. I find that customers aren’t looking for artificial smiles or long greetings. They just want a genuine care to their service. I’ve always strived to be genuine in my act of service. I’ve been asked if certain meals are good, and this is where ethics, moral values, and selling all come into play at once. Perhaps, I find the meal disgusting. But it is also one of the pricier meals, meaning higher tips and higher sales. But I don’t like lying, especially straightforward lying. I have more than once told the customer that I wouldn’t suggest the meal to them, because, to me, I’d rather they be happier with a better tasting meal, even if it does cost less.

On the other hand, many servers do not care about such trivial things as fooling the customer. Many servers will say what they need to sell a product, even it means directly lying to the customer. But there is one tactic that stands out for selling. I have seen many servers use their own personal life as a way to garner more tips and higher sales, such as not having enough money to feed their kid, they’re pregnant, they just wrecked their car, etc. Sometimes milking their own problems, servers will complain about home life to try and earn sympathy from customers. This is a form of manipulative selling, trying to get customers to give you a higher tip.

While tipping is already a controversial topic, the acts servers will do to receive better tips and higher sales has become controversial.

One rule at the restaurant I worked for required servers to sell 75%-80% of beverages, which meant about 2o% of drink sales could be water, but the rest had to be actual drinks that cost money. Unfortunately, depending on the demographic, the customer, and even the occasion of the day, selling anything but water can be hard. Some servers will go so far as to “accidentally” add a drink to a check, trying to sell more. Others will push selling drinks, even over other things.

In restaurant service, it is all about selling. The question now remains, what tactics will you use to sell?