Last Call, Last Time He Gets To Pay The Bill
I work in a hotel lounge, and recently in my province, we’ve redone restrictions and we must now give last call at 10:00 pm. I swear, ever since this was put in place, I’ve had the thirstiest alcoholic sitting in my section at 9:30 pm having withdrawals just thinking of getting last-called. But I digress. This particular table is thirsty but very nice.
This is a table of four men. At 9:00 pm, they inquire about last call, and I promise them I’ll stay on top of their drinks before we get there. I connect with the leader of the bunch; he says he likes me and praises me often. He orders a burger with three add-ons, and he also lets me know that he wants only one bill for the table for when the time comes. He likes to drink lots, seems to have a deep wallet, pays for the whole bill, and is amicable. This is the perfect table. Easy money. I love it.
Last call came and went without a fuss. Although I slightly overserved these folks, they never slurred, got aggressive, or even displayed any rude or entitled behavior. I just liked this table in general after a really crappy wedding I had to serve the day before — a story for another day.
I brought the one bill as promised: $350 for the table. I saw them argue about the bill a bit, and then someone else from the table signed it and then went outside to mingle on our patio. To my dismay, he had tipped only $45 on the $350 bill, below 15%. The payer had even asked me to deliver two shots to another table to be put on his bill, which I had done promptly. There was no reason to stiff my tip.
But here comes the twist: he didn’t put his room number on the bill, and I couldn’t find his name in our room system. I decided to go up to the table where he wasn’t anymore and lay the bill open in front of the leader I had been connecting with all night.
Me: ”Hey, your bud forgot to put down his room number. Do you mind getting that for me, please?”
There was a pause as the guy looked a the bill.
Leader: “Is that what he tipped you?!”
YES! VICTORY IS MINE! I just stayed pleasant.
Me: “Don’t worry about it. I had a good time serving you and your friends.”
Leader: “This is unacceptable!”
He stormed outside to his friend on the patio. I didn’t hear or see the interaction, but he came back with a room number and a tip fixed to $70.
Not only did I get good money, but I got to get one under-tipper schooled by a proper tipper! Priceless.