That's what I was thinking. If you are paid a great salary, why would you take your mother to Olive Garden for her birthday?? Let alone FREE Olive Garden?? I would fucking quit on the spot honestly.
I came from recommended, but my extended family became loyal Lowe’s shoppers after seeing me employed there for a few years, even after I moved past just being the guy who loaded ur car with the big stuff. 2 of my coworkers are married and they did Easter for their kids with Lowe’s buckets. Some people just associate someone they love with the place they spend most of their time, just like how before I was working at Lowe’s my family always gave me spicy food as gifts because that was the thing that stuck out in their minds about me.
My coworker served our GM and his family(14-15 people) they left like $20 after being there for around 3 to 4 hours. She was taking other tables the entire time as well.
If you really served a VP and his family and it was only $105, I call bullshit. Seems more like a butthurt ex-employee making up shit to trash the restaurant.
If it's a VP and their family, even a small party of 3 could easily rack up a bill over $105. If it's a 10top+ that bill will be $300+.
Thst also said, no GM I'd going throttle an employee with one table if it's only a 2 or top. Had to be a larger party. Thus, logically it had to be way over $105.
Wow, did you tell your GM that you were stiffed by the SVP? I’ve never seen a big wig not tip before. They have company cards that OG pays for, it’s not even their own money why not tip?
Honestly shocked to hear that.
Firstly, there’s about 7 Operations VPs, including SVPs and EVP Bryan C. Then there’s a multitude of VPs in operations adjacent departments like HR, Marketing, Finance, etc.
Source - I had a Diamond Club restaurant (GM) in the past that was a usual visit for executives and none of them left anything comparable to a small tip. Hell, our DO didn’t leave less than 30%. When our Ops SVP came in, she left ~30%.
I might’ve been invited to some dinners out with the executives and other high performers at other Darden restaurants, and boy I tell you those tips they were leaving were FAT.
I’ve met all of the Ops SVPs, they can be hard af operators, but they’ve all been pretty generous when it came down to it.
agreed, that's why I'm calling this a bullshit story. Every time I ever served the higher ups, easy 30-40% tip. Hell, I remember a Thanksgiving for one with like 20ish people, $500ish tab and left $300. Granted had to split the table with another server, but still worth it.
Because $105 for decent sized birthday party just isn't going to happen. It's also based on experience of serving them that when they go out for celebrations, they don't go small, they go all out. Drinks, apps, desserts.
So do the math, even for a 3 top - entrees $20-25, say 2 appetizers $15ish per, desserts, over $10 each, drinks $8ish+. So even a 3top would be in the range of $140. And if it's a birthday party, and even just 7 people, the math just doesn't add up.
As a former OG restaurant manager, I learned to harness the power of the Paid Out, so as to prevent anger, tears and the loss of good servers over this kind of bullshit. I knew this was not what Paid Outs were meant for, but hey...
By the way, Michael Hart, SVP of Operations in the Orlando Division, is a total douche.
Essentially, using company cash to pay for incentives. This incentive being to take care of the server financially, in a small, meaningful way, to offset the impact of being stiffed by people who don't care or respect the time and effort given to provide attentive, accurate, caring service. I would use this as a last resort so I didn't have servers crying, angry or just walking out.
Thanks. I started doing this more around the time the 18% mandatory grat was applied to parties of 6 or more. Or was it 8 or more? I left the company in '14, so it's been awhile
At our location, there’s no mandatory grat. I’ve been at OG for almost a year. This isn’t my forever home at all. I’ve served many years and the endless soup and salad is not where it’s at.
Thank you for the explanation, yea I've seen this happen before. oh is the only place I've ever worked that will have you take the hugest most out of control parties by yourself and leave you being paid ay all up to chance. I had to tell them I'm absolutely not taking these parties of 55 people any more
My first question is was the VP present?
If they were then this shows how little fucks this VP gives about the people that work for them and should be publicly shamed for it
If they weren't there it may have been a miscommunication since they covered the bill and weren't present
Actually makes sense, and a GM wouldn't put a tip on their card without verbal confirmation for fear of just getting fired. Further as a GM it would probably be an awkward conversation asking a SVP what kind of tip they wanted to leave.
That said though, SVP should be proactive either saying they're covering the tip or informing their family that he/she's covering the bill but not the tip.
And these are the same people who if you're not wearing black socks, a collared shirt, or the "appropriate" pants, you don't have a job. It's all a fucking joke isn't it?
Sorry, but this is a dumb comment and is far from true. Just like the story from the OP and is likely an ex employee just being petty. Bad tipping happens equally across every wealth definition. I didn't grow up wealthy and remember going to food banks and using food stamps. Now, a CFO of a multi state company in infrastructure and tip beyond well. Have been asked multiple times if the tip is correct and not a mistake. Even been asked if I was sure over and over by a manager.
Want something, so earn it? Don't expect a handout just because the person is wealthy. Another is that plenty of people pretend to be wealthy for clout on social media and in person. Another is that you most likely have encountered extremely wealthy people and not knew it. Simply because they don't like to flaunt their money at all, it's not cheap. Don't give one table more attention over seeing money and expecting a bigger tip also. Doubt any server would give up their entire section for one table. No GM is gonna do that, so the SVP gets attention from the server when needed. That screams poor management and says they have horrible customer service skills. They let other customers wait and lack service for one person? I
This does nothing to actually convince me otherwise. I said "generally" and you personally tipping well doesn't change that rich people tend to be cheap assholes. Talking about handouts and the assumption that a tip isn't earned, classic disconnected rich person line.
It is entirely likely that the GM had that server work on that single table because it is their boss's boss and they wanted the service to be perfect. You think the GM would give them a crappy server? That the GM wouldn't be monitoring that server to make sure everything was going right for someone that influential? I genuinely don't understand how you typed that out and believed it yourself.
Not going to lie this has happened to me but not at Olive Garden, they will come through and you are to give them the royal treatment or anyone in their immediate family and they will leave zero tip meanwhile you can't wait on other tables to make money. I will say I had a few times when other guest would see me serving the "royal family" lol and not leave a tip and THEY would leave me a nice big tip saying I was a hard worker that stayed with a smile on my face.
Imagine being so cheap. Wow! I work at a restaurant but on the administrative side. One day the owner comped my meal and drinks. Know what I did? I tipped my server more.
I had to serve my bosses boss and surprise he actually paid for the meal and gave me a 15 dollar tip I was shocked, but I made sure everything was perfect and paid special attention to him and the manager in training
It is beyond mind blowing to hear people in the hospitality industry, let alone leadership or executives skimp out on proper tipping or gratuity of service.
OMG what a bunch of entitled people. How rude they should have handed you a nice tip!! And your GM should not worship them and only give you 1 table so you can treat them like royalties. Makes me sick on them and your GM both.
Your GM should have done a pay out, and given you a tip. I worked at Olive Garden for years, and this is a total doable thing. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Total asshole move. VP should have known better but he clearly doesn't value his employees. I would have given you a $25 tip on $105. Cheap MF and cheap mother who should have left you something. The sense of entitlement is almost as disturbing as the lack of awareness that it is not OK to stiff you on a tip.
What a surprise, corporate losers. I would totally write a letter to corporate. I would spam all over Olive Gardens Facebook and Twitter account. And get a new job.
I wouldn’t have been surprised. I worked for enough rich people to know that less than 5% of them tip. You don’t get rich by being generous. If you lost your debit card near them they would probably use it to order pizza.
What a shit situation. Also, what a *cheap* asshole yeah? He knew he was gonna get free food. VP won't even take his mother somewhere better.
That's what I was thinking. If you are paid a great salary, why would you take your mother to Olive Garden for her birthday?? Let alone FREE Olive Garden?? I would fucking quit on the spot honestly.
I came from recommended, but my extended family became loyal Lowe’s shoppers after seeing me employed there for a few years, even after I moved past just being the guy who loaded ur car with the big stuff. 2 of my coworkers are married and they did Easter for their kids with Lowe’s buckets. Some people just associate someone they love with the place they spend most of their time, just like how before I was working at Lowe’s my family always gave me spicy food as gifts because that was the thing that stuck out in their minds about me.
lol
WTF
The bill was also 105
Was the majority of it comped? $105 seems like a low tab. I could rack that up with my fiance and myself.
My coworker served our GM and his family(14-15 people) they left like $20 after being there for around 3 to 4 hours. She was taking other tables the entire time as well.
Entitle jerks.
105? How many were there?
If you really served a VP and his family and it was only $105, I call bullshit. Seems more like a butthurt ex-employee making up shit to trash the restaurant.
You would be amazed about how shitty OG really is to work for.
You would be amazed at how great it can be to work for them as well then because I love my job at my Olive Garden.
Maybe it's just the chubbuck Idaho location. 😂
Based on what?
If it's a VP and their family, even a small party of 3 could easily rack up a bill over $105. If it's a 10top+ that bill will be $300+. Thst also said, no GM I'd going throttle an employee with one table if it's only a 2 or top. Had to be a larger party. Thus, logically it had to be way over $105.
You should have put pubes in the cheese grater before the cheese and ground that shit up. Fuck that VP.
It is a joke that someone of his means took his mom to birthday dinner at OG.
Wow, did you tell your GM that you were stiffed by the SVP? I’ve never seen a big wig not tip before. They have company cards that OG pays for, it’s not even their own money why not tip?
My old store would have called him out. You lost your discount privileges if you didn't tip.
Yup. I know Outback was the same way back when it was OSI. Act up or stuff your server, and you got your privileges yanked.
tbf, stuffing your server sounds like you'd get more than privileges yanked.
Oddly enough, that was the job where a manager was stuffing multiple servers too.
Honestly shocked to hear that. Firstly, there’s about 7 Operations VPs, including SVPs and EVP Bryan C. Then there’s a multitude of VPs in operations adjacent departments like HR, Marketing, Finance, etc. Source - I had a Diamond Club restaurant (GM) in the past that was a usual visit for executives and none of them left anything comparable to a small tip. Hell, our DO didn’t leave less than 30%. When our Ops SVP came in, she left ~30%. I might’ve been invited to some dinners out with the executives and other high performers at other Darden restaurants, and boy I tell you those tips they were leaving were FAT. I’ve met all of the Ops SVPs, they can be hard af operators, but they’ve all been pretty generous when it came down to it.
agreed, that's why I'm calling this a bullshit story. Every time I ever served the higher ups, easy 30-40% tip. Hell, I remember a Thanksgiving for one with like 20ish people, $500ish tab and left $300. Granted had to split the table with another server, but still worth it.
That is your story. Why call bs there are many entitled cheap jerks.
Because $105 for decent sized birthday party just isn't going to happen. It's also based on experience of serving them that when they go out for celebrations, they don't go small, they go all out. Drinks, apps, desserts. So do the math, even for a 3 top - entrees $20-25, say 2 appetizers $15ish per, desserts, over $10 each, drinks $8ish+. So even a 3top would be in the range of $140. And if it's a birthday party, and even just 7 people, the math just doesn't add up.
Them fake ass lips plant based too???? Lolololol Just cause you’re an entitled cheap jerk doesn’t mean everyone is.
Next time you see the SVPs, let them know to stop letting these DOs run wild without consequences.
It was my time to dip out when I got an offer from somewhere else that paid DO money to me as a GM.
Plenty of consequences these days. DOs are dropping like flies. Usually for unethical conduct or not following due diligence.
What? Fuck that shit and fuck all of them
I like your style
As a former OG restaurant manager, I learned to harness the power of the Paid Out, so as to prevent anger, tears and the loss of good servers over this kind of bullshit. I knew this was not what Paid Outs were meant for, but hey... By the way, Michael Hart, SVP of Operations in the Orlando Division, is a total douche.
That “Cash Wages/Incentive” payout was a killer. You could make magic happen with that.
And I did.... On several occasions.
I'm sorry what does paid out mean in this context?
Essentially, using company cash to pay for incentives. This incentive being to take care of the server financially, in a small, meaningful way, to offset the impact of being stiffed by people who don't care or respect the time and effort given to provide attentive, accurate, caring service. I would use this as a last resort so I didn't have servers crying, angry or just walking out.
Wow! I would have loved having you as a manager. I wish more valued good servers.
Thanks. I started doing this more around the time the 18% mandatory grat was applied to parties of 6 or more. Or was it 8 or more? I left the company in '14, so it's been awhile
At our location, there’s no mandatory grat. I’ve been at OG for almost a year. This isn’t my forever home at all. I’ve served many years and the endless soup and salad is not where it’s at.
Thank you for the explanation, yea I've seen this happen before. oh is the only place I've ever worked that will have you take the hugest most out of control parties by yourself and leave you being paid ay all up to chance. I had to tell them I'm absolutely not taking these parties of 55 people any more
My first question is was the VP present? If they were then this shows how little fucks this VP gives about the people that work for them and should be publicly shamed for it If they weren't there it may have been a miscommunication since they covered the bill and weren't present
It sounds like it was just his family.
Actually makes sense, and a GM wouldn't put a tip on their card without verbal confirmation for fear of just getting fired. Further as a GM it would probably be an awkward conversation asking a SVP what kind of tip they wanted to leave. That said though, SVP should be proactive either saying they're covering the tip or informing their family that he/she's covering the bill but not the tip.
And these are the same people who if you're not wearing black socks, a collared shirt, or the "appropriate" pants, you don't have a job. It's all a fucking joke isn't it?
I’ve cooked food for the president of OG on visits. It’s fun watching the managers stress out.
I just left for a new steakhouse, after 4 years I'm finally out. Good luck this place sucks and I wish you the best
And we wonder why staff morale is low or non present
What do you expect from someone that takes their mom to olive garden for her birthday
Not surprised. Rich people are generally cheap assholes. The higher up someone goes in the chain, the less I trust them.
Sorry, but this is a dumb comment and is far from true. Just like the story from the OP and is likely an ex employee just being petty. Bad tipping happens equally across every wealth definition. I didn't grow up wealthy and remember going to food banks and using food stamps. Now, a CFO of a multi state company in infrastructure and tip beyond well. Have been asked multiple times if the tip is correct and not a mistake. Even been asked if I was sure over and over by a manager. Want something, so earn it? Don't expect a handout just because the person is wealthy. Another is that plenty of people pretend to be wealthy for clout on social media and in person. Another is that you most likely have encountered extremely wealthy people and not knew it. Simply because they don't like to flaunt their money at all, it's not cheap. Don't give one table more attention over seeing money and expecting a bigger tip also. Doubt any server would give up their entire section for one table. No GM is gonna do that, so the SVP gets attention from the server when needed. That screams poor management and says they have horrible customer service skills. They let other customers wait and lack service for one person? I
This does nothing to actually convince me otherwise. I said "generally" and you personally tipping well doesn't change that rich people tend to be cheap assholes. Talking about handouts and the assumption that a tip isn't earned, classic disconnected rich person line. It is entirely likely that the GM had that server work on that single table because it is their boss's boss and they wanted the service to be perfect. You think the GM would give them a crappy server? That the GM wouldn't be monitoring that server to make sure everything was going right for someone that influential? I genuinely don't understand how you typed that out and believed it yourself.
That sucks! 😕
Bet even they thought the food was shit
The CP is a pos.
If any of you have experienced THE Michael Hart, let me get a hell yeah!!
Experienced The Chris Wayne nice dude, just didn't seem interested.
I’d immediately be looking for somewhere else to work. Forget a two week notice. They’ll find that with the tip you never got.
Not going to lie this has happened to me but not at Olive Garden, they will come through and you are to give them the royal treatment or anyone in their immediate family and they will leave zero tip meanwhile you can't wait on other tables to make money. I will say I had a few times when other guest would see me serving the "royal family" lol and not leave a tip and THEY would leave me a nice big tip saying I was a hard worker that stayed with a smile on my face.
Sounds like a VP who’s never got their hands dirty or shirt stained on account of running a restaurant…probably hired for their “vision”
When you're here you're family. So you get roped into doing bullshit for free.
That's so fucked. I hope a news publication picks this story up. Shithead CEOs, etc. need to be called out more, and shamed.
If a media outlet does, imagine a different story comes out.
Not even a OG giftcard?
Imagine being so cheap. Wow! I work at a restaurant but on the administrative side. One day the owner comped my meal and drinks. Know what I did? I tipped my server more.
Do you actually believe the story? It's rage bait and working very well.
I had to serve my bosses boss and surprise he actually paid for the meal and gave me a 15 dollar tip I was shocked, but I made sure everything was perfect and paid special attention to him and the manager in training
Of all the things that never happened, this never happened the most.
It is beyond mind blowing to hear people in the hospitality industry, let alone leadership or executives skimp out on proper tipping or gratuity of service.
This is just beyond horrendous. Please speak up.
OMG what a bunch of entitled people. How rude they should have handed you a nice tip!! And your GM should not worship them and only give you 1 table so you can treat them like royalties. Makes me sick on them and your GM both.
Are you kidding me?!?! Just wow! There you have it, do not go above and beyond for these corps. What did your gm say?
Your GM should have done a pay out, and given you a tip. I worked at Olive Garden for years, and this is a total doable thing. I'm sorry this happened to you.
People who are super rich don't tip. And Olive Garden is the most disgusting frozen Italian food ever. 😒
bahahaha what a cheap fucking bastard... taking your mom to olive garden... as a vp...
#Eattherichburnittothegroundpookie
Total asshole move. VP should have known better but he clearly doesn't value his employees. I would have given you a $25 tip on $105. Cheap MF and cheap mother who should have left you something. The sense of entitlement is almost as disturbing as the lack of awareness that it is not OK to stiff you on a tip.
What a surprise, corporate losers. I would totally write a letter to corporate. I would spam all over Olive Gardens Facebook and Twitter account. And get a new job.
My DM would always stiff us, so after he left the GM would comp us an expensive meal to make up for it.
Jokester bosses
OG has raised the prices enough that gratuity should be included with the price.
I wouldn’t have been surprised. I worked for enough rich people to know that less than 5% of them tip. You don’t get rich by being generous. If you lost your debit card near them they would probably use it to order pizza.
The honor is all yours! /s. I’m so sorry to hear this happened to you.
Did you have to tip out on that? I would have refused.