What would you do in this situation?
 

Took the wife, daughter and her new husband for a high end Mexican meal last night. I asked the daughter to suggest the restaurant and she got her wish.

At the end of the meal the waitress was clearing away the dishes. She knocked over a container of runny sauce. It spills off the table and goes on my daughter's new t shirt and pants. Waitress says she is sorry. No offer of adjustment in the bill or compensation.

I did not want to makes a fuss. I paid the $173Can. bill and left $190 total.

What would you do differently if it had happened to you?

Guy

You handled it exactly as I would have.

Never heard of high-end Mexican but did the right thing.

It was an accident and I doubt it ruined a t-shirt.

Tipped more than 10%.

There are some in Houston, but not many. There are plenty in Cali. And by high end, well, I guess I mean higher end than most, better ingredients, presentation, etc.... It is Mexican afterall.

Yep

I'd have left a decent tip.

It would depend on how the waitress handled it.

If she just said "opps, sorry and walked off" I would react differently than if she quickly ran off and came back to the table with clean napkins and a big glass of seltzer.

If the garments required the services of a professional dry cleaner I'd send the restaurant the bill.

As far as having comped part of the bill, that's generally the managers call, not the waitress.

It's entirely possible she asked and the manager said no.

I would have requested the manager and discussed it with him/her.

"High end" means things like that shouldn't happen or if they do it's addressed before you go out the door.

How much is $190.00 in US dollars?


My take on this is.....dining out is always a gamble....you never know what will happen. It's like spinning a roulette wheel and hoping for the best. This time the little ball landed on the other color. But....maybe next time it will land on your color!

I was at a casino restaurant in Reno once when the waiter spilled a salad on me. I was ready to let it go and continue with the meal, but my over-bearing friend from from NYC insisted on a free meal. Instead, I was taken to casino security and almost arrested. So I guess that wasn't the right approach.

Laughed it off and tell the waitress not to worry about + 20% tip

Would you have expected the bill to be adjusted upwards if you spilled something?

$135US, or thereabouts.

A tip is a REWARD for GOOD service.
It is NOT manditory, it is not automatic, it must be EARNED.

If a server dumps crap on me or one of my guests, that is NOT good service even if she is nice about it (unless of course someone else bumped her or caused the accident).
Having a server being careful enough to NOT spill sauce on the guests would be considered minimal expectation.
I would most likely NOT have left a tip.

PS $173can for mexican food for four? That's about $140 US. For that kinda change I would expect near perfection.

Accidents happen. If service was good before the "accident", I would not let the accident affect my tipping %. Food servers work hard for very little money. Accepting th apology and dry cleaning the clothes is the correct response.

If the clothes need to be laundered then notify the manager and provide them the bill. They are not required to do anything but if they are "higher end" then I'm sure they would cover the cleaning costs.

Have you hit it up with Spray n' Wash yet?

I'd say all is forgiven as long as the mariachis played "La Bamba" at my table.

At a Denny's in California my wife asked for a glass of water and the waitress reached behind herself to another table and grabbed a glass of water and put it on ours. She did not get tipped very well.

Your incident seems like an honest accident. If she handled it properly and was apologetic I would have let it go, especially if she was a good waitress the rest of the meal time.

I worked as a waiter for years during college, a few high end places. Spills happen and it is completely managements decision on how to handle the specifics.

The best places deal with this type of stuff right at the table and offer immediate, reasonable compensation based on management judgement: Free drinks, gift card, % off the bill, etc.

The owner of one French restaurant I waited tables for told me that everybody near the accident scene watches how management deals with "spills and thrills" and a poor performance on the staffs part can have a much broader impact than just the customer who's clothes are soiled.

The maître d' at that place had broad discretion on making sure "wet t-shirts" were handled properly.

If the service was up to speed before an incident, roll with it and take it up with management.

So if I'm sitting next to a table where the waitress creates "wet t-shirts"....she's gonna be getting a nice tip regardless :D

I wouldn't penalize the waitress for an accident if her attitude was OK...