Bad Service

I was on vacation the past few days, at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, and discovered that there is a service crisis in other parts of the world as well. Most of the service at all of the restaurants chose to dine at was either sorry or down right horrible. At particular establishment, we got up and left because we could not get waited on. I really should say, after we were sat at our table, we could not get the attention of a waiter, host, or manager; for goodness sakes, just acknowledge your customers!

As far as food quality goes, most of what we ate was mediocre at best. I guess a vacationing couple or family has to face the fact that when dining at a tourist location, prices are going to be very high, and food quality may not exactly be what is expected. I can say with complete and total honesty, we experienced this first hand! What a down right shame. Give me good service and ok food, or great food and bad service and I can swallow that pill. Give me bad food and bad service and I really become miffed!

With all of this said, how do you tip in situations like this? Since I am in the food service industry and have a soft heart for people which rely on tips, I tend to tip a little better that the average person. If you get a 15% tip from me, that is pretty bad; I tend to tip in the 25% range if good service is rendered. Should I start tipping badly to waitstaff which delivers sub-par service?What are your feeling about all of this? Is customer service going the way of the dinosaurs?

Today, I did email the restaurant we walked out. I am never looking for a free meal or special attention so I wrote the email expressing the fact that the management of this restaurant should be made aware of the situation. I usually repay restaurants like this by never going back again. Something similar happened a few years ago here in Roanoke, I contacted the manager of that establishment, and he extended an offer for me to bring in anyone with me for a free meal. I have never and will never step foot in that establishment again.