Tabletop Tablets Are Putting Waiters’ Jobs at Risk

Megalith

Megalith

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More and more restaurants are adding tablets to their tables, which allow diners to conveniently make orders and pay the bill without interacting with staff. Some of these will prompt customers to take a satisfaction survey at the end of every meal, but waiters say they generate scores unfairly and do not accurately reflect performance, leading to less shifts.

“When they introduced them, it seemed like a good deal for the customer. But as a server, it's just the worst thing ever,” said Sam Ellis, who worked as a server at a Chili’s in Texas. “That's all your job depends on, is those survey scores.” Ziosk scores are tabulated as an average out of five stars, and on the device, it says four out of five stars means “satisfied.” But anything less than perfect drags a score down and has the potential to hurt the server.
 
most places that have these things don't let you order anything from the menu on them. its a limited thing like appetizers or reorder a drink refill.

I DO like being able to pay on these things. Sometimes you wait around forever to get the person to come back and take the check.
 
Bigbacon said:
most places that have these things don't let you order anything from the menu on them. its a limited thing like appetizers or reorder a drink refill.

I DO like being able to pay on these things. Sometimes you wait around forever to get the person to come back and take the check.
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I would also add that for me... more servers have reduced their tip by taking their sweet time to take care of the check. As someone that has also made a decent living serving, I also would think pay at table or app etc would be nothing but a good thing for everyone involved.

A good 75% of my tip evaluation is on speed of service, how fast is order taken, drinks served and refilled etc. Sounds like these would actually help to improve those areas. Sure knowledge of the menu is helpful etc but that is so little of what I value in dining out. It's usually waiting around with a empty drink that pissing me off more than anything...

As for the questionnaire and how the scores are tabulated... pretty crappy.
 
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I don't use them, and I don't like having them on the table flashing ads in my face and trying to get me to play $2 games.
They ruin the ambience of the restaurant. So as soon as I'm seated, if one of these little annoyances is on the table, I put it face-down on the floor. That's the only interaction I'll have with it, and if the restaurant doesn't like that, I can eat somewhere else.

I'm not opposed to eating at an automat, or going to a fully-automated fast food place. But when I sit down with friends at a restaurant table, I'm not there to watch ads on TV.

Besides, I like being waited on. Having a good waiter or waitress attending to your needs is one of the joys of eating out.
 
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

Oh wow...such a hard job. Yes, I was a waiter a few years ago, it's seriously easy as fuck.

I just feel that if other service jobs, like, all the rest, don't require tipping then why the fuck should waiting? Every other restaurant, fast food, other countries other than the US, etc don't have tipping yet seem to *gasp* get along just fine.

Plus, yeah, I feel like they get paid too much as well due to tipping. Cooks in the back get paid $7.50 an hour minimum wage but the 20 year old bringing people the food sometimes make upwards of $20-30 an hour, seriously. Here in Oregon wait staff gets paid $11.25 an hour minimum wage PLUS tips...they make easily $20 an hour AT LEAST. That's fucking ridiculous for the job it is.

I honestly don't tip or tip very little. If that affects you then get a different job that doesn't REQUIRE me to pay you. Doesn't guilt people that just want to have a meal they didn't cook to pay more on top of the already over priced food costs.

Meh, I could rant on and on. At the end of the day, I've done the job...it's not hard...and it's not one that should pay as well as it does because businesses want to be cheap. No other job in America operates this way and I see no reason why waiting should be this golden child that gets treated like something special when it's just simply fucking not.
 
Mut1ny said:
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

Oh wow...such a hard job. Yes, I was a waiter a few years ago, it's seriously easy as fuck.

I just feel that if other service jobs, like, all the rest, don't require tipping then why the fuck should waiting? Every other restaurant, fast food, other countries other than the US, etc don't have tipping yet seem to *gasp* get along just fine.

Plus, yeah, I feel like they get paid too much as well due to tipping. Cooks in the back get paid $7.50 an hour minimum wage but the 20 year old bringing people the food sometimes make upwards of $20-30 an hour, seriously. Here in Oregon wait staff gets paid $11.25 an hour minimum wage PLUS tips...they make easily $20 an hour AT LEAST. That's fucking ridiculous for the job it is.

I honestly don't tip or tip very little. If that affects you then get a different job that doesn't REQUIRE me to pay you. Doesn't guilt people that just want to have a meal they didn't cook to pay more on top of the already over priced food costs.

Meh, I could rant on and on. At the end of the day, I've done the job...it's not hard...and it's not one that should pay as well as it does because businesses want to be cheap. No other job in America operates this way and I see no reason why waiting should be this golden child that gets treated like something special when it's just simply fucking not.
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I don't like tipping either, but you know the system is there at this point. If you intentionally go to a place that operates this way and don't tip for good service, you are the douchebag and need to stay the fuck home. Your numbers aren't applicable to every establishment by a long shot.
 
Mut1ny said:
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

Oh wow...such a hard job. Yes, I was a waiter a few years ago, it's seriously easy as fuck.

I just feel that if other service jobs, like, all the rest, don't require tipping then why the fuck should waiting? Every other restaurant, fast food, other countries other than the US, etc don't have tipping yet seem to *gasp* get along just fine.

Plus, yeah, I feel like they get paid too much as well due to tipping. Cooks in the back get paid $7.50 an hour minimum wage but the 20 year old bringing people the food sometimes make upwards of $20-30 an hour, seriously. Here in Oregon wait staff gets paid $11.25 an hour minimum wage PLUS tips...they make easily $20 an hour AT LEAST. That's fucking ridiculous for the job it is.

I honestly don't tip or tip very little. If that affects you then get a different job that doesn't REQUIRE me to pay you. Doesn't guilt people that just want to have a meal they didn't cook to pay more on top of the already over priced food costs.

Meh, I could rant on and on. At the end of the day, I've done the job...it's not hard...and it's not one that should pay as well as it does because businesses want to be cheap. No other job in America operates this way and I see no reason why waiting should be this golden child that gets treated like something special when it's just simply fucking not.
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I 100% agree with your statement.
 
Considering the amount of waiters that suck, I don't see the problem. High end restaurants won't change, so I don't see the problem there either.
 
Mut1ny said:
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

I honestly don't tip or tip very little. If that affects you then get a different job that doesn't REQUIRE me to pay you. Doesn't guilt people that just want to have a meal they didn't cook to pay more on top of the already over priced food costs.

.
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<Sarcasm> GOOD IDEA!!! let's make sure those Waiters and Waitresses are only paid 3.50$ an hour ... you not tipping will show those waiters! and the business will care less!
</Sarcasm>

I might not like the TIPPING.. but punishing the employee for the Business decision achieves NOTHING.
 
It's not the tablets putting the jobs at risk, it's Human stupidity that's the root cause.
 
Axehandler said:
<Sarcasm> GOOD IDEA!!! let's make sure those Waiters and Waitresses are only paid 3.50$ an hour ... you not tipping will show those waiters! and the business will care less!
</Sarcasm>

I might not like the TIPPING.. but punishing the employee for the Business decision achieves NOTHING.
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That is not how a tipping job works. Even if a single person did not tip that day the employee would still receive minimum wage. This job is a minimum wage job with an chance to make more with tips. Labor Law posters are in every establishment for you to review. If you had then you would understand this law.
 
Tiberian said:
You know, a post like that one you just made... these days, bots... ;)
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Perhaps you can try convincing me, why you insist on degrading a fellow human to be your manservant, if you can use a machine instead?
 
I went into Red Robin, sat, and, waited. 5 minutes and still no waiter came by. So, I pushed the "call waiter" button on the tablet. 30 seconds later, she comes up, says "This is for emergencies only, but what would you like to drink? " disables the light on the tablet, and walks off after I ask for a water. Then 10 minutes go by, no water, and she waited on other tables around. So, I stood up and walked out.

Fuck that shit.

I waited for a seat, then, waited to get serviced, didn't get waited on, called the waitress, then she still doesn't provide service. She chose to go to the bigger tables for a better tip than what she assumed my wife and I would give.

I use the tablets to re-order alcoholic drinks and pay.

The refills and food being brought out are up to the servers. If they don't do a good job they don't get a good tip.
 
...there's always the Golden Corral, though your experiences will vary from location to location:

Golden-Corral-2.jpg


Some of them even come with ring-side seating:

 
Mut1ny said:
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

Oh wow...such a hard job. Yes, I was a waiter a few years ago, it's seriously easy as fuck.

I just feel that if other service jobs, like, all the rest, don't require tipping then why the fuck should waiting? Every other restaurant, fast food, other countries other than the US, etc don't have tipping yet seem to *gasp* get along just fine.

Plus, yeah, I feel like they get paid too much as well due to tipping. Cooks in the back get paid $7.50 an hour minimum wage but the 20 year old bringing people the food sometimes make upwards of $20-30 an hour, seriously. Here in Oregon wait staff gets paid $11.25 an hour minimum wage PLUS tips...they make easily $20 an hour AT LEAST. That's fucking ridiculous for the job it is.

I honestly don't tip or tip very little. If that affects you then get a different job that doesn't REQUIRE me to pay you. Doesn't guilt people that just want to have a meal they didn't cook to pay more on top of the already over priced food costs.

Meh, I could rant on and on. At the end of the day, I've done the job...it's not hard...and it's not one that should pay as well as it does because businesses want to be cheap. No other job in America operates this way and I see no reason why waiting should be this golden child that gets treated like something special when it's just simply fucking not.
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Heard this was a millennial thing. It's why you care about the economy and the job market, so you don't get paid like shit and begrudge tipping. If they didn't get paid by tips, they'd get paid by the store and the cost will go in your bill and you pay anyway. You'd pay whether you got good service or bad. Having gotten service in places that don't have tipping, your service will decline (late/cold food, wrong food, etc.).

The 'skill' level in executing a job is only half the equation. A big part is how much miserable crap you have to put up with. Like say a plumber, the skill level is kind of moderate, but they can get paid big buck, why? Because they are elbow deep in other people's shit. I don't want that job, although I'm able and could probably do it with less training than most.
 
jpm100 said:
Heard this was a millennial thing. It's why you care about the economy and the job market, so you don't get paid like shit and begrudge tipping. If they didn't get paid by tips, they'd get paid by the store and the cost will go in your bill and you pay anyway. You'd pay whether you got good service or bad. Having gotten service in places that don't have tipping, your service will decline (late/cold food, wrong food, etc.).

The 'skill' level in executing a job is only half the equation. A big part is how much miserable crap you have to put up with. Like say a plumber, the skill level is kind of moderate, but they can get paid big buck, why? Because they are elbow deep in other people's shit. I don't want that job, although I'm able and could probably do it with less training than most.
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It can be a nasty job, moving other people's bowel movements.
 
Did anyone RTFA?

The thing that the waiters are complaining about is NOT the use of these devices to place orders or in any way REPLACE waiters.
The problem is that at the end of your meal the devices are used to rate the waiters, and if you give a waiter anything less than 5 stars out of 5, e.g. 4 which is "very satisfied", but not "completely satisfied", then the scoring system considers the waiter to be HITLER, their shifts get cut, and eventually if they average 4 for a month or something, then they are fired for being the most vile person on the face of the planet.

I am not joking either. My work did this with our IT staff. After closing a service ticket the customer would get a survey where 1 was "Fully Satisfied" 3 was "Satisfied" and 5 was "Not Satisfied". It was promised this would not be part of their annual evaluation. Within 3 years of implementing this if they didn't average 1.3 or better then they couldn't get a higher rating than 3 (average) on their annual review, which meant no bonus and less of a pay raise. If they averaged a 1.4 then they would officially be counseled and if it happened two years in a row they got fired.

So for every 3 they got they needed to get at least Six 1's. The problem was some people would refuse to rate higher than a 3 unless they truly went ridiculously above and beyond, because they were indeed, and accurately, satisfied.... So how did people achieve these 1.3 average numbers? They would directly tell everyone to either give them all 1's or to let them know they had a problem with the service personally, instead of filling out the survey. They would still get some lower ratings sometimes though. So to offset the lower scores they had to have friends at work help them out. They would make sure to give these friends a ticket with every interaction, even the most minor ones, and those friends knew to give them 1's every time they got a survey in order to help pull their average down. Since they would help them 3-5 times a week and since most other people never completed the surveys, these friends could have a huge impact on their average.

Personally as long as I am "satisfied", I always rate waiters the max amount because I know that this is how their bosses are going to judge them. I encourage you to do so as well.
 
Oh, as for the rating thing, I only use it when the waiter is terrible or good. They'll get a terrible or perfect score.

Everyone in between I don't bother.
 
jpm100 said:
Heard this was a millennial thing.
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It's a human thing. I want to pay for my food and not pay someone's salary when that's the businesses job. It's not a "thing" ANYWHERE ELSE. Also, my parents have told me that this whole "tip to pay for your servers rent" wasn't a thing a couple decades back like it is now.

It's why you care about the economy and the job market, so you don't get paid like shit and begrudge tipping.
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I care for businesses paying people a living wage and not having their employees hope the customers pay THEM enough to get by.

not having If they didn't get paid by tips, they'd get paid by the store and the cost will go in your bill and you pay anyway.
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This isn't true and is just propaganda pushed by food industry businesses so they don't have to start paying their employees. You think that small dish of frozen mozzarella sticks with canned marinara is worth $8.99? Having worked in restaurants and clubs and bars my whole life I can tell you this...any successful one would have NO PROBLEM paying their employees a decent wage. None.

You'd pay whether you got good service or bad.
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I might have to pay my bill but I don't have to leave a tip.

Having gotten service in places that don't have tipping, your service will decline (late/cold food, wrong food, etc.).
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This is true of any business. There are also plenty of fast food places I've been to that are totally professional and nice. Just as there have been some that were crap...this is true of any sit down restaurant as well.

The 'skill' level in executing a job is only half the equation. A big part is how much miserable crap you have to put up with.
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Don't hire shitty employees. You act like EVERY OTHER JOB is garbage service because they don't get tipped. Waiting a table is no different than any other service job, if the person doing it sucks because tipping dies then get someone that isn't a scumbag.

Like say a plumber, the skill level is kind of moderate, but they can get paid big buck, why? Because they are elbow deep in other people's shit. I don't want that job, although I'm able and could probably do it with less training than most.
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This is true of any job.
 
I'll be honest - so far I've only ever seen this at Chili's.... nowhere else... /shrug. Anyone know of another chain that uses them?
 
waiter/waitress ... one of the hardest jobs on the planet and unless you make it to the best eateries it pays poorly but at least you have a job (until now)
 
M76 said:
Perhaps you can try convincing me, why you insist on degrading a fellow human to be your manservant, if you can use a machine instead?
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Because the machines are made by Humans. :)
 
Ziosk scores are tabulated as an average out of five stars, and on the device, it says four out of five stars means “satisfied.”
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This is a common problem with performance surveys in general.

Two people with the same exact service and food quality may think the service is excellent, however, one will give 4/5, the other will give 5/5. Why? People rate with a slightly different outlook. Person A gave 4/5 because it was great service, but not the best they've ever had, so they're conservative and don't want to give out a 5 (the "there might be a better experience" hold back). Person B is less conservative and hands out 5 like it's candy, looking at the singular experience.

It's why many studies will weigh the individuals rating style to the scale, so if a person has a history of giving out 4/5, it's recalibrated closer to 5/5. If you never give a 5/5, then 4/5 is really your high marker.

Same phenomenon can be seen with wider ratings as many users will rate 1-5 out of 10 or 5-10 out of 10, rarely straying too far and using the whole scale.

Managers that put unrealistic "it must be perfect" rules in place are doing a disservice to their employees because it does not take into account this psychology.
 
This is just another product of our everybody gets a trophy, zero defects allowed, everything can be measured with a dataset, society.

It is interesting that a 4/5 score leads to punishment and only 5/5 is good enough. You might as well change the survey to "Should your server look for a different line of work YES/NO ?"

I hate going into a restaurant and seeing these things on the table. Eating out is a social event. I want to enjoy the company of those I'm with, not be bothered by a flashing electronic screen at my table trying to get me to pay for stupid trivia games. If one of these is at the table it goes facedown as far out of the way as possible.

If I eat at an establishment with wait staff I expect to be waited on. I can understand the appeal of not having to wait for the check - but with properly trained wait staff (who actually give a crap about service) scheduled with the appropriate amount of floor coverage (by management that also gives a crap about service) then I don't have to wait for the check!

edit: I realize the potential these devices have for upsells but a good waiter/waitress/server can upsell also.
 
These look like another security risk. Even if the restaurant makes sure the gizmos are fully up to date security wise when installed, (unlikely), most will never see another update until the place gets hacked and data stolen. Given the environment, the crook just has to sit down, order a cheap meal and let his/her device snoop the network and find a way in. Not like half or more of the legit customers aren't staring at gizmos anyway. Nothing out of place here. And I don't expect the chipped cards to hold the crooks at bay forever.
 
Mut1ny said:
Also, my parents have told me that this whole "tip to pay for your servers rent" wasn't a thing a couple decades back like it is now.
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Your parents are lying to you. As long as I've been eating at restaurants, long before I was paying, you tipped.

I'm open to hearing arguments about getting rid of the tipping system and paying waitstaff like everyone else, but as it stands now, pay the damn tip if you didn't get crap service, or don't eat out.

(Anyone got figures on how widespread waitstaff not making minimum wage is, and how many restaurants actually pay the difference like they're required to? I would imagine that data's hard to come by because restaurants aren't going to want to admit they're breaking the law.)
 
Mut1ny said:
Good, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick of this tipping bullshit that's being forced on us. It should be the employers paying their employee's, not me. I'm not a rich man so when I go out and spend $50 on dinner for the girl and me I don't like that I HAVE to leave an additional ~$10 just because some dude or chick refilled our drinks a couple times (maybe) and brought me my food.

Oh wow...such a hard job. Yes, I was a waiter a few years ago, it's seriously easy as fuck.
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I was a waiter for 10 years. I say, get your own food & refill your own drinks. Tip the amount you think the waiter deserves in accordance to the service you received. If you're going to a place like Golden Corral, then a couple of bucks would be fine for drink refills and plates. If you happen to stumble into a full service place, don't be a dick, tip your waiter. Otherwise read sentence 2.

Also, if you don't agree with what employers pay the waiters (2.13 last I heard) and you don't want to tip for service. Stay at home, please. You don't sound like the type of person I would want to serve anyway.

Anyway, on topic

I hate those things. They are always matted in grease and god knows what else. Bad enough that most places don't clean their menu's also.
 
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Walked into an Applebee's, refused to touch the tablet to place an order for my food and alcohol. I prefer the human interaction.

The job as a server is not an easy job. There are some people that screw these folks out of their tips.
 
To anyone here that thinks "Waiting tables is easy". 1. have never waited tables. 2. Have never waited tables after the church lunch rush.

I once wiped baby shit out of a stroller thinking it was Taco meat. It was not. But the parents I guess felt bad and came back to give me a $20 dollar tip.
 
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