Toronto Tipping Culture?
My friends and I went to a restaurant the other day and at the end of the night, one of my friends picked up the tab. Then our server came by and started cleaning up our table. When we pointed out that we were still eating some of it, the server said, "Fine." And walked off.
We were really confused but chalked it up to the server having a bad night. At the end of our dinner, we slowly got up to use the bathroom in groups and the server just confronts my friend who paid and said, "Was there something wrong with my service?" My friend looked confused and said, "No. You were great." The server then asked again if my friend was sure. Again, my friend nodded and thanked the server. The server walked off again in a huff. I asked my friend how much he tipped and he said 18%. Then on our way out, the server just says, "If you weren't happy with my service, you could have just told me instead of giving me a crummy $16. If you don't make enough, don't eat here. It's rude." (Our bill was roughly $200.) We all looked at my friend and he looked really confused. But before we could say anything, the server shut the door and locked it.
My friend then pulls out his phone to check his receipt and realized that he must have entered the wrong tip percentage (I believe him because he usually tips really well compared to the rest of us.) Since the restaurant was closed, we all kind of awkwardly went home for the night.
The next day during our lunch break, my friend said he had to stop by that restaurant to make up the tip from last night. I went with him because we were getting food together after. He explained the situation, specified the appearance of the server, and left $30 in cash with one of the front house people. On our way out, we ran into the server from last night who I guess was coming in for his shift. He then says, "Back again to stiff me?" and my friend apologized and tried to explain again. But before he really even finished, the server said, "Right. Nice save, asshole." And then walked away.
Honestly, I understand that tips are expected in Canada and I know my friend was the one that screwed up the tip in the first place but it felt like the server was hella aggressive. I feel like my friend did a lot to fix the situation, especially since the restaurant wasn't really close to where we worked either. Like, I'm kind of upset for my friend but he said that tipping culture is "insane" in Toronto and "it is what it is." Is tipping culture really that crazy in Toronto?