The Wrong Message

My oldest son and I go out to dinner every Tuesday. He picks the place, we go, bring it home, eat, and talk. Today, he picked one of our favorite pizzerias. We went in and looked at the choices. I was disappointed that my favorite meat slice was not made. The slices I got were good, but I wanted great. The service, or should I say the server, was not good either. He was slow and clearly not into his job, which included serving us. After I paid, I left a small tip in the tip jar. When we got to the car, my son asked me why I had left a tip. When I explained, he interrupted me and said, “I do not think he deserved it.” He was right. The person did not go above and beyond to serve my son or me. The server did not have my favorite slices ready. The server did not have a positive attitude, and he did not deserve the tip. I clearly sent

the wrong message by rewarding the server with extra compensation. He is going to expect that going forward. I had a message to learn as well. It is not ok to receive poor service and provide the server with a tip. We both failed the interview.