Related restaurant question. I gave up all soft drinks for a couple years, so it seemed every time I ordered water it seemed the service wasn’t as good. Am I crazy to think by ordering water I come off as cheap and I’ll tip poorly? I’ve since went back to ordering regular drinks and I feel service is better? Maybe it was all in my head?
They may not necessarily think you're going to tip poorly, but most people tip based on a percentage of their bill, so as a single guy drinking water, your bill is going to be relatively small.
For example, if you figure $20 a head and a 20% tip, they'll make $4 off a table of one, $8 off a table of two, and $16 off a table of four. And usually, they're not doing 2x to 4x more work for those larger tables. They'll end up going to each table roughly the same number of times.
Plus, the smaller the bill, the less the tip percentage makes a difference. If you tip 10% on $20, that's $2. If you tip 30%, that's $6. In other words, even the 20% difference between a below average tip and an above average tip is only $4. With the four-top and an $80 bill, every percentage point is nearly a dollar. And the difference between a 10% and 30% tip there is $16 ($8 vs. $24).
So, basically, they have a lot more incentive to give the best service possible for the chance at the best tip possible.
That's the logic behind it. But of course, it's still pretty annoying if you're the one being served.
One way around this is to sit at the bar, if you can. As long as it's not packed, the bartender usually won't have a problem with you eating at the bar without drinking, and they're more used to smaller parties/bills. Plus, they're standing right there anyways, so you can just get their attention if you need something.
