Originally Posted by
RS__
Most of the time, at least in my experience, buffet waiters or servers or whatever are pretty bad. Typically in a buffet I'll end up getting 3 plates of food plus desert. If I sit down and wait to order a drink, it takes 15 minutes or something crazy. So now I just get food and hope they come around sooner than later. I finish my first plate without a drink. I get my drink halfway through my second meal. First plate isn't yet removed. I go to get my third plate, come back and my 2 plates are still there. Le sigh. Drink is finished halfway through third plate. Finish my third plate and they finally remove the 3 by the time I get back from dessert station. Almost done eating dessert and I finally get a refill on my drink.
I'd usually tip 20% on meals. 15% if the service is pretty bad. Higher than 20% if service was really good and/or cheap (ie: $10 meal at a cafe). But I've been finding it harder and harder to justify a 20% tip at buffets. Now a days I just tip $2-3 at a buffet.