Tipping Etiquette: To Tip or NOT to Tip?

Is it just me or does everyone HATE having to pay that fixed gratuity after you have received bad service at a restaurant? WTF right?!

As an outgoing female Buppie living in a big city, I tend go out to eat A LOT. Lately I've found myself comparing different restaurants/lounges customer service. As a part of my "No Tip Unless You Earn It" campaign, the level of service I receive determines the tip amount the waiter/waitress gets. So basically, they start and '$0 - $5' and then he/she either works his/her way UP or DOWN.

Some of you might ask, "why are u being cheap?" Well my answer for you is STHU! LOL To me, it's called Spending Smart. I'll pay good money for quality service, but i'll be DAMMNED if I spend my hard earned money on bad service. I EARNED MY money (keyword MY) by working for it, so if you want MY money (keyword MY), you're going to have to EARN IT just like I did. Is that really too much to ask? Seriously?

I mean I'm not one to knock another man/woman's hustle BUT if you're not really a people person, then I'm just saying yah might not want to work at a PUBLIC place that you deal with people on a daily basis.

This frustration stems from my most recent visit to a restaurant in Brooklyn called Sugarcane. Don't get me wrong, the food there is DA BOMB, like seriously its REALLY good BUT the service is HORRIBLE, I mean its like WTF HORRIBLE. I've been there several times, and it seems like each time the service is just worse than before. For a while, I thought it was just me, but after asking around and looking at a few restaurant reviews online, I realize its NOT just me.

After my most recent visit, I am sorry to say, but it will be a long time before I go there again. By a long time I mean, until I forget. Like you ever been back to a place and u forgot why u REALLY stopped going there, then u go there and ur like OH YEAH!!!!! Never AGAIN! Or its also kinda like when you drink a little too much and swear up and down your never even looking at alcohol again in your life. Aight, maybe not all that but you get my drift right?!

So anyway, my main point is, the service sucked. Why? For starters we waited for an HOUR to get seated. (Yeah I waited for an hr, I was pressed! Don't judge me! lol). So then when we FINALLY get seated, it took a GOOD 20mins for our waitress to come and take our order. So that was -$2 of $5 for her.

Pen in hand and ready to take down our order, I start telling her what I wanted and she's telling me what they DON'T have, which is basically EVERYTHING I wanted. So I had to re-think my whole order. At which point I sensed a little attitude, you know that sigh thats just a TAD too heavy, so that was like -$.50. Cuz WTF its not my fault y'all are out of what I want! Shoot I waited an hour for a REASON! How are you gonna tell me you're out of fried chicken and mac and cheese? like WTF are u serious?! This is a Black owned business, you should AT LEAST always have fried chicken on reserve! LOL (Ok black folks, don't get all offended, it was a joke ..kinda! lol)

Finally the moment has arrived, the busboy brings the food out! ::sadface:: What a surprise ..the waitress got one of my side orders wrong (potato salad instead of mashed potato) WTF right?! Anyway, the busboy was apologetic and kind enough to offer me an additional side at no cost, which was kool.

By the time the waitress came back to ask us 'how we were doing' or 'if we would like anything else to drink' ..we were basically done (-$1). I mean by then we were so over her non-attentive as$ that we just asked her for the check! Needless to say, her tip was a little over $2. She's lucky I forgot to bing my change purse or she would've gotten EXACT change!

I am sure, others might have more severe stories about their bad service experiences, please fee free to share, I want to know what restaurants NOT to go to or where I might want to bring my change purse!