Three buckets:
Act: Anything under the $50 comp authority ceiling. Standard service recovery. Mid-shift judgment calls (cut a guest off, move a table, swap a garnish). You own these — do not check with the MOD for permission. Tell them after.
Escalate: Anything over $50 in comp. Anything involving 911, medical, harassment, theft, fight. Anything where you genuinely don't know the answer. Anything a VIP/press is involved in. Tell the MOD before you act.
Wait: Anything that can wait until pre-shift tomorrow or the next all-hands. Process changes. Procedural disagreements. Personnel concerns. Document it, sleep on it, bring it up at the right moment. Hot-take decisions in the middle of service don't stick.
When you're not sure which bucket you're in: act if it's a guest-facing problem in the moment, escalate if it's not. Default to act; explain later. The bias is bias-to-action — but bias-to-action is not bias-to-recklessness.