Upsetting restaurant staff and then suffering the known or worse than that, the unknown consequences

[PK99]

A self-service restaurant in central Birmingham tried to charge people a 10% service charge. They didn't stay open long.

Self service service charge! Yer avvina...

 

[cougie uk]

Many years ago, as a young guy, I was in London on business (new experience for me).
I went into a steak house (another new experience).
When I got the bill there was a 10% table charge on it.
Now remember I am a scouser. I asked what it meant, he told me and I told him to remove it.
I didn't leave a tip.

Scousers aren't renowned for being tight though?

 

[ColinJ]

As a teenager, I read Orwell's Down and out in Paris and London. After that, I have been very wary of upsetting anybody cooking or serving food for me!

It is 50 years since I read it. I just checked - apparently, one didn't even have to upset the staff for the food to be abused...

In the kitchen the dirt was worse. It is not a figure of speech, it is a mere statement of fact to say that a French cook will spit in the soup — that is, if he is not going to drink it himself. He is an artist, but his art is not cleanliness. To a certain extent he is even dirty because he is an artist, for food, to look smart, needs dirty treatment. When a steak, for instance, is brought up for the head cook's inspection, he does not handle it with a fork. He picks it up in his fingers and slaps it down, runs his thumb round the dish and licks it to taste the gravy, runs it round and licks again, then steps back and contemplates the piece of meat like an artist judging a picture, then presses it lovingly into place with his fat, pink fingers, every one of which he has licked a hundred times that morning. When he is satisfied, he takes a cloth and wipes his fingerprints from the dish, and hands it to the waiter. And the waiter, of course, dips his fingers into the gravy — his nasty, greasy fingers which he is for ever running through his brilliantined hair. Whenever one pays more than, say, ten francs for a dish of meat in Paris, one may be certain that it has been fingered in this manner. In very cheap restaurants it is different; there, the same trouble is not taken over the food, and it is just forked out of the pan and flung on to a plate, without handling. Roughly speaking, the more one pays for food, the more sweat and spittle one is obliged to eat with it.

 

[Gillstay]

We once were in our local eatery and after 40 minutes of waiting for our food we mentioned it to the owner in passing we were still waiting. He'd forgotten to put the order through. All polite and friendly. There is never justification of staff abuse.

My brother runs a cafe and hates the customers who bully the young girls he is trying to get to work as long term staff, but turn all polite when he checks if all is well. Expectations are also much higher since Covid ! What the hell is that about ?

 

[Dave7]

Scousers aren't renowned for being tight though?

They are renowned for not letting people get one over on them.

 

[Lozz360]

My belief in not giving tips clashes somewhat with my belief that staff should be paid a decent wage.

In this country I'd say tipping was discretionary although a modest amount should be expected. In the US though, you absolutely have to tip. It's not optional, it's part of the payment and how the staff earn their money.

I would say in the US it is very much expected that you tip. When you get the bill it states what the amounts would be if you were giving 10%, 15% or 20% (10% is often considered mean). It is not mandatory to tip though.

I went to a branch of Appleby's in Florida in 2016. We waited over an hour for our food to arrive. My partner had ordered chicken strips with salad and coleslaw, it arrived with no coleslaw. I ordered pork chops with a sauce, it arrived with no sauce or dressing just two dry chops on the plate. We were both so hungry by this time we just ate what was there. When we got the bill I politely explained the problem and that, as a result, I had no intention of leaving a tip. The server apologised and said he fully understood but he had to go back of house to do something so that their system would accept my payment without a tip. So tipping in the US appears to be not the law but very much the custom.

 

[fossyant]

We holidayed in Disney about 10 years ago - one off, stayed on site and all meals were covered under the package. Except the tips weren't. Wow it actually worked out quite expensive at the restaurants as you were 'paying' inflated prices, so had to tip based on those. Most meals were $40 or more each in tips as 20% was the 'standard'.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

We were in Florida years ago and took one of those coach trips to the Space Centre as an add-on to our holiday. On arrival, the woman guide on the bus announced we had to tip her $5 for her inane chat and the driver $5 for getting us there safely. Er, naw, I’ve already paid handsomely for the excursion and I never tip when someone tells me it’s got to be done let alone how much it has to be.

 

[slowmotion]

You're less likely to unknowingly imbibe foreign bodily fluids if you're not an arse to people surely

A friend at college (about 1973) worked as a waiter at a very fashionable and expensive central London restaurant. It's still there but I won't name it. One night, David Bowie turned up with some friends. For some reason, the front of house staff took exception to his demeamor. I don't know the details. Anyway, his brace of quails were passed round the kitchen for spitting contributions from the cooking staff before being smilingly presented to him at his table.
It's not worth being unpleasant to waiters.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Ask a Yorkshireman for a tip and he’ll say tha prices should be cheaper.

 

[Accy cyclist]

The tipping (to insure promptness) rate was 14 percent in my bar work/wine waiter days, in the 1980's. I worked in a 'good food guide' listed restaurant funnily enough visible form my flat, but now an office. Neil the owner and head chef didn't take any shoot, either given to him or his staff. I think If chubby boy Corden had said such things to one of his waiters he'd have shown him the door, in a none too polite way!🧐

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The tipping (to insure promptness)

That’s another of those nonsense folk etymologies, along with ‘Ship High In Transit’, ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’, and ‘Port Out Starboard Home’. Amusing but untrue.