Ben and I went out to dinner tonight at Ruby Tuesday. Alone. It was great. (Thanks to the Hoopes', who babysat Julie.) The fact that we were alone has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm writing about, but I just had to share it.
I noticed (not for the first time) tonight, that there were many more employees than necessary at the restaurant. We had one person who introduced himself as our "server," however, he did not serve us. Why is it necessary to have one person to take our order, a second person to bring our drinks, a third person to bring our food, and a fourth to bus the table after we leave? Person #1 comes back midway through the meal to ask if everything is alright, and maybe refills our drinks. Meanwhile, half the restaurant was empty, and from the direction I was facing, I could see several employees just "hanging out" at the end of the aisle I was seated in, and they just stood around talking and laughing most of the time.
Now, when I started dating and going out for meals semi-frequently nine or so years ago, 15% was the standard for tipping. Now it had gone up to 20%. I can't attribute this to inflation, because a percentage wouldn't' be affected by inflation. What I want to know is why am I tipping 20% to someone who writes down my order and asks if everything is okay, but does nothing else?
Moving on. I watched something on TV this week about anti-aging treatments. The women who were participating were 51, 43, and 39. Maybe I will feel differently in ten years, but I don't get the whole need to reverse the aging process. Why is it such an obsession? What's wrong with looking your age? Personally, I think it's kind-of creepy when 15-year-olds have 43-year-old moms who look 28.
Your thoughts on any of the above?
2 comments:
At dinner: at first you may think that it was rather strange there were so many employees hanging out but here's the reason why according to Candice. It's a Saturday night so the staff manager scheduled lots of workers expecting big crowds for date night. The problem is that the staff manager didn't know that it was rivals weekend and that people wouldn't be going out. People stayed home tonight to watch their teams play, and in my case get brutally humiliated.
Waaaay better to have too many restaurant employees than too few. Jordan and I are NEVER going back to Applebees because of a HORRIBLE and understaffed visit we paid not too long ago. As far as tipping goes, we're so poor I hate that anybody gets tipped. You get a wage, why do you need a tip? Inwardly I'm a total scrooge about it but because of social anxiety a pretty grudgingly generous tipper. Oy.
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