On Leaving Tips
Have you ever had a craving for a restaurant style breakfast?
I was camping in the Upper Salmon River Valley at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains. I had my cooking gear but I decided to splurge and treat myself to a restaurant style breakfast.
It had been several years since dined in a restaurant and I was really looking forward to the treat.
So, I drove into Stanley, Idaho and found a wonderful restaurant in the center of town. Apparently, I arrived after the breakfast rush and was the only customer.
The waitress pointed me to an out of the way booth and phlumphed down the menu and hurried back to the kitchen without saying a word.
I waited an unpleasantly long time for her to return and take my order. She had an air of distress as if she wasn't quite sure how to do her job. She mumbled as she took my order and disappeared into the kitchen again.
Finally after about twenty minutes she reappeared and plopped down a dish that had runny eggs, scattered hash browns and burnt toast. It looked at if it were the first dish cooked by a fourth grader. She hesitated for a moment, then, without saying a word rushed back into the kitchen.
I took a bite of the runny eggs and they were disgusting. It was like the cook didn't even look at the food while he scraped it along his grill.
In general I leave a 15% tip for average service and 20% tip for great service. I occasionally leave a 10% tip for mediocre service. I would give a 5% tip as a sign of disappointment with the meal.
I need to repeat, I was really looking forward to the meal. It is not just that the plate was perhaps the most disgusting meal ever thrown in front of me. The differential between my hopes for the breakfast and the actual meal was so large that I decided to just leave the change. This restaurant was down to a 5% tip.
So I waited for the waitress to return and give me my bill. After several minutes I stood up. I went and leaned over the counter to see that the waitress and cooks were watching the TV.
The staff thought that their TV show was more important than their customers; So I made the firm decision to leave no tip, not even the change from the bill.
So, I tapped on the counter to get their attention. I paid for the meal at the cash register and walked out with my change in hand.
To keep this short post from getting too long: My 9/11 story is that I was served runny eggs and I didn't leave a tip.
That really was a very surreal day. I think even the most remote little corners of the nation felt the effects. It certainly was not business as usual in my neck of the woods.
I love how you shared your own perspective leaving much for the reader to figure out.
I found you post because you were featured by @dollarsandsense in this weeks @pifc curation contest.
Well. I read the last line and understood, felt a little tingle of shock. I don't know, I would probably have gone back there the next time I was in the area and apologized, maybe ordered another meal to see if the service was generally functional. If not, you may feel justified, maybe don't even bother with a tip the second time. If it's excellent, or even decent, tell them your story and give a double tip. I don't know, just my thoughts on the matter.
I don't really know how people didn't get the drift of this one from that ending, though perhaps I'm just used to hearing/reading stories with a one liner at the end which changes one's perspective on the whole thing. Eh, I don't know.
I don't know why I said "I don't know" so much in this comment. I don't believe I usually do so, not really sure. (Eh? eh? see what I did there? Ok, I'll just leave now.) (well not right now, but soon. Hmm, kinda spoils the effect).
Oh yeah, and I should probably mention that I got here from @dollarsandsense entry post for the pay it forward contest this week like half the other people here. Gonna do a little snooping.
I really want to know why you would want a restaurant-style meal when you can just cook yourself, unless you're not in the mood of doing the work (welcome to my life), just like the food in that restaurant, or want to explore a couple of restaurants (always a fun pastime, and then you know what's good)
I know you like to be edgy, but auto-cannibalism? Geez.
Funny that you say "tingle of shock" because that's exactly how I felt. I got goosebumps and my jaw probably visibly dropped open a little. His closing demonstrates a powerful writing technique - shame it went over the heads of a few (who probably read the title, skimmed the post, and moved on with a quick comment).
Hmm. Seeing as you appear to like that style, at some point I'll share a random story I heard from someone else, also pretty powerful, similarly nice ending. I don't really know why I'm not sharing it now, I just... don't feel it, I guess.
And wow! I can't believe I missed that one. I'm usually the one to catch mistakes like that in others' speech/writing. Eh, I'll leave it like that, it's funnier that way. And I usually eat myself raw, I generally don't bother cooking myself first.
The article only works for people who understand the phrase "My 9/11 story is" and it usually only works one day a year.
The generation before me remembered the day that JFK was shot. The generation before that remembered where they were after the Pearl Harbor attack.
These JFK and Pearl Harbor stories lost potency with time.
BTW, After I went the sporting goods store, where I was freaked out by the people buying ammunition, I went to Island Park where I met some kids who were checking the Salmon River bridge for explosives.
I thought they were playing a game. They told me how, if someone blew up the Salmon River Bridge, people on the Bar Hill couldn't get to the post office! (Actually it would close US89 for several months).
It is the only bridge spanning the "River of No Return" for about 40 miles in either direction.
The Salmon River goes through a steep canyon in the Frank Church Wilderness. When Lewis and Clark crossed into the Salmon valley, the natives in the area warned against going down the river. They called it "The River of No Return" because people who go down it rarely came back up.
The Lewis and Clark scouts tried going down the river and came to a class IV rapid that they called "turn around rapids" and decided to hike over Lolo Pass and through the mountains instead.
Dropping by and supporting your post @yintercept, due to the entry of it, by @dollarsandsense, into our Pay It Forward Community's weekly curation contest. As part of the @pifc community, we would encourage you to check into it.
With very limited time, I wanted to be sure and take the first step in showing support, prior to the expiration of Steem’s 7-day limit for payouts. As time allows, I will try to get back to provide you more personalized input into what you have written.
Thank you for your effort here to add value to our Steem blockchain!
Holy. Crap. You mean to say they were watching the live coverage and you had no idea since you’d be out camping? That’s crazy. Did you find out before you went back out camping?
Yes, I went through the day not knowing what was going on.
The next part of the story is that I went into a sporting goods store in Salmon, Idaho. Salmon is an extremely remote place with a large number of hunters.
There was a crowd of visually agitated people hanging around the gun counter mumbling among themselves about "those people." I swear the store owner had every box of ammunition on the counter. The customers, some with guns in hand, were shuffling around the ammunition wondering if they should get some more.
Being an outsider I decided to duck out of the store without shopping.
Walking into a gun store on 9/11 without knowing what was going on was quite surreal.
I finally ended up at my sister's house. I told her that people were acting strangely. Then she turned on the evening news. They showed all of the replays and the way people were acting finally made sense.
I was upset about the runny eggs, but I have since forgiven the cook.
This response is as great as the story! Surreal is right!
I note the Standing Liberty quarters in you photo, and I love it! Is that your pocket silver piece? I went through you blog list of articles, and I would like to read them all sometime. I just followed you, @yintercept! Have a terrific day, and keep on blogging!
Did you notice the steel penny?
I got them on e-bay a few years back as I wanted pictures of coins that had Lady Liberty instead of a historical figure on it.
¡Hola @yintercept ! Cuando la atencion es mala, no se da propina, llegue a tu publicación por que @dollarsandsense , presento tu post, en el Pay It Forward Curation Contest , estas invitado a participar
Great post! I really enjoyed the story. I also know exactly where I was when I heard about the events. I was living in England and had taken my sons to their gymnastics class. When I heard about it, I laughed(!) because it was so unbelievable. Then, I found out the horrible truth...
I found you thanks to @dollarsandsense's Pay it Forward curation contest entry. Keep up the excellent work!
What did you mean with "wonderful restaurant"? Is it a popular one for to have breakfast? Too bad that you can't have the breakfast style you and I was thinking I wouldn't find story like this except in my own country 😂 they'd better put a "closed times sign" rather than served the disgusting food to customers.
So.. how did you manage your day with that kind of breakfast @yintercept 😉 . I found your post through @dollarsandsense entry post for the pay it forward contest this week, thanks for sharing this story with us👋
The story is hard to understand.
I left it for the audience to figure out what happened.
I was camping on 9/11/2001.
I went in to town to get breakfast.
The cooks were watching the 9/11 attacks on TV. The waitress was too disturbed to serve a customer.
I got really lousy service and my eggs were runny. I got upset and didn't leave a tip.
It is a story of my getting upset with people without knowing what caused them to act the way they did.
If I were you, I'd have done so. They have to be a professional no matter how busy they are watching the tv about 9/11. So, it's a memory.. I don't know whether you're upset because of the services or the 9/11 attack. I remember that time, I live in Indonesia and we're watching the news on TV too but in the radio station where I worked. There's so many people came to gathet in front of the tv at the first floor which run a distant phone call services and even the customers stop their activities to watch the news.
Thanks for your article!
I find it amazing to see the cultural differences between our countries!
Over here, average and mediocre services don't get any tips. Giving a 5% tip as a sign of disappointment with the meal? Do that in Portugal and people will think you're stupid.
5% is actually a good tip over here... for good service.
Here, if you tip someone with 20%, that's because you don't know what you're doing, you have no love for your money... or the waitress was the best waitress ever!!!
Conclusion: Once in Portugal, leave tips when and only if you enjoy the service. Otherwise, pay the exact amount and be on your way.
After all, people here do get a monthly salary. They don't depend on tips to make a living.
PS: I've found you because @dollarsandsense featured you on his entry for The Pay It Forward Contest
Personally, I think that the expectation of a 20% tip is ridiculous. There are very few industries where people have a 20% margin. But servers in the United States complain when they get less than 20%.
What is happening in the United States is that restaurants that hire servers are being replaced by "fast casual" restaurants that don't hire servers. In fast casual restaurants, people order at a counter and have to pick their own plate ... but if it saves 20% on the bill.
I began the post by noting that I had not gone to a restaurant for several years.
That is still very generous of you. For me, disappointment would mean no tip at all. Giving them a tip for something disappointing will relay a wrong message that they somehow did good.
I feel you. Countless times I have been into this situation not only in restaurants but in different merchandise stores, even in malls. While I do not agree to the saying that "the customer is king," I still wish that all business folks would understand that their customer is the life of their business.
I came across your article through @dollarsandsense who featured it on his post as an entry to the Pay It Forward Curation Contest. The contest is open to everyone so you are welcome to join.
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