Velma's Profile
removal of membership
Okay, I sent an e-mail last night requesting account deactivation with an explanation (if that matters!) Thanks.
Can't edit my profile
I was trying to empty them but I just changed the info and that worked so thanks for the help!
Can't edit my profile
I would like to edit my profile but when I make the changes and hit save, it ends up right back the same way it was before I changed it. Is it more complicated than it looks to make those changes?
women and bad service
I travel alone a lot and no, I don't have proof that I am ever discriminated against because I'm a woman. If it is happening, I guess I'm oblivious to it. I don't feel like I'm a pain in the ass customer but on the other hand, I won't sit and suffer in silence if I need a drink refill or something of the sort. But that being said, it is a totally different story when the gals go out for lunch during the work week. We often wait a long time for service, the food is slow coming to the table, the server is nowhere to be found after the food has been delivered and so on. I can only assume that women in a group like that have a reputation of being difficult or bad tippers or both because I can pretty much see on the servers face that he or she would rather not be working our table.
is it just my sushi restaurant?
What is their rationale for asking a customer to leave?? I can understand being offended by the request and refusing to serve the item but further refusing to serve the customer if they are willing to order something else seems a bit harsh to me.
Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer
I was on the Trader Joe's website late last week at work looking at the Fearless Flyer and now that I'm at home, I want to print it but can no longer locate it at the Trader Joes site. Very frustrating. Did they take it down already or is it buried?
$40 Dollar a Day show
Thanks for both of your insights into this! No, not exactly my favorite show either but I know we aren't supposed to pick on tv show hosts around here. I just LOVE Rachel Ray (ahem.) Anyway, the tips she leaves the wait staff do make me laugh. Hopefully the publicity the restaurant gets makes up for all the trouble.
$40 Dollar a Day show
Does anybody know how they make shows like this? I know they make it look like Rachel Ray just waltzes in and sits down but I know it can't work like that. Do they shut down the entire restaurant while they film? Are the other people in the restaurant or bar just plants?
Am I just an ugly American?
Well, I think that my travel experiences have made me a more patient person! I was in a small, family owned chocolate store in Canada a couple of years ago with my brother and sister and we were putting the elderly clerk through her paces. It was taking her an incredibly long time to assemble our chocolates and get us checked out. In the meantime, several other customers had come in for chocolate but instead of getting impatient and angry like I might have in a similar situation, they simply sat down with newspapers and waited their turn. It made me think about the term "ugly American" that day. I could only imagine myself being made to wait that long for service in any American store and I don't know that I would have been so totally laid back but it sure gave me a different perspective on how to handle myself in public. They were lovely examples of how to be good customers.
Am I just an ugly American?
That can work the other way as well. I was in Fortnum and Mason in London one year during a Christmas rush with people lined up in multiple queues at the candy counter. I had picked up a box of candy they had on display that was slightly crushed (the last one left) and when it was my turn at the counter, I just asked if they had more made up in the back but if not, I would take what I had. I figured the clerk would wave me off as would probably happen in the United States during a Christmas rush but she said "No, we have no more made up but I will go in the back and make you one." So, even with a tremendous number of people waiting, she took the time to personally give me good service. I have never forgotten that and return whenever I am in London.
Am I just an ugly American?
I certainly agree with this and the meals we have had in Germany tend to be on the very leisurely side. They will let you sit all evening uninterupted if you wish to slowly enjoy your meal. This can cause a challenge when you are finally ready for your check and need to tell your server. We had this conversation with our German host one night and asked him how to get our servers attention (this was after much drinking). We showed him the American way (or our way anyway) of politely waving or indicating to show that we are ready for the check. Not finger snapping or anything like; just a discrete raising of the hand. Our German host was horrified. He said no German would ever wave or raise the hand like that. He said that it is much better to just get up from the table and that sends a signal to the server that you are done. I guess he was afraid he was going to have a table of drunk Americans flapping like crazy to get the servers attention if he didn't intervene!
What really happens at a restaurant when the customer can't pay?
Same story for me. I sat and waited while hubby ran to the ATM machine. I don't rely on him anymore-I make sure I have my wallet with me.
Who's responsibility was this?
I guess that was the point I was sort of trying to make. I don't expect my hostess to provide me with an ingredient list of every dish she makes and my husband has a nut allergy so I understand full well that we have to proceed with caution. I get that and accept it. From the way this story was told however, the woman who made the tea realized that she was using a sweetener that might be a little bit uncommon (not dangerous) but chose to withhold the information until the end of the evening. What was the point in that? If an ingredient is going to cause controversy, be up front about it or keep your mouth shut.
Who's responsibility was this?
I think experimenting at home (non social situation) with stuff like this is fine but never in a group and certainly not without letting everybody know ahead of time.
Tipping for Takeout?
Separate and apart from the tipping issue on take out, I don't mind if they add in a small service charge for the take out supplies like the containers, napkins, bags and so on. I know those items can add up.
Looking for a source for boilable bags
Yeah, I've been put right in the middle of this little issue. Part of the people are saying that Ziploc is just doing some CYA and to not worry about it and then I've got the other side saying that they won't participate if I don't come up with a different solution. Maybe we will just eat oatmeal for our next breakfast day!
What do Chowhounds do for a living (besides eat of course)?
Well, I feel kind of like a slacker reading all the other accomplishments in this thread! This is quite an amazing group of people. I just work for our local city government. Nothing exciting but it pays the bills! I enjoy eating and and traveling so that works well for me. Really though, my passion is baking. It didn't take too many trips out of the country for me to discover that we don't get the best quality desserts in our local grocery stores so I quit buying them and set out to learn to make my own. I'm by no means an expert but it is a learning process and fun in the meantime!
Looking for a source for boilable bags
Thanks for the responses on this! Apparently on one of the cooking shows, somebody came up with this as an idea for camping. They said to put 3 eggs in each Ziploc baggie, add your preferred omelet ingredients (probably precooked), boil them for 13-15 minutes and you supposedly have some kind of steamed eggs. I guess the Ziploc people were inundated after that segment and have said that under no circumstances should you boil in any kind of Ziploc bag because they are not meant to hold up to that kind of heat. I'm not anxious myself to ingest melted plastic and I'm trying desperately to find an alternate source of bags before this project gets brought up again! I will look at the cooking bags or I might have to resort to ordering some.
http://camping.about.com/od/campingrecipes/a/ziplocbaggies.htm
Why everyone needs to work in a restaurant... [moved from General Chowhounding Topics]
Maybe I'm different then because when a server approaches my table, I only assume that this person is working to earn a living just like me (although in a different type profession) but I make no assumptions and draw no conclusions about why somebody would choose that industry. It isn't my business and I don't care because I'm not entitled to know my servers life story. I try to not be a pain and will usually leave a 20% tip if all goes well. If not, that is a story for another thread but I don't need to work in a restaurant to know that we all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity at our jobs no matter what we are doing. It is the least we can do for each other.
Looking for a source for boilable bags
The crew at work (yes we are bored) wants to try those omelets that you boil in Ziploc baggies but after reading on the internet that Ziplocs were not made for that, I'm wondering if anybody knows of another source for a sealable bag that would be safe to boil in? I don't really want to have to buy a Seal a Meal for this little project.
Food Odors at Work
It is amazing isn't it how much of the microwave popcorn cooked at work gets burned and I really don't understand it. I don't supervise the breakroom so I couldn't say what happens but it is nasty. I wonder if people wander away to use the bathroom or something and come back to find it burned?
Carrying food on a domestic flight...TOMORROW
My mother just brought back a five pound bag of French bread flour as carry-on from London. They didn't blink an eye so you should be okay!
Not sitting a party of two in a half empty restaurant
Well, we left. Not a problem for us.
Not sitting a party of two in a half empty restaurant
Maybe this is more common in restaurants than I thought. We once entered a local restaurant in the afternoon between the lunch and dinner rush. The place was maybe one third full if even that but they refused to seat us saying that they didn't have the wait staff to handle the current number of seated tables. The hostess wanted us to sit in the bar I guess until one of the currently occupied tables emptied out. We left and the place went out of business about six months later.
Columbia, Missouri?
I do notice that the original post is years old so here's hoping the OP survived his wine tasting! However, I wanted to ask your opinion about Bangkok since they have moved. Have you noticed a change in the quality of the food or is it just my imagination? I used to really like the Pad Thai noodles and the last couple of times I had them in the new location, I have left half of them behind in my bowl.
Removing chopsticks from the table?
I just meant that the chopsticks were supposed to be for us, they were not extra settings on the table. Maybe we were intending to use both chopsticks and the fork. Sometimes people get bored at the table-it has been known to happen. My point is that she didn't really know that we had not taken them out of the sleeve, inspected them, put them back and set them aside intending to use them maybe. I think she should have asked before just grabbing them off the table.
Removing chopsticks from the table?
I went in a sushi restaurant today with a friend and on the table they had two sets of those cheap chopsticks in the paper sleeves. When the food came, we asked for forks at which point the server snatched the chopsticks and said "Let me take these then so that we can save them for another customer." Uh, okay. We had not touched them and I wouldn't have let her take them if we had but, how did she know for sure that we hadn't been messing with them?? I thought that once something like that was set on a table, it was not supposed to be recycled so to speak. Is this standard behavior or was she being a little strange as we both thought?
