FrancoAmerican's Profile
cucumber wrapped sushi
Crab stick? Really? That's like dressing a dog in a tuxedo.
It's the hotdog of Japanese food.
TC, lobster, and cholesterol
Yes, I hear this stupid argument all the time. I've also heard that the cholesterol tables floating around popular magazines are flawed. The measurements done decades ago were inaccurate for seafood. In any case, dietary cholesterol does not equal blood chotesterol.
Take out Tipping
Bingo! Generally, no service, no tip. Sometimes I get the impression that the inapproriate tip jar is more like begging: My job sucks, give me money.
If you are waiter who has to take and prepare caryyout orders, your job sucks. Get a new job or convince your boss to structure it better. It's not my fault that your boss is a jerk.
What about this: I have a few drinks at the bar and get a six pack to go. Do I tip on the carryout six pack? Of course not.
Origins of the "15-20% tip" rule?
Here's the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge: waiting tables is an unskilled job.
Yes, there are some really great servers out there, but for many it's a job you can get with no experience or training. You earn money based upon the skills that you learn on the job. You make more money if you work in a more expensive busier restaurant. I know people that work 3-4 hours a day as servers and maybe four shifts a week and do quite well.
In other jobs, you are compensated based upon your skill level. A server's minimum wage is unimportant is he/she is good. It's a brutal free market system. Car salesmen usually earn comission only. If they are good, they make great money, if not they starve and go into some other line of work, like being ... a waiter.
I'd be fine with getting rid of tipping altogether and let restaurants establish their own rates of pay for servers. That works well in France and as a consequence you can sit at a cafe table with a coffee for six hours and no one cares.
Origins of the "15-20% tip" rule?
Nope. Tipping has been 15%+ for decades before Reagan. That tax stuff is wrong too. Reagan stuck it to the little guy by making restaurants record servers' net sales, assume an 8% tip on sales and then they withhold taxes based upon the 8%. That's why you got a zero check.
Say you sell $1000 of food and drinks. The govt assumes you make a minimum of 8% in tips or $80. The restaurant withholds, say, $20 for federal taxes. Your base wage is $3.50 times five hours = $17.50, so you owe more in taxes than your regular wage.
Back in the 80s when cash tips were the rule, servers were getting away with murder on their taxes. I suppose they probably still are, since no competent server walks away with 8% tips. So a good server is probably only reporting half their income.
Forks vs. Fingers [moved from General Chowhounding Topics]
I'm always amazed when Americans try to be "authentic" and eat maki or nigiri with chopsticks. They were invented to be eaten with your hands. Imagine someone in Japan eating a ham sandwich with a knife and fork. Even more amusing is watching someone trying to jam a futomaki into their maw with chopsticks.
Eating At The Bar
Nobody tries to hurry you at a bar so that they can turn over the table. Servers hate single diners often. They see the empty seat(s) as lost earning opportunity.
Why do restaurants post up money bills by the register?
OMG, it's a good luck thing -- representing their first transaction. It represents the humility of knowing that you started as nothing.
Other than that it would just be tacky decorating. I was in a taxi in Argentina in which the entire interior of the cab was plastered with Argentine currency. That was an ironic statement on the worthless nature of their money at that time of hyperinflation.
Take out Tipping
It seems to me that there is a certain vulgarity to tipping these days. People tipping too much to impress people or out of an arrogant sense of noblesse oblige. It's insulting to professional servers that you would equate a cashier handing you a bag of food with the job that they do at your table. Sorry, but it seems like another facet of Americans being inelegant about money, yes, vulgar. Tipping should be discrete, something more personal than tossing money in a jar.
What about tip jars in confessionals? Where does it end? Tip jars are not really about tips. They are more like the baksheesh in Turkey or Greece -- a bribe to get someone to do their job properly. I remember how unpleasant it was having a Turkish masseur pulverizing me as he kept saying "Baksheesh" over and over. It ruined the otherwise interesting yet terrifying experience.
Tip jars other than a bartender's are about shaming you into giving money. That's despicable. If you want to give someone a tip, just give them something. No need for the public display of American vulgarity. How about a return to grace regarding money in public. Have we ever had that?
On a less cranky, note: When people put out a tip jar where there should be none, like a takeout deli or a movie theater, they also seed the jar with some of their own money. At my neighborhood deli, I saw a jar that had about $15 in ones and no coins. Strategy counts.
I'm a little hypocritical, because I worked at a grille in a big bar, making sandwiches, wings, etc. I had a tip jar and made serious money from drunk people. I also almost cut a guy's hand off when he reached into the jar. He got really upset because he was only making change, dude.
I think the next time I visit my regular bar, I'm going to set out a tip jar. You know, for providing excellent conversation and unsolicited advice. And for not peeing on the floor.
Take out Tipping
Take out tipping is foolish. You are not using the restaurant's space, linens or service. Handing you a bag of food is very different than providing dinner service. Every restaurant handles take out differently. If servers have to prepare the orders, then that is a nuisance for them. But why should you compensate someone for the restaurant's poor system? Why not tip at McDonalds? No more guilt tipping.
New Velleggia's?
What happened to Velleggia's in Baltimore? I drove past and the exterior has a new look. Has anybody been there recently?
