Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

ch-scene - Re: Note to waitpersons

ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Note to waitpersons
  • Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 11:24:21 -0500

Would you think it odd if they asked you if you needed a fork, or a napkin? How about if you dropped your fork on the floor, would you find it strange if they said "do you need another fork?" and seemed reluctant to make the extra trip to get you one?

I can understand "do you need a box?" if you have leftover food, because some people want to take home leftovers and some people don't, and once the box is on the table you've either got to use it or it needs to be thrown away, and that would be a waste of a perfectly good box.

As for change, I quite often need it, because I live in enlightened times when two people dining together split the check, and the change is often necessary to get the details of that worked out. Doesn't mean the tip is going to necessarily be less than the total of the change; it might just as easily be *more*.

The point is that the waiter/customer interaction is so limited and codified that every utterance takes on layers of additional meaning, and it's hard to read "do you need change" as anything other than "don't waste my time getting you change; that money is rightfully mine," and that's a drag.

xo

Ross

p.s. yes, I'm a crank. I would assume that would go without saying (I know it does for Bo, but there may yet be others reading this), but if not, there you go.

Bo Williams wrote:
This is, honestly, the first time I've ever heard anyone complain
about wait staff asking if you need change. As far as I can remember,
it's something they've always done in more-fancy places where odds are
either a) you're paying with a card or b) you actually don't need
change.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page