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ch-scene - Re: waiting for grady-ot's change

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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: waiting for grady-ot's change
  • Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:53:47 -0500

Thanks, Rick.

It is true that it did happen recently at Rick's place d'emploi. Had it just been there, however, I would've just chalked it up to a bad night or a harried waiter or whatever. Despite my lengthy yammering, I'm not really that obsessed with this issue, and it honestly didn't detract from my evening.

I posted because it had happened several times in a relatively short period of time, and despite my best efforts it has lately lodged itself in my brain as a peeve. Sometimes all it takes to dislodge such a thing is to bitch about it (or more to the point, sometimes I can't stop myself ;-) ).

I've had a few conversations about this offlist, and while I will cling to the death to my perhaps-antiquated notions of what top-flight restaurant service entails, I'm ever-more-mindful of the various mitigating factors that have been brought up. Specifically, the decline of cash (I finally started using a credit card to buy gas because the whole driveoff thing has made it excruciating to try & pay cash in advance to fill yr tank, but it was a sad day for me) *and* the bizarre existence of this apparently very real subset of patrons who don't like to receive change & who are apparently as cranky as I am about it.

I liked the scheme Rick! referenced re: "I'll be right back with your change . . . " with the half-second pause for the customer's "no need, my good man!" but as that would have to come from the server's side, I can't really do much about it.

One possibility suggested (I'm not gonna say if I'm the one who suggested it to myself, though I may have) would be to alert the server ahead of time that I'm a cranky sonofabitch, but that hardly seems like a good idea. Although I have been known to advise a waiter on occasion that keeping the water filled was my only service criterion. But I swear, I was really thirsty that night.

Nevertheless, it is even *less* advisable to expect a server to be able to read minds, so I expect I will either have to loosen my standards or find a way to gently subtly advise the server of my apparently esoteric needs without sounding like a sociopath.

I *do* love a challenge!

OK. Back to the project that I *should* be devoting this time to: visiting all these goddamn local-band websites & downloading MP3s so I can play these consarned ungrateful local bands' music on the radio since they're all too goddamn lazy to burn a CD & drop it by the radio station.

xo

Ross

p.s. so far, Monsonia (OK, they actually *sent* a CD, so they get extra-credit) and Fake Swedish are winning whatever prizes I'm handing out.

igou AT unc.edu wrote:
as a restaurant professional, i feel both qualified and compelled to
comment on ross's experience and opinion. (see thread "note to waitpersons" for reference...)

as the manager of one of the restaurants to which he refers (although he most graciously omits names in his postings, as best i can tell he was in
my place of employment on one of the dates he notes), i also feel obligated.

yes, ross, i fully agree with you that it is rude to ask a guest if they need or want change when picking up a cash payment from a table. this should not have occured in my restaurant and if it indeed did you have my apology. i assure you that i will remind my entire staff that they should not ask this question, ever.

as to your inquiry, i can offer several reasons that a server might ask such a question:

first, as you and others have noted, is a desire to "save steps," either from laziness or efficiency (two sides of the same motivational coin).
second, as a subset of the first, the restaurant -- or server, themselves (note that many, if not most, restaurants now require servers to carry their own banks and settle with the house at the end of service) -- may be short of change and smaller bills and attempting to avoid a lengthy change-out process when it is not needed. (as 3 pointed out correctly, very little cash is exchanged in restaurants, especially those with higher costs.)

and, third, it is true that some guests do react negatively when brought change, as if insulted that you think them too cheap to tip that much. a server may have been burned by that before.

please note that a server will rarely, if ever, ask if you want change if they perceive you aren't leaving enough tip; they will, instead, hurry to get you your change before you leave so you can see the amount and realize what is hoped to be an error. (that is if they are able to calculate the gratuity in a snap -- a difficult task as you rightly noted.) if a server
is paying attention and can calulate and they ask if you want change -- an
unlikely combination of events, but not impossible -- the implication is that
you left TOO MUCH gratuity, not too little. (is this, then, a compliment? i leave that up to your evaluation.)

finally, assuming you will continue to pay cash for restaurant transactions (which is entirely correct, though you do still pay the extra 2% or so that all businesses charge to cover credit card transactions) there is an easy way to prevent a server from asking this rude question: keep your hand on the tip tray and, when the server approaches to pick it up, turn to them and say, "may i please have change for this?" or, better yet, specify exactly the change you want -- 1's, 5's, 10's and so on -- so you don't have to send them back again to break that 20 you didn't want.

flames to my email, only, please.

(and, i implore you, please, please, please don't cross-post this to triangle.dining. please.)

you guys get back to music and i'll get back to lurking.

xxoo.

-ri
-- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene





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