The difference between Brits and everyone else

[JonA_CT]

The tipping habit is hard to break as an American, I gotta tell you. When I was in the pub with my cousin, I started to try to be my normal amount of generous as I got a few pints in. The bar mistress rolled her eyes and sighed in the direction of my cousin, who would pull the few quid I left on the bar back and put it in his pocket

 

[Watchful]

The tipping habit is hard to break as an American, I gotta tell you. When I was in the pub with my cousin, I started to try to be my normal amount of generous as I got a few pints in. The bar mistress rolled her eyes and sighed in the direction of my cousin, who would pull the few quid I left on the bar back and put it in his pocket

You have to give up a lot of the common courtesies in the UK, tipping, talking to people, being friendly. I see why so many Brits use forums, it's the only contact with strangers they get.

 

[table1349]

We could kill tipping here in an instant if we wanted to. From now on pay everyone the same $2.00 an hour for their work. The teacher needs more then they will have to be the best teacher in the school and hope those they teacher well enough that in a few years their student will give them a tip once they realize the value of what they taught. The doctor needs to make sure that their surgery, diagnosis etc. are spot on, timely and maybe they will get a tip from the patient. Let the business owner, CEO gets paid $2.00 an hour and the employees decide on a daily basis what they should receive. Tipping would be a thing of the past in a month from all the @$$ kissing everyone would realize they have to do.

 

[table1349]

The tipping habit is hard to break as an American, I gotta tell you. When I was in the pub with my cousin, I started to try to be my normal amount of generous as I got a few pints in. The bar mistress rolled her eyes and sighed in the direction of my cousin, who would pull the few quid I left on the bar back and put it in his pocket

You have to give up a lot of the common courtesies in the UK, tipping, talking to people, being friendly. I see why so many Brits use forums, it's the only contact with strangers they get.

Many in the world view them as uncommon courtesies or even discourticies.

In the UK and most of Europe people are expected to do their job and in turn they expect to get a fair wage. When we were in the UK we found people quite friendly. They were more reserved but I'm not sure that is such a bad thing. One fellow explained that it was because they don't want to seem pretentious to others. They live their lives and let others live theirs. One thing I have found from our time living in Europe, be it the Britts, Germans, Dutch, Italians and yes even though I joke about them, the French, once one has accepted you as a friend, you are a true friend for life. This seemed to hold true in virtually every european nation we visited.

 

[limr30 3]

How long has it been? More and more of those kinds of jobs have become McJobs. A few years ago waiters and waitresses seemed to care about giving good service. We have a few restaurants as well as other service businesses around here that pay all their employees a full wage. They have signs up expressly advising that they do not accept tips. Always get great service these places.

Less time than you might think.

Someone who hasn't been in the restaurant business has a hard time understanding what it's like to work in it. To be a good front of the house worker takes more skill and thought than others give credit for, but most customers understand that the wait staff is not cooking the food, and so if the food sucks, they're generally not going to punish their server for it. A good restaurant puts just as much care into training their wait staff as they do about their food. Perhaps chain restaurants are skimping on waitstaff training, but their turnover is huge, even moreso than in non-franchised restaurants.

 

[table1349]

Oh, Brits can't make a good pumpkin pie to save themselves. You have to be able to make pumpkin pie.

Some of us are still resisting Halloween

No no no, pumpkin pie has nothing to do with Hallowe'en! It's about Thanksgiving! Y'know, that holiday that we have to give thanks that we're not in England anymore?

*hides*

I always thought it was to give thanks to the real americans, they didn't use that word, that saved a bunch of starving europeans from dying of starvation. We certainly thanked them.

 

[table1349]

How long has it been? More and more of those kinds of jobs have become McJobs. A few years ago waiters and waitresses seemed to care about giving good service. We have a few restaurants as well as other service businesses around here that pay all their employees a full wage. They have signs up expressly advising that they do not accept tips. Always get great service these places.

Less time than you might think.

Someone who hasn't been in the restaurant business has a hard time understanding what it's like to work in it. To be a good front of the house worker takes more skill and thought than others give give credit for, but most customers understand that the wait staff is not cooking the food, and so if the food sucks, they're generally not going to punish their server for it. A good restaurant puts just as much care into training their wait staff as they do about their food. Perhaps chain restaurants are skimping on waitstaff training, but their turnover is huge, even moreso than in non-franchised restaurants.

Been there as a manager, but that was over 35 years ago. The owner saw to it that everyone got paid a real salary. They did accept tips but they were not expected. Service was good because people wanted to work there. Everyone from the bus boy to the wait staff, to the cooks etc. all were treated well. It was also properly staffed. Two of our sons were waiters in their high school years in a nice Italian place. Again they were treated pretty well, but they did have to rely on tips. One has stayed in the food industry and is the head of catering including preparation of the food. He gets a full decent wage. The service he puts out is second to none. He understands that he isn't going to be head of catering if they do a lousy job since their catering business will decline and die.

 

[Watchful]

How long has it been? More and more of those kinds of jobs have become McJobs. A few years ago waiters and waitresses seemed to care about giving good service. We have a few restaurants as well as other service businesses around here that pay all their employees a full wage. They have signs up expressly advising that they do not accept tips. Always get great service these places.

Less time than you might think.

Someone who hasn't been in the restaurant business has a hard time understanding what it's like to work in it. To be a good front of the house worker takes more skill and thought than others give credit for, but most customers understand that the wait staff is not cooking the food, and so if the food sucks, they're generally not going to punish their server for it. A good restaurant puts just as much care into training their wait staff as they do about their food. Perhaps chain restaurants are skimping on waitstaff training, but their turnover is huge, even moreso than in non-franchised restaurants.

This is true, the waitperson is the face of the facility. The only time I ever got upset at a server about the quality of the food was when I ordered a bean and cheese burrito at one of my favorite restaurants, a family owned Mexican place, and the cheese was not melted into it. I asked the server to please take care of it and was told that 'the cheese is not supposed to be melted in a burrito'. To which I replied, then you owe me for the 50 other ones I have gotten here before that were done wrong, or just make this one right please.
I still gave my 10% 'slap in the face' tip.
The next time we went there she had been replaced.

 

[limr30 3]

This is true, the waitperson is the face of the facility. The only time I ever got upset at a server about the quality of the food was when I ordered a bean and cheese burrito at one of my favorite restaurants, a family owned Mexican place, and the cheese was not melted into it. I asked the server to please take care of it and was told that 'the cheese is not supposed to be melted in a burrito'. To which I replied, then you owe me for the 50 other ones I have gotten here before that were done wrong, or just make this one right please.
I still gave my 10% 'slap in the face' tip.
The next time we went there she had been replaced.

Yes - it wasn't her fault that the food was prepared incorrectly, but it WAS her fault that a) she didn't know how it was supposed to go out (a good server knows the menu), and b) that she didn't just apologize and fix the error, even if she thought it wasn't one.

Because I've been in their position and understand what it's involved, I will generally tip a server very well. On the other hand, again having been in their position, I also know how to tell if I'm dealing with a crappy server as opposed to one who is either slammed or dealing with a crappy kitchen. In the case of a crappy server, I will definitely leave a lower-than-average tip.

And servers remember you. If I gave someone really great service but they gave me a crappy tip anyway, guess what? Next time you are sat in my section, you will get the service that you paid for. I don't even care about the tip at that point because you've already proven that you'll give a crappy one, so why am I going to bust my ass over you if the end result is the same?

It works the same way within the staff as well. As a bartender, I would serve customers but also pour the drinks for the table (service bar - some restaurants if they are big enough have separate bartenders for each.) The servers would give a share of their tips to me (as well as to busboys and, if we had one that night, the expediter.) There was one guy I worked with who was a crappy waiter and he would often forget to tip me out. So the next time we'd work together, I would "happen" to forget tickets or pour his drinks last.

 

[Designer]

And use his / her name when addressing them. If you know who they are, they will be likely to remember who you are.

Odd that you say that. Most places around here share tips. So it really doesn't matter who they are, what kind of service they give, if you remember their name or any of that. Shared tips ought to be discouraged because it does absolutely nothing to assure proper service. In many of these places, one person shows us the table, another takes our order, yet another brings the food. We see each person only once. Even if we wish to tip only one particular person, they all share.

 

[Watchful]

And use his / her name when addressing them. If you know who they are, they will be likely to remember who you are.

Odd that you say that. Most places around here share tips. So it really doesn't matter who they are, what kind of service they give, if you remember their name or any of that. Shared tips ought to be discouraged because it does absolutely nothing to assure proper service. In many of these places, one person shows us the table, another takes our order, yet another brings the food. We see each person only once. Even if we wish to tip only one particular person, they all share.

I have never been to a place like that myself. Is that a franchise thing? I don't eat at franchise restaurants.

 

[tirediron]

Ehhh... sorry. Not buying it. When you agree to do a job, you generally know what the salary is, and you should do the best job you can irrespective of the circumstances. The customer should not have to buy good service.

 

[limr30 3]

Been there as a manager, but that was over 35 years ago. The owner saw to it that everyone got paid a real salary. They did accept tips but they were not expected. Service was good because people wanted to work there. Everyone from the bus boy to the wait staff, to the cooks etc. all were treated well. It was also properly staffed. Two of our sons were waiters in their high school years in a nice Italian place. Again they were treated pretty well, but they did have to rely on tips. One has stayed in the food industry and is the head of catering including preparation of the food. He gets a full decent wage. The service he puts out is second to none. He understands that he isn't going to be head of catering if they do a lousy job since their catering business will decline and die.

I waitressed through college at a few places, and I also waitressed after grad school before I went overseas. When I came back to the States, I once again got myself a waitressing job to supplement my adjunct pay, and then moved to bartending. So my latest stint in the restaurant business lasted from 2004 until about 2011 or so, so it's only been about 5 years that I'm out of the business. And to be honest, I can't even say I'm totally done with it because some days I'm seriously tempted to just bag this whole academic BS and get a full-time bartending job in one of the higher-end restaurants that Buzz's father does business with.

 

[table1349]

And use his / her name when addressing them. If you know who they are, they will be likely to remember who you are.

Odd that you say that. Most places around here share tips. So it really doesn't matter who they are, what kind of service they give, if you remember their name or any of that. Shared tips ought to be discouraged because it does absolutely nothing to assure proper service. In many of these places, one person shows us the table, another takes our order, yet another brings the food. We see each person only once. Even if we wish to tip only one particular person, they all share.

I have never been to a place like that myself. Is that a franchise thing? I don't eat at franchise restaurants.

You might actually be surprised. It is the idea of team work so the wait staff and bartenders share a portion of their tips with the back line and cleanup staff. This is done at the end of the night after all the customers are gone.

 

[limr30 3]

And use his / her name when addressing them. If you know who they are, they will be likely to remember who you are.

Odd that you say that. Most places around here share tips. So it really doesn't matter who they are, what kind of service they give, if you remember their name or any of that. Shared tips ought to be discouraged because it does absolutely nothing to assure proper service. In many of these places, one person shows us the table, another takes our order, yet another brings the food. We see each person only once. Even if we wish to tip only one particular person, they all share.

I have never been to a place like that myself. Is that a franchise thing? I don't eat at franchise restaurants.

No, it's a common thing to pool tips. The way of doing it depends. Where I worked (which was not a franchise), you'd tip a percentage to the bartender, the bus kids, and the food runners. And then if there are several bus kids and food runners on duty, they will split all the tip outs evenly amongst themselves. Everyone generally knew that if they wanted more money, they support the wait staff well because they are the ones representing everyone else, and they are the ones the customer thinks of when tipping.