The difference between Brits and everyone else

[table1349]

One word: bagels.

Ahh.. bagels. Ok, this thread can be locked now. There simply isn't anything more of value that could possibly be added.

Ok seriously, you didn't see this coming???

BACON!

 

[limr30 3]

One word: bagels.

Ahh.. bagels. Ok, this thread can be locked now. There simply isn't anything more of value that could possibly be added.

Ok seriously, you didn't see this coming???

BACON!

Bacon is overrated.

 

[Watchful]

So how do Brits do bagels differently than everyone else in the world? Do they dunk them in tea?

 

[Designer]

In most other jobs, yes, you have a certain level of BS. Everyone knows it's BS. They often gripe about the BS they have to put up with to do the job.

I've worked in several departments of this state. In one, my partner had a saying:

"They keep making this job harder, but so far they haven't managed to make it impossible."

 

[limr30 3]

In The Netherlands and a lot of other European countries it is quite normal to give a waiter in bars, restaurants etc. 10 to 20% tip money. So this is not something for the US, exclusively.

In The Netherlands, like in most other European countries, we have something like minimum wages and everybody at least gets such a minimum wage, so nobody in The Netherlands depends solely on receiving tip money. I don't know about the situation in other European countries and the US.

Like in several other countries in Europe, it's normal (and always has been) all the tip money that is received gets shared by the entire staff of a bar, restaurant, hotel etc. It's an "extra" to them, because - as said - they receive a normal wage as employees.

We've got minimum wage here, as well, although it's causing some controversy these days. It's difficult to support oneself with a minimum-wage job, and in some areas of the country, it's nearly impossible. Forget about raising a family. The issue with any job that relies heavily on tips, however, is that employers can pay less than minimum wage, making the employees even more dependent on the tips. When I was working in restaurants, my paycheck was pretty pitiful. It was good for gas money, maybe, but it was the tip money that I needed to pay bills. Well, and I was "lucky" enough to have the restaurant job as a second job, for supplemental income, so I didn't depend on the tips as much as did someone whose only job was waitressing.

 

[robbins.photo]

In most other jobs, yes, you have a certain level of BS. Everyone knows it's BS. They often gripe about the BS they have to put up with to do the job.

I've worked in several departments of this state. In one, my partner had a saying:

"They keep making this job harder, but so far they haven't managed to make it impossible."

I remember having to print out a 12,000 page report every night. We had to have two operators on duty to sign off on when the report started and then again on when it finished.

As soon as the report finished printing, we then had to both leave the computer operations area and take the report to the shredder, where it was promptly shredded, and we both had to sign off on the time that it was shredded.

I found out very quickly that you were not supposed to inquire as to this curious procedure, as to why we were printing this huge report only to shred it the moment it finished printing. It was "an established procedure".

 

[Watchful]

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.

In The Netherlands and a lot of other European countries it is quite normal to give a waiter in bars, restaurants etc. 10 to 20% tip money. So this is not something for the US, exclusively.

In The Netherlands, like in most other European countries, we have something like minimum wages and everybody at least gets such a minimum wage, so nobody in The Netherlands depends solely on receiving tip money. I don't know about the situation in other European countries and the US.

Like in several other countries in Europe, it's normal (and always has been) all the tip money that is received gets shared by the entire staff of a bar, restaurant, hotel etc. It's an "extra" to them, because - as said - they receive a normal wage as employees.

Tips are common in all of North America and South America. I was pointing out the differences in Brits to everyone else. They hate to tip and complain about it. At least the ones I associated with.

 

[robbins.photo]

Bacon is overrated.

BLASPHEMY! HERETIC! UNBELIEVER!!!!

Ok, finding my happy place. Bagel. Cream Cheese. Bagel... ooohhhmmm..

lol

 

[limr30 3]

Bacon is overrated.

BLASPHEMY! HERETIC! UNBELIEVER!!!!

Ok, finding my happy place. Bagel. Cream Cheese. Bagel... ooohhhmmm..

lol

Remember that it's bagels and lox. LOX. Not bacon. And don't forget the shmear.

 

[john.margetts]

Tips are common in all of North America and South America. I was pointing out the differences in Brits to everyone else. They hate to tip and complain about it. At least the ones I associated with.

different to some others, perhaps, but not to everyone else. In Finland, for example, tipping is insulting and if you tip someone they will immediately return the tip.

As in the Netherlands, we have a minimum wage. It has just been changed this month by the conservative government to the National Living Wage, the idea of which is that a working person should be able to support themselves on their wages without social security top-ups. It is currently £7.20 an hour (9.13 Euro or 10.32 USD).

 

[Designer]

.. where it was promptly shredded, ..

We seem to be missing a "groaner" button.

Yes, I can completely understand that. I imagine that once upon a time, back when "printing a report" meant actually printing it ON PAPER, but then the IT guy said "give the command to "print" and he expected the report to be "printed" to a tape. You know how some of those guys talk.

Then of course, they couldn't allow an actual printed copy to be floating around so every anarchist could see it and maybe steal it, so the order was given to shred it.

And all of those rules were written by someone who did not understand the process, and that's what you get.

I once had a job monitoring a casino, and we had to get a report from the casino's mainframe once a week. I was told "do this, and then do that, and then do this thing", which were the directions for making an inquiry.

After a while, I decided that I could entertain myself by configuring several other kinds of reports, but had no reason to give them to anybody.

 

[robbins.photo]

.. where it was promptly shredded, ..

We seem to be missing a "groaner" button.

Yes, I can completely understand that. I imagine that once upon a time, back when "printing a report" meant actually printing it ON PAPER, but then the IT guy said "give the command to "print" and he expected the report to be "printed" to a tape. You know how some of those guy talk.

Then of course, they couldn't allow an actual printed copy to be floating around so every anarchist could see it and maybe steal it, so the order was given to shred it.

And all of those rules were written by someone who did not understand the process, and that's what you get.

I once had a job monitoring a casino, and we had to get a report from the casino's mainframe once a week. I was told "do this, and then do that, and then do this thing", which were the directions for making an inquiry.

After a while, I decided that I could entertain myself by configuring several other kinds of reports, but had no reason to give them to anybody.

Oh we had a tape copy of the report that went to a special vault every night, on top of the printed copy which had to be shredded. Made pretty much zero sense, particularly since the system generating the report was a legacy system that hadn't had any new data put in it since the mid-eighties, and this was back in the early 2000's when I worked there.

Several of us commented on it, questioned it.. it even got brought up in a meeting at one point. That went over like a lead balloon, and that's putting it nicely. The administration informed us that we were not to bring it up again, and that was that.

 

[Designer]

(nods head in silent resignation)

 

[Designer]

Oh, and for the record; I yield, you win. You had the most ridiculous job EVAH!

 

[robbins.photo]

(nods head in silent resignation)

Best part? It was lab results for a study that had taken place way back when, the results of which had been published long before I ever got there. So all the data was in the public domain and had been for a couple of decades.. lol.

But we still had to have two guys sign off on the fact that it printed, and then sign off again on the fact that we shred the thing, because, well, that was procedure.

The first question we raised is why we were even keeping the legacy system online since the only people with access other than the few of us in operations had long since retired or moved on from the University, nobody else had a login. We even suggested that instead of routing it to the printer we could route it to a file instead, then just delete the file. Wow.. what a kerfluffle that caused... lol

I'd like to say that was the weirdest thing I saw in that job, sadly though that was just the tip of a very, very scary iceberg..