Tipping in US vs. Europe Round 1 Pt. 2

I maintain that each system has evolved a payment scheme that reflects the expectations of the diner. If you tried to change the system in Europe back to a tip system, chaos would ensue. It wouldn’t be reflective of the staffing requirements nor the expectation that you won’t be rushed. And if you tried to [...]

Tipping in US vs. Europe Round 1

As promised, here is the first installment of a conversation about the tipping system of the US vs Europe specifically (and can be extended to the rest of the world). And you’ll see why Erik correctly characterized me as “loquacious”. Blogger Erik, who proudly lives in Spain after growing up in the US started his [...]

Responding to observation of non-tipping in Europe

On August 31st, Erik, an expat living in Spain posited this, in his post intitled “Tipping”: “One difference between the US and Spain – and the rest of Europe, I think – is the practice of tipping in restaurants and bars. In the US, tipping is such a common custom that the waiters’ salaries are [...]

Top Chef episode 5

Image courtesy of http://serenabartonsblog.blogspot.com/ This episode was hot and dry, sort of the Joanna Lumley of Top Chef episodes. Disclaimer – I am the proud owner of a Walrus four person tent, a Sierra Designs one person tent,  a 26 year old Gregory internal frame state of the art backback (that set me back almost $200 [...]

The old “blacks don’t tip” canard

is true when you believe it before you even greet your black table. Unless you just don’t buy into it. Michael Lynn did a study where he found that they tipped about 3% less than whites. I find this a lot of bullshit personally. I find that blacks tip pretty close to what other races [...]

An new milestone

Yesterday was the first day that the blog received over 500 views in a day. This was despite the paucity of posts in the past few days due to a fairly intense work schedule. A little of it was a weird searching for “fattest cat” by a few people (one of my recent posts has [...]

Slight update

I’ll be following up in the next couple of days defending not changing from a tip-centric transaction scheme to a service charge/wage Euro-type system. I’m in the middle of a quick turnaround at work. I didn’t get out of the restaurant until midnight last night and I’m back in at 10am for a double today. [...]

An opinion about tipping in the US vs. the rest of the world

Here is the opinion of an American living in Spain, from the blog “Erik’s Blog”: He thinks that America would be well-served by dropping tipping and going to a mandatory service charge as you find in most of Europe. I will address his points when time permits. If you do a Google search for Erik’s [...]

Cookbook of the day – Going Solo In The Kitchen

Going Solo in the Kitchen by Jane Doerfer Publisher:Knopf; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (August 25, 1998) ISBN 10: 0375703934 ISBN 13: 978-0375703935 You know, sometimes you either want to, or are forced to by circumstances,  cook  just for yourself. You live alone, your significant other is out of town, you’ve been dumped/divorced/downsized and just want [...]

No guns allowed sign posted

I’m proud to report that a shiny new “No guns allowed” sticker now graces the front door of our restaurant. I just noticed it, and it might have been there for a while. As I previously posted, a new law allowing concealed weapons in establishments serving alcohol was passed and went into effect in July. [...]