What did you do on the Easter?
 

I want to know how you have the religion holidays.

I traveled out yesterday. I will post some pix here soon.

That post(pictures) will give you 1000.
Easter? Called my mother and said, uh huh, ok, I see, for an hour and a half. :bonk:

We took the young 'uns on a few Easter Egg hunts (last Saturday and this afternoon), painted Easter eggs last night (that's a lot of fun - especially if you use the wax crayon to make patterns on the eggs), took my daughter to church - my son was too sick so mommy stayed home with him, called Mom. And Daddy had a nice stiff drink - been six weeks without.

My kids are too old for easter egg hunts, so they just got their traditional baskets full of chocolate bunnies and then we had a Honey-Baked Ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls at my sisters house. We're not very religious. My older boy was baptized Lutheran and my younger son was baptised Catholic and I am neither religion!!

WE NOW LOVE YOU, FROM ALL OF US IN ANTHONY FRANK CHIRICO
 

AGAIN, LOVE ANTHONY FRANK CHIRICO, OR LET HIM LOVE YOU

Brianna- What did you do on the Easter?
 

Let me love you, I'll love you back! from all of us.-Mike Tarico, Anthony Chirica,Frank A. Chirico, John Chirica and more!

Had a decent breakfast, a good amount of jellybeans and chocolate, and no initiative for dinner. Had planned to do the Applebee's Carside to Go thing, ended up microwaving whatever.

I worked all day. Holidays are the worst to wait tables. All the scum comes out for special occasions. 15% tips were the norm today, no one cares that it's a holiday and instead of spending time with my family, I'm slaving for them. And I really was nice and fake. I got good comment cards, but I don't want verbal tips, call me shit and GIVE ME MONEY.
Then, after work I went to my grandmother's house and had to act fake with my mother and her fiance who I can't stand lateley and listened to my grandmother tell me stories of how her and her sister drive up to providence every weekend and how her sister drinks and then speeds all the back into town, so now I won't be able to sleep anymore on weekend nights, or I'll have to get obliterated...whatever, I could go on, but no one likes to listen to someone else's extended complaints, so I'll just shut up. Happy Friggin Easter.

Pete and I sang at the Easter Vigil Mass. We put the kids to bed and set up the clues for them to find their baskets. Easter Sunday we had a family dinner where everyone was on their best behavior. My niece brought a college boy-friend along... I guess that makes me what, old?

I watched way too much basketball this easter weekend and ate way too many M&Ms.

It's okay though... UNC is going to the final 4!

One of the drawbacks to being non-religious is that you don't get to do the holidays.

Fortunately, the rest of the family is religious so I went to Pensacola to spend the weekend with my mother and let her feed me.

This is why people have a problem with wait staff. You're bitching over an adequate tip.

No matter how "nice and fake" you were, the fake shows.

ditto. 15% is adequate for adequate service. 20-25% is good for excellent service.

Traditional family get-together. Went to inlaws (1 hr drive) Sat afternoon, hung out, then went out to a favorite italian restaurant for the recent birthday of myself and father-in-law. Enjoyed several peach nectar martinis :) After kiddo in bed, hid eggs filled with coins and candy around house, dipped chocolate covered strawberries, and went to bed. Had inside egg hunt in the morning, opened easter baskets. Watched basketball off and on. After kiddo down for nap, put another set of eggs outside in backyard for her to find. More extended family arrive, have meal of ham, sweet potatoes/yams, deviled eggs, relishes, twice baked potatoes, homemade bread, several salads, and double dipped chocolate strawberries (I ate a total of 12 yesterday). Kiddo wakes up, eats, and does her second egg hunt, skipping the whole time. Afterward, sit around with various family members chatting and nibbling on easter goodies till 6 pm, then visited my mom for an hour before finally leaving for home.

If I get fake vibes off my wait staff, I won't tip. Period. It's ok if you're having a bad day and are a little cranky, as long as you get me what I want when it's supposed to be there. But if you're shining me on, you'll get nothing. I hate fake people.

We watched old movies, sorted paperwork in preparation for our home refinance/tax filing, took a nap, then had a Pagan ritual (a regularly scheduled one...we had Ostara last Sunday).

Ate breakfast with parents. Allowed self to be dragged to church. Enjoyed painful bronchitis-class coughing while memorizubg the conjugations of various irregular French verbs. Drank a bunch of cough syrup and fell asleep. Woke up and it was all over except for the chocolate bunny, and I managed to kill that before breakfast. Can't wait until the next holiday. At least I'll be able to blow things up. :D

like I SAID, I got good comment cards. In other words, the people LIKED me, they circled "excellent" on the comment card for both friendliness and service, yet only left 15%. 15% is only an "adequate" tip if I fuck up. If I am courteous, prompt, friendly, knowledgable, AND it is a holiday, I deserve 20%. Don't even get me started. The reason I added "fake" is because I have PMS and blisters on my feet. Yes, I had to fake my way through that shift, but let me tell you, I am a hell of an actress and I don't obviously kiss ass or make stupid small talk.
Anyway, 15% was more like the average- I got a $2 tip on a $34 tab from two women who ignored me when I asked them for their drinks until I had to walk away. When I came back, I said "hi, have two two decided what you'd like to drink or would you like a few minutes?" to which they responded "how much crabmeat is in this salad?" Fucking RETARDS.
If you're one of these cheap, ungracious, thoughtless, condescending, rude or ignorant customers, then FUCK YOU TOO.

stacy - 15% is a decent tip. 10% is on the cheap side. 20% and up is on the extravagant side. if you don't think you are getting paid enough, then go to a restaurant that charges more for their food. 15% of $50, is a hell of a lot more than 15% of $20.

And if you have a "thing" against waitstaff and their attitude or comments in general, just think about WHY we are like that. I know that personally, I was NOT such a bitch before I started waitressing. I had a much more pleasant personality and a more positive attitude towards people in general. Deal with enough scum and this is what happens. Working with the general public is bad for your mental health so forgive us our attitude and try to see why we would be this way. And don't give me the shit about "get another job" because I only have to work 25 hours a week and I have a flexible schedule and I make enough to pay the bills, and I'm not leaving until it's time for me to be a housewife.
One more thing, even though I am jaded, I really, truly do appreciate the nice people, the ones who are pleasant to me and treat me like a person. The REAL people, not pretentious or condescending or trying to impress their friends or whatever. I really, truly do have kind thoughts for these people and they are what keep me going. I'm not totally fucked up. For all the assholes who have chipped away at my niceness, there really are a few good people out there.

Jesus, one more thing..If 15% is so adequate, then why have I NEVER EVER even once heard a complaint when we add 18% gratuity to a party of 6 or more??
I mean, if it's so much MORE than adequate, wouldn't people complain that it's too much? They KNOW it's an acceptable tip. They don't complain. I never said I expect 20% from every table. 18% is the average for good service. If you have a problem or you don't like your server or if you're really poor and you had to bring your dying child to a restaurant because it was his last wish, fine, tip 15%. In order to tip 10% or less, the waitress should have to spit in your food in front of you, drop hot coffee on your baby, or slip your man her phone number, seriously.

stacey, i am an exorbitant tipper generally, because i bartended my way through college (as did my wife). i did very very well. i didn't surpass my bartender income with my "real job" for a few years even.

i am very pleasant to the waitstaff because it can be a grueling, frustrating job. i tip well when they deserve it. but i'll tell you this, when the waitstaff has a shitty attitude there is a very strong possibility that they will find one penny on the table when i leave. not because i'm cheap, but as a message "get your shit straight or find a new job". if you find that you are consistantly getting shafted on tips, while others in the same restaurant do well - look inward before you blame the customer. if you are making the same thing that the rest of the waitstaff brings in - then you have to make a choice A) i need more money, so i'll go to a different restaurant, or B) the income is sufficient, I'll quit my bitching and get back to work.

I tip well, too. But the idea that someone is entitled to 20% of the total tab just because they think they have a hard job....well, no.

Everyone gets at least 15% unless they're assholes. People who do a really good job get 20+%. Assholes get 10%, because, in the words of my ex-girlfriend:

Lookout, the whole point of my rant was that it was Easter and I made crappy tips. I average 18%-20% and up every shift, unless it's tour bus season (old people on pensions) or a holiday. I generally make good tips and get good comment cards, and I don't go around bitching about the money I make because it's pretty good. I would never, ever be rude or give an attitude to a customer, no matter how they treat me. I really don't think I need to look inward and it's not about finding a new restaurant, because I usually do well there. My whole point was just that people tip like shit on holidays, especially Easter and Mother's day. It's like they are forced to go out and they really don't want to spend the money. My rant was that my Easter sucked, not my everday tips, just the tips from the scum that comes out on holidays.

Noodle, I don't demand 20%. I think 18% is a nice tip, but 15% means I must've done something wrong. And when I rack my brains out and I really can't think of one thing that was off about their dining experience or my attitude, it leads me to the logical conclusion that they are cheap and looking to get away with leaving as little as humanely possible for a job very well done.

Try working with real, live psychotics, bi-polars, schizophrenics and depressives! Sheesh! Have any of your customers threatened to kill you? That's pretty standard stuff where I work. That and being called "slut", "whore", "bitch" and "nazi". As in, "if you don't let me outta here, you fucking nazi bitch-whore, I'm going to KILL YOU!!! (insert your own version of maniacal laughter here.)

I hope your employer provides you with free couseling!

sure they do - who do you think is saying these horrible things to her?

stacey, where do you come up with the 18% vs. 15% number? I was always told that 15% was pretty standard. Plus, it's a pain in the butt to multiply by 18% in your head. lol

18% is what is typically added to parties of 6 or more. the reasoning is that the larger the party, the more likely that someone will stiff the waitstaff(intentionally, or just a mixup in the confusion) , also that additional waitstaff may be needed to help shoulder the load.

No counseling. Just lots of increasingly dangerous situations. Like really scary patient-to-staff ratios. We also have lots of nuts who really enjoy masturbating--right in the hallway! Or dining room! Or TV room! Talk about crappy tips!! Spooge is the crappiest! :eek:

noodle, it's the easiest thing in the world to get one percent, right? okay, now double that and you have 2%. Now, all you have to do is find out what 20% is (which is easier than calculating 15%), and subtract the 2%.
example:
check is $25.00
1% of that is .25, so 2% would be 50 cents.
now, 20% of $25 is $5.
SO, 18% is $4.50
(20% minus 2%)
They also make tip wallet cards with a little graph that has the numbers in it, and some people use their cell phone calculators.)

Hell-even better, be lazIER. 20% is simply easier to calculate than 15% :)



Here is a quote from a post on my other favorite forum, bitterwaitress.com:

people who say why should they tip? They are eating in a restaurant and are ENTITLED to service and they should not have to pay extra for it, they think. When you eat in a restaurant, you are paying for the food and the preparation. That is why restaurants pay their servers $2.13 an hour. Because the cost of your service is not tied into the food. If it were, your food would cost a whole lot more because the restaurant does not operate on a profit loss. They would not start paying all those people waiting tables and bussers real wages and keep the prices the same. See, their costs would go up, and to keep the same profit margin (yes, this is a business, not a soup kitchen) they would have to charge you more to cover those employees. I know you don't want to believe it, but I promise you that restaurant owners and corporations would not give you this personal servant and eat the cost out of their own pockets because they like you.
A person waiting on you, who serves you while you sit on your behind and order around, is a PRIVELEGE. Not a right. The person that does everything for you at a restaurant and kisses your ass and more, the person you expect the world from on a platter, that is a person just like you. He was not born for the purpose of serving you. His place in life is not at your feet. You are just not entitled to service. Rich people pay their butlers and maids and personal assistants. The restaurant actually gives you the ability to not tip well for poor service, so that you get good service in the long run. It's for your own good, man. I mean, why else would anyone care if you got your 4th refill automatically? Or, that we remember you told us an hour ago it was your wife's birthday. If I wasn't hoping for 20%, I wouldn't have such a good memory. Really. My memory is sh*t. When I started waiting tables, I forgot half of what I needed to remember. But, I want 20% .. so I forced myself to remember all kinds of things that really are not that important to me.... the only real importance they have for me is that I want your dinero. If I didn't get a tip, well believe me, I would not have worked so hard to develop such a good memory. I certainly wouldn't suck at my job enough to get fired, but I sure as hell wouldn't work as hard as I do. I really would let you wait a whole lot longer for things, instead of learning how to do 5 things at once for 5 tables so you hardly wait at all for something. And, really, the fact that you think of me as your personal slave for an hour..... that doesn't come free. Do the right thing, I know it's hard in this day and age. I know you are a selfish person and don't think of anything but you. I know you want everything for free. I know you think the world revolves around you. But, it's not the right way to be.

staceyv--sorry Easter was poor tip time for you.

See, when I go out to dinner, that's all I'm looking for from the waitstaff. Let's all be adults here, and it's easy enough to be nice. And to tip.

Infinitely more wise than all my bullsh*t babbling.

But this other comment from someone else, man...thanks for the very entertaining excerpt from the aptly named bitterwaitress.com site. Hilarious.

Just so we're clear, I think the author of the excerpt is on very thin ice trying to justify tipping. More clarity, I used to live on tips and so I have empathy for you and her(?). But the rantings here don't explain why I should tip, they only let the bitterness out.

funny tho...

Here is a quote from a post on my other favorite forum, bitterwaitress.com:

people who say why should they tip? They are eating in a restaurant and are ENTITLED to service and they should not have to pay extra for it, they think.

Well, yeah, unless I can go into the kitchen and get the food myself, I expect to have the food delivered.

When you eat in a restaurant, you are paying for the food and the preparation.

Uh, and to have it brought to me from the kitchen, and advertising and rent and utilities and wages and profit... Actually, I pay my bill, and what the owner does with the money is out of my control. Talk to you boss about it, not me.

That is why restaurants pay their servers $2.13 an hour.

Not. My. Problem. Clearly the restaurant owners have a waaay better lobbying organization than the servers do to rate an exception to the minimum wage laws (which, themselves are a travesty).

Because the cost of your service is not tied into the food. If it were, your food would cost a whole lot more because the restaurant does not operate on a profit loss. They would not start paying all those people waiting tables and bussers real wages and keep the prices the same. See, their costs would go up, and to keep the same profit margin (yes, this is a business, not a soup kitchen) they would have to charge you more to cover those employees.

Blah, blah, blah...Hey. If I could go into McD's and get a meal and change from my $10 bill, how is it that, say, Red Robin's costs are so astronomically higher that they have to charge 8 times more for the same thing? Duh, it's a business not a charity, and you show signs of knowing it too. But you overlook the business' motivation to keep it's costs low, especially it's labor costs.

I know you don't want to believe it, but I promise you that restaurant owners and corporations would not give you this personal servant and eat the cost out of their own pockets because they like you.

News Flash! You're not my personal servant. Oh, and you work for the restaurant. Not me. My personal servant? Will you wash my car? Cut my meat? Seriously. And the owners do eat the cost out of pocket, but your pocket, honey. You sell yourself too cheap. The competition's fierce and almost certainly someone will be standing in line behind you, who's NOT working, ready to take your place, if it's not working out for you. Maybe 10 people. Probably 8 of them were born in a different country. Your beef is with managment, not customers.

A person waiting on you, who serves you while you sit on your behind and order around, is a PRIVELEGE. Not a right.

And having a job is a PRIVELEGE, not a right. Say, I have a question. Do you tip the shoe salesman? Mailman? Paramedic? Flight attendant? Barrista? Car Salesman? Realtor? Trash collector? Doctor? Cashier at McDonalds?

The person that does everything for you at a restaurant and kisses your ass and more, the person you expect the world from on a platter, that is a person just like you. He was not born for the purpose of serving you. His place in life is not at your feet. You are just not entitled to service.

I met this person once. They worked for the government and were perfectly content in that role. They knew they were not born to serve me, and they communicated that truth with deafening clarity. It would be a horrible mistake for someone with that worldview to try to make a living as a restaurant server. Only a masochist would try. Seriously, when I go out to eat, I don't want my ass kissed, I don't want the world on a platter. I want room to move my feet around under the table, thank you very much. Just bring the food from the kitchen on time, and check back occasionally to see if we want to buy anything else from the restaurant. Then bring the check.

Rich people pay their butlers and maids and personal assistants. The restaurant actually gives you the ability to not tip well for poor service, so that you get good service in the long run. It's for your own good, man. I mean, why else would anyone care if you got your 4th refill automatically? Or, that we remember you told us an hour ago it was your wife's birthday.

Be a butler, be a maid. Personal servant, my eye. Look, I know what I am getting into when I go out to dinner. If I wanted to get my own food and my own beverages, I would. Indeed, I often do. Plenty of restaurants are discovering that it's cheaper to charge for the cup and give away the pop rather than keep an expensive inefficient server on hand that costs money for the whole shift and rarely brings in any profit. But we probably move in different dining circles.

If I wasn't hoping for 20%, I wouldn't have such a good memory. Really. My memory is sh*t. When I started waiting tables, I forgot half of what I needed to remember. But, I want 20% .. so I forced myself to remember all kinds of things that really are not that important to me.... the only real importance they have for me is that I want your dinero. If I didn't get a tip, well believe me, I would not have worked so hard to develop such a good memory. I certainly wouldn't suck at my job enough to get fired, but I sure as hell wouldn't work as hard as I do. I really would let you wait a whole lot longer for things, instead of learning how to do 5 things at once for 5 tables so you hardly wait at all for something. And, really, the fact that you think of me as your personal slave for an hour..... that doesn't come free.

I detect a severe case of cart-horse transposition. You have sow before you reap. And I studied hard in school to get good grades, so my customers wouldn't have to wait long for answers to questions. Should I become dumber or act dumber if I don't get the strokes I want? That's so self-destructive. Sheesh. Go have your bad hair day in some other poor sap's section, and I'll get my own iced tea. I can see it sitting there at the end of the freakin bar anyway.

Do the right thing, I know it's hard in this day and age. I know you are a selfish person and don't think of anything but you. I know you want everything for free. I know you think the world revolves around you. But, it's not the right way to be.

Look, I'll do the right thing and stay the hell away from your restaurant. You do the right thing and get a job as a lineman for the county or parking enforcement officer or President of the United States where your contact with the public is highly controlled and you're in a position of power to disregard them entirely or to drown them in your righteous bitterness. Then the facts still won't matter, but at least you'll be getting paid.

Just a quick reminder? Almost everyone will have to serve someone else at some time in their life. It's good for you, keeps you from getting too cocky & full of yourself.

I find that hard to believe.

Or maybe it's just the way people are in New England.

Restaurants down here nearly always get shit over the automatic tip for large parties. In fact, I've seen the calculator come out to make sure that places that won't back down on that policy get exactly 18%. From people that typically tip 20-25%.

oh yeah, down south is a WHOLE other story. If I was ever forced to live outside of New England again, I would rather dig ditches than wait tables. It's just not worth it, really.
But I'm serious- no one complains about the added gratuity- in fact, I often get an extra $5-$10 thrown in, just to make it an even 20%. I've been waiting tables here for 5 years. I'm a good waitress, I know what I'm doing, I know how people want to be treated and what they expect out of me. THAT's why I get pissed when I get crap tips for no reason.

I would be pissed too. But a far easier approach to the problem (for your spleen at least), is to simply give the same level of good service all the time, and know that at the end of the month, you're going to make roughly the same amount you did the month before. I have no way of knowing if that's true, but what I'm saying is, you might want to consider the long view. It's probably less stressful than having an internal battle with yourself over every slight, perceived or real.

The asshole who tipped a buck for his $25 meal has to go home and live with his asshole self. You just go on to the next table. And the $25 meal didn't hurt your arms any more than a $5 one. S'all in a day's work, man.