June 13, 2006
-
Talk about litigation run amok! Catch this story from Yahoo! News: “A U.S. consumer group sued the
operator of the KFC fried chicken restaurant chain on Tuesday
to try and force it to stop it from frying foods in an
artery-clogging fat.”If the fat used by KFC is too unhealthy, then DON’T EAT THERE.
If enough people stop eating at KFC due to the fat that company uses, trust me, the type of fat will be changed.
What will this ‘consumer group’ take after next? Krispy Kreme?
Don’t even think about it.
Currently in progress in North Carolina is the annual SBC (Southern Baptist) shindig, where it’s distressing to read this account from an attendee who is liveblogging it:We ate at a restaurant for lunch today after the rush was over. The
waitress was either about to cry or about to punch a wall. She asked if
we were with “that convention”. We said yes and asked her if she had
experienced a good day with “us”. She said that in fact she had not.
She had worked about 3 shifts in the last 30 hours, and she said that
her tips were measley.What is worse is that she said that
everybody was leaving her these little papers with Bible verses on
them. You guys have any idea what she is talking about? She even had
low-tippers leave her one of those phony dollar-bill tracts. She asked
us if we knew what it felt like to pick up what you thought was a great
tip, only to find out that it was not real, and that the patron had
actually been a cheapskate after she served them well?We
apologized on behalf of the clods who left her 5% and a tract. My buddy
Klay was picking up the bill for us, and he tipped her so well that she
ran up to us with a big smile and said, “Guys, you have just made up
for the whole afternoon!”This was great, except it didn’t help the other servers. I’m no more of a fan of the tipping system than anyone else, but having had three children who’ve worked in the restaurant industry as servers, this sort of thing really hacks me.
You know what should be tried? Tipping and no-tipping areas, with the no-tipping having a pass-through from the kitchen. Diners choose what they want, fill out a ticket and take it up to the pass-through, the cook yells out the name on the ticket and the diner goes to retrieve his or her own food, gets beverages from a central location, and doesn’t leave until their table is cleaned off.
The tipping area would have the servers who bring the diner their food, drinks, clean off the tables, etc.
It’d probably work best to simply have a “service charge” in lieu of a tip, and comment cards for rating the server. A certain number of positive cards earns the server so much money, meaning it’ll be in their best interest to provide diners with courteous and prompt service.
Personally, Don and I would choose the server area, preferring to pay for the “restaurant” experience. Those who must pinch pennies can have the same food without paying for service. Thinking about it, it should lower the number of servers and bussers required, which could, in turn, lower the menu prices.
Comments (3)
You, know, though this is very indicative of Evangelical America….prove your Christianity with just words and don’t back it up with actions. Leaving a tract, but being inconsiderate just reinforces the unbeliever’s idea that we are just all a bunch of hypocrites anyway. Very sad!
It breaks my heart how often I hear these stories about how “Sunday brunch is the worst time of the week for servers” and the like. It makes me want to scream; it’s not like treating your waitress (or other service people) decently is one of the really HARD challenges of the Christian life. It’s not up there with being honest on the job under pressure, dealing with difficult children patiently, bearing up under persecution — it’s something that decent people do WITHOUT THINKING!
Argh, it just frustrates me SO MUCH. I don’t wanna be self-righteous about it, but it really gets me when I hear this!
Oh my!! I am taking a moment to try to catch up. I still have my nieces and my house is crazy so I’ve not been to the computer much. But anywho, here’s my 2 cents on tipping. I tip. 20% for just getting the food to the table and nothing else, the tip goes up from there. I am easy to please. And the restaurant business is a hard one I think.