Beading and Tipping your Waiter/Waitress!

I got the rosary done! And also made a pair of earrings and a bracelet. I worked on a necklace but need to make a couple of adjustments still. Obviously, the rosary got me into a beading mood. And I want to make two more rosaries before Sunday so that Fr. O can bless them before I take them to my aunt and uncle next Saturday. I know I should be knitting for the craft show, but I think I needed a break. My right wrist has been bothering me this week (no clue what carpal tunnel feels like), so I figured a rest was in order.

I'd take a picture and post it but the work camera has been gone all week. I need to harass the last person who signed it out and see if we're ever getting it back.

I'm getting my hair cut today! I'm getting my hair cut today! I'm getting my hair cut today!!! Yes, I'm excited! I hate it when it starts to cover my ears because then it flips up when I put on my glasses or sunglasses. It annoys me no end!! And it's probably just me but I just think that I look better when my hair is short. I know that when the YS tells me "Your hair is looking good." I'm thinking it looks terrible and I'm generally hating it. Or she'll tell me right after I get a hair cut, "I knew you were going to get it cut, because I was beginning to like it." Whatever. She doesn't wear her hair to suit me and I don't wear mine to suit her.

Whew! I found someone to go to the symphony with me tonight. The fabulous Miss Sandie expressed an interest earlier this week in going to the symphony, so when I found myself in need of someone to use my extra ticket, I e-mailed her and she jumped at the chance. Yay!!! She's promised not to wear her Grave Digger t-shirt and combat boots, so you know that made me happy! I had contemplated just finding two people to use the tickets, but I told myself NO! This is a concert I really want to hear! The DSO is going to play Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 and Tchaikowsky's Symphony #5. I love Tchaikowsky in all his forms, so I would hate to miss anything of his!!!

I just got done reading a whole bunch of blogs linked by Waiter Rant, and I feel the need to defend myself which is completely ridiculous, but I'm annoyed.

For some reason, I'm stereotyped as a bad tipper automatically because I'm a single woman in my 40s. And to top it off, I order water (sometimes with lemon) to drink instead of pop or something alcoholic or as an after dinner coffee substitute – herbal tea. I could have left comments at the various sites, but just didn't feel the need. So, I'm going to inflict this on you, my faithful readers.

1) I order water because I don't generally drink pop because most restaurants only carry Pepsi/Coke, Diet Whatever, or Sprite/7-Up. I don't do caffeine and I don't like Sprite/7-Up. And I would love to order a beer, but if I'm driving I think that's considered to be slightly bad form these days. If someone else is driving? I'm all over that adult beverage, thank you very much! I don't even drink pop at home.

2) When in a bar, I tip $1 a drink – be it water, beer or mixed drink.

3) Another point the servers like to bitch about is people who don't order drinks, appetizers and desserts – entrees only. This is supposedly another indication of people who don't know how to tip and never eat out. It could be because the people are in a hurry to get to a concert or movie or just aren't that hungry or they have a budget and want to make sure they have enough money left to give you a decent tip.

4) I rarely leave 15% as a tip, preferring to tip closer to 20% and I absolutely hate splitting the bill with a bunch of people where somebody doesn't leave enough so then everybody is throwing in enough to make sure there's enough tip. That's one thing about my friends, we know how hard it is to wait tables (even though I think only of us has done it) and we don't want to stiff the server, so people are always digging in their pockets and purses saying, "Do we have enough?" "Do we need more?"

And I firmly believe that sometimes a restaurant that automatically includes a gratuity of 18% for groups over 8 is screwing the server because some people would have left more – although I totally agree with the person who just thought, "but they could give more, if they wanted to." And then there's the flip side when that automatic 18% is necessary because of all the cheap asses who are out there.

I have never waited tables and I know I never could without "accidentally, on purpose" spilling something on an asshole who so richly deserved it or getting high blood pressure. As such, I try to follow the golden rule and treat any waitstaff/server as I would want to be treated. And I actually think that there are probably more people like me out there than the shitheads, but it's hard to bitch about a table that treated you well and tipped fairly, but not spectacularly. And I'm not complaining about the bitching, because I like reading about it and I also feel they have the right to bitch and if I were in their shoes I would be bitching like there is no tomorrow and I welcome their posts. So, bitch away, but really, I think generalizations are not cool.