Thursday, April 15, 2004
Last night, KT and I went to Uno's at Union Station. We were invited to help celebrate a belated birthday for a friend of ours. Ridor may hate this but I've learned a few more things. It's not just about tipping but about other things as well.
First of all, KT and I already told ourselves that, long time ago, that we refuse to order with a large group of people. The reason being is that restaurants usually give one big bill for parties of 6 or more. Sometimes, gratuity is included in the bill. Anyways, what usually happens is that when the bill comes, it gets passed around as people are trying to figure out what they owe. Then, they try to tell the waiter that they owe only this much and pay their part...instead of the whole party paying all at once. It's almost impossible to pay the whole bill at once because some pay with cash and others pay with credit or debit cards.
I remember last year, I believe, Witch had a surprise birthday party at a Mexican restaurant. There was about at least 30+ people for Witch's party. KT and I told each other not to order anything because it would just be chaotic with paying the bill. True business! When the bill arrived, there were some meals not paid (but eventually were paid) and not enough tip were left for the waiters.
Back to last night, there was only 9 of us and 2 kids. Fast forward to the billing part. The bill arrived and again, it was passed around to see what each of us owed. True business! The waiter came and said that someone didn't pay and he was supposed to get almost a $30 tip and all he got was $6. Surprise, surprise! We were all trying to figure out what had happened. We found another common oversight. People tend to pay for their food and tip but they almost always forget to include the tax. You know...DC's tax is 10%. If you and your date's total for the meals comes to about 40 bucks...and let's say, you only tip about 10% (when you should be tipping 15 to 20%)...you throw in an extra 5 bucks. However, tax is 10%, which is 4 bucks. So, in reality, after tax, you really paid $1 in tip. (Yes, I know you're supposed to tip what you owe before tax.)
So, maybe tipping isn't the problem...it's overlooking the tax part.
All in all, we were able to find the missing part and paid up the whole bill with the appropriate tip (with someone having to throw in extra tips.)
But that wasn't all. We were invited to help celebrate this person's birthday. Now, if the birthday person did the invitation, that's another story. However, someone else made the invitation to help celebrate our friend's belated birthday. (None of us were able to celebrate on her birth date as it was the wrong timing.) We all went out and hung out and chatted. At the end, I noticed that the birthday person paid for her own meal. I was like...whaaaa? I thought it was her birthday celebration and she's having to pay for her own meal. Fucked up! Don't go asking people to help celebrate someone's birthday if you don't have enough dough to pay for birthday person's meal and beverage. That was just really tacky! I was like...gosh, hopefully soon KT and I can take her out and just let her feel special.
There's another issue but I'm not gonna bring it up. It's just a pov that I was raised and taught about birthdays. However, after thinking it through, I realized that this other issue can be seen by many other pov's.
ta ta for now...
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First of all, KT and I already told ourselves that, long time ago, that we refuse to order with a large group of people. The reason being is that restaurants usually give one big bill for parties of 6 or more. Sometimes, gratuity is included in the bill. Anyways, what usually happens is that when the bill comes, it gets passed around as people are trying to figure out what they owe. Then, they try to tell the waiter that they owe only this much and pay their part...instead of the whole party paying all at once. It's almost impossible to pay the whole bill at once because some pay with cash and others pay with credit or debit cards.
I remember last year, I believe, Witch had a surprise birthday party at a Mexican restaurant. There was about at least 30+ people for Witch's party. KT and I told each other not to order anything because it would just be chaotic with paying the bill. True business! When the bill arrived, there were some meals not paid (but eventually were paid) and not enough tip were left for the waiters.
Back to last night, there was only 9 of us and 2 kids. Fast forward to the billing part. The bill arrived and again, it was passed around to see what each of us owed. True business! The waiter came and said that someone didn't pay and he was supposed to get almost a $30 tip and all he got was $6. Surprise, surprise! We were all trying to figure out what had happened. We found another common oversight. People tend to pay for their food and tip but they almost always forget to include the tax. You know...DC's tax is 10%. If you and your date's total for the meals comes to about 40 bucks...and let's say, you only tip about 10% (when you should be tipping 15 to 20%)...you throw in an extra 5 bucks. However, tax is 10%, which is 4 bucks. So, in reality, after tax, you really paid $1 in tip. (Yes, I know you're supposed to tip what you owe before tax.)
So, maybe tipping isn't the problem...it's overlooking the tax part.
All in all, we were able to find the missing part and paid up the whole bill with the appropriate tip (with someone having to throw in extra tips.)
But that wasn't all. We were invited to help celebrate this person's birthday. Now, if the birthday person did the invitation, that's another story. However, someone else made the invitation to help celebrate our friend's belated birthday. (None of us were able to celebrate on her birth date as it was the wrong timing.) We all went out and hung out and chatted. At the end, I noticed that the birthday person paid for her own meal. I was like...whaaaa? I thought it was her birthday celebration and she's having to pay for her own meal. Fucked up! Don't go asking people to help celebrate someone's birthday if you don't have enough dough to pay for birthday person's meal and beverage. That was just really tacky! I was like...gosh, hopefully soon KT and I can take her out and just let her feel special.
There's another issue but I'm not gonna bring it up. It's just a pov that I was raised and taught about birthdays. However, after thinking it through, I realized that this other issue can be seen by many other pov's.
ta ta for now...
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