Mrs Walles and I seem to have developed an odd affliction: when we go out to restaurants recently the waitress brings the bill to the table before we've even finished our mains, leaving no opportunity to order dessert. Now anyone who knows us will attest that we certainly look like people who could be persuaded to peruse the dessert tray, so it seems likely we've just struck a couple of people who want to finish their shift. Either that or they've decided we look like we've already taken advantage of the dessert tray enough and are withholding it from us for our (in their judgement) own good.
The other night we went to a favourite eatery. We hadn't been out to dinner in a while and we planned to do the thing properly, but we were denied dessert again. We'd also been going to order a little something to take home for lunch the next day, but we couldn't do that either. I guess we could have piped up and said we wanted to order something more, but why should we have to? And besides, then we'd be dealing with a snotty server and who knows what unsanctioned extras would find their way into the coffee?
This actually hurts her more than it hurts us - we just paid and left and picked up desert from Dunkin' Donuts. She didn't get as big a tip as she might have, partly because we didn't appreciate the service, and partly because she missed out on 15% of whatever dessert, coffee and lunch would have cost. It all goes to show that tipping isn't necessarily the good motivator that is supposed to be. And also that it's easy to find bad service in America. But - and I may have said this before - at least it's sincerely bad service. Still, I think I'd rather have insincerely good service than sincerely bad service if it means the difference between a pleasant night out and an evening cut short.
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