Why tip?
I just don’t grab the concept of having to tip somebody for the job they applied for and were hired to perform (“Waiter Hatin’,” May 15 cover story). As in any other place of employment, restaurants should pay salaries according to their size, popularity, importance and fame. For instance, as owner of the recently named Best Restaurant in America, Rick Bayless should pay his wait staff $20 or $25 per hour. In contrast, a taco place salary could start at minimum wage.
Why should a diner be responsible for the salary compensation of a person he (or she) didn’t hire? You don’t tip CTA drivers, dentist receptionists, Walgreens cashiers, airline pilots, firemen or the police officer you called when you were assaulted or robbed, do you? Nobody tips me for doing my job as a receptionist.
Based on these simple reasons, I just don’t tip.
Eric Muiz de la Rosa, 60, Pilsen
Mind your customer etiquette
I work part-time at a very popular and busy restaurant downtown right off of Michigan Avenue that is known for its great food and service. Like most other servers there, I have an alternate career that I’m pursuing. While I hear some readers complain about their bad service experience, I would ask them how often they actually have good experiences in comparison. At our restaurant we have a required speech that we must give to all guests upon greeting them to inform them of our expansive menu.
That said, here a few suggestions to guests at any restaurant:
1. It is not OK for you to talk on your cell phone while your server is trying to greet you, offer you a beverage and/or tell you about the day’s specials.
2. It is not OK for you to get so disgruntled and refuse to eat because you can’t get a table by the window. The food does not taste any better with a view.
3. Saying you’re going to “take care of” your server does not constitute a good tip; nor does the less than 15 percent tip when you have said you appreciated the service that was given to you.
4. It is not OK to order (or attempt to) off the menu for things we don’t have. Modifying your dish is one thing; modifying it to the point that it no longer resembles what it originally was is not OK. The point of going out to eat is to try something that you would not otherwise make at home.
Bill McMurray, 34, Rogers Park
Flight attendant from hell
Boy, do I ever have a horror story (“Unfriendly skies,” May 15 story). It happened on [a trip] from Chicago’s O’Hare to Austin, Texas, in February 2006.
I was sitting in a window seat, one row behind and across the aisle from a young mother toting two children (a.k.a. YMT2). I couldn’t help but notice a very agitated female flight attendant (a.k.a. VAFFA), pacing up and down the aisle, performing what appeared to be pre-takeoff checks. While the YMT2 was drawing attention to herself (for having two children and trying to get organized, God forbid), VAFFA noticed her. VAFFA curtly reminded YMT2 about the “buckle your seat belt and/or stow your stuff above” rule. YMT2 didn’t move fast enough for VAFFA [and] had the audacity to ask VAFFA for assistance, to which VAFFA responded, “It is not my job to help passengers lift their items into the overhead compartments.”
Shortly — and I mean seconds — after, YMT2 says, “… but I can’t at the moment, can — ?” VAFFA says, “That’s it, you’re off.” Next thing we know, the plane has turned around from the runway, headed back to the gate, and security personnel were called to throw this YMT2 off the plane.
Michael Biede, 42, Western Suburbs
Beware mean co-workers
The problem with bullying in the workplace isn’t limited to bosses (“Desk Rage,” May 14 cover story).
I’ve seen (and experienced) it from co-workers in the form of “mobbing” and malicious gossip. Bullying co-workers who are unchecked by supervisors can make the office a toxic place to be.
Barbara Robertson, 45, Lakeview
