So I was in Sydney and found my perfect pub, the Dove & Olive. I was a bit surprised to learn that it was an insult to tip the waitstaff. So I learned how it worked.
You go up to the bar and order what you want. You pay ahead of time. You find your own table. They give you a number. They send somebody over to your table with your food. If you want more food or drink, you go and repeat the process. If you want bbq sauce or mustard, it's sitting on a side table somewhere in the joint. Get it yourself. When you're done, they bus your table and that's it. Here in the states, the closest thing to it is how Carl's Jr works. I like it.
The most important thing about a sit down restaurant is that you get to sit down. So we have some difficulty because we have a lot of restaurants like Denny's and Tony Romas where the food isn't all that great and the service isn't all that great, but we're stuck in the formal restaurant rut in terms of the service style. There's nothing about these kinds of joints that is the elegant thing where the waitstaff ought to make a difference. They're watering holes.
I got in the habit of tipping because I was on business and expensing my meals. But even the business meal joints have become rather run of the mill to me. Basically, if you don't have live music, but you do have some music, it's not a fancy tipping kind of joint. So I would say there is a class of overpriced chain restaurants like PF Chang's, Houstons, Mortons and McCormick & Schmick that are in my sights. I'm going to tip there out of force of habit, but I really don't want to. I can get food that good at an Aussie style joint, but right now the Frequent Flyer, Happy Birthday and First Date crowd are keeping these places alive. Those people tip.
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