DON’T!!.  

Today I went for a ‘quick bite to eat’ at lunchtime with my eldest daughter and her boyfriend, which, turned into a waiting game with some professional work dodgers for waiters/waitresses.  They seemed to have expertly developed a way to look extremely busy by quickly mincing past tables and avoiding eye contact with customers (hoping someone else will do the work for them).  I wanted to rugby tackle at least two of them to the floor.  I may have, had my soup not finally arrived. Tepidly warm.


It’s a pet peeve you see. I worked as a waitress when I was younger, for a few years and the tips were good.  Most people usually left about 10% of their bill and more because we worked hard.  There was no shirking and avoiding customers. We just weren’t ‘programmed’ that way. Even a woman whose backless dress I tipped an ice cold tray of drinks down, left me a tip. I offered to have it dry cleaned and didn’t charge her for her meal. You work hard and be kind, people notice and reward you. It’s that simple. 

So is it a generation thing? Are youngsters nowadays (shit I sound old) just becoming less motivated? Have they got it easier than we did?  Perhaps.  For one, they don’t have the witch Thatcher for A Prime Minister.

My best friend, who is a little meaner than me about tipping (she won’t mind me saying) always says I tip too much but when you’ve been on the other side of the table, as it were, you realise what that tip means but today, I refused.  Most unlike me.  She would have been proud, had she been with us but she was at home with a malady of the bowel* shall we say.

(Shitting lava*)

It felt a teeny bit harsh and I was a little embarrassed at myself at that point for leaving nothing, however, my future son in law almost grew a beard in the time it took for his pasta to be served.  We sat half way though our food, parched, before drinks arrived. My daughters food was grossly undercooked David Cameron might have shagged it and they completely forgot our coffee order whilst still managing to charge us twice for it.  

‘a small tip’

I’m fairly sure they gave  us some resentful looks as we left but I didn’t look back and nor will I venture back I don’t think.  The soup was good but not that good and I prefer it warm.  I didn’t effing order gazpacho!

So there you have it.  That’s my Daily Moan done on #PetPeeveWednesday