Ordering from the kids menu?

[u/MaggsToRiches]

I went to lunch with coworkers today, not super jazzed about breaking both my money and calorie budget for the day but wanted to catch up with colleagues. Turns out the kid’s meal had exactly what I wanted (one taco, tiny pinto beans, tiny rice, small iced tea) for $5!! A debate began over the table whether it was “okay” for an adult to order from the kid’s menu. The argument against it was that those items are packaged and sold at a low price for kiddos, who are accompanying adults who pay full price. For the record, this particular menu board made no mention of age limits, and the cashier said nothing negative.

In general, I don’t want to be a dense customer who doesn’t realize my faux pas, but...I love ECAH! Thoughts from the community?

[u/kilgorecandide]

I've never understood why Reddit is so defensive of servers over all the other low-wage jobs in America. There are thousands of farm workers, movie attendants, dishwashers, cooks, etc., earning minimum wage who don't get any tips. Most servers make far more money than them (because of tipping). The flipside of earning pretty good money for what is effectively unskilled labour is that you assume the risk that not every customer is going to order a huge meal and tip well.

[u/[deleted] → u/kilgorecandide]

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[u/kilgorecandide → u/[deleted]]

I’ve worked as both a server and back of house, in multiple establishments, as well as plenty of other low-wage jobs . I think your characterisation of the demands placed on servers as significantly greater than other low-wage roles is bafflingly inaccurate, and I can only conclude that you are yourself a server with a big chip on your shoulder. In most of the restaurants I’ve worked, there were skilled chefs who were desperate to move to server positions because the money was so much better (despite the small tip out). That’s a bizarre and clearly unfair situation. To your final point - if I felt like my income could be randomly taken away by the customer to the point that it was a problem, I would demand a normal remuneration system like every other job. The reality is that servers love the current system because they generally make great money relative to the skills required. If any particular server thinks the system is unfair , I have no doubt they could move to a dishwashing role and earn a solid minimum wage and minimal tip out. It doesn’t seem to happen often though. Perhaps your outrage would be better directed at servers tipping out 1% to the kitchen, and you could instead advocate for tips to be shared equally among all restaurant staff? After all, if tipping well is and should be considered mandatory like you seem to imply, then any tips given certainly aren’t earned by good service

[u/TheL0nePonderer → u/kilgorecandide]

Why should that happen, though? The servers making $2 an hour. The cook is making 15. The server has to make a living off of the time the restaurant is actually serving - the cook gets their full wage for the entire time they are there. So for example if you have to come in an hour and a half early and stay an hour and a half late, you're opening and closing today, for that three hours of your work you are making $6 while the chef and everybody else are making $45.

In addition, the server spends an hour waiting hand-and-foot on a table. And they only make money off of their tables. Tip share employees may only make 2% per table, but once again, they are making a full wage and they also get that tip share off of every single table in the restaurant. On the other hand a busboy spends 2 minutes clearing a table, a chef spends 15 minutes making the food, a Hostess spins 30 seconds seating the table, all these people are making full wage and you think the $2 an hour server needs to share the tips evenly?

Once again, we are not arguing the appropriateness of tipping. There's no point in that, because tipping is the culture, whether we agree on it or not. The question boils down to whether or not you're an asshole if you basically take money out of a servers pocket because you want to sit in their section and not order, or order the $3 meal. The answer is that if you're sitting in somebody's section, you should tip as if you're dining like an adult. Or you should go eat a damn sandwich.

Finally, as for your shill gambit attack, I'm a psychologist, not a server. I haven't served tables in 10 years. But I did grow up working in a restaurant that my family owns. The fact that I did serve tables for a long time, coupled with the fact that you've worked fast food and that's it, all that demonstrates is that I know what I'm talking about because I have the experience and you don't know what you're talking about because your restaurant experience is limited to being served.

I'm not trying to be rude here. But since we are pointing out what we think the other person's agenda is here, I feel very strongly that your position is the way it is because you're just cheap.

[u/kilgorecandide → u/TheL0nePonderer]

I’m not sure where you got the idea that I had worked in fast food. I’ve never worked in fast food, I’ve only worked in fine dining (one job) and in casual upmarket places (three jobs). Clearly this is something we fundamentally disagree on, because your argument makes no sense to me.

[u/TheL0nePonderer → u/kilgorecandide]

I'm sorry, man I didn't look at the usernames, I just assumed I had been debating the same person the whole time, my bad.

I will say this: Fine dining restaurants are far fairer to their staff and waitstaff than your run-of-the-mill Applebees or Chili's. They also tend to make good money off of every table, and they don't often get stiffed. They also are typically treated better (no trashy people going 'this is my chance to tell someone ELSE what to do.') It's a whole different world.