Posted on 04/17/2006 8:19:37 AM PDT by ConservativeBamaFan
And the "salt test" is really as much of a test of the foolishness of the person applying it as it is of the person using the salt.
How you treat people, of course, determines how you're going to get along in an organization. But the taste you like in your food is truly none of the boss' damned business. Indeed, if he really is making judgments based on THAT, then he's not a very wise man at all.
I always pepper potatoes and cottage cheese. Always. And I always shake a pinch of salt onto egg yolks, always.
It is not a matter of whether they are salty or peppery enough. It is aesthetics. The little flakes of black on the white food, and the little grains of salt standing out on the yolk make it LOOK more appealing.
Anybody who is sitting there watching me eat and making judgments based on how I use condiments is a damned fool who doesn't know as much about dealing with people as he thinks.
The waiter test is smart.
The salt test marks the guy who thinks it's a good test as a fool.
I remember that , too! It was at their first Easter Party at the White House and ole' "feel your pain" Bill was absolutely ripping this poor aide a new one because they ran out of eggs to early. Rush showed it on his TV show once. If that video clip had gotten around as much as George Bush's "clymer" remark or Cheney's"f--- you" remark people would have the real picture of Bill Clinton.
The "sh*tty tipper database" at bitterwaitress.com makes some very entertaining reading. Yes, John Kerry is listed there, and not favorably.
Compare and contrast that to George W. Bush wading into a crowd of South American security officers because they were manhandling one of his Secret Service agents.
Lol maybe the person who observes this behavior, and thinks the person who salts the food is jumping to conclusions, is HIM/HERSELF jumping to conclusions?
They could also be like my husband, who is a super nice guy, but really likes pepper. He unscrews the top of the pepper shaker and pours it on. No Kidding!
I waited tables years ago. A waiter was being abused by two customers. I saw him spit in their food. I was young, and he had a temper, so I kept my mouth shut. I think that sort of thing happens more than some realize.
"One other 'lunch test' I've always heard of is to see if someone salts their food before tasting it. It is a sign of jumping to a conclusion out of habit before getting a good assessment of the reality of the situation."
Unless you've eaten there 50 times and learned that, invariable, they absolutely refuse to season their food.
Morally, we should all treat everyone with respect.
Speaking of the wait staff in particular, if one doesn't buy any moral argument, then there's always the fact that some of the waiter's saliva may "accidentally" find itself in one's food, if one is a complete boor to him/her.
Quite frankly, given that fact, I don't know why anyone, even the most selfish, self absorbed person, would ever want to treat their waiter less than royalty. Even on my worse day, when I'm treated poorly by a horrible person, I dare not say a thing, for fear of my food getting "slimed".
The trick: treat them with slightly exaggerated overwhelming courtesey and kindness (but not so obvious that it shows), give them extra super-duper service to the point of it being nearly silly, just bend over backward for them. Three things happen:
1. The rude customer knows that he's coming across loud and clear as a mega-chump to all observers -- fellow customers, folks at the table, etc.
2. Customers within earshot, especially regulars, will be amused and sympatethic, and IF the chump stiffs you (or even if he doesn't), those customers will almost always tip higher than they might have otherwise just to make-up for the chump.
3. The chump customer can never look the waitress/waiter in the eye after such treatment, which is extremely gratifying!!!
Regarding tipping in general: A low tip from a kind customer was never something I took personally because I know that sometimes people simply don't have the money, or they don't understand the importance of tips to tablestaff. I never held low tipping against a nice customer. A rude customer who tipped low or stiffed, on the other hand, was worth simply shrugging off, because all the years I waitressed, the wonderful truth ALWAYS was that for every customer who stiffed me, there were two customers who would over-tip me. And another thing: every time I loaned a down-and-outer some money out of my tip-jar (I worked for awhile as a graveyard waitress in couple of coffee shops, so we got a lot of down-and-outers), I gave it expecting never to see it again. EVERY SINGLE TIME I got paid back, to my surprise.
"You can learn much by a potential husband by the way he treats his mom.
You know those plastic eggs you buy at Easter? I think I've eaten them.
Took me years to eat eggs again after the eggs they fed us on the training ship.
The writer inadvertently reveals that he doesn't recognize good service when he sees it. What it "tells" is that the restaurant is one of the very few remaining in America -- at any price -- that understands that waiters should be invisible to the diners, while unobtrusively directing their full and constant attention to them at the same time.
The water glasses should appear to be magically bottomless, empty soup bowls should be taken away as they are emptied and not at the waiter's convenience (corollary: no hovering with an armful of bowls near the last soup-eater), and a waiter that asks me "And how is everything today?" when my mouth is full should be fired on the spot.
I too waited tables and worked retail for a few years. It gives you a totally different perspective when you become the customer doesn't it.
One more: Money. Both booze and money reveal what the person is really like.
I wonder how many times he had his food was spat in for his bad behavior?
It's sad. Some people have no clue . . .
You brightened my early afternoon by reminding me of that incident. Just to really cheer myself up I googled it and found a clip, which is here:
http://www.dailyrecycler.com/blog/2004/11/taking-charge.html
Thank G-d we have an actual man for President of the United States.
Me: How you a waiter treats you can predict a lot about the waiter's character, too!
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