That stuff goes on in Austin, TX, too.
I suspect some bad habits have traveled 'round the country. Or maybe it's a characteristic of "upscale" locales.
In addition to receiving financial aid, I partially worked my way through college as a potwasher, bus boy, waiter and eventually, restaurant manager. My mama raised me to be a pushover as a tipper. But after all those years of busting my butt to give customers good service, I became intolerant of lousy service.
Then, in 1985, I moved to NYC (I grew up on nearby Long Island), home of the world's worst waitresses, who also expect the highest tips. Prior to getting married in '97, I was leaving ever smaller tips, and sometimes stiffing waitresses (and the occasional waiter), because they were so often nasty or negligent. Accordingly, I spent less and less time in restaurants. And my wife does not care to spend money in restaurants at all.
Now, we only go a couple of times a year to fast-food joints, because our finicky, 3 1/2 year-old son's favorite food is fresh, hot french fries. If you bring them home, he won't eat them, because they've already gone limp and flat. So, my wife makes french fries at home, from scratch.
I also go a couple of times a year on my own to Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. I used to work there, and still go on shopping expeditions to the fish markets and bakeries, and know how to order in a restaurant like a Chinese, to eat well for a song. (They have a separate, more expensive menu for "tourists.") The service is fast, no-nonsense and polite, the food cheap but tasty. Like many Chinese, I leave a dollar or two, depending on how much I ordered, which comes out to about 30%. But it's not about percentages. To leave 50 cents on a meal that cost only $3.50 (roast duck on rice) would be really niggardly. I always leave those restaurants feeling better than I did when I entered them.
What's the point of spending good money to eat out, if you're not going to enjoy yourself?
For a real spectacle, do as my wife and I did once..In a hurry we made an error and GROSSLY overtipped in a local Chinese restaurant. The waiter flipped out, made a little speech and bowed from the waist...I never saw anything like it.
Another time, on my first visit to England, we picked up the tab when our hosts took us to a nice place. A wonderful meal, but by the time I got to the stilton and vintage port, the jet lag plus the sozzling effects caused me to make a disasterous conversion with the funny-looking money. I told the waitress to keep the change. The young waitress came back to the table, flustered, "Sir, you left 150 Pounds!"
"Did I short you?"
""NO!..But..."
"Fine."
"...At least let me bring the dessert cart back!!!"
My host, outside in the parking lot, jokingly told me she probably would not bother going into work for a day or two, or perhaps I should come back after she gets out of work...
So the next morning, it was kind of a double hangover. Oh well, that's what vacations are for....
But we know a few waiters and waitreses socially; Frankly, the job sucks, and I would not want to do it. From my posts anyone can tell I am not always the most "Dale Carnegie" person around, and I would probably not even last an hour were I to try it.