Gen Con - Good bad and ugly

[Clueless]

Especially considering what most folks don't realize - is that waiters are NOT paid minimum wage. They are paid a Much less amount per hour and expected to make up the difference to minimum by tips. Tips in the US aren't an optional thing really.

The only thing I don't like about the practice is the occasional place that won't let you cut the tip for spectacularly poor service.

 

[Michael Morris]

Especially considering what most folks don't realize - is that waiters are NOT paid minimum wage. They are paid a Much less amount per hour and expected to make up the difference to minimum by tips. Tips in the US aren't an optional thing really.

The only thing I don't like about the practice is the occasional place that won't let you cut the tip for spectacularly poor service.

Which is illegal. And cutting employees who make more than $20 / week in tips to 1/2 minimum wage should also be illegal IMO.

 

[fusangite]

It's pretty common in the U.S. for restaurants to impose an automatic gratuity on parties of 6 or more, which would explain why five people wouldn't get it. Its ostensible purpose is so that the server of a large party won't get stiffed. The "common knowledge" is that larger groups tend to tip less when they see what everyone else in the group is tipping, figuring the server is "getting enough." Since I know what hell those ladies and gents go through, it doesn't phase me.

Sorry but I'm pretty fazed by restaurants breaking the law once by violating the labour code and then making it up for it by breaking the law again by ripping off the customers. This is a pretty clear case of two obvious wrongs not making a right. Besides, normal tipping range is 15-20%; I don't find it acceptable for restaurants to unilaterally impose tipping at the top end of that range. If someone gave me the kind of service I got at the Ram and Alcatraz back home, I would grudgingly give them a 15% tip and grumble about it. Being forced to give the biggest tip I ever give (20%) for terrible service isn't okay. And it's even less okay to know I'm being ripped off in order to cover the restaurant flouting the minimum wage laws.

Back home, I'm used to restaurants demanding a minimum 10% tip from large parties -- my friends and I then tip on top of that; this is how it's done in France, as well, where it is not against the law to impose tips on people's bills. One of the consequences of the imposed gratuity at a 20% rate is that unlike the French system, it produces absolutely no incentive whatsoever for the waiter to provide good service.

 

[Ethernaut]

Dang dude, just ask next year. I used to live in Indy and am still down there enough to know it well. I'll even drive!

Ah, I guess we just didn't figure out who to ask. We couldn't get a straight answer from the hotel staff.

So, where is the nearest grocery store? Is driving required?

 

[Mark CMG]

So, where is the nearest grocery store? Is driving required?

One of the first things I did Wednesday, after meeting up with the excellent devilish and checking in to my temporary digs, was to find out where a nearby grocery store was located and stock up my giant refrigerator with less-than-convention-center-and-neighborhood-priced food. Picked up some brews and chips to take to the CANANADA suite, some 24 oz. Dews ($0.60 ea. as opposed to $2.50 20 oz. Coca-Colas from the vending machines in the con-center), fresh fruit, a box of microwavable chicken pieces, a case of bottled water (half of which were seeded with tea bags I bring from home), "sandwich fixins", and a few other supplies. Living through a convention really needn't be much more expensive than living at home, IMO, and I do my best to keep expenses low (for most people that translates into more bucks for new toys and games!). There are some related costs that are unavoidable but buying groceries and staying in a place with a kitchenette definitely helps save you money on the road. The place I found was a few blocks North and East of the convention -

O'Malia's Food Market
320 N. New Jersey St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: (317) 262-4888
Web: http://www.omalias.com

It was reasonable enough and the others I heard about were too far away for me. If I had driven to Indy, I think I would have stopped off at some sort of warehouse club for the bulk items when I got into Indy.

 

[Clueless]

*makes a note of this for next year* Thanks

 

[Mark CMG]

*makes a note of this for next year* Thanks

Keep that up, you'll have to change your screenname...

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Yah at the very least stop somewhere on the way to stock up on some goodies. I guess that the convention hall technically has a ban on outside food but I have never seen anyone get spoken to about it so the laws are pretty lax and unenforced. My guess is that there are enough people who are actually buying the food that it is not that big of a deal.

Oh, one thing that I wanted to pick up (but was too late for) was a set of tact-tiles. Though I got the website and can just order them at will, I suppose.

 

[Mark CMG]

Yah at the very least stop somewhere on the way to stock up on some goodies. I guess that the convention hall technically has a ban on outside food but I have never seen anyone get spoken to about it so the laws are pretty lax and unenforced. My guess is that there are enough people who are actually buying the food that it is not that big of a deal.

My Sunday group/event ran a couple of extra hours and several of the players ordered Chinese food which was delivered directly to our table.


(I didn't know of the outside food ban or I might have discouraged the practice and, of course, we made sure to clean up our area when finished with the game. )

 

[BOZ]

Ugly

that story is still troublesome even upon hearing it again!