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Food - Why can't I get a decent meal in Baton Rouge?

JasonB - Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:23 am
Post subject: Why can't I get a decent meal in Baton Rouge?

So, my mom called me an asshole last night, and then laughed about it. Maybe she was right.

We were talking about my trip to the Texas Road House restaurant here in Baton Rouge. I went there last sunday, because someone furiously recommended it.

So I went to try it, and kept an open mind. I had the burger and it was decent, nothing special. My bill came to $9.68, and I gave my waitress a $20. She brought me back a five dollar bill, and 5 singles. No change. No quarter, No nickel, and No two pennies.

So, I was under the assumption that she wanted a 32 cent tip. So that's what she got. She brought my the ten bucks back, and I sat there for a moment wondering what she may have been thinking, and just laughed and walked out. Maybe I am an asshole, but I give correct change.
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Other restaurant experiences of note. I went to Lonestar yesterday before class. I ordered a bbq cheeseburger, and potato skins as an appetizer. I specifically mentioned them AS AN APPETIZER. So, about 10 minutes later, out comes my cheeseburger. I bluntly asked my waiter if they normally brought out the appetizer after the meal. He was like ohhh, yeah, I forgot about those, do you still want them? Well, I did, but as an appetizer. I just told him to forget it and take them off my bill (with hopes that they would be brought out free of charge) He showed up about 5 minutes later with the potato skins. Dropped them off and walked away. Another moment of confusion. But then the cook/manager came out and apologized and said that they would be taken off the bill. (mission accomplished)
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I went to Smokey Bones BBQ last Wednesday. Wanting to watch some TV, I asked to sit at the bar. I'm not a big fan of ribs, so I ordered the bbq sammich. The bartender took my order, and within a minute, brought me my bill. After that, I never saw him again. I'm pretty sure his shift ended right before I got there, and taking my order was his last act obf the day. Like normal, I drank my Sprite faster then my dog eats a treat, and then sat there for 10 minutes practially dying of thirst. One of the other waiters brought out my sammich, and I wasn't very impressed at all. For a place that is supposed to be known for their BBQ, I thought it was pretty damn bland. Add to that, my fries were cold. So, i came home and raised a stink on the Smokey Bones website, bitching about my service and blah blah....and I got a $20 giftcard in the mail yesterday. I thought that was pretty damn sweet, considering I only spent about $11 there.

I saw a commercial for a Beef O Brady's restaurant that it out on O'neal, so I think that will be my next meal to bitch about.

LEstay - Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:13 am
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I'm with you there, Jason. If a waitress cant get your order right, and jips you on the change, then jip them on the tip. I always pay by credit card so that they have to report the tip and pay taxes on it.

My gf got mad at me on our first date because I asked another waitress where our waitress was after we had been sitting there for 10 minutes without being waited on.

Trunks - Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:00 am
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Stop going to fancy pants places, obviously they don’t like you.

AWE - Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:02 pm
Post subject: Re: Why can't I get a decent meal in Baton Rouge?

JasonB wrote:

My bill came to $9.68, and I gave my waitress a $20. She brought me back a five dollar bill, and 5 singles. No change. No quarter, No nickel, and No two pennies.

I don't really understand that either. This has happened to me before.

What should happen is they should either give you EXACT change. Or give you too MUCH. For example: A Five and 6 Ones. If they're assuming you're going to tip they'll get the last one back plus some.

I made a waitress at Pluckers give me exact change once just so I could give her a better tip than she would have gotten. I was going to give her 2 bucks.. but I she had neglected to bring out exact change. My options were to just leave a dollar and 1.60 would have been her tip.. or she could bring me the .60 and I would leave her 2.

Give correct change people!

AWE - Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:05 pm
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And yes.. you were an asshole for giving the Texas Road House waitress a 32 cent tip.

JasonB - Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:11 pm
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Yeah, my exact thought was that if you don't have exact change, give more. It's not like she was a street vendor, and it would not have been possible to get the change. There was 10 other waitresses there that she could have gotten the change from. Maybe she just forgot...but that 32 cents will be a reminder from now on.

Trunks, you are right, it's obvious that the "fancy" places hate me. If you can call a place with peanut shells on the floor fancy.

Sunny - Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:06 pm
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nah.

Niftoria - Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:02 pm
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Being a driver for Domino's.... we have to deal with the same sort of thing with change.. we carry around dollar bills.. not coin change. If your order is 17.89, and you give me a $20.. i'm giving you 2 dollars back, not 3. I'm not going to eat the 89 cents, because that cuts into my mileage.. we get $1 per delivery. However, if it's 17.10, I'll give you $3 back..just how it works *shrug*

BenKenobi - Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:09 pm
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Niftoria wrote:

You eat the $0.10? Forget that hehe.. If they want their $0.90, they're either gonna have to ask me for it (I keep enough coin change in my car for any amount) or give me $0.10 and I'll give them $3 ...

Generally, people who want exact change back, will give you the coins to make it even..

Niftoria - Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:23 pm
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It happens so few times.. maybe twice, that I don't mind eating the 10 cents..that's only 20 cents in the last 6 weeks or so.. not a big deal..

BenKenobi - Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:33 pm
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Niftoria wrote:

It happens so few times.. maybe twice, that I don't mind eating the 10 cents..that's only 20 cents in the last 6 weeks or so.. not a big deal..

I've been delivering for almost 5 years.. I've only been asked for coin change MAYBE twice Smile

..

Maybe I'm just lucky Wink

... but I guess to keep it on topic ... I usually tip decently.. I'm usually very rewarding to really good waiters, but I'm a tiny bit more lenient when it's busy, because I "know how it is" .. I can only think of one time where I've completely stiffed a waiter:

Bennigan's in Metairie.. Place was PACKED.. We had a large party (5 adults 2 children) and had to wait for at least an hour for a table (not the waiter's fault though.. but goes into a small part the decision making process).. So we finally get seated.. Guy comes around and takes the order.. he brings us our drinks, eventually brings us our food.. and forgets any sort of requests (an extra sour cream, etc) ... We then don't see him until he is whizzing by and we have to flag him down with a damn road flare.. So, at the end we get our check.. and we find out why he was so inattentive..

In large groups, they institute a 15% "service charge" ... He already got his 15% from us, so why give us good service? Wellllll, it turns out you can have that removed from the bill.. Some of the other people tipped him, Carla and I sure as hell didn't.

Yes, I know how it is.. But that level of service is ridiculous..

People will tip drivers based on their overall service (which is why the hour wait is a factor) .. Is it fair? No. Can something be done about it? Yes.. If I answer the phone, I make sure to be the nicest person on earth to this customer. Doesn't matter if I'm actually going to be delivering their order or not.. SOMEONE is.. If I catch others being rude, I sure as hell report their ass.. "Take care of your customers and they will take care of you" .. That is how I run my shifts, and how I deliver.. and it very rarely gets me nothing.

JasonB - Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:16 pm
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Don't get me wrong, I'm usually a very good tipper, at least 20% because i've worked in the field before.

I "delivered the pie" for 2 summers, and I know how all that goes. I always had 4-5 dollars in change, and before every delivery, I looked at the ticket, and if it was 18.27, I'd just pull out the 73 cents and go with that in my pocket.

I just think it's wrong to shortchange people.

My mom brought out the point that sometimes delivery drivers would give you a 5 and 5 singles instead of a ten, and she thought that was rude because you were kind of expecting a tip. My arguement to that was...the delivery driver is offering a service to you, and bringing it directly to your door, so you can sit on your ass. A tip should be expected.

BenKenobi - Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:35 pm
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JasonB wrote:

My mom brought out the point that sometimes delivery drivers would give you a 5 and 5 singles instead of a ten, and she thought that was rude because you were kind of expecting a tip.

About that... I don't carry $10's .. The most I carry on me is a $5, and 10-15 $1's .. I also save those $5's for things over usually $6-7 ...

Niftoria - Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:49 pm
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We're only allowed to carry $10 at a time at the store I work at.. and they give us a 5 and 5 one's to start out our shift. If we give you that, it's because that's all we have in our pockets.

As for loose change, it's rather tedious to have to get change for every delivery.. get the keys from a manager, explain this.. blah blah.. To prevent that.. I round up, and then give change.. never really caused a problem..

JasonB - Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:00 pm
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maybe thats just a difference in working in family friendly wisconsin, or murder layden baton rouge. There were times as a driver back home, i'd have 6-700 bucks in my pocket.

Niftoria - Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:23 pm
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Good lord, if we had that in our pocket, and we got robbed.. we'd get fired for sure. We have lock boxes back at the store.. after every delivery you put the money you got in the box, and at the end of the shift, you reconcile with the computer, I tend to keep all the 1s I get for tips.. but try to never have more than $15-20 in my pocket. While we do deliver to the country club, we also deliver to the GSRI area

JasonB - Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:27 pm
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hahaha when you said "lock box" the first thing i thought of was Al Gore being imitated on Saturday Night Live, holding his fingers up in quotation marks....

how many deliveries do you do a night over at the dominos on campus? During the summer, we'd normally have 300 on a real busy night, with 12-15 drivers.

Niftoria - Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:42 pm
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I don't know.. I don't work at the one on campus Razz

I absolutely refused to work at the one in Tigerland because they deliver to college students.. and heck.. we're cheap Smile

I work at the one on Staring. On a busy night.. say Saturday, I take anywhere from 15-20 deliveries...with about 10 drivers, that's 200 deliveries or so between 4 and 9 at night.. if i'm closing, and working 4p-close, I take maybe 30 deliveries..

rwnugent - Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:03 pm
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I usually leave very good tips (minimum $5 for anything over $10). Delivery ppl on the other hand rarely get over a $1. Don't ask me why cuz I don't know, I guess I could start tipping them a little better.

Tombo - Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:14 am
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I can't answer that, there's tons of great places to eat around here

Norris - Sun Nov 06, 2005 12:38 am
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JasonB's original question is good. There aren't that many good places to eat around here. Baton Rouge blows.

Tombo - Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:23 am
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Chimes restaurant & oyster bar, Ninfa's, Superior Grill, The melting pot, tsunami sushi, walk-on's, Mike Anderson's, Ruth Chris, P.F. Chang's, Izzo's, Great Wall, Las Palmas (any), T.J. Ribs, Smokey Bones, Roman's Mediterranean, Fleur de lis pizza, PICADILLY, Pastime restaurant & lounge, Pasta Garden, Louisiana Lagniappe, O'Henry's..

then there's your standard Chili's Applebees, etc. just to name a few

Uh Hooters, and there's more out there

So if u can't find something good to eat in town maybe you need glasses

rwnugent - Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:38 pm
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I can't get a decent meal in baton rouge because i have no money. i just eat off the mc donald's dollar menu and put spam in otherwise unappealing common food stuff and it becomes suddenly edible.