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bugshaw at 12:22pm on 31/08/2008
bugshaw at 12:22pm on 31/08/2008On Saturday I caught the train with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aardvark179, and met P at St Pancras station for a lunch of tuna/chicken salad and olives which were ordered, not delivered, reordered, delivered to the next table, refused, passed to us as we waved our hands like desperate olive-starved fiends, not charged to our bill, charged to the next table's bill, and finally charged to ours. They were nice. We under-tipped but only by two pence. There was conversation on floppy disks (noting that the Save icon on many GUIs is still a floppy disk), consciousness, and tea.
Thenaardvark179 and I went on to Battersea Power Station and met with major_clanger, techiebabe and techiebloke. It was a baking hot day, which nicely suited the walk round the baking hot red brickwork.
Then off to The Duchess for (to continue my habit of eating/drinking things I have not had before) a Bulmers Pear Cider and an early supper. I was feeling effusive, and tipped the barman a pound on a £13 drinks order. He looked very confused as I held out the coin to him.
"Oh, sorry! Did I give you too much change?!"
"No, it's a tip :-)"
*looks confused*
B mock sighs at tourists at bar, "It's so hard to tip British bar staff"
Eventually pound is taken and barman perks up remarkably.
This anecdote brought to you by Department of It's A Different World.
I thought I survived the bus/tube/train home but have woken with a large gouge on my elbow. I wish I knew how it got there.
aardvark179, and met P at St Pancras station for a lunch of tuna/chicken salad and olives which were ordered, not delivered, reordered, delivered to the next table, refused, passed to us as we waved our hands like desperate olive-starved fiends, not charged to our bill, charged to the next table's bill, and finally charged to ours. They were nice. We under-tipped but only by two pence. There was conversation on floppy disks (noting that the Save icon on many GUIs is still a floppy disk), consciousness, and tea.Then
aardvark179 and I went on to Battersea Power Station and met with major_clanger, techiebabe and techiebloke. It was a baking hot day, which nicely suited the walk round the baking hot red brickwork. Battersea Power Station Originally uploaded by bugshaw | As I have mentioned before, the reason the building was open was because it is the subject of a set of development proposals, and a condition was that it was opened for public viewing for a few days in August. The building is long stripped out of its electricity generation equipment and huge turbines, and has been left open to the elements for a long time so it is corroding and crumbling. It is still an awesome size (though even if it is developed sensitively, the planned nearby Eco-Dome and Chimney will dwarf it) and there are some nice deco details on such a utilitarian structure. The Flickr photos include some nice iron dials and high voltage gauges for those who like that sort of thing. |
Then off to The Duchess for (to continue my habit of eating/drinking things I have not had before) a Bulmers Pear Cider and an early supper. I was feeling effusive, and tipped the barman a pound on a £13 drinks order. He looked very confused as I held out the coin to him.
"Oh, sorry! Did I give you too much change?!"
"No, it's a tip :-)"
*looks confused*
B mock sighs at tourists at bar, "It's so hard to tip British bar staff"
Eventually pound is taken and barman perks up remarkably.
This anecdote brought to you by Department of It's A Different World.
I thought I survived the bus/tube/train home but have woken with a large gouge on my elbow. I wish I knew how it got there.
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Whether tipping is/should be necessary or whether food/service prices should include everything the server needs for a living wage, is another question :-(
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http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/E24.pdf
The crappest thing is that waitstaff can be employed at a rate below national minimum wage, and shared tips can then be used to bring it up to minimum. (If there aren't enough tips, the employer has to make up the difference)
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I think it's a cultural thing. In this country, the preference is for the price to be paid to be shown up front. So we usually show prices inc taxes, too.
(One of the things I liked about Japan is the horror there if you attempt to tip.)
I
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Do you tip them in Cambridge?
Anyway - it was lovely to see you! Really enjoyed our gentle amble around the building. I'll be sorry when it's surrounded by flats.
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Nice to see you too, thank you for coming!
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