http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/c...a4bcf6878.html

Free lunch at Drunken Fish in Saint Louis! :-)

John Kuthe...

On May 9, 9:18*am, John Kuthe > wrote:
> http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/c...eals/article_5...
>
> Free lunch at Drunken Fish in Saint Louis! :-)
>
> John Kuthe...

OK, so I spent $13.58 on a free sushi lunch. In addition to the 2 free
rolls, miso soup and salad I sprung for a 5 piece nigiri thing plus
tax and a $2 tip.

Pretty good though! :-) I love sushi!

John Kuthe...

On May 9, 2:24*pm, John Kuthe > wrote:
> On May 9, 9:18*am, John Kuthe > wrote:
>
> >http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/c...eals/article_5...
>
> > Free lunch at Drunken Fish in Saint Louis! :-)
>
> > John Kuthe...
>
> OK, so I spent $13.58 on a free sushi lunch. In addition to the 2 free
> rolls, miso soup and salad I sprung for a 5 piece nigiri thing plus
> tax and a $2 tip.
>
If I left a $2 tip on a $13.58 check, that would mean that the service
was abysmally bad. You should also tip on the non-discounted value of
the free portion, thereby more than doubling the check. I wouldn't go
back there anytime soon. I'd be scared to.

At the one restaurant we go to more than all of the others combined,
we tip very well for excellent service. If we happen to be seated in
a section where there is a server who doesn't know us, it's pretty
obvious that other staff alerts the server to that, because we get top
notch service. It's like this, we order less food per person than
most customers, many of whom shamefully order more than they can eat,
and don't even doggy bag it. We also don't usually order drinks, with
Johnny only occasionally getting a Diet Coke, Betsy a coffee or me a
beer. Hence, we might end up with a $20 check for three of us.
Considering that if we would have ordered meals with rice and beans
instead of ala carte, and had all gotten soft drinks, the bill would
have been at least close to $30, and it's crazy to tip less than 20%
for great service, we tip $6.
Look at it this way, if your check is $20, and you tip 20%, that's $24
total. If you tip 30%, that's $26 total. 26 is only 8-1/3% more than
24. Is it worth paying 8-1/3% more for consistently excellent
service? For me it is. The whole meal is greatly improved if my
water glass never goes empty, and the same with the salsa. I treat
them the way I'd like to be treated, they reciprocate, and then I tip
the way I'd want to get tipped. The management realizes that they
make less of a margin on us--for one thing we go through lots of
complementary salsa--but we eat there so often, and we always praise
the food. The servers always ask how everything was, knowing damned
well that I'll say with honest enthusiasm that it was wonderful as
always. Happy guests create a happy atmosphere. Also, servers' tips
for income tax purposes are estimated at the % tip left by those who
put the tip on plastic, so a $6 cash tip on a $20 check means less
taxes than a $6 cash tip on a $30 check.
>
> John Kuthe...

--Bryan

On May 9, 5:54*pm, Bryan > wrote:
> On May 9, 2:24*pm, John Kuthe > wrote:> On May 9, 9:18*am, John Kuthe > wrote:
>
> > >http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/c...eals/article_5....
>
> > > Free lunch at Drunken Fish in Saint Louis! :-)
>
> > > John Kuthe...
>
> > OK, so I spent $13.58 on a free sushi lunch. In addition to the 2 free
> > rolls, miso soup and salad I sprung for a 5 piece nigiri thing plus
> > tax and a $2 tip.
>
> If I left a $2 tip on a $13.58 check, that would mean that the service
> was abysmally bad. *You should also tip on the non-discounted value of
> the free portion, thereby more than doubling the check. *I wouldn't go
> back there anytime soon. *I'd be scared to.
....

$3 would have been better, maybe $4 if the service was exceptional.
I'd imagine that like the woman I was sitting next to at the sushi bar
many got only the free 2 rolls, soup and salad and probably left no
tip. And I had originally planned on getting only the free stuff, but
between my love of sushi and the fact that I just lost my good paying
job, I was doing a financial balancing act between poverty
(Stagnation) and being in Erikson's "Generativity" side of the
"Generativity vs. Stagnation" psychosocial stage.

I'd rarely go to Drunken Fish for sushi anyway, when I can easily walk
to:

http://blueoceansushi.com/aboutus

and get all I can eat sushi. I actually have an order drawn up that I
was going to go up some weekday and get Blue Ocean's $25 lunch all-you-
can-eat sushi, but never got a chance to before I lost my job.

John Kuthe...