Monday, January 02, 2006

An otherwise enjoyable evening

My roomates friends(Volker and Daniella) from Germany have been staying at our place for the last couple of weeks. Volker had lived in NY for a few months around 4years back. Volker kept talking about a bar/club with live music and no cover on Sundays. The place in question was Cafe Wha. So we decided to go today (a sunday).
The evening did'nt get of to a great start. After finding out that there was a cover(since Monday was a holiday) and there was a 2 drink minimum, I asked the waitress wether food would count against the 2 drink minimum. She said no, since it was a "drink" minimum. I know Daniella and Volker found that to be silly, but I said it aloud. I have to admit that got under my skin. But the band more than made up for it. They played such a vast variety of cover songs. I really had a whale of a time. There were patrons dancing in the narrow aisles jostling with the waitstaff. The band was that good.
Later at the break, I asked for the cheque. Volker did'nt have enough cash on him, so we decided that he'd pay by card and I'd pay him cash. When the checque was brought out, it had the tip calculated. The tip was calculated on cover + food + beverage. Now I might be wrong but it struck me as distinctly unfair. Volker agreed and he filled out an amount that was a 15% tip on food + beverage.
The waitress already upset presumably by our earlier encounter, was dismayed and made it a point to tell me "Just so that u know a 15% tip is 8 bucks".
she did'nt stick around to hear my response , even more infuriating.
Moral of the story, let the other guy ask for the checque.

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