I have never even heard of this until this thread.
Lots of non-restaurant workers don’t know this, but often-times, there is no cash register.
I work weekends as a server (used to be full-time,) and the only ‘server’ who uses a cash register is the bartender. Everyone else just keeps all the cash they get from bills, makes change from that, and then “cashes out” to the manager at the end of the night. It’s actually easier all around (you don’t have a dozen servers on a busy Friday night all trying to use one or two cash registers,) with one exception:
Making change when you can’t. In theory, you are supposed to start your shift with enough small bills (1’s and 5’s) to make change from a 20, as well as coins. But not everyone does, and on top of that, it’s easy to go through all of it before you get some back. Especially the coins. Not a lot of people leave coins anymore, so it’s common to have to ask around to another server to borrow coins from them. If they are also out, you have to try the bartender (since they do have a register.) If the bartender can’t do it the next step is to get the manger to open the safe and make change for you from the petty cash…managers hate doing that more than we hate asking.) This takes time, and it’s annoying as fuck. There have been times where I couldn’t find coins, so even though their change might only be something like $5.12, I’ll give them $6 back. I’ve never heard of not giving back coins at all, though. At most, I know a few servers that ‘don’t do pennies’, and won’t round up, so you’d at most be out four cents.
But, knowing some people here, not giving back that four cents would still be an insult, or something.
NM - Bouv deleted the part I was replying to…
I guess round down if you don’t like giving change and four cents means nothing to you.
Yeah, I realized I was too snarky, so I changed it. 
As others have said, it’s probably about price. Although it did remind me of the pizza place I used to work out. We would do triple toppings for people if they wanted, but never triple cheese. It wouldn’t cook right in our oven with that much cheese on it. The crust would be nearly burned by the time the cheese got mostly melted.
That’s likely a violation of their merchant agreement with the credit card company. Most merchants don’t seem to know (or just don’t care).
ETA: I just Googled the subject a little and it looks like that situation may have changed. Might be OK to ask for a minimum on credit cards now, thanks to sorta-recent laws passing. I’ll have to investigate it further when I’m not feeling so lazy.
I’d be sure to tip the waiter and busboy handsomely. Oh look, it’s already in my wallet!
That never actually happens in Georgia restaurants. Ever.
If you order a Coke in Georgia, you get a Coca-Cola. If they don’t have it, they’ll ask you if Pepsi is okay.
As I said before, they have to. In fact I believe that Coke sends secret shoppers around to Pepsi-only restaurants to make sure that when someone asks for Coke, that the server specifies that Coke isn’t available.
I’ll add that really good waitstaff will also respond to an order of “Coke” with the confirmation “regular Coca-Cola?” allowing the coke-ordering patron a chance to elaborate that the “coke” they wanted was actually Diet or caffeine-free or Mr Pibb or something else brown and fizzy.
I was surprised you went to a restaurant with her a *second *time, actually.
I wonder if they’ll offer to get you one from a nearby store in some cases. An old GF offered to do that when she started as a waitress. They wanted a tab. She thought they meant a diet soft drink!
And the other day I asked for a decaf at a restaurant. The waitress said they were out, and went to the convenience store next door to get some, just so I could have a cup. She got a nice tip!
Holy fuck. I won’t wait 90 minutes to eat at…well, anywhere, much less a Spaghetti Factory.
It’s true. They even dress them like this so nobody suspects anything.
When I was a kid (the '80s) Coke was at McDonalds, Pepsi at Burger King. (We lived near, and regualrly had, Burger King)
Me, neither, for the record. And, yeah, and hour-and-a-half wait time is re-friggin’-diculous.
Re: the “no double toppings” policy, another reason for it may be to avoid fights with customers. I could see a lot of this going on:
“That’s only one topping of <whatever>!”
“No, that’s really two of our normal portion amounts of <whatever>, ma’am”
“:mad:”
“:rolleyes:”
“I’m calling corporate!”
“OK fine! No double toppings from now on!”
I have never eaten at an Outback Steakhouse for this very reason. The first time it was a 2 hour wait, the second time it was 90 minutes. It was the last restaurant we saw in Massachusetts before we crossed over in to New Hampshire. We figured that we’d eat somewhere in New Hamshire. But you want to know something about New Hampshire? THERE ARE NO RESTAURANTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. We didn’t eat until we got to Vermont.
Restaurants hate reservations and all restaurants would do away with them if they could get away with it. You instantly take a hit from all the no-shows (which is around 20%). If someone lingers at a table too long and blocks off the next reservation, you need to shunt them to the bar and feed them free drinks until the table is ready. If you’re a high end place and you want to turn a table twice a night, you need to offer inconveniently timed seatings at 6:30 and 9:30. If a restaurant has lines out the door, it has no motivation to offer reservations.
For our “Freedom Toast”
I briefly tended bar (I was actually the cook, but when I was on-duty by myself I also poured beers and waited tables) in a place where the owner wouldn’t let us set a “tip jar” behind the bar because, “It’s discriminatory”. 
I’ve been in the restaurant business for nearly 29 years.
Okay, I’ve seen that kind of thing in some of the bars I’ve worked in, but only with the cocktail staff. Food orders were still rung through the register. But of course, my experience is limited to the restaurants I’ve worked in.
I like good food (I mean, I cook for a living), but I’ve never had food so amazing that I’d be willing to stand in line outside of a restaurant for it. I can only assume that lines out the door are there for “the place”, not “the food”. But then again, I’m pretty utilitarian about my own eating. Get in, eat, get out. I don’t go to a restaurant to absorb the “atmosphere”.
They do. They also send secret shoppers to Coke-only restaurants to check on the quality of the drinks, look at self-serve fountains to make sure they’re setup properly, working, clean, etc. They’re very very serious about their brand and their secret shoppers.
I used to be one. 