DEFINITLY NOT my experience.
I’ve always been told that it’s rude to tip servers in change (who wants to carry around all that coinage?), so in the situation you describe I would leave with the $0.57 in my pocket, but with a $5 or $6 tip on the table.
I’m thinking this might not be regional - so far no one has mentioned a region any of this happens in.
ETA: It also would make me think the restaurant was keeping the change instead of the server, since people who have worked as waitstaff in the past have told me they don’t like getting coins as part of their tip. But my experience may be unusual.
It would be odd, but I don’t think most people tell the waitstaff what to bring back. You pay the bill, they bring the change, you leave the tip…isn’t that what most people do?
I use a credit card 99% of the time, so it doesn’t matter to me.
I vaguely remember seeing an article saying that even the nominal charge for no-shows isn’t enough, that some people book tables at multiple high-end restaurants for the same night but only go to one, and just pay the nominal no-show fee at the rest of them. So the idea of paying a “ticket” for dinner seems like a good one, particularly for the sorts of places that are booked months in advance.
No, I wasn’t joking. And I remember it being Jack Nicholson…thanks!
Did anyone that wanted cake not get a piece? Whenever there is cake around my office, there is always a crapload leftover.
Was it this restaurant, by chance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdzqTGmEcZE
I honestly don’t know. I was picturing a round cake which gives you, what, 8-16 pieces? But maybe it was a sheet cake.
A neighborhood Thai place we used to go to a lot in Chicago had some really great specials when you ordered delivery from them. Usually free soda or an appetizer of some sort if you spent at least $12.
The place was literally around the corner from our apartment and we’d call in for pick-up a lot. When we tried to get the freebies w/ our pick-up order, they refused and said it was for delivery orders only. I tried to explain that we were making things easier on them but they wouldn’t budge.
I’m sure there must be some reasoning behind the rule, probably to do with the delivery fee or keeping their drivers busy, but it still seemed pretty odd.
Either way, if someone brings in something, it should be up to them to decide what to do with the leftovers.
And there was me thinking it was weird that we were asked to move to another table because a big group might come in and it was easier for them to join the table we were at to another.
You had to be drinking booze to be in a Coyote Ugly?! How utterly stupid! (Not you, the restaurant.)
I’ve lived down here 10 years longer than you, and have had the same experience. I ask for Coke, I get Coke, or they ask if Pepsi is okay. They don’t ask if I want “regular” Coke; if I wanted Diet I’d say so.
The Mister and I eat when the old people do (4:00 or so), we’re early birds so we never have to wait. I’d never sit for over 30 minutes waiting for a table.
I’m not arguing the ticket vs. nominal charge thing. I’m not in the restaurant business and don’t have a dog in the fight.
In my town, the “good” restaurants tend to take reservations only on the aforementioned weekends, and a few also do it on other holidays, like Mother’s Day. The credit card is generally sufficient to make sure people show up, especially teenagers.
Have you ever seen the movie Coyote Ugly?
This is why, in the convention/catering business, there is a deadline for groups to “guarantee” how many people will be attending the event. In the case of my place of employment, most events are booked months in advance, and the group’s “leader” provides an estimate on the number of attendees. As the day of the event approaches, they are expected to provide an actual expected headcount no later than, I think, three days before the event. They are charged for that number of attendees even if only half actually show up. Unlike a restaurant, which keeps a stock of everything it needs to prepare everything on the menu (and if there’s too much, it will likely get used eventually), we order specific stock to prepare a specific menu for a specific number of people. And that stock needs to be purchased a day or two in advance, obviously. So if you, at the deadline, say “300 people”, we’re going to purchase enough stock to feed 300 people, and you’re going to pay for 300 people.
One sports bar I go to has a great spinach dip that is served with tortilla chips (ordinary store bought chips) and a so-so salsa dip with homemade potato chips. I’ve asked for the spinach dip and the homemade potato chips together and offered to pay an upcharge, but the answer is no. Just no. I still go because my son-in-law’s band plays there but I eat before I go.
Sorry, but your memory is playing tricks on you. Either that, or you had some misunderstandings. I’ve shown your post to over 20 Georgians, including 2 couples from Albany, and they all wanted to know what in the hell you were talking about. Not only had none of those people had that experience, they didn’t even understand what on earth “What kind of Coke do you want?” was even supposed to mean.
Spinach dip with the corn chips … salsa with potato chips. Allrighty then. Suggested name for said sports bar: “Own Goal” 
It usually doesn’t work that way. I think it is more of a hassle to have the server give you back the .57 as they have to keep the change in their pocket. Most times servers have a “bank” and they settle out at the end of the night and keep what is left after they pay the restaurant. Therefore the restaurant can’t keep the change because the only coins they are given is the amount the server owes for the total of the night’s tickets. Maybe some run to and from the till like at Denny’s but I believe other sit down restaurants where you pay the server directly work that way.