It sucked a lot until Cousin J said something.

exactly. If I see the service going downhill, I will ask the server if there is something going on and give them the opportunity to explain the delays/issues and/or give notice that we're not happy.

people at work need to stop asking me for stuff RIGHT NOW!

sending a message by your tip doesn't work, so you should tip whatever you tip

There comes a point where I just don't want them to have my money. I can't distance myself from the idea of the tip as performance-related earnings.

What is a tip, if not performance-related earnings?

If she was the only waitress, she was probably also having to do side work (which can take hours and for which you still make 2.15 without tip, so it's worth it to fit it in whenever you can), she may have been discussing the dough situation, any number of things that took 25 minutes.

That doesn't excuse her not telling us right away that the kitchen was out of dough. I've never eaten at a restaurant where, if the kitchen was out of something I ordered, the server did NOT immediately come back and tell me, and see if I wanted something else.

Just disappearing -- even if it's side work -- without letting customers know for 25 minutes what's going on with their food is not good service. They may need to do side work, but they also need to take care of their customers.

Once when I was helping out Mr. Jane at the bar there was only one table sitting outside. After an hour or so inside the bar was packed, but outside only had two or three tables. One table left me 50 cents because they didn't understand why their drink orders took so long when there were so few tables. Which, sure, if the bartender is only making drinks for the tables outside, is reasonable. I could have said, "Sorry it took so long. Inside is packed," but I didn't.

And if the restaurant we went to last night were busy and she were the only server, that would be a different issue. There was only 1 other table, of 3 people. There is no outside area, there was no one sitting at the bar.

I'm not bagging on the profession as a whole. But I'm not excusing bad service from a specific server, either.

And I'm also one that if it's really excellent service to make sure that the PTB knows that our server was awesome. And we reflect it in the tip. There was one guy at a restaurant in ... some city that was just amazing. We tipped him 50%.

Just disappearing -- even if it's side work -- without letting customers know for 25 minutes what's going on with their food is not good service.

Totally with you on this. 25 minutes is a long time to wait for information, let alone food.

A billion blogs (OK, three) have had this photo today, so...

Princess Leia & Stunt Double Sunbathing on Tatooine While Filming Return of the Jedi

In matching slave girl outfits....

I'm still amazed by the service we got at Purple at the Seattle F2F. I think one or two orders might have been spaced on, but for a group of 20+ people I was impressed for the most part.

Actually, I'm even more amazed they had the space for us without a reservation. I guess if the upstairs room had been booked, we would have been SOL.

sending a message by your tip doesn't work, so you should tip whatever you tip

Bullshit.

I will say that the tipping a penny thing probably doesn't work the way it's intended. Certainly I and most people I knew would react to that, fair or not, by instantly writing you off as an asshole who was looking to cheap out from the get-go. (Um, that's a general you.) OTOH, a 10 or 12% tip is much more likely to be interpreted as a sign of unhappiness.

Jilli - I think you and Pete need to do another NYC visit

I KNOW! Believe me, I have been trying to figure out how we could go to NYC, see peoples, and spend a lot of time at that Tim Burton exhibit. The big fancy opening night gala is (supposedly) even on my birthday.

Barack Obama Names Alan Moore Official White House Biographer

WASHINGTON—At a press conference Monday, President Obama announced that he had appointed legendary comic book writer Alan Moore as the official biographer of his time in the White House. "As evidenced by his epic run on Swamp Thing #21–64, Moore's deft hand with both sociopolitical commentary and metaphysical violence makes him an ideal choice to chronicle my time in office," Obama said of the author of Watchmen and From Hell, whom he reportedly chose over others on a short list of potential biographers that included Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and Bob Woodward. "I look forward to seeing the kinds of subplots he will surely weave throughout the main narrative of my presidency, and how he'll tie them all back together at the end in a way that just elevates the thing to a whole other level. God, that guy is the master." Although Obama has not yet settled on a publisher for his White House biography, he is reportedly leaning toward DC's Vertigo imprint for its creator-friendly ethos, high production values, and willingness to publish content for mature readers.

(Yes, it's from The Onion.)