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Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

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Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#81

Post by jdvolz »

Protip: it doesn't always have to be money.

In college I lived across the street from a art house movie theater. I was invited to the Thursday night after party by a guy who worked at the theater and another local establishment I frequented. Instead of money, I brought a giant bottle of liquor. Because that theater had a "friends get in free" policy and because I was now well known as the "guy who brought the liquor to the party" I was everyone's friend. I would bring 2-3 people with me to the theater, we'd all get in, and we'd all get employee servings of popcorn and soda. Best $20 I ever spent.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#82

Post by sp332 »

Taler wrote: post #53
sp332 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Fair share"? As if each person deserves to be served? Talk about a sense of entitlement. The restaurant will serve whomever it likes. You wouldn't think it unethical for the restaurant to give regulars a friendlier smile, or a specific table they like? If you have a personal relationship with someone, no matter how tenuous, they will give you better service. It's not "cheating." Especially for busy restaurants, ther…

Well... it's a spectrum from this to Jim Crow. Obviously it's nothing like it, but in the States we tend to say all forms of discrimination are socially unacceptable in order to avoid any slippery slope issues.

This is exactly wrong. Jim Crow and that spectrum is based on race and other prejudices. It's based on things people can't change (reasonably), and on "knowing your place" in society. This is the exact opposite. This is about personal relationships, connections, sphere of influence. This is not about classism, or racism, or any kind of prejudice.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#83

Post by holdenc »

lionhearted wrote: post #5

I was reading Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, and he talks about being liberal and magnificent with money. I'm in Vietnam now, things are cheap-ish anyways, so I decided I'm make the transition towards doing that. I wrote up my first experiences here - http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/?p=161 Since then, it's been even more crazy. I was just trying to be gracious - I wasn't trying to bribe for favors like the author…

I live in Southeast Asia as well, and there is a strong sense of reciprocity here (and no expectation of tipping) so if you do decide to tip, the obligation to repay will be very apparent.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#84

Post by wyclif »

hariis wrote: post #75
gyardley wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. The maitre d' isn't a public official in charge of a public or legal duty - this isn't a building inspector we're talking about. I suspect any bad feelings around tipping the maitre d' for a table come from lack of knowledge of the custom - someone who doesn't go to good restaurants regularly or is from another country where customs are different.

then, why is it done under the table?

To protect the illusion of fairness displayed to diners who get line-jumped.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#85

Post by mturmon »

bryanh wrote: post #50

I thought the line "Bribing, it turns out, has as much effect on the briber as it does on the bribee" was particularly telling. I mean, bribing someone (successfully) touches on everything: a sense of exclusivity, an appearance of prominence, a seemingly meaningful interpersonal connection, and it streamlines the whole process. No wonder if feels so good...

It is an insightful line.

Partners in crime is the concept, though, I think. In this a very trivial "crime".

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#86

Post by ErrantX »

This works varyingly well over here in the UK (bearing in mind that we have a lot less tip-focused service industry).

Obviously it works in top-class London restaurants. Anywhere else it tends to vary, I've tried it once in a semi-nice place in Leeds and got an icy stare and an extra wait :) but then it worked great in a grill house when I was in a rush with friends.

By the way; this is fun to do if you are with a group of friends who have never done it before. Once we were trying to eat in one of the London hotels (it was the nearest place and pay day :)) and obviously got rebuffed. It's really shallow but saying "hold on, wait here" and 30s later gesturing them over is worth the looks on your friends faces :)

The best place this has worked for me is a restaurant in a nearby town - not top class but always full. A few £20 "tips" now gets use pretty instant service - because they know we will tip decently afterwards.

Is it immoral etc? I've always thought not, it's just that I value getting a table X much and, most of the time, X is a steal price :)

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#87

Post by mikeklaas »

lotusleaf1987 wrote: post #74
RK wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a very common tip increasing strategy used by people serving food is to give discounts. If I'm selling you something for $10 and you'd normally tip $1 and I give it to you for $8, you are much more inclined to tip me $2-3, because you'd still pay the same or less and received "special" service. This of course may be unethical for the employee, depending on store policy. My best friend falls for it every time,…

When I worked at a steakhouse the smart servers would never charge for sodas or extras like baked potatoes, rice etc. Because as soon as the person got the bill, whatever amount was discounted almost always was directly added onto the tip amount. It might be bad for the restaurant for their soda/potatoes/rice, but that stuff costs as close to nothing as you're going to get.

The waiter is stealing the profit (and cost) of those items, not just the cost.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#88

Post by danielsoneg »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #62
winthrowe wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's a 'display as single page' rather than a print option, I'll recieve an add impression for most sites posted here, and might like the nav tools, but if it's 'print version' or page through a half dozen pages, I'll take print every time.

Fair point. Paging through is a pain and annoying to the reader.

But it doesn't dispute your original point - ads are annoying to the reader too, and longer content costs more.

Re: Bribing maitre d' to skip the line

#89

Post by whatusername »

diN0bot wrote: post #10
lionhearted wrote: post #5

I was reading Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, and he talks about being liberal and magnificent with money. I'm in Vietnam now, things are cheap-ish anyways, so I decided I'm make the transition towards doing that. I wrote up my first experiences here - http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/?p=161 Since then, it's been even more crazy. I was just trying to be gracious - I wasn't trying to bribe for favors like the author…

i think what you're doing is great, so don't take my hypothesis the wrong way: i have a dog and i live with 8 other people, so i have a bit of data on 8 different dog-human relationships. it boils dog to the dog treating everyone differently depending on who gives him food. P always give dog his sandwich crusts without asking anything in return, so when P walks in the door with a subway, dog goes grazy. in fact, P st…

Can I just warn you that our dog always ate the scraps (and too much of them) and ended up with Diabetes. (Such a first world problem I know). Having to give her 2 insulin injections a day was not very fun (or cheap).
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