The Official Seattle Area Chat Thread (Everett: promotional, buying, clubs)

[Snowlife]

Originally Posted by JesseJB

Okay, so I can understand the 18% gratuity on a party of six or more people. Hell, I usually tip 20% so it saves me money.

But heres what I can't stand: Waitstaff in this city freak the hell out about splitting checks. If you tell them at the last minute, they say "you should tell me in the beginning next time." If you tell them in the beginning, they say "it would just be easier to figure it out at the end."

Annoying.

But the new craze for "NO SPLITTING CHECKS PLEASE" on menus is beyond stupid. When youre in a group of five or six or more for happy hour, who the hell has enough money to cover EVERYONE in the group?

Our party got scolded pretty good the other night when we needed to spit a check 4 ways in a group of 8.

Do you want business or not? How hard is it to take a seperate order?

Originally Posted by Carrie2979

I think it's usually because larger the check, larger the tip. It's harder with a large group of people but what we usually do is put cash in for the amount we ordered and pass the bill around. Sometimes there is someone in the group that "short" changes, which sucks. I'd say order your drinks from the bar and then return to the table. Pitch in for appetiziers or such.

I used to be a server/bartender and the "no splitting checks" deal is because of the time-consuming and tedious job of actually doing it. If you only come at it from a consumer's viewpoint, it seems simple. But when it comes to the physical act of splitting apart the check item-by-item, then presenting a bunch of seperate checks, then running them all seperately, some with cash(who need change), some with cards, etc. The difference between a single check and your example of 4 split checks is that it takes more than 4 times as long for the server/bartender to handle it. However, this is only a problem when the server/bartender is busy, or close to it.

When it really comes down to it, yes its a little annoying, but why don't you all just keep it simple and throw in the appropriate amount of money when the check comes around?

And definitely DON'T order your drinks from the bar if someone is taking care of your table, its very rude. Keep in mind, tips are how these people make their money, so when you take up their area(section) and then leave to get drinks at the bar(and tip on said drinks there) you are taking away from their money-making potential.

[SonicsFan93]

Pledge to save Seattle's July 4th fireworks show on Lake Union · MyNorthwest.com

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so impressed and happy at the way the local business community has stepped up to save the Family 4th Fireworks show at Lake Union! Tom Douglas, Taco Time, Beecher's Cheese, Seattle Bank, Red Mill Burgers, Nordstrom's, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Vulcan were just some of the many companies to step up! I haven't seen such a showing of civic pride in quite some time!

[blueshogun96]

I own a full length leather trench coat that I like to wear on occasions. Bought it off eBay for $40 (great deal considering the original price was $300). How do people in Seattle feel about some guy walking around in a trench coat? It tends to give me a bit of a Max Payne/Punisher feel, and that's one of my favourite looks. Every once and a while, I stop and think to myself, "Is anyone scared of me?" It's not everyday you see a minority walking down the street wearing a full length black leather trench coat so I can see a reason for it to raise a bit of interest. I understand that people here in general really don't care what your style is (just accept it or don't give a damn), but that doesn't mean that it can cause people's internal defenses to go up. I really don't care what people think of me (one reason why I moved back to Washington because people in the mid-west can be VERY judgmental). No one stares at me or gives me funny looks or anything like that in the puget sound area in general... that is except in Puyallup! I get stared at alot here. I could be walking down the street, and next thing I know, I get someone staring at me rather than watching the road. One time someone came close to missing a stop sign just staring at me while he was driving. Puyallup creeps me out and I can't wait to get out of here. The redneck mentality is highly annoying. Okay, enough ranting. What is your take on trench coats?

[keroppininja]

Perhaps they just thought you're Neo, or Silent Bob? j/k

Function over fashion has always been my view, it rains a lot trench coats help with that.

Might be biased though towards trench coats, the best coat I've ever owned was a WWII rifleman's trench coat.

[Zippy7fo]

personally I think you would look better in a michael jackson thriller jacket...

[seattlenextyear]

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Neo too.

[VeronikaW]

Happy Easter, Seattle!

[JesseJB]

Trench coats are awesome if they fit and are of a decent quality and dont make you look like a Westlake Center faux-street kid. I have a semi-trench coat that I freaking love. Function AND fashion I suppose.

[VeronikaW]

Thank you, Seattle area folks. We have spent 3 years (and had 2 children) while living here. We are, however, headed back to Southern CA. The list of cons against CA and the pros for WA are both so long, and are both completely trumped by the fact that I have two children under 3 and practically my whole family is in SoCal.

Just wanted to thank all of the lovely people on this message board for all the help/advice over the last 3 years! <3

[seattlenextyear]

Best wishes, Veronika