Continued from yesterday.

Sunday night me and the boys had dinner at Golden Corral — their choice after playing at the park. Something that confuses me about GC is tipping the wait staff. As GC is a buffet, the wait staff used to bring us new plates and utensils, keep our water/tea glasses filled, and clear away dirty dishes, but that’s it. Customers get up and serve themselves everything from rolls to main meal to dessert.

Lately they don’t even bring new plates and utensils — customers get their own tools, now. The only real thing a GC waiter or waitress does directly for the customer now is refill their beverages and clear away finished plates. So are we customers still supposed to tip the wait staff? And how much should one tip for just beverage refills and table bussing?

I do still tip GC waiters/waitresses the standard percentage, but it seems wrong — tip them the same as I’d tip someone who served me everything from order to dessert. That’s either a rip off of the customer or an insult to the full-service waits. But maybe I’m the oddball for tipping at GC? I’ve noticed some other GC patrons don’t leave any tip on the table.

Our most recent GC dinning experience made me think more about this concept. Our waitress was very nice, pleasant, friendly, and service-minded. She greeted me and the boys with a big smile and a happy demeanor. She was attentive with the tea and water refills, and she was prompt but not over-grabby with taking away our finished plates (some GC servers will snatch away a half-finished plate if you don’t watch out). But still, like all GC wait staff, that’s all she really did for us directly; that’s all she could do for us.

She would probably make better money at a “real,” personal-service restaurant where her great attitude and attention would be more appreciated and supported with better tips. I wanted to tell her this, but with her working hard and me managing two young boys at the table, having such a conversation wasn’t really doable.

There was a “How Are We Doing?” form on the table with her name on it, and she had written her name on the register receipt, over the “Take our online survey” information. When we finished our meal, I made sure to take these two items with me.

In my wallet I only had a fiver and a twenty — paying before eating often makes leaving a tip difficult, because I forget to get proper change before sitting down. I would like to have left more than five dollars, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave the twenty — the meal total was less than $22. At least $5 is more than the standard 15% tip.

I filled out the paper survey and took the online survey once I got home. (I checked “Excellent” and “Strongly Agree” on the forms — thanks for the great service, Charise.)

To be continued. . .

Bullgrit

My boys have a totally different opinion from me of what makes for a good restaurant. They love Golden Corral. I started taking Calfgrit8 there when he was still in a highchair (just he and me), and we continued when Calfgrit4 was in a highchair, and now we still continue to go there once every month or two. (We do this when it’s just us guys out for dinner.)

I like going to a restaurant to have someone wait on me — someone to take my order, bring me my sweet tea, cook my meal, and serve it to me all while I sit and just entertain the boys. But the Golden Corral buffet doesn’t work like that — I have to get up and get my own food and serve myself, and the boys.

I originally took my boy/boys to GC because it was a real easy way to get fruits and vegetables in them. It’s easier to get such stuff in their mouths when they can look over the range of choices and pick what they want. Then they can’t complain that they don’t like it or don’t want it. (Cooking for them can be a crap shoot, with one wanting one thing, and the other wanting something completely different. “But I don’t like green beans, I want corn.”)

We don’t go to GC very often, but the boys seem to always ask for it when given the chance to pick a dinner destination. Last night I finally learned/realized why they like GC so much.

Calfgrit4 directly said, “Daddy, you know why I like Golden Corral?”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t have to wait for them to bring us our food. We can get it ourselves and eat it soon.”

Well, yeah, that makes sense for him. Four-year-olds aren’t big on waiting, especially when they’re hungry and waiting for food.

But another reason dawned on me last night when we were at GC: the boys like getting up and moving around during dinner. Sitting at a table and just chatting with Dad gets boring, apparently. With a buffet, they can get out of their seats and move about the restaurant every few minutes.

I remember when I first started letting our oldest Calfgrit go about and get his own food. When he was six I let him go to the buffet by himself — I picked a table where I could see all up and down the buffet line so I could watch him while he navigated the people and got his food. I started letting him go on his own for two reasons: 1- because he needed to learn a little independence, and 2- it was a hassle to have to bring his little brother in his highchair with us every time big brother needed more food.

Now, at 8 years old, Calfgrit8 can completely handle the buffet all on his own. He even knows to always get at least one vegetable and one fruit before he gets his pizza, without me needing to tell him. Calfgrit4 still needs my help, but since he’s long out of the highchair, the process is much easier. He even knows to hold his plate with two hands so he doesn’t drop his food on the floor, without me needing to tell him.

To be continued. . .

Bullgrit

Ninja Monkeys
by Calfgrit8, 2nd grade

One night while I was sleeping ninja monkeys snunk into my room and kidnaded me and made me the first mate on there monkey pirte ship. When I got there we set sail for trecher. I had two guns and one shine gold sord. After we went 3 miles south we saw a huge green skalle sea monster. Its tong is like a sord so I hade a sord fight with it. Then I won. Just then a tracher chest in its plaece. It hade gold and siver. I go 5000,000 dallers. Then I thoat of a plan to go home. I trund the ship around. When I got to the shore I snake off with my mony and left my wepens on the ship. The end.

* * *

I considered fixing his misspellings and grammar. The funny thing is, he can spell every word in this story when I ask him and when he writes the word individually. He’s got a good imagination, but I guess he expects to rely on an editor to make sense of everything he quickly writes. He’s got the makings of a writer, but as a professional editor, myself, I’ll have to train him to take more time and self edit as he goes.

Bullgrit