(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

JULIUS MEINL, YOU ARE SO FIRED.

Okay, quick disclaimer: I don't drink coffee. More accurately, I can't drink coffee, because it gives me headaches. I haven't had any since I was seventeen and realized the link between a coffee at seven and blindness at eight-fifteen. I am a morning person by nature so this rarely bothers me.

But this means that in my personal sphere, cafes are kind of pointless. I don't socialise well and I can't appreciate good coffee or even whine about bad coffee, and honestly it's ridiculous to pay like four dollars for a cup of stupid tea. So I don't go to cafes much.

But I've been meaning to try Julius Meinl because I heard it had really good pastries, and I can personally vouch for the fact that their crepes are awesome. Except, you know, they don't bring you anything with which to eat the crepes.

Okay I'm telling this story backwards.

I WENT TO JULIUS MEINL. I walked in and it was approximately the temperature of the sun inside, and also the host was, I don't know, having a smoke or something, so despite there being five people in Julius Meinl uniforms in the room, none of them would seat me until she got back. By then there was a line, and she briefly attempted to seat me with the three strangers behind me.

Once we sorted that out I asked for an outdoor table, because it was Very Warm indoors. I was seated, and the waiter showed up and took my order, which was a lemonade and a nutella crepe. Not rocket science, at least I assume not, I'm not good at making crepes but I don't ask people to pay seven dollars for my crepes.

Radio silence for twenty minutes. And I'm looking around myself thinking, you know, other people have waters. Other people have beverages they paid for, even.

And then a guy appears, a different guy from my waiter, and gives me a confused look.

"Are you the crepe?" he asks.

Yes. Yes I am the crepe.

He puts it down in front of me. "Did you want anything else?"

"Well," I said, "I'd like a glass of water, and the lemonade I ordered. And some silverware to eat my crepe with would be awesome."

I'm not proud of being a dick. My one consolation is that when I said this, the women at the table next to me started laughing like crazy.

So he disappeared and about five minutes later came back with silverware and a very warm lemonade. I assume because it had been sitting in a cafe the temperature of an active volcano, waiting to be brought to me, for twenty minutes.

FIRED.

Mind you, it was a very good crepe.

Comments

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

I'll defend the honor of their pastries, but the service... Uh, yeah. (Out of curiosity, which one was this? Kind of wondering if it's a management issue, or a Management Issue, if you see...)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I do need to carry out some pastries next time, I think.

It was the Southport one -- did you have a bad experience there too?

[nic-edmunds.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is fail.

Although that totally sounds like something I would say, so much LOL.

[serpentpixie.livejournal.com]

... I hope you didn't then tip them. I heard you people do that a lot in America ^^

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I always tip. We do it a lot here because our restaurants don't pay our waiters a living wage, so tips are sometimes all they get. Mind you, I didn't tip as much as I would have for decent service, but I can spare two bucks for someone whose job sucks a lot more than mine does, even if they're not very good at it.

[petranef.livejournal.com]

Have you tried certified organic coffee? I can't drink the regular stuff either, but the organic coffee doesn't hurt my stomach or my head.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It's the caffeine, unfortunately :/

[little-werewolf.livejournal.com]

Long time lurker here.. but what I can tell from Meinl itself, being a resident Austrian, apparently the coffee is indeed good, but! it's overpriced and it's definitely not worth spending money on. Funny enough, I don't think ours even sell crepes. Oh well. ;)

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

I think they do, actually? I know they sell ice-cream, and don´t they have a café, too? When you go in to the left? I haven´t been there in a long time (I went upstairs once just to stare at the shelves.) Ridiculously expensive, of course.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

And now I have a craving for crepes! And the nearest place that serves them is an hour away - and closed. = /

[elf-amazon.livejournal.com]

Make your own! :D It takes a little finesse and practice, but it's possible to make them at home. Very tasty. Particularly after the happy dance that accompanies a successful crepe. ♥

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I go out to eat by myself a fair bit - if I'm going to a Broadway show, I'll often treat myself to a nice dinner, for instance - and most places these days seem to treat lone diners nicely, but there are still some places that act like someone of his/her own is a pariah. I get that one person at a table will order less - and therefore tip less - than two people would, but it's still no excuse for pretending the singleton doesn't exist. And truthfully, if the service is good I'll over-tip to make up in part for the theoretically lost income. But anyway, I wonder if there was some of that prejudice going on, too.

[ataralas.livejournal.com]

This. Ugh. I hate it! It's completely inexcusable.

[kidsis.livejournal.com]

I frequently go out to eat by myself and I tip more if I'm dining alone compared to how much we tip if my family goes out to eat.

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

Your ire sounds perfectly justified. It sounds like you received Supremely Bad Service. You ought to have gotten a fresh lemonade, and for free, at the very least. In fact, it sounds like you handled it much better than some customers that I've had who got better service and had to complain about, I dunno, the hashbrowns touching the eggs or something similarly stupid.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

I never understood the dislike for food touching on the plate. It's going to touch in the stomach.,

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord. I've done food service jobs and an inside temp. that is past 90 makes me scream in terror.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I couldn't help but think part of their confusion might be HEAT PROSTRATION.

[mcgonagalls-cat.livejournal.com]

... cafes are kind of pointless ...

*sniffle*

Sam doesn't love us anymore!

*wipes nose on sleeve and wanders off feeling dejected*

*sniffle*

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

It's only that he knows that no other cafe could ever compare with this one. ;)

[kevin-hy.livejournal.com]

A. No, you are entitled to be a dick when you have poor service. If they can't seat you, take your order, or serve you correctly, they forfeit any right they might have to courtesy. You just can't forget about someone for 20 minutes.

B. I'm amused that rather than rewrite the post after discovering halfway through that you were "doin it rong", you just said "whoopsie, let me start over". It worked, I was just amused at that choice.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Oh, my God, that sounds the height of douchetastic. I'm so sorry. Just get a box of financiers and a box of cherry tea and take it back to your flat next time -- clearly they fired all the nondouchenozzles in the Recession panic. Ugh.

I love me some Meinl, and I miss it. But ugh.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Don't be sorry! The food was legitimately fantastic, and apparently that shop just has A Management Problem. And anyway now I've scoped out the whole arrangement, so I know how to just go in and get what I want :)

minimum wage and tips

[katepwa.livejournal.com]

The conversations about minimum wage and tips, back and forth between the Americans and (I presume) Europeans, has been interesting to read.

Apparently all skilled servers should be making a beeline here -- Canada. I haven't worked in restaurants myself for 30 years, but my son is both a cook and a server (in different cafes). As a server, he gets minimum wage ($9.50/hr) but also benefits from a nearly-american standard of tipping (ie. you have to be really obnoxious or incompetent not to get a 15%-20% tip). So, being both competent and charming, he makes a very nice living with his two part-time jobs along with part-time university.

Re: minimum wage and tips

[eponymousanon.livejournal.com]

Or, they can come to Oregon-- almost as good as Canada! We're one of the few states to outlaw employers counting tips as part of base wages, and for years our minimum wage has been one of the highest in the nation in an effort to provide an actual living wage (currently $8.50 vs $7.25 federal minimum, I believe).

I didn't even know about the including tips as wages thing until it was mentioned on the cafe-- my friends (many of them current/former waitstaff in Oregon) are appalled when I tell them, because even in Oregon you scrape by on actual wages + tips-- 30% minimum + tips is way too little to survive on.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

When I drink coffee I get toxic. I wake up all swollen, nauseous, and my ears are ringing. I have a copper taste in my mouth and I want to kill everyone I see. It's quite incredible how badly caffeine affects me. It takes me three days to detox from JUST DRINKING A HALF/CAFF LATTE/BIT OF COFFEE LIKE THE REST OF THE POPULATION

Yet there is this whole planet that lives on the shit. I feel so alone. :'(

[chewipaka.livejournal.com]

Ah, but, see, if someone is say, having an asthma attack and they have very inconveniently forgotten his/her/(gender neutral) inhalers, caffeine can actually help you breathe.

But then, while I am a caffeine addict because tea is delicious (and, uh, I maybe do forget my inhalers more often than a responsible person should), I have at least two friends who stay the hell away from all caffeine ever, because one just hates all coffee and tea and soda, and the other is super hypersensitive to all and any drugs. So you aren't alone!

[cat63.livejournal.com]

I don't think you were a dick - you just asked for what they should have brought you in the first place. You didn't shout or swear or throw things or impugn the honour of the waiter's mother. So, all things considered, I don't think you're in danger of making an appearance on customers_suck any time soon :-)

[marmot-pie.livejournal.com]

Oh! I get that same thing (the blurry vision and migraines, not the warm lemonade), and was told that it could also mean a higher risk of strokes. So no more Earl Grey tea (whimper) or coffee, and to be honest though there are a thousand and one types of herbal tea I'm kind of sick of it.
The one plus is that I now don't have insomnia.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

I don't get it. I get migraines. The pills the doctor prescribed for me -contain- caffiene.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

See, that's not being a dick. That's wanting actual proper service and the things you ordered.

*grump*

[midgetgems.livejournal.com]

Cafes are not pointless! They provide me with a job mr!

That was terrible service, I have been treated worse by customers, whilst giving them much better service!

There's nothing I hate more in food service or retail than people stood chatting while I wait to be served. It winds me up sooooo much. Or chatting to their friends whilst serving me.

And we don't get tips which is rubbish :(