For Someone Who Calls Himself “Dekrapitator”, He Sure Does Have Some Hostility Towards My Youth.
Why am I bringing this comment to you all’s attention? I want some feedback. Am I too young to be writing this thing? Do you think, from reading my posts, that I did the exact same thing I’m bitching about in my posts? Should I adopt Dekrapitator’s “America’s customers are broke so don’t fix them” defeatist, apathetic attitude? Let me know.
Dekrapitator Says:
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 e
Hey, Junior, you’re just a college kid, and your “been there, done that, seen it all” attitude is laughable. I was a waiter during my college years too, and I understand the whole “only people my age have any clue how to behave” deal. I understand that it’s a big rush to be 2 or 3 long years removed from your high school days, and therefore the World’s Foremost Authority On Life In The Real World. However, you forget that just 2 or 3 years ago, you were doing the exact same thing you’re crying about now.
Welcome to Adult America. Adult Americans often are assholes. I know it’s a shock at your age, but that’s the deal, Slugger. They trash your tables and leave a 2 dollar tip on a $60 bill. They ask you shit like “Are you new here, or is the cook?”, and engage in a multitude of other nauseating behaviors. They pretty much beg you to add extra “ingredients” to their meal. We did it, and so should you.
Deal with the bullshit involved with waiting on tables, or go knit sweaters in the comfort of your efficiency apartment for a living. Some people deal with far more horrifying conditions for a buck, Tiger.
Ryan Says:
February 24th, 2008 at 12:59 e
A few things, Dekrapitator (if that is your real name).
I don’t consider myself the World’s Foremost Authority on anything. I write stories on a website. I try to make them funny and entertaining. I do it because it’s therapeutic for me to write them and my audience to read them. As far as your picking up on my of “Been There, Done That” attitude…well…I have been there. And I’ve done it. I amthere. I’m doingit. Two years running, dude.
I also wasn’t “doing the exact same thing” when I was in high school. The only difference between then and now is about a 15% increase in tip (from 15-20% to 30-35%).
I don’t really understand what you’re bashing…the fact that I’m 22 or that I’ve somehow gotten it right in my writing. I don’t necessarily see what there is to cause such hostility.
At any rate, I’d like to see what kind of debate we can stir up. Anyone agree with Dekrapitator? Disagree? Let the ignorance commence!
P.S. You might want to try changing the email address. Any Yahoo account with the words “nuclear”, “war”, and two x’s is in need of a SERIOUS revamping.
Love,
Ryan
February 24th, 2008 at 1:09
Can WE have his e-mail address?? I’m sure there are plenty of people here who would love to have it.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:20
Ryan–
Sometimes people are having bad days when they dash off a comment like that. Others are just dumb. I have a hunch that Dekrapitator was more irked at the tone of that particular post than he was at the advice you gave (common sense, which is unfortunately uncommon these days). You were clear in that post that you’re not that old, but that you have advice for younger people who might not realize how obnoxious they were being.
Contra Robert, don’t give out the e-mail address. It’s bad form, and it’ll cut down on the people who comment on the site.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:52
i’m not sure i understand that oft-repeated comment on all waiter blogs. “if you don’t like the tips, get out of the business.”
i guarantee that every motherfucker that makes that comment tips five percent….tops. i would honestly love it if one day, every single waiter, waitress, valet, etc, just walked off the job, and left these ignorant, classless fools to serve and wait on themselves.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:55
I agree with Hubbard on the email issue. As for Dekrapitator, I know I prolly went out with friends who were like that, but even in middle school I never tipped under 18%. My parents taught me how to go out to a restaurant. It’s important to talk about that kind of stuff though because if we as servers in general can reach even 1% of the rest of the country as far as telling them what they’re doing wrong when they go out, we’ll have changed a lot of people and helped ourselves get slightly better clientel.
Just igonore Dekrapitator and keep writing, Ryan. Your posts help me and I tell all my friends and fellow servers about your site.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:35
I’m not going to give out anyone’s email address. That would be tacky and just plain rude.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:36
That guy’s a jerk, and if he doesn’t like your stories, he can go read another website. Nobody’s forcing him to browse this site, much less agree with anything written on it. I’d say you’re dealing with all that bullshit he talks about quite well through this site, and that’s what we all love about it.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:41
Sounds like a bitter bunny to me….not worth the hassle man…
February 24th, 2008 at 8:30
Yeah, the guy isn’t worth the hassle, Ryan. He probably did just think he was better than you because he’s older and was a waiter and wants to shit on your birthday cake because he’s having a bad day.
I get shit all the time for being 20. I am automatically “dumb” and people just assume that they have to give me advice on EVERYTHING and that I’m an idiot, when in reality, I’m probably a thousand times smarter than them. It’s just what older people do to younger people. Why? I have no idea.
I love your blog and enjoy reading it. It’s your way to vent and give people something entertaining to read. Keep it up, and don’t listen to douchebags who just want to bring you down.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:52
Wow, will you autograph my baseball “Slugger”?
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the L337 H@RDC0R3 tactic of self-elevating yourself over someone in an internet forum where you can’t immediately defend yourself. I remember when the kids in seventh grade would go around calling other kids ‘Boy’, as if the one calling them Boy was older, wiser and actually had a clue what they were talking about.
I guarantee you that idiot was typing one-handed. Nothing like strokin’ the ‘ego’ on an internet blog.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:16
I somewhat agree with jenni. I think that it should be explained in full to people that if they dont tip, prices on the menu will go up 25-30% to compensate what they would have to pay waiters/bartenders etc. just to do the crummy job.
I’m a bartender and if I’m not making$25/hour, then what the fuck am I doing all this work for? (I dont mind making nothing if I’m just playing pool and listening to my music on a nice sound system though..)
February 25th, 2008 at 6:48
I’m a middle-aged soul who waited tables in my youth. I don’t agree with Dekrapitator whatsoever. Customers were often very offensive assuming me to be subnormal, uneducated and, on several occasions, a prostitute.
Women didn’t tip. Blacks didn’t tip. Teenagers didn’t tip. Sorry, but it’s true.
As for you, Ryan, I’ve never seen ignorance born of youth in any of your postings. You seem like a wise soul and it was actually surprising for me to learn your age. Maybe the only giveaway to your youth is that you took a comment too much to heart.
Take some sage advice from an old broad in Canada - opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. Theirs may be different from yours, but not necessarily better.
Love ya, kiddo!
February 25th, 2008 at 2:03
My question is: What the hell was Maureen wearing that made her customers thing she was a prostitute??? Well, that and what her going rate was…
February 25th, 2008 at 6:17
LOL!! Boston, I worked in a classy flambé joint that had once been a brothel / slash / beer joint. Some of the old patrons still dropped by and *assumed*.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:40
Shhhh. Take a deep breath and relax. You don’t think I really take myself all that seriously, posting under a name like “Dekrapitator”, do you? If you read carefully, you’ll notice that I empathized with you as well as offered some admittedly brash words of advice. That’s how I am, I’m salty and sarcastic, which, reading your postings, does not appear to be an attitude with which you are unfamiliar. If you’re waiting on tables for a living and blogging in your spare time, and you’re in it for the long haul, might I tenderly, gently, and supportively suggest that you adjust your expectations to include the occasional ad hominem attack?
Your postings are often entertaining and do hit the nail on the head. But your rebuttal, which cites my “defeatist” attitude, is off the mark. Let’s be realistic. How many targets of your cyber-wrath are likely to read your words and take heed? I’m afraid that if you continue in this line of work, the bad actors will continue to infest your place of employment. “The customer is always right”, and they sure know it.
For those of you that act like human beings when you go out, congratulations. Of course, anyone who posts here is going to say “I tip servers enough to put their kids through Ivy League!”. Are ghetto-dwellers, rednecks, seniors and teens going to post here going “Hell yes, I’m a horrible customer, because the world revolves around me! Screw the server, I don’t need to tip, and my children are perfectly within their rights to trash the place!”?
Hey man, if your blog screws one person’s head on straight, that’s a beautiful thing, and I commend you on it. Again, I caringly and nurturingly advise you that the world will not change.
Peace, tranquility, and kindest regards!
February 26th, 2008 at 1:22
Maybe the world won’t change, but sometimes it just helps venting about the stupid shit that the general public does.
It’s somewhat therapeutic, and if you can make a few people laugh or smile, then maybe, just maybe, you have changed a little something.
I know that sounded all hippie and crap, but I think it’s true.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:12
Dekrapitator - I think Ryan’s beef wasn’t so much with the message but with way you sent it. You seemed to want to insult Ryan and were quite condescending - which, I usually enjoy - just seemed like he was a random target for the anger. And while I disagree with some of the postings here, I’ve never gotten the sense that he thinks he has done it all seen it all. Anyway, I am bummed this didn’t turn into a grudge match between you two, I’ve been really bored lately:)
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:35
I’m kind of saddened that Dekrapitator is trying to justify his generation’s poor tipping and behavioral habits. At least, that’s what I’m assuming by the comment about America’s adults being assholes.
In any case, I gather that he was that douchebag kid that went out to restaurants with his friends as a teenager and didn’t tip shit, and apparently still doesn’t despite playing the serving field.
For myself, however, and perhaps due in part to my better than decent parenting, I didn’t eat at restaurants as a teen unless I had enough money for at least a 20% tip; and, having been in the restaurant industry for a few years, I don’t leave less than 30% now unless the service was horrendous. Unlike Dekrapitator makes himself out to be like, I have the ability to see beyond the exterior service into what may have been a horrible week for my server, or a crazy busy night, or unruly cooks or what have you.
At least Dekrapitator has a mastery of the written word of English language.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:55
Why is it that those who complain the worst about service or how much we bitch about customers are always the ones who say “I used to wait tables”? One, if you used to wait tables there is probably a reason that you got out SO many years ago. And, two, if you got out it probably means that you couldn’t cut it long term. I am in my VERY early 40’s now and have been waiting tables for almost 15 years. I have been at my current restaurant for 9 years and there are servers that have been there pushing 20 years. This is my profession. This is what I do. I don’t do it because I don’t have the education or skills to do something else. I do it because my education wouldn’t pay me what I can make a week in a restaurant and give me a flexible schedule with less than 30-35 hours a week. Where else can I walk in off the street and ask to make $13-35 an hour cleared? And if you use the phrase “I used to work in this business” and are not sympathetic to the people we have to deal with and an excessive tipper out of solidarity then you are a giant douche and deserve to be mocked for your idiocy.