Here's another good one: Publicly shaming restaurant goers for drinking TAP water!

Yes, it's true. I know it. You know it. We all know it. Why? Because we've all experienced it!

Gone are the days where you can comfortably and confidently sip your complimentary glass of unassuming water in restaurant before your meal.

(I always trusted this water was more purified than not but I was likely wrong about that. Still, a sip here and there of a clean glass of water to clean the taste buds before my appetizer and entrée brought me a small remnant of personal enjoyment.) 

So I went to an Italian restaurant last night and the entrées were $28+ so it was on the pricier end but nothing out of this world.

The waitress? Young girl. Sweet. Looks like she wouldn't harm a fly.

We haven't gotten a thing yet. No bread. No menus and the first thing out of her mouth is:

"Would you like sparkling water, bottled water or TAP water."

Mind you I put 'tap' in caps for a reason because her voice went up an octave as she said that cringe-worthy word. Not a Whitney Houston octave but more like Gilbert Gottfried where she made you feel dirty. 

Why call it 'tap'? Is the implication I want her to give me water from a garden hose or her bathroom shower nozzle.

And why say it just loud enough to let the other tables hear this as their eyeballs raise ever so slightly over their menus to peer at the cheap bastard at table 8.

I'm at a point in my life where not much bothers me but this one makes the embers of irritation embedded deep in my soul glow white hot!

What the hell are you trying to say? That I'm a cheap son of a bitc h because I don't want to pay $9 for a bottle of water that a Budweiser Clydesdale would have trouble finishing???

Am I 'less than middle class' because I want the standard glass of water before my meal, a restaurant tradition that is likely older than a century?

If I were on a date, I sure as hell would have trouble saying 'Yes, 100% Tap please!' with the confidence of Gordon Gekko.

What corporate bastard thought this up and made everyone feel less than human before they even got a menu!?

I say we band together and SCREW THESE RESTARANT OWNING BASTARD S and get our tap water from here to kingdom come! In fact we should all get tap and ask for it in a ultra large carafe!

VIVA LA TAP AGUA!!!

Rant Fin 

"What corporate D!ckhead thought this up and made everyone feel less than human before they even got a menu!?"


Scal, I believe you and everyone else is finally getting the point.

CORPORATE FUKKS.

NFG

I'm not sure I understand the hate for corporations in this instance.  Was it a corporate chain or independently owned?  Can't blame corps. for bottling and offering spring water.  I doubt management told her to sell it like that.  Repeat business is much more important to restaurants than an in your face upsell.  Many times what restaurants want and what waitstaff want aren't the same though.

Tonight I had a glass bottle of Aqua Panna for like $7-$8 and I love that stuff. It does taste much better than tap water and I'm not much of a drinker of wine so I don't mind buying it.  Would never judge anyone for just getting a regular glass of water though.

More to blame here are waitstaff in general and the rampant tipping culture.  I have waited tables and I know plenty of waiters.  It's a hustle and you're their mark.  You are nothing but a potential tip to them and you are judged as a person not by your manners or how you treat animals and old people but by how much you tip. 

You will be passive aggressively bullied into tipping what they want or experience retaliatory rude behavior.  Problem is a lot of them are greedy and in a cash business for dubious reasons such as bad work history and drug abuse so you really can't tip enough and whatever it is they feel they deserve it.  Not all waitstaff are like this, but this girl certainly sounds like the shoe fits her.  Add to that she is good looking so she has probably gotten away with behavior for most of her life that would have gotten me you or Goldengoose into a brawl. 

tap water's probably better for the environment anyways 

If you can't order a Sanpellegrino bottle then don't go to a $28 Entree restaurant.

Bottom Line

Some cities (esp. Northeast) have very old pipes to deliver water and some are lead. There are some cities that have tap water that is dangerous for small children to drink.

The waitress is trained to push the water that will cost money, so of course she's going to try and make the tap water sound like the least appealing option.  Throw it back at her next time and ask if the tap water comes from the sink or the toilet.

I respect people more for drinking tap water.  As long as it's not a health hazard, who the phuck cares?  

I agree Florida water tastes like sh!t.

Has something to do with the State being so flat.

You only have to go down 25 feet to hit the water table.

[Quote: Originally Posted by GimmeMoneyNow]

uote]I couldn't have said it any better myself. Don't be too hard on the politically correct liberal, he might never venture out to a good, quality restaurant again.....

 

 

 

A little heads up to you, genius:

In upscale restaurants, they do the water service/offering before you get menus and bread.

Could it be that you were just being your typical self, just looking for something to bittch about? They offer the types of water and ask your preference, as a courtesy. Nobody says you have to commit to bottled water.

And she probably saw you coming, or waited on you before, so maybe that's where the cheap son of a bittch implication came from. In an upscale restaurant, if the entrees are $28+ do you think she gives a shitt if you order bottled water or she feels compelled to 'shame' you?

As GMN stated, Olive Garden sounds more like your speed. Or Macaroni Grill, maybe you could get some crayons to doodle on the butcher paper they put over the table, as you sip your water and look for something else to complain about.

One last thing: Don't forget(or conveniently forget) to tip your server and tip them appropriately.

 

 

They do this as....a courtesy....LOLOL

Yes folks it appears a former or current server (clearly what this poster is), is now claiming that 'water service' (love the new term to explain how restaurants try to make money on ....water), are simply doing this for your benefit, not theirs.

 

Typically, restaurants give you a glass of water (and no, a $28+ entrée is not 'upscale' in the restaurant industry, at least not in the Northeast Metropolitan area) and then ask you for your beverage order and it is THERE where you can order nine dollar bottles of Perrier to your liking, just like everything else on the beverage menu.

Don't delude yourself into thinking you are doing ME a favor by attempting to shame the buyer into spending more money than they already will so YOUR tip can rise.

And that it what it is...shaming, however slight, and about making more money (which the servers are all too willing to concede to so they can get a slice of that pie). 

It is the same corporate psychological trick used by casinos when they refuse to put clocks anywhere (in an effort to make you lose track of time), have rug patterns that are byzantine (so you meander around aimlessly and eventually sit at a slot machine or table game and lose more), or have windowless walls (so you don't know whether it is night or day), all in an effort to do one thing: make more money.

Do you really believe the owners of these restaurants are doing YOU a courtesy by calling what was always a complimentary unnamed drink TAP water and putting it third behind two expensive bottle of 'premium water'?

Kid, seriously. Wake up. And stop bitching and moaning about your tips. I tip generously and this isn't what we are talking about (even in a simple post about water he's trying to ensure he makes more money! Just like the restaurants!).

If the tap water is undrinkable I stay away from the coffee . in fact just stay away from the place. Everything cooked starts with tap water. Rinsing lettuce for salads. So do you use Poland spring Nestle or don Pierre.

Speaking of tipping, I usually tip 20%  

I know people that do this but I don't sweat it. The wait person is going to get a good tip or not.

  I've never had any waitperson ask me about water........they just bring it. If you wanted something fancier it's usually on the menu. Scal doesn't mention if all of the choices were complimentary, as tap usually is, so it isn't clear if they were trying to up-sell him or not.

Have to agree with mug usually a nice restaurant requests not requires that's a league above me but requests reservations basically asks you give a heads up of who and how many are planning to dine then when you get there the hostess usually looks up the name and shows us to stable where tap water and a garnish are chilling and asks what would like to drink. Again a hostess not a matter d. Then the waitress or. or wait or comes with drinks and menus....my advice go to a different resteraunt where you feel comfortable but if you can not trust the tap water just don't go cause everything cooked uses it. Down to the salad rinsed.

But if I feel I am treated shabby. My tip don't eat your yellow snow near the fire hydrant if I am treated well take. The bill move the decimal point and round up to the nearest ten spot.

Is there a way to put a poster on ignore?  Nature1970 seems like a nice guy and all but I can't watch his posts rape the English language anymore.  Cannot believe it isn't a bit on purpose.

Scalabrine, the more you post about nondescript, questionable at best issues, shows how much of a freaking moron you really are.

Once again, do you think that restaurants really give a shitt if you order bottled water or not??? They know that there are a lot of people that drink bottled water, and prefer it. So therefore, it is a courtesy to offer it --- and yes, it happens more at the more upscale restaurants. Btw, what do you consider upscale? Is $28+ for entrees, not? Notwithstanding specialty / pricier / delicacies.

You asked if I think they are doing me a favor by asking me if I want bottled water or not? If I drank bottled water and it mattered to me, yes. But I don't take it personally and look for a reason to bittch about it, like your wussie azz. I just tell them no thank you. Why don't you learn to do that and not getting your little panties twisted in a little bunch. 

I was throwing out the tip properly comment because it's people like you who find anything and everything to bittch about and find that as a reason to not tip. As I stated before, the server probably saw you coming from a mile away, could read you like a book and knew what kind of whiny, sniveling little piss ant that you are.

You use that kid term rather loosely, as you've said that before. Coming from you, who finds stupid, mundane topics to start threads to complain and whine about.

Again, stick with Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill.   

advice, TAP water is fine, just don't ask for it in a Flint, MI restaurant....99% of all restaurants do serve tap water that is filtered/purified to perfection, buying bottled water in an American restaurant is not only worthless, but also insignificant...Ruth & Chris doesn't even have it on their menu.....just to mention one of numerous establishments that could give a rats azz about serving bottled water when they have their own (purification) system like many upscale restaurants do. bottom line, it's a waste of money...regardless of your personal standards. Oh, and btw, tap water in the USA is not like other countries, you can actually drink it, not like Europe, Asia, Mexico...where drinking fountains are non-existent, and free(tap) water in a restaurant is banned because it causes dysentery

did you know?

Water in Europe cost more than milk in the USA? think about it......

Interesting stuff Network; thanks for sharing