Being new our first few days here consisted of a lot of eating out. Great food, horrible service. We sort of new this coming in, but had no idea just how bad it could really be!
Example One:
Go to nice Italian Restaurant, get great food. Waitress was decent enough until an hour later when we all needed drink refills & still had no food. Once we got the food it was awesome, but not sure it was worth two hours & very little to drink lol ...we later learned we pretty much should have stood up & done a dance to get her attention.
Example Two:
Sat out on a great patio on one of the first really super sunny days & the waitress & waiter we literally flagged down by one of the gentlemen we were with. She passed us no more than 5 times before the local we were with stood up and got her attention. Even he was surprised at the lack of attention. I think, especially in more touristy areas, you have to be quite aggressive with the wait staff. At least that day we had this to look at...
Gorgeous wasn't it?! I couldn't even see when I took this picture...turned out pretty well.
That is the statue of Rembrandt through the trees there & is "Nacht Wacht" or Nights Watch.
Now, the second part of the culture shock has been getting used to not really tipping. Coming from North America where tipping is huge we always feel a little funny when we leave & don't leave anything. We've talked about this with several locals who've said not to feel bad or weird apparently the wait staff gets paid quite a nice wage 20-30 euro an hour! I don't feel so bad anymore. I will say we do usually round up to the nearest euro when paying the bill just to leave "something" to soothe our conscience and if we do get particularly good service at a place we will leave whatever we feel appropriate. But, that is not often the case and now I know why! In North America (states especially) service industry folks are paid basically nothing because they are counting on high tips and we all know this, but here why worry about your table when you know you are getting that 20-30 euro an hour anyway...I certainly wouldn't! ha!
Kind of a fun dose of culture shock this week, it has really taught us how to deal with people and to be a bit more aggressive and outspoken when we go out shopping even at boutiques or go to restaurants. Can't wait to see how tomorrow's service will be at whatever bar we choose!
I would suck at dining there. I am so not aggressive with wait staff.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we are really pretty terrible. Getting much better, but still pretty awful lol
DeleteI would come close to starvation or death by dehydration. Yikes! I'm so glad you have a local to help with the learning curve. I can't imagine how long you would've had to wait otherwise. I like the idea of well paid wait staff though. I might have to relocate.
ReplyDeleteIt is so different in restaurants in Europe! At least the food is usually better than in the US. :)
ReplyDeleteLove living vicariously through your European experiences. I've always wanted to go. Sounds like dining out is quite the challenge! But well worth it for all the beauty. Thanks for linking up with the #smallvictoriessundaylinky! You've been pinned to the group board. :)
ReplyDeleteSo interesting to see how different cultures handle these things in our daily routines we get so accustomed to. I would feel bad having a temper tantrum to get service but could get used to not having to tip. Glad to see they are paid well but I guess that is why wait staff don't care about providing good service. They get paid the same either way.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we are getting more and more used to it, but it can be quite the challenge especially because we are not aggressive people at all lol But you are right it doesn't matter to them how amazing the service is because they are getting paid what they are getting regardless. If we go to a more touristy area like the red light district though as soon as the waitstaff hear us speaking the service does get a bit better & the tell us that if we want to tip we need to add it before running our card lol So they do know how American's are & if the service is good we will usually give something but just round up to the nearest Euro or something and they love it lol
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