GCB

BLOGGER

Youngest kid of six with an inferiority and black sheep complex, but determined that God saves not just his soul to heaven but the remainder of his manic-depressive life, so others won't say he became a Christian and remained a jerk.

MAIN THEMES

On identity
i won't be transparent before i'm opaque. and you'll get to know me starting from the small things: who my favourite bands are. what kind of movies i like. who are my heroes.

On Christianity
I’m convinced that when confronted with sincere, real love, the Jesus factor will become obvious. But let’s not plant the cross before we carry it. I’m not trying to con you.

On dreams
Some dreams are meant to be achieved. I know that. But maybe other dreams are meant to drive us, privately. Never known to anyone but ourselves.

OTHER THEMES

On melancholy
It is a sadness that, when choosing between crying and sighing, will choose sighing. I'd almost say that melancholy is being sad about sadness itself.

On memory and nostalgia
It saddens me when life moves forward and people decide that certain things are worth forgetting.

On language
I've learnt that the word irregardless is filed as a non-standard word in the English language. That's a lexicographer's way of saying it's not a real word.

On politics
Crowds are fickle things. So when we stand in the thousands and cry against the present government, do we know who we're actually crying for?

On society
People always want the best for themselves. But I want to sometimes take second or third or fourth best, just so that the loser down the road doesn't always have to come in last. It must feel like shit to always come in last.

On growing old
Leasehold property make me feel sad. It doesn't matter how old the family photos are that you put on your wall. It's your family but it's not really your wall.

On philosophy
I ask you, if God loves everyone, and if God is also incapable of loving evil, how can there be such a thing as an evil man?

On a daily basis
One line quips, like this.

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Saturday, April 01, 2006

When vernon and i got to Italiannies last night, i was up in arms again about the waiters there. "They always tell me it's too much, that noo, noo, noo, the portion is for about five people!". well, it's not. and time and again, i go to Italiannies and i finish a whole main meal by myself. in fact, i believe i was bitching about this point just as we were served. at any case, we were greeted warmly, as you always are at Italiannies, and just as we asked for extra bread and explained the one-more-person-coming-later thing, we'd pretty much sussed out that we had ourselves a cool waitress.

"You've been here before? Do you know about our portions?", she asks.
"Yes, we've been here before", vernon goes.
"We're cool with your portions", i finish.
"Then cool!", she quips.

it's over in ten seconds. how strange? i was ready to fend off the typical Italiannies waiter, the one who insists that i won't be able to finish the portions. who's this girl?

incidentally, i don't tip. i don't think it's necessary, and i don't believe it should ever be a rule. robbers rob, hawkers hawk, subeditors subedit, and waiters wait. they're paid to do it, just as i'm paid to take out commas. if i had an extra dime for every news story i publish online, i'd tip, but i don't. (for further reference, watch the first ten minutes of Reservoir Dogs.) tips, therefore, are only for the exceptional.

vernon and i eat our hearty meal while verbosing about, inter alia, the definition of "tumultuous" and "chaos". it was fun. i said that "tumultuous" does not have the widespread nihilism of "chaos", and he added that "chaos" doesn't have the passion of "tumultuous". we were like collins and oxford at an italian restaurant. and all this while, the service from our dear waitress has been excellent. very friendly, welcoming, and interactive - even funny.

it was towards the end of our meal that we both decided to tip her. it was service that warranted a nice tip - a good reward for going above and beyond the call of her mundane duty. she had livened up our dinner and jolted me out of my argumentative mood into a cheerful, lighter-hearted one. that alone takes skill. so when we ask her for the bill, vernon begins, "What is the ... tipping policy here?"

Slight pause.

"I mean, do you all share or..."
"Oh no, we keep our own tips", she adds.
"Good!", and "Cool", we chime in as our hands reach into our wallets and fish for money. the bill was about 70 ringgit.

what ensues, however, remains a mystery to both of us. vernon puts some money in, and so do i. he takes some money out, and the waitress goes off. i, thinking that i had not paid my tip, through some momentary lapse in being there, call her back to add my tip. that was when our waitress gaped at us and asked us if we were sure. smiling, she said "Really? Thanks!", like she'd never seen a tip like that before (which could be true, considering that...)

we had actually, mistakenly, but actually way overtipped. first. we joked, laughed, and vernon explained that it's ok, don't worry about the tip because the service was good and "the waiters here normally discourage him" (him being me) "... but you were cool". yes, she was. it was only as we sauntered out of the place that we both, eyebrows raised, began wondering about the actual sum of the tip. vernon thought it was normal, but i began thinking it was wrong. if i'm right, that we were wrong, then our nice and friendly waitress carried 140 ringgit with her to the cashier.

that's a 70 ringgit tip.

in licking my mild wound, i consoled myself with a few facts: (1) that i never tip, (2) that if any waitress ever deserved it, it'd probably be her, and (3) it would have made her day, and (4) it reinforces for her, and if the story gets around, her colleagues, that it pays to provide good service, and it definitely pays to not insult the customer's ability to eat large portions.

so vernon asks me the telling question: next time we go there, and if she serves us, what do we do? do we still keep up the tip? my answer was no. we can't afford to anyway. it was a mistake. i meant to tip generously, but in our haphazardry, we tipped too generously. next time, if she serves us, i will tip just generously. no more 70 ringgit action.

but to NANA who works at Italiannies in one utama, thanks for the great service, you rock, and we hope the 70 bucks come in handy. cheers.

Labels: happenings

Genusfrog [ 4:13 pm ]

1 Comments:

i read this post and just to say thumbs up for Nana. i was there a few days ago and was served by her too. she deserved the tip. loved her smile. :) cheerz.

By Anonymous, at 12:17 pm