There are quite a few things I have not understood.
One such the experience of Dining in a Hotel or Restaurant.
We use both the terms .
My son in Law and daughter are always under tension when I go out dining with the family, my son and daughter are used to my behavior.
The reason?
I vehemently oppose leaving tips in any Hotel, as matter of principle, probably the one I am able to follow!
You pay for your food in a restaurant at a price fixed by them, not you.
You do not haggle the prices.
Why pay tips?
Polished people tell me as if they are informing an idiot that Tips is to insure prompt Service, so the term TIPS(acronym)
The proprietor or the Company even if it is Multinational Chain of Hotels have inbuilt the cost of labor while fixing the price.
So, why should I pay?
Again if my service can be ensured only by my paying tips, it conveys to me that the waiter will not offer me proper service if I do not pay tips.
This implies that the restaurant is deficient in its service as I am paying their fixed Price.
The other reason touted is that leaving a tip is a Status symbol and in abroad you can not leave out without paying.
I had been abroad and I never paid a tip.
The worst I got was a nasty look.
That’s nothing new as when any one my Home asks me how the food is , if it is good, i would say so, I get the same looks.
(Why do people ask for Your opinion only to confirm what they think?)
No this leas to another aspect of eating out.
The prices.
In Tamil Nadu the State Government has opened up Restaurants selling good tasty food at affordable Prices.
The low-cost canteens in Chennai, serving breakfast and lunch at rock-bottom rates, are an instant hit. And the welldressed office-going crowd does not seem to mind sharing space with the slum-dweller for that tasty rice-sambar sold at Rs.5 and curd-rice sold at Rs.3.
Other hotels charge anything between Rs 18 per plate of two Idlis and Curd Rice around Rs 20.
You do not get a Masala Dosa for anything less than Rs 70!
Why?
People think it is beneath their dignity to question this extortion.
Imagine people with a salary for Rs 4000 to 5000 per month ,are staying alone and have to take food in restaurants.
Is this not fleecing?
Why The Consumer groups are silent on this issue?
I saw a Talk show in Vijay TV Neeya Naana where the Hoteliers met with the customers for a discussion.
And they offer you what they think you like, never an authentic Tamil Nadu Cuisine except Idli Vada Ponga and Poori (which has become South Indian now( and a few other items)
Whys no specific Tamil specialties?
I can name quite a few.
Think about it,
Related.
Piping hot Pongal is the latest item for breakfast at Amma Canteens in Tamil Nadu. A plate of this popular cuisine costs just Rs. 5. Three months ago Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched these canteens in Chennai to help the poor get quality nutritious food at subsidised prices. Fluffy idlis cost just Re 1 each; sambar rice Rs. 5 and curd rice Rs. 3. Following good public response, these restaurants were set up at all 200 wards in the city. Now the state government has taken these canteens to nine other cities: Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelvelli, Tuticorin, Salem, Erode, Vellore and Tirupur.
A customer told NDTV, “Pongal is a very good addition. It is easily digested. Idli too is easily digested. Anybody can have pongal, even patients like to have idli or pongal. It is a good move.”
In Chennai’s Santhome area, Amalraj and his wife Daisy say they’ve stopped preparing breakfast at home over the last three months. He is a Security Guard with a private agency and their house is just a few hundred metres away from the canteen. Amalraj says “for Rs. 20 we both finish our breakfast, we just walk here every morning. It’s cheaper than home food.”
There’s more to choose for lunch. Lemon rice and curry leaf rice have made a debut at an extremely affordable price of Rs. 5 a plate. The introductory sambar and curd rice would continue too. The menu draws people from all classes. Labourers to corporate executives simply walk in. Mr Raman, a first timer, says “the quality is very good for the price. Outside even tea sells at Rs. 7 now.”
Ashwin, an executive who stops at the canteen often, adds “without this poor people will not eat and may skip meals. They can’t go to hotels too; they would just remain hungry.”
Amma Canteens are run by women from self-help groups. Each is paid Rs. 300 a day. Officials claim their focus is on hygiene and quality. A sanitary inspector from the Chennai Corporation explains “customers are served purified drinking water. Come September machine made chapatis would be served.”
http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/what-makes-jayalalithaa-s-amma-canteens-so-successful-374929
Hotliers openly admit that their profit is from 40 percent to 100 %!
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