I try to keep my musings and rants impersonal and light. I don't like to tread on hot topics, and I've always done my part to NOT make this blog an atmosphere in which I shed light on personal vendettas. That being said, I came across a New York Post article today that I can not ignore.
Kyle Smith, writer of the truly profound blog "Movies," a New York Post Entity, wrote an article cleverly titled "You Got Served!" in which he expressed his unfiltered, completely bias, and completely condescending opinions of people who work in the service industry. Aside from eliminating all doubt that he is pompous, anti-American, and arrogant without reason, he wrote an entire article summing up what is wrong with our society today.
His article, which you can read here, expressed his disdain for waiters and waitresses in New York City. He complained that restaurant patrons are "forced to make nice to these creepy ex-darlings of their high school theater departments because of the unspoken hostage drama that's taking place behind the scenes with...food," implicitly stating that if you don't treat your server with the slightest grain of respect, your food will be tampered with.
I don't know about you, but I grew up in a world where the golden rule was, "treat others how you would like to be treated," not, "treat others who are clearly inferior to you with a condescending 'respect' to ensure your food doesn't get tampered with."
As someone who works in the service industry, I deal with every type of idiot on the spectrum throughout the course of a shift. As frustrating and rude as people can be, I have found that there is still some good in the world, and, the majority of the people I wait on are actually decent human beings with a basic understanding of social decorum. I'm not here to bitch about the job that's paying my bills while I get a second degree, but I think it's only fair the rude, unfounded and offensive claims made by Mr. Smith are rebutted.
The overall tone of the article was hostile and sought justification for his behavior of the patron everyone in the service industry dreads of encountering. He made no effort to act embarrassed or ashamed of the fact he only leaves an 11% tip, which is reason enough for concern as it is.
First of all, the tipping standard is 20%. Servers are payed below minimum wage because it is common knowledge, on par with the color of the sky, that diners leave their waiter or waitress a tip that reflects the total of the bill. Most servers have to tip out various other restaurant personnel, including the hostess, the bartenders, and the bus boys. These tip outs are done on a percentage of the total sales of their shift; tipping 11% generally means the server is ACTUALLY getting 2% of the check, and when taxes are deducted from their already fecal paychecks, they are essentially PAYING FOR HIM to sit in their section because he is too much of a cheap, over critical prick to leave 20% of the check. For someone who claims to be a capitalist, I find it ironic he has no problem in allowing someone to essentially pay for him to dine out.
I think Mr. Smith intended his piece to be an edgy, satirical stance against over-zealous, over-friendly servers who pay their bills by turning tables and being attentive to their guests. Guess what, Kyle? You're a fucking dick. Not only did you falsely assume every server is a struggling, up and coming performer, but you wrongfully asserted that we're all idiots. I don't think there is ANYTHING wrong with working in the service industry. I'm not asking my parents for hand outs, and I'm paying my own bills, and *gasp* I'm paying taxes, inherently contributing to society. I'm unclear as to why people find it appropriate to condescend anyone for the manner in which they pay their bills. I also can't fathom how someone could be so socially handicapped to not find an issue in writing a mass-produced article encouraging people to treat others disrespectfully. His article bashed servers for having a sense of entitlement when it came to receiving tips at the end of the night, but in reality, he only described his own sense of outrageous entitlement.
He continued to compare dining in the US to dining in France (by the way, he spends TWO WHOLE WEEKS of each year there, so he's OBVIOUSLY an authority on all things French), which is absolutely ridiculous. He commended servers in France who don't work for tips, which would be fine to do...if the economies of the US and France were similar.
Look, I understand Mr. Smith was trying to be funny while being a dick about people who actually work for their money, but I cannot appreciate him being rude and making unsupported assertions about the people in the service industry. If he hates dining out in the US so much, he should just stay home. There's no need for him to waste everyone's time and effort just so he can go home and complain about it. It's not that fucking difficult to prepare meals at home, and coming from someone who claims to only be remotely polite to servers because he lives in fear of them fucking with his food, I don't think cooking his own meals would be an outrageous suggestion.
Or, maybe he could move to France, since they're obviously the only other country he's ever visited...and they're SO far superior to the United States anyway.
I hope somewhere in New York, Kyle Smith is getting mugged and beaten somewhere. I'd consider it fair retribution for all of the negative, bad energy he seems to have no problem releasing into the world.
What a dick.
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