I got a beef with bottomless drinks

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

What?!?!?

You crazy?!?!?

Everyone loves downing 5 glasses of Coke or 4 coffees with their meal, what gives?

Here is situation:

Chabudo 1pm on a weekend and me plus one are waiting for a table at one of the few places in Taipei that serves Western Breakfast. 20 minute wait, hardly a drama.

that is until I look inside the restaurant.

about one-third of the tables are actually eating food, the rest of the folk are just sitting there mindlessly yammering away (galigong, galigong, galigong, food long ago devoured, bill long ago paid) getting as much tea, coffee, soda in them as humanly possible and soaking up the free A/C with no plans whatsoever of going back out into the smoldering heat. each person more oblivious than the next to the reality that others may be waiting for a table (why would they care? no one in their family is waiting), the staff completely blind to the fact that paying customers may want to sit down and give them money (why would they actually want to add to their job duties? Hen mafan!).

this place could be the only restaurant on Earth to be queued up around the block every weekend at brunch and actually lose money.

so finally we get a seat, luckily for us the lady whose three children were using the restaurant as an athletics venue decided she had had enough and packed it in. but before sitting down I decided to take a mental inventory of who was there, sipping away, eating up valuable real estate instead of eating food.

after about 40 minutes we were pretty much done, and most of the same people who were casually pulling back limitless beverages were still doing so.

Am I the only one who finds this behavior incredibly selfish?

Should restos cap the amount of time you down their bevos?

This shit has to be bad for business.

2

New York Bagel? I used to meet my Chinese teacher there. It was her office/study venue, basically. I certainly wouldn’t have gone there for any other reason. I visit these places for somewhere to sit, not for the food. They know this.

Same with a popular bar during the daytime and its brunch coffee. Almost undrinkable, but I was paying for a seat on the terrace, not for the coffee.

No-one pays a premium for western brunch for the food - especially Taiwanese people - they go to hang out.

3

[quote=“Buttercup”]New York Bagel? I used to meet my Chinese teacher there. It was her office/study venue, basically. I certainly wouldn’t have gone there for any other reason. I visit these places for somewhere to sit, not for the food. They know this.

Same with a popular bar during the daytime and its brunch coffee. Almost undrinkable, but I was paying for a seat on the terrace, not for the coffee.

No-one pays a premium for western brunch for the food - especially Taiwanese people - they go to hang out.[/quote]

I used to piss in the street, but then I realized it was a bit boorish and rude, so I stopped.

Just because Taiwanese people are habitual in this act doesn’t make it right or justify it.

and if 220NT is paying a premium for full spread with drink then I roll deeper than Minolta. [Scott]Booyah![/Stuart]

4

Well, maybe. It must make them money, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. I’m sure they’ve thought of the ramifications of selling bad food at a whopping markup then hurrying people along to free up tables.

Me, I hate fuckheads who take their kids to Starbucks. For those folk who think that sucking warm milk from a cup with teat while their toddlers squeal for attention in a room full of sharp edges and hot beverages isn’t creepy.

5

Well. I just found a niche market … time limited electric shock-chairs and coin air-cons … on entry of an establishment you get two coins, one to operate the air-con, the other to turn off the electricity of the chair you’ll be calling yours for the time of your meal … :roflmao:

Or maybe it should be just tilting chairs … less possibility of someone getting electrocuted … :ponder:

6

10% discount if you leave within 15 minutes of finishing your meal.

7

Or if you have a service charge, “No service charge if you leave within 15 minutes of finishing your meal.” It doesn’t have to be rude either. When you print the bill the time and date is already on there. Drop the check off at the table with the message at the bottom. If they happen to read it they will consider the option. If they don’t see the discount message or wish to forgo the 10% discount and continue their conversation, that’s okay too. :2cents:

8

I remember the first time I went to the USA, when I was too poor to be eating in restaurants a lot, and someone told me a little thing that didn’t mean a lot at the time: “I like eating out in Europe because your table is yours for as long as you want it, nobody’s hassling you to get out.”

Here in Taiwan, “western” means “American-style” and as soon as you’ve eaten your overpriced fried garbage delived by someone who doesn’t really give a shit, you can just fuck off. At least, if anyone gave a shit they would be pushing you out. Fortunately, they don’t usually care. That’s good for me because lunch time should take at least two hours in my book.

Every time I go into a TGI Friday’s restaurant I am blasted by air-conditioning that is turned up way beyond the level required. It’s not comfortably cool in there, it’s uncomfortably cold. So cold in fact, that by the time I’ve finished my food I’m ready to leave. Tell me they don’t do this on purpose. I had a waiter interrupt a conversation a few weeks ago to go through the bill with my friend, I mean literally hold the bill in front of his face and start talking over my voice. The result was not pretty.

If you don’t like to see people who have paid good money sitting down and relaxing then I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of sympathy for you. I don’t like being hassled out of my seat by people who are more focused on turnover than on service, not in expensive joints.

On the other hand, wandering MOS or similar with a tray in your hand looking at the gangs of kids who have bought half a cup between four and annexed six tables, or trying to find a seat in Starbucks that isn’t occupied by someone having a snooze, can be mind-buggeringly annoying.

I remember once waiting for a table at an expensive restaurant, and watching a crowd of students playing Jenga at a large table. They were all drinking water, no food. That pissed me off.

9

:discodance: …Ain’t life grand!..:discodance:

:popcorn:

10

I would be very surprised if anyone has really thought about it, or figured out how to maximise profits. I don’t see these people encouraging me to try extra stuff, offering deserts, asking if I would like anything else.

I think culturally it’s not acceptable to walk up to people and say “are you going to buy anything, 'cos we need your table for paying customers” like they would in Blighty.

11

[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]What?!?!?

You crazy?!?!?

Everyone loves downing 5 glasses of Coke or 4 coffees with their meal, what gives?

Here is situation:

Chabudo 1pm on a weekend and me plus one are waiting for a table at one of the few places in Taipei that serves Western Breakfast. 20 minute wait, hardly a drama.

that is until I look inside the restaurant.

about one-third of the tables are actually eating food, the rest of the folk are just sitting there mindlessly yammering away (galigong, galigong, galigong, food long ago devoured, bill long ago paid) getting as much tea, coffee, soda in them as humanly possible and soaking up the free A/C with no plans whatsoever of going back out into the smoldering heat. each person more oblivious than the next to the reality that others may be waiting for a table (why would they care? no one in their family is waiting), the staff completely blind to the fact that paying customers may want to sit down and give them money (why would they actually want to add to their job duties? Hen mafan!).

this place could be the only restaurant on Earth to be queued up around the block every weekend at brunch and actually lose money.

so finally we get a seat, luckily for us the lady whose three children were using the restaurant as an athletics venue decided she had had enough and packed it in. but before sitting down I decided to take a mental inventory of who was there, sipping away, eating up valuable real estate instead of eating food.

after about 40 minutes we were pretty much done, and most of the same people who were casually pulling back limitless beverages were still doing so.

Am I the only one who finds this behavior incredibly selfish?

Should restos cap the amount of time you down their bevos?

This shit has to be bad for business.[/quote]

I think they’re just doing it because you’re a foreigner.
You know, to piss you off.

12

In Sanxia there is this coffee shop … buy a coffee get a can of tea free after finishing your coffee … guilt? Price of coffee to high … good marketing?

13

[quote=“Loretta”]I remember the first time I went to the USA, when I was too poor to be eating in restaurants a lot, and someone told me a little thing that didn’t mean a lot at the time: “I like eating out in Europe because your table is yours for as long as you want it, nobody’s hassling you to get out.”

Here in Taiwan, “western” means “American-style” and as soon as you’ve eaten your overpriced fried garbage delived by someone who doesn’t really give a shit, you can just fuck off. At least, if anyone gave a shit they would be pushing you out. Fortunately, they don’t usually care. That’s good for me because lunch time should take at least two hours in my book.

Every time I go into a TGI Friday’s restaurant I am blasted by air-conditioning that is turned up way beyond the level required. It’s not comfortably cool in there, it’s uncomfortably cold. So cold in fact, that by the time I’ve finished my food I’m ready to leave. Tell me they don’t do this on purpose. I had a waiter interrupt a conversation a few weeks ago to go through the bill with my friend, I mean literally hold the bill in front of his face and start talking over my voice. The result was not pretty.
[/quote]

Europe is definitely more relaxed when it comes to customer parking. It’s because the service staff doesn’t have an incentive to turn tables which I guess is acceptable to all parties involved.

TGI Friday’s is one of the worst examples of Americanized service in Taiwan. I don’t blame the waiters though. Whoever trained them to be so blunt/rude is at fault. I’ve had the same thing happen to me and I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s such a shitty feeling when a server comes to the table trying to be “service oriented” but completely blows it. Anyway, I think our foreignness is definitely more sensitive to this and most Taiwanese probably don’t notice or care.

The guitars hanging on the wall are a nice touch though.

14

I got a beef with bottomless drinks.

That sounds like a sweet deal. But shouldn’t it be SOME beef with bottomless drinks? :ponder:

15

Its not unlimted in europe, there is definitely an ingrained social clock that lets you buy a drink, relax, sip slowly, then when its time buy another drink or leave after the 2 hours or so. Note, the drinks prices reflect this

I guess the business model sucks, but dont forget that youre looking at it from one perspective. To sum up the culture here, most times Im out with chinese its eat and go, but for the retauranteer this may cause concern since there is a cultural affinity to queuing and if a place is full and “noisy” it must be good eating. Therefore, having a queue and people holding tables may, paradoxically, be a great business strategy to lengthen the busy period.

In europe there is a similar judgment, but with a crucial difference, a european approaching 3 restaraunt, A is abandoned, B is Busy and C is choca-block, the European would scope out C to see if its worth the wait, then go to B, avoiding A like the plague

16

[quote=“Funk500”]I got a beef with bottomless drinks.

That sounds like a sweet deal. But shouldn’t it be SOME beef with bottomless drinks? :ponder:[/quote]

Where I come from, that means he got a whole Jesus COW!!! :astonished:

17

I hate how bottomless drinks always get my pants wet.

18

a lot of good replies, but lets have it right, people are basically taking the piss when they get refill after refill after refill, long after eating their meal when there is a massive queue at the door.

it is really a common courtesy (or lack there of) issue.

19

You’re probably right.

20

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Of course, this being Taipei, the City of Bottomless Women, you’d think we’d be used to it…