Monday, May 28, 2007
Libations
A little over a year ago I instituted a hard and fast rule that I never drink-not a drop-if I'm driving. On more than one ocassion I have driven home after having too much to drink and I finally got disgusted enough with myself that I made this rule. It goes hand in hand with the rule that I can't have anything to drink at a work function. It sounds odd, but when you do what I do, drinking is inevitable. We regularly host an event called "Wine & Theatre"--'nough said. Anyhow, normally my non-drinking self is able to save a wad of cash by sipping Diet Coke, rather than wine, beer or vodka, but every now and then my soberness costs me a pretty penny.
On Saturday night I went out with a friend and several of her friends for her birthday. This isn't my normal group of friends, but I have met most of them on one ocassion or another, so it's not like they were complete strangers. My friend, we'll call her...Sally, she picked a very nice Japanese restaurant for her birthday celebration. Though not something I would've chosen myself, I tried to shed my inhibitions about eating food with which I'm not familiar and branch out. If for no other reason than because Sally deserves it. When we arrived, the first conversation was about whether to order a bottle of sake ($90) or individual boxes of sake ($9 each). Knowing that the bill would be split an even seven ways, excluding the birthday girl, from the tab, I tried to make it known that I was drinking tap water, without seeming like an obnoxious cheapskate, but when the bill arrived, the cost per person was calculated at $48.68 per person, equal for all, even those of us who drank plain ol' water.
I'm really not that cheap, I don't mind paying for a good meal, but this meal wasn't that good and the service was just plain bad, but because we were a party of eight they automatically added in the 18% gratuity. And because the liquor alone consumed at the table was in excess of $60 I feel like I paid more than my fair share. This is not the first time this has happened, and it will certainly not be the last, but that does not make the pill any easier to swallow, particularly
when it's being choked down without a drop of alcohol.
On Saturday night I went out with a friend and several of her friends for her birthday. This isn't my normal group of friends, but I have met most of them on one ocassion or another, so it's not like they were complete strangers. My friend, we'll call her...Sally, she picked a very nice Japanese restaurant for her birthday celebration. Though not something I would've chosen myself, I tried to shed my inhibitions about eating food with which I'm not familiar and branch out. If for no other reason than because Sally deserves it. When we arrived, the first conversation was about whether to order a bottle of sake ($90) or individual boxes of sake ($9 each). Knowing that the bill would be split an even seven ways, excluding the birthday girl, from the tab, I tried to make it known that I was drinking tap water, without seeming like an obnoxious cheapskate, but when the bill arrived, the cost per person was calculated at $48.68 per person, equal for all, even those of us who drank plain ol' water.
I'm really not that cheap, I don't mind paying for a good meal, but this meal wasn't that good and the service was just plain bad, but because we were a party of eight they automatically added in the 18% gratuity. And because the liquor alone consumed at the table was in excess of $60 I feel like I paid more than my fair share. This is not the first time this has happened, and it will certainly not be the last, but that does not make the pill any easier to swallow, particularly
when it's being choked down without a drop of alcohol.
# posted by Molly @ 9:24 PM 
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