"And here we have the Monet, it's a ghastly piece isn't it? Clarissa keeps saying we should hang it somewhere airy but I won't have it. So we mainly keep it in the attic"

Maybe, but in my experience the old British aristocracy wouldn't buy a 300 dollar t-shirt in the first place. They'd sit around in their pile looking like they just went charity shopping

Because the rich person will be bragging about it

Ok cool, so if I come up behind you dick in hand and start reaching for your leg you'll be fine with it?

In that restaurant tips were split evenly between front of house staff and kitchen. In others I've worked in they've been front of house only or are just pocketed by the person who served the table (if they assign waiters to tables).

Btw our owner used to threaten front of house staff who didn't seat tables because it…

I've never been to America so I can't comment on the difference in customer service, but I've never noticed it to be bad compared to other European countries. Perhaps its just different cultural expectations?

There might also be an element of the fact that you are dining in London. I grew up there. Most people there…

I wish her music was as interesting as her costumes

I used to love the little Welsh congregation that would come for sunday lunch after Church where I lived. They were all in their seventies and were just the coolest/sweetest people ever. I was like "Hell yeah I want to come and play Bingo with you folks!" but their times always clashed with when I was working, ce la…

No worries. I was just saying because in general Jez is an american audience.

Eh tradition I guess. Sometimes I felt like "Yeah I deserve this, you came in at ten minutes to closing with a party of 16 and I managed to get you all your meals despite the kitchen staff wanting to kill me". Then they would tip something pathetic and I would stare daggers at them as they left.

Protip everyone - If…

Ah. The old 'condescending dick' rube. Nice Touch

Most places in the UK don't have included service charged and I some European countries don't do service charges or tipping at all. We're not a monolith culture yo

Waitering is among the easiest casual labour to find. Sometimes people leave their jobs or move to new cities and need to pick up temporary work while looking for something better. Others might just not have any qualifications for better work or are in some middle of nowhere hole where there isn't any good work.

You…

In the UK tips are often given, but the waiting staff are paid a legally mandated minimum wage. I think that's the way that it should be done, with tips being a sign of a job well done rather than something that people feel obliged to give or an axe to hold over the waiters head. When I was a waiter, tips were…

Apparently the first English Emma was French:

Our school ended term a day earlier than we expected specifically because they were afraid to allow us the usual end of school chaos

The pedant in me wants to say that wouldn't turn of the century paris be only 14 years ago, the millennium? Wouldn't it be the turn of last century if you were referring to the 1900s?

Not quite as bad as the Haspburgs luckily

I think he's trying to pull off a George V look but not quite managing it

But its shit with impeccable breeding