#applebees menu

[bacchuschucklefuck]

typical tavern scene

[columboscreens]

[ladylingua]

I have a very genuine question about the tipping post I promise I didnt read it in bad faith: are people who simply cannot afford to tip not “allowed” to eat out? I’m just thinking about how it works where I am from and while tipping is the norm here if someone doesn’t tip because they can’t afford it it really isn’t a big deal (+tipping norm here us only 10%). so if a poor family goes out to eat to celebrate something and they can barely afford the meal would they still be expected to tip 20% because they shouldn’t eat out if they cant afford it? thank you in advance I’m really curious

If it helps, don’t think of the tip as a separate thing. It is part of the cost of your meal. So if you cannot afford to pay for the cost of the meal including the tip you cannot afford to eat at that restaurant. This is something I myself have to calculate when I’m deciding if I want to eat at a particular restaurant- if I have $15 I can’t go to a restaurant and order a $20 entrée and then refuse to pay the remaining cost, and likewise if I have $15 I can’t order a $15 entrée and expect not to pay the server for their service.

Now that doesn't mean families who can't afford a pricy restaurant can't eat out at all. Since it is a % of your bill you can try to go for a cheaper restaurant (smaller bill = smaller tip), or if you go to a counter service place where you serve yourself you’re not expected to tip 20% (sometimes they have a jar out you could kindly throw a dollar or more in, but there is much less expectation to tip because the workers at a place like that receive a full minimum wage, more on that in a sec). I will also say in my lived experience poor families in America understand and tip well, I’ve almost exclusively been under tipped by wealthy people (which is what kicked off the debate on twitter- if your bill is $700 then you obviously can afford to tip a full 20%, no destitute families are spending $700 on one meal).

Technically speaking you can get away with 18% as a tip, and if you go down to 15% your waiter will think you’re cheap and be annoyed (15% definitely implies you were unhappy with their service) but that is the lowest possible threshold of acceptability. 10% is not an acceptable rate here, and 20% is now the expected norm for good service, and going up from there for great service. And I would never, ever not tip at all. I can only imagine not tipping if like the server had done something deeply offensive or dangerous or something. I've never encountered a situation where I felt the server didn't deserve any tip at all.

Because you’ve asked in genuine good faith I’m going to provide some more context to help you understand a bit more why this is the way it is-

Waitstaff in america are wildly underpaid. Our federal government assumes the tips are part of their expected income, and so a) they are taxed on assumed tips and b) it is legal to pay them less than standard minimum wage. Currently the tipped federal minimum wage is $2.13/hr. Now, states set their own individual rates so some states do better, but $2.13/hr is the lowest they can all legally go. And you’ll notice in that link it mentions the assumed tips and taxing them. I said on my original post, when I worked as a tipped waitress I made $2.68/hr and sometimes my biweekly paycheck was like $60 total. Imagine trying to survive on $120 a month, you absolutely cannot. Tips made up my actual wage, and were the paycheck I depended on to pay for my basic needs. I relied directly on customers to choose to do the social convention of tipping for survival, and when someone would choose to do otherwise it was utterly devastating.

Another thing customers sometimes don’t realize is your waiter may not be allowed to keep all of the tip themselves. It’s a common practice to pool tips amongst all the waitstaff and then divide them equally, and many places require that you tip out other employees there. So if you give me $10 as a tip I might be actually giving a large chunk of that to bussers, bartenders, etc. Or maybe we pool tips and someone else stiffed my colleague so now all of us are sharing your $10 tip. So also keep in mind that the money you leave as a tip very often does not go entirely to the actual waiter, so a big tip can actually become pretty small much faster than you would think.

(and that's just legal practices, wage theft and illegal practices run rampant in the restaurant industry, just fyi)

If you are wondering why tipping culture here is so grim, it is because of slavery. Tipping got big here as a way to keep forcing Black Americans into working for free, now with a small tip but still no actual wage. It was designed for oppression. Waitstaff are overwhelmingly not wealthy people. It is very common for them to be on food stamps, require housing assistance, or to otherwise be living under the poverty line. If you are eating out and not tipping because you yourself are poor, you are taking money out of someone else’s poverty wages to do so. When we debate minimum wage here in america, conservatives are really good at painting a picture of waitstaff being perky middle class college kids making an extra buck, or teens from wealthy homes wanting some spending money. There is an implication that they don't really need the money that badly. That is not the reality of who makes up most serving jobs in america. Minimum wage workers are likely to be in poverty, they’re likely to be women and specifically they’re likely to be women of color. Americans of color are significantly more likely to be working at minimum wage than white americans. There is a pretty sizeable number of minimum wage workers who are over 50, and a not insignificant amount of them who are mothers who support their families. There are also those teens who just want extra cash, and they deserve good compensation for their hard work too, don’t get me wrong, but they are only a portion of who makes up the minimum wage workforce.

If you’re like “But that’s such a shitty system, you’re saying it’s pitting poor people against each other for basic human comforts!” yup. I 100% agree. I am a vocal proponent of raising the minimum wage for that reason. I also advocate for a Universal Basic Income, because I understand that when it comes to small mom & pop restaurants the owners aren’t always making a ton of money either and it seems like truly no one is winning in this system. It is set up to oppress and to demean and to grind us all down. There are lots of orgs in America that are fighting to improve the system, or to radically change the system. There are also restaurants that have tried to do things differently- there’s a wine bar in my city that says specifically on their menu that their wine is more expensive because they pay their workers a true livable wage so there is no tipping there. Instead as a customer I pay a higher upfront cost that covers the true expense of running the bar- including server wages. I love that, I wish more places would do things like that. In the meantime, when I’m choosing where to eat I factor in a tip of 20% when calculating my estimated bill, because paying for service is part of the cost.

Refusing to tip fully in america is not doing anything to change the system. It does not make restaurant owners rethink their pay structure, it does not put pressure on our government to fix minimum wage, it does not make a political statement. It just means your server is going home wondering if they can afford their own meal that night.

Thank you for asking for clarity, I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask more if you have any remaining confusion or are curious about other aspects of american culture. If I can answer and the questions are respectful, I am happy to reply!

[dreamersneverlose]

Okay no you know what? I’ve held my tongue on this for long enough (everyone in my life knows my opinion on this topic) - I have a very deep beef with chain restaurants changing their soft pretzels as if that isn’t a direct personal attack against me, specifically. First it was Applebees beer cheese and pub pretzels like 5 years ago. They used to look like this:

Long, skinny, look like they’d be dry as fuck but they were soft on the inside with a delightfully crisp exterior and the beer cheese was DIVINE. This is what they replaced it with:

This switch happened around the same time Applebees added breadsticks w/ Alfredo dipping sauce to their list of appetizers. When I tell you that these things are just straight up the breadsticks with a spray tan. I’m not sure if the breadstick flavor made the beer cheese taste like Alfredo, if they mistakenly gave me Alfredo sauce, or if they straight up replaced the beer cheese with Alfredo sauce. I can tell you that I tried it at two different locations (hoping the second would have the old ones) and then swore off Applebees forever.

But you wanna know a recent, even more heinous soft pretzel betrayal? Monk’s Bar & Grill. I don’t think I’ll even have to explain this one. Here’s the old pretzel option:

And here’s what they replaced it with:

They don’t even salt these bland, dry, cheap bites. Monks, how could you?

I hope Culver’s doesn’t get any wise ideas from these chumps.

[menubot]

Applebee's (1997) http://menus.nypl.org/menus/29251

[isdalinarhot]

realized I forgot my T today when I started crying real tears about how Dalinar has never eaten and will never eat mozzarella sticks

[bryan360]

Photos taken: Aug. 26th, 2023

I’d happened to have Applebee’s dessert menu from last month; giving from my sister last night while I’m staying in my room.

Though had to put in the freezer before that due to the vanilla ice cream is melted. Nevertheless, it tastes not bad as I put the chocolate meltdown and ice cream together.

This is the first time I ever had one before, but here we are. 😋

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301 @rafacaz4lisam2k4 @paektu

[sp3ctre7]

I've slowly repaired the Ship of Theseus over the years, replacing all of its pieces. However, all the parts I removed were refurbished and used as decor in a Long John Silvers, to built a replica of the ship that contains a few tables and booths.

My question is this: can I charge extra for Greek seafood at that location for being "authentic"?

[eggs-can-draw]

komaeda anon: THEY THINK KOKICHI IS FAKING IT BUT HE DOESN'T STOP SCREAMING UNTIL HE JUST. SHUTS DOWN. :[

HE IS NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME BESTIES. HE'S LOSING IT

[krakenartificer]

[Image Description: alan mustache (@braidednosehair) tweets sorry I'm not scanning a QR code for your menu I'm with the boomers on this]

[carli-meows]

speakin of,

dear applebees,

please make your boneless chicken cheaper. it's literally the best spicy chicken ive had ever, rivaling the popeyes spicy chicken sandwich. it's crucnchy and just hot enough to be appetizing and i want to be able to afford it year round. make it 4 bucks never change the recipe ever.

also, don't do anything stupid. please. leave that to mcdonalds.

thanks

[nando161mando]

[fndmrt]

I was watching Buzzfeed like the company was made just for me and now I’ve returned to it’s associates. It’s a full circle. I’m a real adult.

[bonfirefighter]

Ughhhhhh the only O'Charleys in my whole state was 5 minutes from my work and I JUST fell in love with them and their chicken tenders, only to get an email this morning about how they're closing that location 😭😭😭😭😭

[menubot]

Welcome to Applebee's, would you care for the menu? http://menus.nypl.org/menus/29251