Sunday's Are the Worst

Pastor sets up website allowing servers to complain about getting stiffed on tips by church goers, and get his own parishioners to realize their behavior affects people's perceptions of their faith and church.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/1 ... 34418.html

For me, what made the experience so bad wasn’t just the rude behavior from these adult women, or the cheapness of stiffing me on the tip, or the sneakiness of leaving fake money on the table, or the assumption that I was beneath them because I didn’t discuss my beliefs with them, or any of the other things that added up into that experience. What really got me was that I was in a place, that very day, where I was considering going to church. A friend of mine had just committed suicide, and that very church had been recommended to me for grief counseling. I never went, I worked through it on my own, but the point is, those rude, presumptuous, and honestly mean women were the ONLY thing standing between me and the church that it was so important to them that I attend.

It's safe to say that EVERY server wants Sunday off. They're generally not busy and the clientele is... lacking in quality.

And that directly translates to the the quality of the guest experience. You get servers who are either brand new or don't have enough seniority to get that day off. Combine that with the probable "B Team" in the kitchen and you're not going to get the full experience of dining you might get throughout the rest of the week.

This may be getting a little off topic--and I'm don't intend this to be inflammatory and I could be completely wrong--but I never understood why people who go to church and believe in the teachings of Christian churches go to restaurants and other businesses on Sundays. One of the Ten Commandments is to observe the Sabbath, which means to take the day as a day of rest and to do no work. By going to businesses on Sunday, aren't you encouraging other people to work, which means that the employees are not observing the Sabbath. To not observe the Sabbath is a sin, right? Therefore, are you not supporting or encouraging others to sin and violate one of the Ten Commandments by going to businesses on Sundays?

It's safe to say that EVERY server wants Sunday off. They're generally not busy and the clientele is... lacking in quality.

And that directly translates to the the quality of the guest experience. You get servers who are either brand new or don't have enough seniority to get that day off. Combine that with the probable "B Team" in the kitchen and you're not going to get the full experience of dining you might get throughout the rest of the week.

See, I don't get this either. If you aren't going to give a top notch guest experience on Sunday, why not just close? Shouldn't the goal be to give a perfect service every service? If you just resign that Sunday is
"B Team" day and therefore guests should lower their expectations, why bother opening at all?

Long ago when I worked Sunday Brunch at Bistro 535, that was our big day. You gave more during that brunch than you gave on a given weeknight because that's when the "to-do's" were out. We were never allowed to let our standards slack just because it was Sunday. And for sure, the servers groused, because it was a buffet and tips were less, but I don't recall anyone sandbagging just for the sake of it being Sunday.

[Robin Garr]

This may be getting a little off topic--and I'm don't intend this to be inflammatory and I could be completely wrong--but I never understood why people who go to church and believe in the teachings of Christian churches go to restaurants and other businesses on Sundays. One of the Ten Commandments is to observe the Sabbath, which means to take the day as a day of rest and to do no work. By going to businesses on Sunday, aren't you encouraging other people to work, which means that the employees are not observing the Sabbath. To not observe the Sabbath is a sin, right? Therefore, are you not supporting or encouraging others to sin and violate one of the Ten Commandments by going to businesses on Sundays?

I'll see your off-topic and raise you an opinionated reply.

I think the kind of "Christians" you are talking about are the fundamentalists, the ultra-conservative folks who scorn evolution, believe that the earth was created in seven literal days about 5,000 years ago, that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together and that Noah really did take two of every animal on an ark that survived when everything else on earth drowned.

These are also the folks who generally hate gays, can't accept women as equals, are suspicious of black people, brown people and others who don't look like them; and who variously choose which parts of the bible to take literally ("Kill all Teh Gays!") and which parts to ignore ("Love your neighbors" and "Don't work on Sundays.")

And, I strongly suspect, they are the "church people" who don't understand about tipping. But let's not tar everyone with the same brush.

I think the kind of "Christians" you are talking about are the fundamentalists, the ultra-conservative folks who scorn evolution, believe that the earth was created in seven literal days about 5,000 years ago, that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together and that Noah really did take two of every animal on an ark that survived when everything else on earth drowned.

These are also the folks who generally hate gays, can't accept women as equals, are suspicious of black people, brown people and others who don't look like them; and who variously choose which parts of the bible to take literally ("Kill all Teh Gays!") and which parts to ignore ("Love your neighbors" and "Don't work on Sundays.")

And, I strongly suspect, they are the "church people" who don't understand about tipping. But let's not tar everyone with the same brush.

So REALLY what we are talking about are selfish , ignorant bullies that operate under the cloak of religion thinking THAT will make their distasteful views tolerant /justified to others. Sometimes they don the cloak of patriotism too. Like my daughter once told me, even the fringe disenfranchised can have an a**hole or two in their ranks.

[Robin Garr]

Like my daughter once told me, even the fringe disenfranchised can have an a**hole or two in their ranks.

At the risk of another unsavory comparison, the trashiest whites were generally the most active Kluckers.

This may be getting a little off topic--and I'm don't intend this to be inflammatory and I could be completely wrong--but I never understood why people who go to church and believe in the teachings of Christian churches go to restaurants and other businesses on Sundays. One of the Ten Commandments is to observe the Sabbath, which means to take the day as a day of rest and to do no work. By going to businesses on Sunday, aren't you encouraging other people to work, which means that the employees are not observing the Sabbath. To not observe the Sabbath is a sin, right? Therefore, are you not supporting or encouraging others to sin and violate one of the Ten Commandments by going to businesses on Sundays?

I'll see your off-topic and raise you an opinionated reply.

I think the kind of "Christians" you are talking about are the fundamentalists, the ultra-conservative folks who scorn evolution, believe that the earth was created in seven literal days about 5,000 years ago, that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together and that Noah really did take two of every animal on an ark that survived when everything else on earth drowned.

These are also the folks who generally hate gays, can't accept women as equals, are suspicious of black people, brown people and others who don't look like them; and who variously choose which parts of the bible to take literally ("Kill all Teh Gays!") and which parts to ignore ("Love your neighbors" and "Don't work on Sundays.")

And, I strongly suspect, they are the "church people" who don't understand about tipping. But let's not tar everyone with the same brush.

Good grief, Robin. That's still a pretty broad brush you're painting with, anyway. And not a very charitable one, either. The folks John is talking about are people who think the Ten Commandments are still pretty good things that ought to be obeyed, and that describes plenty of people who look nothing like your caricature above.

John, some Christians do still observe the Sabbath (albeit on Sunday) so strictly that in fact they won't go to restaurants or other businesses on that day. Many Christians, however, believe that different commands were given for different reasons - some, like those preventing murder and stealing, are fundamental moral commands that are for all time. Others, like the Sabbath and food laws, were ceremonial things God gave for a specific time and purpose and that purpose is fulfilled now.

Far from being a marginal position of modern-day extremist haters, this has been the position of much of Christianity for a long, long time and is more or less what the Catholic church teaches today, as I understand it.

[Robin Garr]

Far from being a marginal position of modern-day extremist haters, this has been the position of much of Christianity for a long, long time and is more or less what the Catholic church teaches today, as I understand it.

Jeff, I'm honestly not trying to be provocative, but I invite you to take a look at the parking lot of the church where I work on Sundays, and then look at the parking lot of the nearest mall ... or nearest popular brunch spot ... and compare the numbers.

I'm not prepared to dismiss the mall-goers or the brunch-eaters as "un-Christian," and I like to think that Jesus, who loved to eat and drink and who hung out with what some of his critics though was the dregs of society, would be all in for a quick trip to the local eatery after synagogue. And that he would tip well.

Far from being a marginal position of modern-day extremist haters, this has been the position of much of Christianity for a long, long time and is more or less what the Catholic church teaches today, as I understand it.

Jeff, I'm honestly not trying to be provocative, but I invite you to take a look at the parking lot of the church where I work on Sundays, and then look at the parking lot of the nearest mall ... or nearest popular brunch spot ... and compare the numbers.

I'm not prepared to dismiss the mall-goers or the brunch-eaters as "un-Christian," and I like to think that Jesus, who loved to eat and drink and who hung out with what some of his critics though was the dregs of society, would be all in for a quick trip to the local eatery after synagogue. And that he would tip well.

I'm not sure I'm understanding your point, Robin. I go out to eat after church nearly every Sunday. And tip well.

[Robin Garr]

I'm not sure I'm understanding your point, Robin. I go out to eat after church nearly every Sunday. And tip well.

I do too, Jeff! Sometimes even with a good-tipping group from church.

But we're both departing from a strict interpretation of the Sabbath Commandment, then. I think we're still within range of Luke 10:27-28, though.

I thought the Sabbath Commandment was part of the Old Jewish Law Covenant of which Christ said he was the fulfillment . Unless of course you are Jewish. Right up there with not mixing the threads of your cloth or eating shellfish for that matter.
(Mark this down as a conversation I thought I would never see here. )

Yes, but here we go Carla, if Jesus fulfilled the OT Covenant, then Christians should not be bound by, nor should they even really acknowledge the OT. Only the red letters in your KJV should matter. Thanks to Jesus, you should be able to discard all 100+ Mosaic Commandments.

Religious doctrine is a sticky business, and Christians don't have the market cornered by a long shot, we just get to see it play out up close. When you have a week or two we can talk Islamic factionalism...

Yes, but here we go Carla, if Jesus fulfilled the OT Covenant, then Christians should not be bound by, nor should they even really acknowledge the OT. Only the red letters in your KJV should matter. Thanks to Jesus, you should be able to discard all 100+ Mosaic Commandments.

Religious doctrine is a sticky business, and Christians don't have the market cornered by a long shot, we just get to see it play out up close. When you have a week or two we can talk Islamic factionalism...

Awww man! Can't we just hang out a drink a couple beers?

'Tis a venture with far more profit!