Velocity stiffs the server to make "2-$30" work

[Robin Garr]

Bash it if you must, but I personally would sorely miss this publication if they quit printing it.

Fair enough, Tanya! We won't bash <i>you</i>, anyway!

I still say, though, that publicizing an inadequate tip in an article that many people will take as "advice from the experts" is a very, very unfortunate thing.

... NOT intended for the Boomer demographic--it is intended for MY demographic (granted, I am on the very top end of it), and as far as I hear, we like it just fine.... I only know that if I don't get a copy before Saturday, I have to go to 3 or 4 places to find one, whereas I never have a problem finding a copy of LEO....Bash it if you must, but I personally would sorely miss this publication if they quit printing it.

I too am of this demographic, and i think Velocity is crap.
The articles are shallow and the writing is mediocre.
It doesnt hold a candle to the LEO, and i think that the only disadvantage to Velocity disappearing would be that i wouldnt have anything left to line the bird cage with.

I think the argument is more that it's simply different, and there is no case made, really, for comparison between Velocity and Leo. Such a comparison is rather pointless really. The only common quality between them is that they are free local papers so any comparisons aren't entirely fair. Compared to, for instance, Casablanca or Citizen Kaine, Pirates of the Carribean is complete crap, and yet I love POTC - the comparison is unfair because judges the latter film by qualities and expectations the producers don't seek to fulfill. It's really no different with LEO and Velocity.

And just because someone who falls into the target demographic doesn't enjoy the product, it doesn't really mean anything. God knows I'm the target demographic for a ton of crap that I don't enjoy but it's not because they aren't accomplishing their goals -- it's mostly because I can be a right crotchity old man for how young I am...

I don't view the Velocity as a publication that bears any importance on my life. I do view it as a quick reference guide when wanting to refresh my memory as to what is going on for entertainment that week.

I've certainly never picked it up expecting to be enlightened.

I pretty much refuse to read Atrocity, err umm Velocity.

I'm no Einstein or anything but I can even see that's less than 10%. Either the CJ people limit their allowances or Ms. Lisa does not do her homework prior to selecting the venue to report on. If she'd even looked at the menu proir to entering Basa, she'd figure out the possibilities of being able to report properly on the food without embarrassing herself. And the honesty of stating her act of 'scroogeness' would win over people, well all I can say is.....Dee Dee Dee. thanks Mr. Mencia.

My advice to her is next time...Scarf all the complimentary bread you can, 2 small house salads, and some lemon wedges for dessert...

Sounds like she's pulling a Rachael Ray. She caused a big stink when she'd frequently stiff servers to make her "$40 a day" budget work. Such class.

I'm no Einstein or anything but I can even see that's less than 10%.

Err it was a bit more than 10%. It was a stingy tip, but let's not make it worse than it is. 10% would have been $2.65. The tip was $3.50. Robin even wrote in the op that he calculated it to be 13%.

...My advice to her is next time...Scarf all the complimentary bread you can, 2 small house salads, and some lemon wedges for dessert...

Sara,

That reminds me of an acquaintance of mine who used to go to W.W. Cousins (burger place on Breckinridge Lane). The place has a huge self-serve condiment bar ala Fuddruckers. He used to pile up on his plate lettuce, tomatoes, olives, peppers, etc, which were intended as hamburger toppings. Then, he'd mix catsup and mayo (and maybe even some pickle relish) from the bar to make a kind of Thousand Island dressing and put the dressing on the lettuce et al. He was proud of himself for his ingenuity in getting a free "salad". I was embarrassed to witness it - el Cheapo.

(and don't y'all get any ideas )

I'm a mathematician by trade, so I tend to notice things like this...

In Lisa's review, her friend had a $14 entree, and she had the $6 app and $4 side. That makes $24, or $25.44 with tax. She wrote that her bill was $26.50, or $25 before tax. What happened to the missing dollar?

If in fact her bill was $25.44, her $4.56 tip would actually have been 18-19%, depending on if you include tax in the amount. This is higher than the 13% we originally thought, but still at the low end of a reasonable tip at a restaurant like this. So either the article had a typo, or Basa scammed her out of a dollar, in which case I probably would have reduced the tip . My bet is on the former.

Also, I think if this were my assignment, I would have done my homework and looked at a menu beforehand to figure out what i could order that would leave a reasonable tip. I looked at the menu online today, and there are several combinations you could order that would leave a more than generous tip.

I hope I haven't bored you non-math people to death

$25.60, or $25 before tax

What she actually wrote was that her bill with tax was $26.50, that is very clear. I see that what she reported totalled $24 but looks like she may have had a roll of some sort that she may not have reported in the total.

Whatever the case, she reported that her total with tax was $26.50.

You know, I hadn't noticed that at all, probably because I never actually read the article.

I think David is probably right. The crispy roll she cites comes with the dish described in the same paragraph, so this is not an item unaccounted for in the total - and if it was I'd wager that such an item alone would be more than $1.

Unless there's something more concrete to suggest it's not a mistake, I'm going to go forward with the belief it was a misprint, and the tip wasn't all that out of order.

We could send the server a Christmas card with White Castle coupons in it.

Folks,

Back to the Velocity "issue": while Velocity was aimed at the 20+ to 30 year old crowd, interestingly, their actual readership ended up being older than they expected (in my former life I was a business consultant and was paid to pay attention to these details). Studies found that the 30+ to 40+ crowd was as Tanya pointed out, picking it up for weekly events. But comparing Leo and Velocity is like the proverbable apples and oranges: to me Leo is the "go to" for content and Velocity, like it or not , does have the most complete listing of events. Pulitzer prize -winning, it is not.

Deb