Ok, a quick moment out of the conference - I'm about to go through the list of posters in this session to see who I want to talk to, but I've got plenty of time and need a little solitude before delving back into a large group of people I don't know.
I just had lunch down in the hotel restaurant - note, don't do that. We get a free breakfast buffet, fine, but the lunch buffet was 12$ and not great food, in fact, quite bad Chinese food. And there I am, a single diner, and the waiter took that as leave to disappear. I have blogged about dining alone before, and let me just say, that as someone who enjoys having a nice meal by myself sometimes, it's ridiculous how variable the service to someone on their own is, especially as my tips are much more variable when I'm by myself. In a group the default is a 20% tip, and he who deviates from that either forces someone else to step up, or leaves a message diluted by the number of people who gave the requisite 15-20%. So really, it's the single diners to watch out for. When I'm out on my own and the service is good, I'll tip more like 30% because I appreciate the effort, but bad service cuts me down below 20%, and I almost never do that. I did at lunch. I had an empty water glass and a hankering for hot tea, and it was almost ten minutes before I even saw my waiter in the room, and no one else came around to fill the water, either, except after my waiter finally brought me tea, and then I didn't need it. Although, I feel like I stiffed the guy with a 2$ tip on a 13$ bill, but that's just over 15%, so he probably didn't notice. Junk.
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