4 ms·

That's why if you go to a restaurant in Australia you have to serve yourself - certainly nobody will be coming to your table to help you unless you're paying at

by brc 14y ago

That's why if you go to a restaurant in Australia you have to serve yourself - certainly nobody will be coming to your table to help you unless you're paying at least $50 per head. Whether that is right or wrong depends on the observer. But it is true.

ceejayoz 14y ago
Uh, what? Australian citizen who gets back home every few years here... again, huh?
- brc 14y ago
  Go into any mid-priced restaurant in Australia where a meal costs about $15-25. See if you get greeted into the restaurant, seated and served at the table, including having your drink refilled, any problems attended to and your bill brought to you. You will not. You will go to a counter, read a menu, order the food and return to your table. At some point you will either be paged, have your number called, or possibly have your food brought to the table. This is because waiting staff are unaffordable below a certain price point on the food.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    It costs $25-$35 / diner to pay a server $12/hr?
    - jpxxx 14y ago
      Generally, yes.
    - pixl97 14y ago
      Restaurants are a burst capacity problem. In a typical restaurant from 11ish to 1sh you have a burst of traffic then from 1ish to 5ish you have low to no traffic. Once the dinner crowd comes in you'll have another burst of traffic that can vary greatly per weekday (monday nights, low traffic - friday nights, high traffic). You run in to the problem were many employees (waiters) want a full time job but you can only afford a few of them. In many food service types they've (as the parent stated) got rid of the waiters all together (increased unemployment) and only kept the staff that would need to be there regardless of traffic amount.
  - Nursie 14y ago
    * cough* * bullshit* * cough* Eating out in a lot of Oz can be pricey, but that's just nonsense. Besides which, culturally, many folks from other countries find the US habit of having waiters hovering around constantly to be intensely annoying
    - brc 14y ago
      The last 5 meals I have eaten out in Australia have not had table service. The last meal I ate in Australia that had full table service cost me $120/head. While I'm sure you can find restaurants with lower price points that still do table service, in general, you don't get it. It's not bullshit at all. Perhaps there are areas of the country which have high concentrations of people who can earn less than the adult minimum wage (ie, students) where table service is more common. I make no judgement at all whether full table service is a good or bad thing, I simply note that because of the cost structure, a restaurant in Australia has less staff than a similar restaurant in a different country. In most other countries I visit, most restaurants have table service, even cheap cafes and coffee shops. This is demonstrably not the case in Australia.
      - Nursie 14y ago
        "I simply note that because of the cost structure, a restaurant in Australia has less staff than a similar restaurant in a different country." And I think you're wrong. "In most other countries I visit, most restaurants have table service, even cheap cafes and coffee shops. This is demonstrably not the case in Australia." Seriously, I don't know where you went, but I lived over there for the last two and a half years and travelled the entire country (no I'm not making that up, the entire country), and never came across this. Every small town cafe and restaurant had table service. All the backstreet city places had table service. "This is demonstrably not the case in Australia." I'm sorry, I just don't believe this without some serious research. You're wrong.
        brc 14y ago
        I live in Australia. Last Friday night I went out for a meal. Again I had to pay at the counter and collect the meal myself.
  - ceejayoz 14y ago
    This doesn't match my experience in Melbourne in the slightest.

by brc 14y ago

ceejayoz 14y ago

Uh, what? Australian citizen who gets back home every few years here... again, huh?

brc 14y ago
Go into any mid-priced restaurant in Australia where a meal costs about $15-25. See if you get greeted into the restaurant, seated and served at the table, including having your drink refilled, any problems attended to and your bill brought to you. You will not. You will go to a counter, read a menu, order the food and return to your table. At some point you will either be paged, have your number called, or possibly have your food brought to the table. This is because waiting staff are unaffordable below a certain price point on the food.
- Evbn 14y ago
  It costs $25-$35 / diner to pay a server $12/hr?
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    Generally, yes.
  - pixl97 14y ago
    Restaurants are a burst capacity problem. In a typical restaurant from 11ish to 1sh you have a burst of traffic then from 1ish to 5ish you have low to no traffic. Once the dinner crowd comes in you'll have another burst of traffic that can vary greatly per weekday (monday nights, low traffic - friday nights, high traffic). You run in to the problem were many employees (waiters) want a full time job but you can only afford a few of them. In many food service types they've (as the parent stated) got rid of the waiters all together (increased unemployment) and only kept the staff that would need to be there regardless of traffic amount.
- Nursie 14y ago
  * cough* * bullshit* * cough* Eating out in a lot of Oz can be pricey, but that's just nonsense. Besides which, culturally, many folks from other countries find the US habit of having waiters hovering around constantly to be intensely annoying
  - brc 14y ago
    The last 5 meals I have eaten out in Australia have not had table service. The last meal I ate in Australia that had full table service cost me $120/head. While I'm sure you can find restaurants with lower price points that still do table service, in general, you don't get it. It's not bullshit at all. Perhaps there are areas of the country which have high concentrations of people who can earn less than the adult minimum wage (ie, students) where table service is more common. I make no judgement at all whether full table service is a good or bad thing, I simply note that because of the cost structure, a restaurant in Australia has less staff than a similar restaurant in a different country. In most other countries I visit, most restaurants have table service, even cheap cafes and coffee shops. This is demonstrably not the case in Australia.
    - Nursie 14y ago
      "I simply note that because of the cost structure, a restaurant in Australia has less staff than a similar restaurant in a different country." And I think you're wrong. "In most other countries I visit, most restaurants have table service, even cheap cafes and coffee shops. This is demonstrably not the case in Australia." Seriously, I don't know where you went, but I lived over there for the last two and a half years and travelled the entire country (no I'm not making that up, the entire country), and never came across this. Every small town cafe and restaurant had table service. All the backstreet city places had table service. "This is demonstrably not the case in Australia." I'm sorry, I just don't believe this without some serious research. You're wrong.
      - brc 14y ago
        I live in Australia. Last Friday night I went out for a meal. Again I had to pay at the counter and collect the meal myself.
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  This doesn't match my experience in Melbourne in the slightest.