Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Social Life, Food & Drink, Travel › Were you raised by barbarians?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Were you raised by barbarians?

Poll Results: Were you raised by barbarians?

Poll expired: Aug 27, 2011  
  • 25% (7)
    Yes
  • 75% (21)
    No
28 Total Votes  
post #1 of 73
8/2/11 at 2:42pm
Thread Starter 
Related to the tipping thread, this is more for US members only, but all should feel free to participate. It baffles me that so many who grew up in the US are uncomfortable knowing how to tip. I figured this was something everybody learned from their parents, even if it was at the local diner. Did you learn this way? Do you follow the norms your parents taught you? Why or why not?
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:22pm
I don't recall where/when I learned about proper tipping but it sure was not from my parents wink.gif
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:28pm
FWIW I don't think this is a regional thing. There seem to be barbarians everywhere. Here in Germany there are many ppl complaining about the necessity of tipping, too. Be it in cafés, in restaurants, the taxi driver or the delivery man. Actually they are argumenting all the same. "Why the fuck should I pay additional money to them if they chose a job where they get this few paid? It's their own fault." "Why should I tip someone for doing his job?" etc.

For the record, my parents taught me about tipping. Not sure when or how, but somehow they did. I do it as often as I have the opportunity to. It's an act of worshipping and respect.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:38pm
I tip well for average to exceptional service because there but for the grace of God go I....
Edited by Metooxx - 8/2/11 at 3:56pm
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:43pm
Tip where? There are a lot of situations that are very income dependent to have ever experienced. e.g. bell hops, valet parking. Many (most) will have experienced these infrequently or not at all growing up.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:43pm
I was raised by barbarians.

On that topic, did anyone else get raised around a bunch of adult males that would randomly stand up at the dinner table, the front room....wherever...and unbuckle their belt, drop their pants to about mid-thigh, and retuck their shirts? That little widespread quirk amongst the adult males when I was growing up still fucking baffles me.

I learned to tip on my own and it has evolved as I grew older and changed situations in life.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post

I was raised by barbarians.

On that topic, did anyone else get raised around a bunch of adult males that would randomly stand up at the dinner table, the front room....wherever...and unbuckle their belt, drop their pants to about mid-thigh, and retuck their shirts? That little widespread quirk amongst the adult males when I was growing up still fucking baffles me.

I learned to tip on my own and it has evolved as I grew older and changed situations in life.

At home, among family? I would not do it at diner or make a show of it but I don't think I would always retreat to the bedroom or bathroom. Certainly not if it was only my dad or brother there.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 73
8/2/11 at 3:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCal View Post


At home, among family? I would not do it at diner or make a show of it but I don't think I would always retreat to the bedroom or bathroom. Certainly not if it was only my dad or brother there.

Large family gatherings, outside, women and children around....the pastor and his wife I can clearly remember once...don't remember it in a restaurant but then again I thought eating at the local low brow diner was Cyrus until I was 13 or 14 and so did the rest of my family.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 73
8/2/11 at 7:54pm
My dad licked his dessert plate clean at Le Bernadin. Thankfully I wasn't there. He's really not that bad though.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 73
8/2/11 at 8:14pm
My parents aren't barbarians. It's kind of weird. We never ate anywhere that was really fancy growing up, but I still learned how to dine properly. Honestly, my first major "nice" meal was with Matt just a few years ago at Masa, and I think that I had relatively good manners for an ol' country boy. But it was never a situational "this is what you do when xxxx, and this is what you do when yyyyyy." It was more them teaching me to be aware of my surroundings and to act accordingly, and to have proper manners (of the please and thank you variety, not the knowing which fork goes with which course variety).
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 73
8/3/11 at 5:39am
I was raised by Vandals. Closely related to barbarians, but a few centuries more advanced.. Rather than shitting on the floor as we leave an establishment, we smash fixtures and loot the mint bowl before leaving amidst whoops and much arm waving.. Here is a picture of my grandfather coming over to America from his ancestral homelands:

500

I cherish this keepsake, the very first buck my great grandfather ever pillaged:

500

Family vacation to Rome:

500
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 73
8/3/11 at 7:30am
^ laugh.gif Well done.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 73
8/3/11 at 7:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwilkinson View Post

My parents aren't barbarians. It's kind of weird. We never ate anywhere that was really fancy growing up, but I still learned how to dine properly. Honestly, my first major "nice" meal was with Matt just a few years ago at Masa, and I think that I had relatively good manners for an ol' country boy. But it was never a situational "this is what you do when xxxx, and this is what you do when yyyyyy." It was more them teaching me to be aware of my surroundings and to act accordingly, and to have proper manners (of the please and thank you variety, not the knowing which fork goes with which course variety).

Well, this is all that is necessary, IMO. Of course, you ordered embarrassing coffee, but so did my wife, and though she was raised by barbarians, I have been training her for nearly 20 years, so I suppose you can be excused. No, the barbaric ones are those in the tipping thread who seem to be itching to actually take a shit on the floor when the leave restaurants.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 73
8/3/11 at 7:37am
I definitely learned from my father. In a nutshell it is to be generous and you get taken good care of.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 73
8/3/11 at 8:22am
They all seem a little socially insecure for barbarians. Barbarians may have poor table manners and be unsure about how much to tip but at least they don't feel they have to ask incredibly detailed questions online to cover every possible permutation of a simple interaction with another human being. Barbarians eat, despoil, and leave content.

Anyone can be ignorant about something they haven't had to deal with before, but the state of constant anxiety people on the forum seem to exist in regarding common social conventions is pretty extraordinary, and must be exhausting.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Social Life, Food & Drink, Travel › Were you raised by barbarians?