The Rural Voice, 1982-01, Page 23GISELE IRELAND
Menus with
a la this
and a la that
I attended the Ontario Federation of Agriculture Convention
at the end of November, along with 450 other fellow farmers. We
were required, of necessity, to eat our meals at restaurants. The
Holiday Inn would not allow barbecues on the 22nd floor balcony.
There wasn't much room on them anyway. I
was very interested to observe the tipping
habits of the men of the land.
Some left tips if the service was exception-
al. Some were too embarrassed not to, and
some left none. The feeling generally was
that no one tips us for services rendered
beyond the basic market price so why should
they subsidize the employees of restaurants?
The price some of the meals are. the waiters
should be able to afford good coins in their
belly buttons. After all, how much would the
producer of foodstuffs get percentage -wise
from a $15 meal? If the tip went to the dairy
farmer, the meat producer or the fruit or vegetable grower, they
would likely have left substantial sums. All the waiter did was take
the food from the kitchen to the table, and he didn't even look as if
he or she enjoyed that part much.
Some of the staff in restaurants are not very patient with
unfamiliar diners. In the country we don't eat one out of three
meals away from home, so it is a treat for us. Having a bored
waiter or waitress hovering over you while you decide what a
"soup du jour" is can be exasperating. Menu s always have to
make their offerings sound dramatic or fancy. Some menus with a
la this and a la that means everything is covered with gook. If you
are too embarrassed to ask, you can only hope you can eat what
you ordered. Roast beef au jus means that the cook was too .lazy
to make gravy and just serves the drippings. Doesn't sound quite
as classy but there it is. Steak and fish must be a lot easier to
handle than Waves and Hides or whatever other quaint handle s
they have for the dishes. No one wants to appear gauche. If
someone calls you that, he is referring to a klutz and you have
enough provocation to throw Beignets at him.
Some of the tipping must go to pay for the atmosphere in the
dining halls. One place has the price of a combine invested in
ropes that hang from the ceiling. No one even swung from them. I
at least expected the waiters to serve the onion soup au gratin
Tarzan style.
I tip mainly in appreciation. I like the fact that the waiter or
waitress doesn't let on to the rest of the diners just what kind of a
peasant I really am. That's worth a quarter at least.
Vista
Villa Farms
We at Vista Villa would like to give you
our warmest wishes for this Christmas
Season and say thanks to our many
customers.
Our years of patience are showing up in performance
ability - things have come into place. We have just
tested a super group of pigs sired by Vista Villa bred
and raised herdsires and Vista Villa mothers.
20 Yorkshire boars average - 12.7 backfat
147.3 days, 200 lbs. (Avg. contemperary
index 144.2)
Hampshire boars indexing to 135
We also have Hamp X York Boars.
and Hamp X Duroc Boars
Bred and Open York X Landrace Gilts
Vista Villa
Farms Ltd.
Robert J. Robinson
R.R. 4, Walton Phone 345-2317
THE RURAL VOICE/JANUARY 1982 PG. 21