Egregious tip-taking

[Popeye Squirm]

Cor Blimey!

Brits supping in Toronto beware: I just stopped by a downtown beer emporium for a quick pint ’o Arkell Best Bitter and said the serving wench "Get one yer sen.", handing 'er a $20 note. She returned with about three dollars fifty cents. Obviously, inviting someone to "Get one yer sen." by way of a tip translates in Toronto to "Have a tenner on me!".

Henceforth, there will be no tips from me until I get back to Blighty. Since I intend to live in Toronto for the next decade at least, that will be a significant saving.

Name of boozing parlour available upon request.

[JerCraigs]

What the heck does Get one yer sen mean?

[Popeye Squirm]

What the heck does Get one yer sen mean?

This is for Brit-types! It doesn't mean take a $10 dollar tip! It means "Get one yourself" which translates as "you can use my money to buy yourself a drink". In the U.K. it is customary for bar staff to take this as a signal to take a reasonable tip like a couple of dollars, or, if they feel they've done a lot of work(!) maybe $5 or they might even but themselves a drink. But taking $10 is down-right robbery.

[GregClow]

This is for Brit-types! It doesn't mean take a $10 dollar tip! It means "Get one yourself" which translates as "you can use my money to buy yourself a drink". In the U.K. it is customary for bar staff to take this as a signal to take a reasonable tip like a couple of dollars, or, if they feel they've done a lot of work(!) maybe $5 or they might even but themselves a drink. But taking $10 is down-right robbery.

So you're saying that you used British slang for a British custom, neither of which is common in Toronto? And you're blaming the staffer for misunderstanding you?

Sorry, but it sounds to me like the waitress simply brought you change from $10 rather than $20 by mistake. It's happened to me before, and I've just corrected them and got the proper change.

[rabbit]

In the good old days (I"m old) when you were in the Men's Room of a tavern (not the bathroom but the room into which women were not allowed), it was common to order a pile of those tiny cheap drafts and, in the way of a tip to say "one for yourself" which usually meant 25 cents which is what the draft cost. With today's prices for premium draft, I wouldn't dream of saying the same and I agree that it's kind of odd to expect the server to know the UK custom, however, a conscientious server might have asked if you were sure because of the amount involved, however, there are probably not a lot of conscientious servers in this city. Let's chalk it up to the learning process all immigrants must go through.

[Popeye Squirm]

In the good old days (I"m old) when you were in the Men's Room of a tavern (not the bathroom but the room into which women were not allowed), it was common to order a pile of those tiny cheap drafts and, in the way of a tip to say "one for yourself" which usually meant 25 cents which is what the draft cost. With today's prices for premium draft, I wouldn't dream of saying the same and I agree that it's kind of odd to expect the server to know the UK custom, however, a conscientious server might have asked if you were sure because of the amount involved, however, there are probably not a lot of conscientious servers in this city. Let's chalk it up to the learning process all immigrants must go through.

Right. I didn't realize I had grown so old

[joey_capps]

This is for Brit-types! It doesn't mean take a $10 dollar tip! It means "Get one yourself" which translates as "you can use my money to buy yourself a drink". In the U.K. it is customary for bar staff to take this as a signal to take a reasonable tip like a couple of dollars, or, if they feel they've done a lot of work(!) maybe $5 or they might even but themselves a drink. But taking $10 is down-right robbery.

So you're saying that you used British slang for a British custom, neither of which is common in Toronto? And you're blaming the staffer for misunderstanding you?

Sorry, but it sounds to me like the waitress simply brought you change from $10 rather than $20 by mistake. It's happened to me before, and I've just corrected them and got the proper change.

Greg is right, you really can't expect a server here to know the UK custom. Similarly, you wouldn't expect a Canadian to know it might be considered rude to straight out offer a publican a cash tip in the UK (as is my understanding). Perhaps she gave you the wrong change. Perhaps she just misheard you. Perhaps she ripped you off thinking you are unfamiliar with the currency. That's no reason to punish all servers.

Joe

[Popeye Squirm]

This is for Brit-types! It doesn't mean take a $10 dollar tip! It means "Get one yourself" which translates as "you can use my money to buy yourself a drink". In the U.K. it is customary for bar staff to take this as a signal to take a reasonable tip like a couple of dollars, or, if they feel they've done a lot of work(!) maybe $5 or they might even but themselves a drink. But taking $10 is down-right robbery.

So you're saying that you used British slang for a British custom, neither of which is common in Toronto? And you're blaming the staffer for misunderstanding you?

Sorry, but it sounds to me like the waitress simply brought you change from $10 rather than $20 by mistake. It's happened to me before, and I've just corrected them and got the proper change.

Greg is right, you really can't expect a server here to know the UK custom. Similarly, you wouldn't expect a Canadian to know it might be considered rude to straight out offer a publican a cash tip in the UK (as is my understanding). Perhaps she gave you the wrong change. Perhaps she just misheard you. Perhaps she ripped you off thinking you are unfamiliar with the currency. That's no reason to punish all servers.

Joe

You're right, I need to adapt. When behaviours are internalized you don't expect that other folk are not familiar with them!

[borderline_alcoholic]

Let's chalk it up to the learning process all immigrants must go through.

Is that from your previous experience of immigrating to several different Countries or are you just from a culture which is pretty at ease with the concept of fleecing newcomers?

I think that it is fairly obvious what 'get one for yourself' means. And if the server is in any doubt, she can always ask for clarification - that is kind of her job. It is just possible that she thought that she had received a $10 bill instead of a $20. But whichever of these is the case, I think it pretty clearly puts her in the wrong and though I don't think that Popeye Squirm should lose too much sleep over it, I can see how it could be annoying.

Oh, and I would indeed like to know which establishment this was.