Send it to me if you don't want it!

(however, it's stud lock, something I rarely use and we have plenty at work)

Tom

One does in Switzerland!

(or in the US, France, etc.

I should ask my kids if they feel, as Canadians, that they DON'T need pocket money! )

Tom

Lol the beer isn't the problem, it's the water. I am not from the states, but from Texas and as I remember you get a gallon of water with your food. I appreciate you explaining things though. I don't think the beer is a rediculous price at all, it's just interesting to me that water can cost just as much as beer, and most of the time.. more... I'm not complaining about the beer..

no chance, I use it often

So you want tap water?

Then ask for tap water - which will (usually) be free - and not taste of chlorine.

Unless you are in Saas Fee. Then it may be 5 chf per person.
It will be the same water that comes out of your hotel room tap.

And it isn't cause we only drank water. We had a bottle of wine as well.
It is part of their so called business model. Food was good but we didn't go back.

In a really nice, elegant restaurant (amazingly local), we were actually offered 2 large glasses of tap water at the end of our meal. No pushing us to have more mineral water - and - it even had lemon in it!! Oooh!!

Ban Song Thai is Zürich charges CHF 2-3 for tap water. We made no adverse comment at all about that as we ordered the water, but the wait-staff semi-apologized when she told us there was a charge - proof that she knew they were doing wrong.

It's not all that wrong ... Loads of threads on the subject, but in brief, you're using a glass, taking up a little of the waitress' time, and most importantly, denying the restaurant the sale of a more profitable drink to you. It's a little analagous to the "No picnic" signs (meaning you are not allowed to bring your own food to eat at the (usually outdoor) tables of a restaurant).

My view is that if you want to get yoir own back on establishments charging for something that costs them virtually nothing, go to the buffet at a Migros Restaurant and head for the desserts. They're priced at a uniform amount per 100g -- I forget how much, but it's almost irrelevant, because this is my favourite place to stock up on meringues. They're almost weightless, so a heaped bowl will set you back half a franc or so! (And the staff wlll happily dole out tap water in plastic cups).

I don't have a problem with that but my issue regards the fact that I have been charged more for water than I would have been charged for wine.

Many places have an additional plate charge so why not an additional drinking vessel charge. None the less, I have eaten at many places where I ask for "une carafe d'eau." Usually don't have a problem with that.

And don't get me started about wait staff time, as I am paying a fairly large amount of money for their time in mandatory service charges.

Ironically, I would tip more if left to my own devices but they have decided that they would rather get paid less but be in control of the amount. I can't say if the long term result is better for them or not.

But, I think that this is a different thread.

More than wine?? Wouldn't like to try that wine, then!!

And who is 'they', as in 'they have decided'?

Had a lovely meal out yesterday in Bienne harbour - asked for tap water, didn't have anything else to drink - no charge.

Actually, not usually a problem unless I am driving, as I really love Swiss wine. One of the things that I miss terribly, now that I am back in the States.

They, as in the people who decide how much the included service charge will be over the cost of the actual food charges.

Which does bring up another thing about Swiss pricing. Depending on what and where one eats, if you consider that the service charge, aka Tip, is included in the pricing the cost of the meal isn't really that bad.

I mean, I tip at 20 percent or higher, unless the service really sucks, and "they" only have an included service charge of 15 to 18 percent. So if you factor this addition cost into the equation then the cost of eating out in the states, for example, is 4 to 12 percent higher, due to sales tax that is added on after one gets the bill and there is another 15 to 20+ percent in gratuities over the original menu cost as well.

I almost always tip a bit unless service is terrible, even Switzerland, so in any restaurant that I go to more than once, I tend to get very good/nice service. Occasionally, it would border on obsequious. But, I can deal with that, and my daughter loves it.

The big difference between the US and Switzerland with regard to table service is, of course, that waiters are paid a wage in CH and practically not in the States. There is no need to tip a waiter in Switzerland. Nor a taxi driver, hairdresser, school teacher or doctor. No-one tips me for doing my paid job, either.

The waiters in a restaurant in Zürich or Zermatt very often earn more in salary alone than the foreign tourists they serve. I know that when I first travelled on vacation to Switzerland, I earned quite a bit less than the CHF/USD 60k + that waiters easily earn here.

Put the crack pipe down; that amount *may* be six days a week 52 weeks a year Pro Rata, but ugly shifts mean it's often half of that amount.

Here's a tip: tell the Maîte d' or manager how great the service was even if you don't agree with tipping cash. Works in the corporate world, too.

I was drinking wine and I was still charged for the water. I don't say it cannot be justified in some way but it sets a bad feeling for the meal, at least for me. It's a kind of anti-service to places that give a small complimentary dish like pickles to make you welcome. Thanks for the Migros tip, it's a funny thought of crunching through a huge plate of meringues!

Or of course it just *may* be that entry-level McDonalds staff earn CHF 50k p.a. (see Wollishofener's post a few pages up this thread) -- you still think waiters don't earn >CHF 60k?! Waiting, by definition, occurs at meal times, not during office hours, but that means that while Joe Average is at the office, waiters are sleeping in, or pluckng their nasal hairs, or visiting art galleries, or whatever. Anyway, their hours are hardly ugly -- this is Switzerland, nothing's open after 10.00 pm.

A head of department (MD level) for a fancy bank once told me she earned less than the cleaners in her office. All depends on perspective, I guess.

Maybe where you live, here 23:30-0.00 is the norm.

Tom

I was talking about Switzerland.

Not Ticino.