We'll I'm a officially a tourist
Nov. 14th, 2005 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gshWell, given its about two hours before my plane leaves, I guess it was time for me to do the tourist thing, and almost tip someone 20 bucks instead of 2 bucks.
I had lunch at a little hole in the wall place named "El Gormet" which was at least clean, if small. It was right around the corner from CTIO, which means it probably gets a lot of university of La Serena faculty and staff eating there, and are probably used to gringo astronomers eating there. I had a very lovely shrip salad, and the rolls were to die for. Why can't anyone in america make a roll with 10% of the taste of the rolls found elsewhere in the world? One of the saddest thing I ever saw in Germany was an american living at an army base walking out of the PX with a loaf of wonder bread and a six pack of Miller lite. Anyway, that's a different rant. Anyway, I had a Chilean beer with lunch (I'd much rather drink a random beer in a foreign country than drink the tap water) and had chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and a cup of tea. The bill came to 6,800 chilean pesos, which at the exchange rate of 500 CLP to the dollar meant the lunch was about 13 bucks. Not bad at all. I gave the waiter (who spoke much better english than my spanish) a 10,000 peso note, and he didn't have change. He came out a few minutes later, handed me a 5,000 peso note, and asked if I had a 1,000 peso note, and said we'd be even. I pulled out what I thought was a 1,000 peso note, but it was a 10,000 peso note. His eyes got *real* big, and he said "But Senior, thsi is too much", and when I realized I had handed him the wrong note I gave him back the 5,000 note, took back the 10,000 note, and told him to keep the change from the first note. Which was about a five buck tip, almost 50% where the average tip is aobut 10%, but he had given me good service, and was very honest. I like to encourage honesty, and I'm not about to worry about a six buck tip, and I get to come home feeling very good about myself and Chile. So many people whould have taken the 10,000 peso note and not said a word, and I'd probably never have noticed except when I got to the airport and thought to myself "I thought I had another 10,000 peso note".
I had lunch at a little hole in the wall place named "El Gormet" which was at least clean, if small. It was right around the corner from CTIO, which means it probably gets a lot of university of La Serena faculty and staff eating there, and are probably used to gringo astronomers eating there. I had a very lovely shrip salad, and the rolls were to die for. Why can't anyone in america make a roll with 10% of the taste of the rolls found elsewhere in the world? One of the saddest thing I ever saw in Germany was an american living at an army base walking out of the PX with a loaf of wonder bread and a six pack of Miller lite. Anyway, that's a different rant. Anyway, I had a Chilean beer with lunch (I'd much rather drink a random beer in a foreign country than drink the tap water) and had chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and a cup of tea. The bill came to 6,800 chilean pesos, which at the exchange rate of 500 CLP to the dollar meant the lunch was about 13 bucks. Not bad at all. I gave the waiter (who spoke much better english than my spanish) a 10,000 peso note, and he didn't have change. He came out a few minutes later, handed me a 5,000 peso note, and asked if I had a 1,000 peso note, and said we'd be even. I pulled out what I thought was a 1,000 peso note, but it was a 10,000 peso note. His eyes got *real* big, and he said "But Senior, thsi is too much", and when I realized I had handed him the wrong note I gave him back the 5,000 note, took back the 10,000 note, and told him to keep the change from the first note. Which was about a five buck tip, almost 50% where the average tip is aobut 10%, but he had given me good service, and was very honest. I like to encourage honesty, and I'm not about to worry about a six buck tip, and I get to come home feeling very good about myself and Chile. So many people whould have taken the 10,000 peso note and not said a word, and I'd probably never have noticed except when I got to the airport and thought to myself "I thought I had another 10,000 peso note".
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-14 06:55 pm (UTC)It's particularly nice, in that if the numbers were as written you kept him from completely stiffing himself of all his tip -- he tried to offer to call it even at 6,000 when the base bill was 6,800!
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Date: 2005-11-14 07:10 pm (UTC)