Tipping Service

[Song] R. Kelly feat. Nelly - Trying to get a number

After working in the Food and Beverage segment of my Attachment in Raffles Hotel for approxiametly 2 months, I have noticed something that i find degrading.

The way people tip their service staff.

When people complete their meals or beverages at my outlet, or any at that matter, they will leave change or bills behind to kindly thank the people who have served them. This is a practice that is not encouraged in Singapore, but to many foreigners and myself when i was back in Canada, we would leave an amount to show appreciation to our service staff and thank them for all the work they have done.

I find the tipping strategy a great way to encourage service staff to offer the best service they can to any customer. On top of that, it gives a great sense of achievement when they receive the tip as well.

Here's the problem with some of the guests i have encountered...

There is no etiquette when giving a tip.

Many leave the change that they want to discard when they leave because they are flying off that night or don't wanna carry around all that change so it comes to a point that they can't be bothered to keep their change. The outcome is that they 'dump' all their loose change on the table when they leave as a tip. I find it degrading when i have to do and pick each and every cent off the table. I'm a service staff to serve, I'm not there to count. I got very emotional one time when a guests left 10 dollars in loose change on the table. I felt cheap and un-appreciated.

Is it too hard to leave the coins in the bill folder? is it hard to use your change somewhere else? Do i look like someone that is lower in soceity because i'm a waiter?

I appreciate the tip, i do. When it comes to the point that your insulting me indirectly by getting me to pick up after you, it get's annoying and disrespectful. This also applies to anyone providing services.

The worst encounter i ever had was when a guests left 15 dollars (bills) on the table. When i took that 15 dollars off the table, i felt a cold chill. Like i was a begger of some sort.

I would NEVER leave money on the table. It's not hard to open the bill folder and leave a little appreciation inside. People in general don't need to be rude by throwing change or leaving bills on the table to let everyone around you see how much you have left behind for the service staff.

I have received many personal tips when the guests directly hands me the money or tells my fellow colleagues to hand it to me. This type of tipping is a real eye-opener. It makes me feel that i have done something right to make the guests personally give me their money rather than leaving it on the table or bill folder. It encourages me to continue on with my work and it shows me that my efforts were noticed and well deserved and appreciated.

I hope that next time, people who want to leave a tip, can leave it inside the bill folder or better yet, personally hand it to your service staff as an act of respectfulness.

That's all i needed to say.

Peace y'all!!

Hectic week

sorry y'all, it's been a really hectic week.

Having been really sleeping since last thursday due to excess drinking and late nights. I'll just update you guys on some stuff i did this week. I have an important post which i will up tmr as i'm not done writing.

I headed to the Asia Pacific Breweries on Monday with some of the Raffles Hotel staff members. WHOA! was it ever fun. It's amazing what alcohol can do to people, especially when it's free flow for like an hour and a half. Imagine a bus load of people quite when heading down to the brewery and a bus load of rowdy drunkards on the way back home. That's exactly what happened monday night.

On top of that, I had a great talk with Mr Jean Phillip. He is one of the FnB managers at Raffles Hotel. We discussed quite a bit of issues about cultures and work differences between countries. He said one thing that i will never forget, "Richie, you certainly have a eye for perspectives and issues, i can defiantly learn a lot from your point-of-views" I was shocked but also very honored!

A great night indeed, but on a sad note, i had work @ 10am the next day, so i was a bit stoned when i arrived lol!

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Tuesday night was suppose to be a casual dinner and drink type of day. Little did we know, Elliott, Val and I ended up at Boat Quay drinking beer til 2am. However, surprisingly i didn't get drunk with the amount we drank, but it was still a great night full of laughs and talks. I was glad to see Jeremy there, which made the night a whole lot better!

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Wednesday night, Elliott, Val, Jude, Thomas and I headed to Power House to watch the 2007 Bacardi Martini Bartender Competition. It was good to watch the Classic Cocktail segment, as i will be joining The Bartender of the Year Competition coming July/August.

The flair show was great. It's just amazing how people can be so talented. I wish i was half as good lol!

After everything, we headed to Power house to club, but it was such a flop because everyone was pretty tired from work. Had 1 jug then headed home!

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As for today, i met up with Chansey, Eunice and Nicholas for dinner. Headed to Din Tai Fung, which i'm starting to love haha! It was a good relaxing dinner with some great friends.

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Now i'm headed off to watch some TV, finish my laundry and sleep!

I HAVE THE NEXT 2 DAYS OFF!!!! muhahahaha! suckaz!

Goodbye...

Went out with Cao yan and chansey today for dinner.

I guess ou could call it a kind of a goodbye dinner for Cao Ya cuz she is leaving back to beijing tmr night.

I don't know why, but i have this feeling like i'm gonna miss her alot, though we ain't really that close.

I guess seeing people leave, like Liang Liang, makes me feel a bit depressed. just 2 years ago we were just starting off a class together. Now people are seperating and going their own ways. Kind of reminds me of High School back in ithe day.

The biggest impact so far is when Liang left. I still have the urge to call her everytime i reach home from work or when i'm bored. I guess sometimes people just need that someone by them to ensure that everythign is a-okay.

Now Cao Yan is leaving and it seems like the circle of friends is shrinking. Susanna will be coming back for sure to continue her studies, but the rest may or may not. So i guess as we depart into our own lives and accomplish what we wish to, we must never forget the people that were around us.

It saddens me to hear people wanting to leave back home. I guess it's the disadvantage of being a international student in a foreign country. We meet many friends from all over but we may never be able to see them again after graduation. For exceptions of cases where people do keep in touch and make an effort to maintain that relationship i guess there isn't much we can do.

so to end i would like to wish all my friends the best of luck for your future endeavours and i hope that we do keep in touch and we will be able to see each other again in the near future.

kind of forgot about this blog!

[Song] Ne-Yo feat. Kanye West - Because of You Remix

Whoa...i kind of forgot i had this blog for a moment.

I tried to post something on fri night, but i had problems with blogspot. I guess now it should be resolved.

anyhoo.. not much has happened these couple of days.

I met some new friends at Raffles Hotel. Saturday night was our first outing together. Wilson, Karen, Ford and I headed to Shanghai Jazz to have some drinks. Shanghai Jazz is a pretty snazzy little joint. relaxing with a nice asthetic appeal to give that kind of atmosphere you need after a long day's work. I especially love it cuz Raffles Hotel staff get special rates and discounts =)

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On another note, i need to warn you guys about the hazards of cotten buds. I use them everytime i finish a shower, which resulted in having wax build up in my ear. So, i couldn't really hear anything for about 3 days. Supposively, the cotten bud pushes wax into your ear and it kind of gathers up there overtime, hence, a ear blocked with wax.

the only treatment is to use some drops to loosen the wax and go for a syringing, which is a process of using pressured water to poor out all that shit.

it felt weird, and it made me giddy, so beware people!

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One last thing. I watched a movie last night called Freedom Writers.



This movie, was one of the best movies i've ever seen. The way they purtray each characters life and the stories that they shared are just heart felt. It's based on a true story, so atleast you ain't gonna get conned on the issues that are discussed.

Let me just say, this movie is amazing. The way it was directed and the story line is so realistic. A movie not only will i treasure, but i will keep within my heart. The touching story of each individual is really well pictured.

If your into reality and life, then please go out and rent it.

It talks about kids growing up in one of the most dangerous areas in the US. How they come together as a whole class and touch each other lives its miraculous.

Google this flick for a trailer and synopsis.

i'm out peace!

Oh ya, i promise, i will start to update a frequent as possible!
so do come back !

a wonderful day

[SONG] Billy Crawford - In Love

I met up with a friend, Shirley, on monday.

She's from DPB and she is, surprisingly 26 years old. Initially i thought she was only 20-23, no more.

We headed out to TCC from some drinks at first. The conversation started off great. I was really surprised. I guess you can really tell who is mature and who isn't with their way of speech.

After, we headed to Marina Square to have dinner at a chinese restaurant. The food wasn't bad, but i realised that the company was even better. We got deeper into out conversations, learning more about each other. I really loved it.

It seems like we both had alot in common. For example she use to be a 'ah lian' whereas i use to be a gangsta punk running on the streets. Then we both changed our lives around to give that extra meaning to it. It was great to talk about an issue that someone could kind of relate too!! just marvelous!

I know now that people who are mature enough to hold a conversation and make it interesting are of people who have experienced alot. As like me, we were very into our stories.

I loved the whole time we spent. It was very different, than with people i normally go out with. She took interest and showed empathy, which i loved!

I will defiantely try my best to meet up with Shirly ass much as possible. A new friend i believe i will cherish. haha!

k a short post about that.
i'm out to bed now...peace!

not much

not much to update.

I mean everything is the same. Routine work i guess you could say.

Liang left lastnight which was a bit of a disappoinment. She won't be back for atleast 2 months. Elliott and I will be planning a trip to Beijing, early july, to visit her. Hopefully all goes well.

I hate working under the sun 24/7, but atleast it's fun. I've been hearing complaints from eunice and i guess alan too (from his blog). I mean, besides the heat and everything i'm alright. Though i do the occassional casual labour and all, but it's very simple service, so i don't really mind.

However, i am still counting the days to my higher dilpoma coarse in july. it's just the feeling of being able to sit and sleep in class that makes me wanna go back =)

Alright, i'm headed to bed not ci'm pretty tired. Gotta get up early tmr for work. Look forward to a more elaborate post by friday.take care.

peace!