Re: how to order meal?

Tony Cooper wrote:
I've always wondered if a person could compare the price of a meal in
the US with the price of a meal in another country and figure out if
the tip expected in the US makes the meal more costly or not. An
impossible task since there is no established base price for a meal
from restaurant to restaurant, let alone from country to country.

Doesn't _The Economist_ still keep track of a Big Mac index (tracking
differences in prices of Big Macs from country to country as a proxy for
national welfare) or some such?

The patrons are mostly working-class or lower-level office workers. I
make the statement "mostly working class" because the parking lot is
usually filled with pick-up trucks and vans with "Joe's Plumbing" or
"Ace Heating & Air Conditioning" painted on the sides. Clothes -
especially shirts with the wearer's name sewn above the pocket - are
another tipoff. Rarely a tie or a dress shirt. There are other
visual clues.

Note, though, that nowadays wearing a tie is usually a sign of lower-level
occupational status, or being a politician.

I ordered beef tips over noodles (very good, by the way) which came
with a large side salad and two rolls. And sweet tea (unlimited
refills).

"Sweet tea", eh. This must have been in the south.

The check was $5.95 for the meal, $1.40 for the drink, and
52 cents for sales tax. I tipped $1.50 for a total of $9.37.

To really compare prices, you need to compare income and what it takes
a person to earn that price. The Minimum Wage in Florida is $6.40 per
hour. I don't think anyone in the place was earning just $6.40 an
hour, but there has to be some standard for comparison.

The Mexican dishwasher was probably earning $2.15 an hour.

At your country's Minimum Wage (if there is one), how long would a
person have to work to pay for what you would consider to be a
comparable meal in a comparable restaurant?

I thought that Australia had a system of subsidized guaranteed incomes
(something like what Nixon wanted to introduce back in the day), a rather
good idea compared to the New Dealian minimum wage. BICBTOSOC.


--
Salvatore Volatile
.

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