What's the Value of Good Service?

I went to Spain for the second time this past summer. Last time I'd visited, I was twenty years old and studying abroad in Valladolid. This time, I went to Barcelona and Madrid. The whole reason that we flew into Barcelona was because my all time favorite band, Gogol Bordello, was playing there, and I considered this a sort of mecca.

Anyway, it was fantastic. Amazing food, amazing experiences, and amazing company. This was also the first vacation with "friends" I'd ever taken; I studied abroad, and I went to Italy with my parents, but this was such a different experience.

A few months before,  I'd started waiting tables at a local restaurant. My boyfriend had waited tables all through college, and he encouraged me to give it a shot. It was fine--the job itself wasn't so bad. But I hate working for anything corporate, and this place was unbelievably so. We were often told that we needed to "surprise and delight" our guests, and that we would see our tips go up because of it. In fact, we were ranked on our tip percentages. Considering the area, I felt this was a little unfair. The fact is some people don't tip, no matter how much you surprise and delight them. I mean, it's just the way it is.

Anyway, Americans are huge on "good" service. But the funny thing about Spain is that they are definitely not. There are usually about two waiters out there for twenty tables, and they'll get to you when they damn well feel like it. They're busy, so when you hesitate, they roll their eyes and tell you to hurry up and make up your mind already. (They also smoke in front of you, which is really strange to American sensibilities.)

Of course, they aren't working for tips. It's considered rude to leave anything more than a euro.

But it's actually kind of nice. Aren't you tired of obsequious servers constantly asking if you need anything, or rushing you in and out so that they can flip your table and make more money? (In case you didn't know, that's usually how it's done.) In Spain, they don't care if you never order--just don't cause problems or hold them up.

It was honestly refreshing--no one pretended to be your pal, and they helped you when you asked for it.