Julia Altshuler wrote:

> Is there a solution? May I explain that I'm in the middle of a
> conversation and don't wish to be interrupted? Would that do any good?
> I never take my irritation out on the servers' tip because even I'm
> not that cantankerous and because I know the servers would have no way
> of making the connection between their interruption and the lower tip.

My son has wait staff figured out. He claims that they come around and check
that everything is okay when you have a mouthful of food or are busy in
conversation. And I have to say that I cringe when they use the popular
wait staff second person plural "yous"

My all time rudest waiter was in a restaurant in Vancouver. I had paid the
$66 bill with a $100 American Express travellers cheque. He came back with
more that $60 change. I called him over and told him that I thought he had
given me the incorrect change. He told me that he had checked the figures
carefully. I told him, no, there is not the correct change. He became very
snippy and insisted that he had given me the right change. I told him once
again that I thought it was incorrect. He got even snippier. So I dropped
it. I had tried three times that he had made an error. It would seem that he
had assumed that because it was American Express, that it was American
funds, and at that time the exchange rate was more than 25%. I did my best
to help him out, but he was so rude that he would not even give me a chance
to explain the misunderstanding.

Do you think I left an extra large tip to make up for him short changing
himself?
Fat chance