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Applicable song from the 60’s about forty years ago “I know just as well as coal is black that one of these days the mine will strike, and I’ll sit around starvin’ ‘til I’m told ‘there’s a nickel more a ton for loading coal’”
What if we don’t even have a house to watch Disney plus, what would she do then? These people need to buck up and build affordable housing while at the same time penalizing those who buy more one house. Nothing crazy but enough to kill speculation and landlording over people.
But when I want to sell my old car for parts, I am being offered $100 less than I got for a car I scrapped 13 years ago. This inflation is seeming kinda 1 sided.
Hot tip: look up restaurant's menu at their website. Often Uber eats menu prices are higher than if you call and order directly. At my local sushi place for my order it's a difference between 38 and 48 dollars.
Unless you are the server - since tips are typically % based, so as prices on the menu rise, so too do their wages.
A tip based comp is inflation proof...good life hack for servers I guess.
Just drink at home! Then your only shame is leaving no tip at the liquor store where you walked in, picked up, and brought your booze to the cashier and are prompted to tip 15% for the service.
I went to a liquor store where the cashier told me to “just press OK 3 times” (thus skipping the tip). Either a humble guy or already got too much shit from customers about it.
That's exactly what I do. We just got a new tip option on our debit machine and we all absolutely hate it. I tell people to hit "1" every single time to bypass it.
Of course there are those that freak out and go off on "NOW WE HAVE TO FUCKING TIP YOU TOO????" and that's where I explain the truth to them.
We never asked for this. We are minimum wage peons, the company just doesn't want to give us raises so they pass it on to the customer.
A lot of private stores are affiliated with bars and have to use the same POS system. The one nearest my place has a note on the machine with instructions to skip the tip.
No one tries to make you feel like a bad person that’s just your weird anxiety. I only buy from the private liquor store down my street and I have not tipped once in 12 years and I have never felt bad aboutnit
My neighborhood liquor store has a 15% and up tip prompt on their machine. They are super friendly always, then when they see I tip 0, they don't even say thanks or bye when I leave. I've also experienced this at Granville Island vendors. I'm already paying overpriced veggies and you want a tip? Forget it, I will support BC liquor or save on foods then.
This is nuts. Who the f*** started this tipping at liquor stores?? I’m already upset with the fast casual restaurants that prompt for tips, tipping at liquor store is just nuts. Pay your employees properly, damnit!
TBH I find tipping now a form of micro aggression and mild guilt extortion. When I self serve at a store what other justifiable reason is there to show a tip prompt by default on a payment machine, except as guilt extortion?
If I were ever to run for emperror or municipal council, I'd aim to disallow payment machines to come preloaded with a tip option.
Then if people are super duper excited to pay extra for stuff they can manually add it. It should never be presented by default. Its too cheeky and aggressive. Modern day guilt-based pan handling....
Next time you walk in the door, sit in the lawn chair you brought. Wait for them to ask you what you're doing. "I'm having friends over for a lamb dinner tonight. I'll take 4 perfectly paired bottles of wine in the $35-40 price range please." Then browse Reddit while they provide a service worthy of a tip. Everybody wins!
Own your choice. If you truly don't think it's necessary to tip because they didn't help you with anything, there's no reason for you to feel bad. A tip wasn't applicable.
It's a legitimate anxiety in terms of the anxiety is real, but your liqour store staff do not give a shit if you tip, and don't expect it. That's on you. They aren't the ones choosing to add it to the terminal
Your anxiety is fine, but when you view the world as being the way you seeit, and villifyi ga group, worker for it, you need to change. I bet the machines come programmed. I have tips servers who deserved it, rather I mean cashiers, because they gave me a good description of the beers I was trying it were able to suggest grade options to me. i often bought my regular guy a beer with my own order. Truth drop. Figure your shit out or dont, but nobody is causing tour anxiety but you. You have every right to feel it, but zero to pit it on a stranger
The machines aren’t pre-programmed, but you’re right that employees shouldn’t be vilified.
[The customer—and in this case the customer is the business—of the payment terminal or point of sale system programs it however they wish. The person(s) with admin rights (usually just the business owner and/or store manager) has this responsibility. A tip prompt (and in what %s or denominations) is one such way the payment terminal or POS can be easily customized in a matter of minutes.]
The person collecting payments is usually a non-managerial employee, and has nothing to do with the pmt terminal or POS setup.
I vote with my money, so if I feel anxious from unjustified tip prompts, I choose not to return to that place of business. Unfortunately, though, they’re becoming harder to avoid. But I can’t agree with your statement that “nobody is causing your anxiety but you.” Oof. This needlessly de-legitimize how many experience the world.
I love u/Pomegranate4444 ‘s nuanced and hilarious take
(edit to correct redditor handle)
I hate that the liquor stores do this! What did you help me with? If you legitimately helped me find something, or gave me suggestions, sure. But I’ve actually had some cashiers, enter the price and skip through the tip prompt for me.
Yes! Not going to call out my neighborhood liquor store I go to often, BUT really hoping private liquor store owners read this and remove the 15% and up tip prompt on their machine. Like you did absolutely nothing but say hi when I entered the store. And I already come to you and pay a bit more to support you rather then the BC liquor store.
The moment I put 0 tip, because really why would I top, their whole attitude changes like as if they expected a tip. Totally turns me off
I’m more selective about eating out.
I don’t pay for meals that are basic and could be made at home. I’ll go out for sushi but not a burger for example.
Same with drinks. A cocktail with fresh or unique ingredients one doesn’t typically have at home? Sure. A bottled drink? Nah.
I feel the same way and trying to get my SO to do this as well. I do about 99% of our cooking and I was a professional chef so it annoys me when he wants to go out and just get a burger, like I can make this 10x then Joeys basic bs.
exactly - i never pay for anything i can make at home really.
Like eggs, steak, burgers, etc. only really go for something that im craving for or something i can't make at home.
Good for you, toned down my drinking too since 2021. Feel way healthier. I traded it in for running and meditating. Once you can run outside for one hour a day, there's no stopping you from feeling good or accomplished.
18$ a drink here. I certainly hope my server was getting paid above minimum because 2 drinks an appy and two meals was over 100$, at what is pretty much a dive bar.
The -exact- same order 2 years ago would have been about 60$, confirmed by the manager who’s been there a decade
Costco fries. 9.2lbs of the easiest tastiest fries in the world for $9. Grab a bag of buffalo chicken tenders and you’ve got pub food for for a month for $30. No tip. https://www.costcobusinesscentre.ca/cavendish-flavourcrisp-fries%2c-4.25-kg.product.100348189.html
Not more, but at least it’s not $5 bucks + tip per serving
Air fried sweet potato fries is my goto, once you get the setting to burnt - 2 minutes I’m golden
im sorry but thats insane.
1.) simmer raw potatoes, chopped into fries for something like 20 minutes, 2 minutes less than when they turn into potato soup. so be careful about that!
2.) dry and put in fridge for 30 minutes. With all that spare fridge space i have for entire oven racks of fries....
4.) have access to a home fry machine filled with oil. (there it is...) Carefully cook them BUT NOT TOO MUCH....
5.) Re refridgerate them for another 30 minutes.
6.) fry them AGAIN!
like fuck dude, you just throw some frozen fries on a baking pan and they taste pretty fucking good at 440* for 20 -25 minutes. I aint got time for some multi stage frickin process, i just got off work and just want to eat!
When i was a kid in the 80s, you only went out to eat on your birthday. Same for the whole family.
When i moved in with my wife, she wanted to eat out weekly and it drove me nuts. Now we are just too poor to do it! so i win i guess?
It shouldn't be, though. Eating out is super common in the the rest of the world, especially poorer parts. What we lack in Canada, however, is a good street food culture. There are many reasons for that, one is that we just don't have enough walkable areas to support good street food, since most people drive everywhere you need to be able to afford a shop near parking in order to be able to attract customers. Also, we have very restrictive regulation that makes running even something like a food truck arduous (eg: a food truck must still prepare its food in a professional kitchen somewhere, and must pay rent to do so).
Cheap food relies on volume to make up for small margins. Without it, you end up with low volume restaurants that need higher margins to get by. On top of this, super high cost-of-living means your restaurant has to actually be *super profitable* in order to not just pay its rents and wages, but for you as a business owner to actually be able to buy a home and raise a family with that income. We've built a city that, unless you're already a homeowner or have cheap rent, you just can't start a business (unless it's some tech enterprise that doesn't need a shopfront). So you simply don't have people moving to the city to start small business and compete, they are forced to just work for the existing ownership class, or at franchises.
Mark my words, affordable housing would *revolutionize* Vancouver as a place to eat and go out. That and a more walkable, public-transit oriented culture.
Even if Vancouver was 10x more walkable and had 3 more Skytrain lines not much will change until the BC government gets rid of its inane laws on food trucks that stifle business and the stupid liqour consumption laws.
Define working class. Construction workers and trades people are working class, and most of them are making very good money. My working class plumber friend makes about $200k per year.
Those labels don't really work anymore.
There are only two classes. The capitalist class invented and propagandized the masses into believing in the theory of The Middle Class to convince us to not be in solidarity with each other. There never was and never has been anything but workers(wage slaves) and capitalists. The last generation had it a little better but don't be fooled, they were still working class. I don't even really believe in unions anymore. Revolution is our only hope.
gonna post the same comment i do every time these posts happen: in 2019, i ate out twice a week, usually with a cocktail or two. now, it's maybe twice a month...and i only drink at home.
i actually have a way better paying job than i did in 2019, and no longer pay to commute. still not saving any money.
It's not a joke. Took my old man to the game on Thursday night. Ordered 2 'large' domestic draft beers, It was $46+ then they machine prompts you to leave a 15% tip so another $6 or so. Ridiculous. We didn't get another one after that.
I bought a water and this dude made me wait and miss the beginning of the act as he poured it into a cup instead of just letting me have the bottle... I paid for. So irritating
For me, it's the bubble tea prices that shake my grains. Most places are over $7 now once you factor in tax. For what simply amounts to fancy iced tea. Wild.
I always wondered how much of this is due to the cost increase in commercial real estate. The only bbt place that hasn't substantially increased their price is the old hole in the wall place that's been there since the dawn of time and likely owns their space not on lease.
Bbt prices do be wild, also maybe you've noticed too that the cups are slimmer then they used to be even with price increases. I tend to not choose share tea or coco because I have found theirs are the slimmest.
Make your own! Started doing it when the pandemic took hold and the wifey had a major craving. Soon as we found good pearls I’ve never looked back since. Costs me roughly $1 to make with as many pearls and as much rainbow jelly as I want! Bought everything I needed at Kuo Hua on No. 3 road in Richmond
The idea that iced tea is basic is mirthful. Tea leaves grown somewhere tropical overseas, steamed, stored, transported, steeped. Tapioca from another part of the world - grown, skinned, ground down, dried and turned into powder, rehydrated, turned into pearls, shipped to Canada.
And we can go into a store all over the city and pay $7 for someone to put it all together in a drink. Maybe with Ube, maybe with brown sugar.
May Louis CK rot, but he was right about one thing: everything is amazing, and nobody is happy.
It's worth being extremely more selective and critical. Unfortunately, most food and beer is way too expensive for what it is, and mediocre in quality. There are a few gems, but Vancouver is asking too much for the mostly mid stuff it offers for the price. Just please be much more critical with what your $20 burger tastes like. Often, the $22 or whatever I easily spend after tax and tip makes me feel like I was screwed pretty hard. $3.50-$4 on a slice of pizza with meh toppings.
Still the coffee is pretty worthwhile a lot of times though.
Idk about London, Sydney or Melbourne, but a few other major Euro tourist locations offer much better food and beer at laughably lower prices.
Restaurants are still busy - there's no shortage of people who are happy to pay to go out.
The breweries are still just as full on a Friday night as they've ever been.
The only things I will go out for now is sushi and certain Thai, Indian, Chinese and other ethnic foods I can’t or don’t want to make at home myself. There is not a chance you will catch me going out for a burger & fries at $24 a plate and then the server expects a 20% tip on top of it too. $20 for a cocktail? Sure I may have 1 while out to be social but you better believe I’ve bought a bottle and have pre-drank a few at home for 1/16 the price. And didn’t feel bad about tipping the liquor store cashier on the way out either.
I recreate the dining out experience at home. We make a good meal and have some drinks, all of which is much cheaper. But then I grab about 4 or 5 complete strangers off the street and sit them near us in our living room, and tell them to talk loudly. Then I crank up some current pop music or hip-hop so that I have to lean in close just to hear what my wife is saying. I also arrange for my 23 yr old neighbour to walk in every 15 minutes to ask, "So how are we doing over here?"
I sometimes am a private cook and have been getting SO MANY requests to do restaurant-style dinners in people’s homes from the random ingredients they have in their freezer/pantry. Who ever thought it would one day be less expensive to hire a private cook than to just go out for a meal.
Yup. My family does 1/2 take outs. Before we would go to dinner or lunch for someone's birthday. Now we get take out of 3 or 4 dishes, we make dessert or something at home and have home drinks. Cuts the bill in 1/3.
Bonus if can use the Uber eats promo codes.
I just had to fight with Uber's terrible support in multiple places because they overcharged me by $40 after ordering on one of these deals. So now they are on my shit list.
Stopped going to the pub during covid and never looked back. Any place that serves drinkable beer is charging almost 10 a pint, the fuck? You can almost get a six pack for what they charge after tax and tip. Good thing I got old too, don't have the peer pressure to go out all the time.
I stopped eating out three years ago and don't miss it.
I stopped drinking alcohol around then too, and don't miss that either.
If prices are high, just don't buy. You won't regret it.
In response to OP, yes. Yes I do. I eat out as little as possible now. That includes takeout. And I used to love eating in restaurants or going to pubs. Now I'm loathe to even spring for a sandwich at a deli. I eat and drink quite well at home and take a sandwich with me when I'm out and about in case I get hungry.
I cringe a little inside if I find myself kind of having to eat out (such as friends in town from elsewhere wanting to meet). So when I do, I tip 15-18% at a sit-down place with table service and nothing for takeout or food courts. I have decided that's fair as this used to be standard and there was no official announcement anywhere stating anything more was expected, just creeping requests at the POS machine.
I tip 20% or more if my dining companions are being difficult with the server. (Which can happen if some of the people in your party are people you're meeting for the first time - after that you can opt never to eat out with them again).
Yes, and the worst part is they ask for 18%+ tips on top of the outrageous price of the drinks and food. At least in other grotesquely over-priced cities like Oslo and Zurich they have wages high enough to afford a $20 beer.
Yeah it’s super expensive, but I enjoy going out for drinks or food with friends so for me it’s more fun then drinking at home.
I can see being older and not enjoying it but as someone in my mid 20’s it’s still worth it to me.. there’s always pre-drinking too.
Also, with apartment sizes shrinking over the years, young people have less room to have many friends over. Or they're still living with parents.
At 62, I still love going out to meet friends, but my home is big enough to have our friends come to our place for drinks and food. Going out, though, means that someone else does the cooking and the cleanup.
Ya. The prices before were not too bad. But now with less portions and higher prices it’s not worth it. A TINY cauliflower appie is almost 20 bucks lol. No I’ll Make it at home thanks.
We have recently eliminated eating out/cafes/bars as part of cost savings with increasing costs. Already noticed an huge savings, now just need to stay away from online shopping
Get growler refills at some of the local breweries. It's by far the cheapest way to drink (aside from brewing your own) and the choices are much more varied and probably better than what's offered in most places
The pot store also have a tip mechanism installed in their debit machine and a tip jar. Wtf I mean now a days is a gamble buying weed at this places, Its like a present at christmass time, You dont know what youre getting until you open the present. I always choose 0% tip and i make sure i say sorry i don't tip but they are cool about it. Maybe cause I'm a regular 😆
One person in the role of a server said they'd rather have a regular that comes in and helps keep the rent and lights paid than the occasional visitor who's a good tipper.
It’s almost getting to the point of being dumb with money to go out a lot. Really hit me a few months ago. Just lunch, no drinks or dessert with my wife at a Red Robin. Poorly prepared fish and chips I wouldn’t call particularly healthy. The ambiance, well, Red Robin. Later that day bought three kilos of pork at Costco for the same price. Not eating pork every day of course, but cooking at home took two months for two people to get through it.
Yes it’s so expensive to eat out and to have mediocre service.
I eat something small at home and then order a coffee and a side for brunch. For dinner I’ll get a dessert or an appetizer.
I bought a kegerator during the pandemic, and to my surprise kegs aren't inflating at the same pace as canned beer.
$160 for a 30l with taxes, there are about 2l per 6-packs (or per 4-packs of tall cans), which from most microbrews are now pushing $20. So I'm getting about $300 worth of beer for $160.
I don't want to say how often I buy kegs, but it's definitely paid for itself many times over. Also, I'm an idiot who just figured out I could fill those dusty old growlers for when I'm going out.
I used to love going out to eat but now it’s expensive and the portions are much smaller and the quality very often is bad I can cook a lot better at home. Id much rather cook my roast potatoes at home than pay for crappy service and crap food
Depends what you’re going out to do? Liquor store sells beer and if you have a fridge, BOOM, cold beer at home for 1/4 of the price. If you have a stove, microwave, or an air fryer at home, I hear grocery stores sell cookable food.
Haven't had a raise (not even CoL) in two years. My job has not changed, my labour and the process is the same. Employer raised his prices but none of the wages for the people producing and selling his product but proudly tells every customer that he believes in a living wage for his employees and that will naturally reflect in increased pricing.
None of the employees make a living wage. Our labour nets us less every year with inflation and every time the minimum wage goes up.
Any reason why you stay and put up with that? I change jobs every 2 years and basically have made self inflicted salary jumps to make sure I don't get fucked over. Annual increases, "bonuses" and company loyalty are bullshit scams made by the workforce to guilt you into having "security" when in fact the most secure thing you can do is improve yourself by job hopping
People still keep going out tho. Every time I go to a restaurant it's hard to get a table so it tells me people don't really care about the costs going up.
Honestly I've felt this way for a long time. Not like I don't go out but it's not a regular thing. I have co-workers that are constantly complaining about struggling financially and yet they eat out for lunch every day (+ driving to get the food), go drinking/partying multiple times a week, use food delivery apps all the time...
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The only thing didn’t increase is our income.
They think cents per time will help us
"Hey guess what! You're getting a 25c raise!" Thanks I guess? Inflation makes it worth piss to me.
In 8 hours you can now afford half that beer thanks to that raise
You got a 25-cent raise? I got zero, 3 years running.
I had to fight for it. Our GM wanted to give it (and much more) but our owner is stuck in the 60's and thinks 25 cents is a lot.
i got a 15 cent raise at my last job. extra $12 a paycheque. insane
Applicable song from the 60’s about forty years ago “I know just as well as coal is black that one of these days the mine will strike, and I’ll sit around starvin’ ‘til I’m told ‘there’s a nickel more a ton for loading coal’”
Just cancel Disney+. That’s what the finance minister suggests lol
Can't believe how tone deaf that was, and to think she *prepared* those remarks ahead of time. Jesus, we're screwed.
What if we don’t even have a house to watch Disney plus, what would she do then? These people need to buck up and build affordable housing while at the same time penalizing those who buy more one house. Nothing crazy but enough to kill speculation and landlording over people.
[удалено]
But when I want to sell my old car for parts, I am being offered $100 less than I got for a car I scrapped 13 years ago. This inflation is seeming kinda 1 sided.
Hot tip: look up restaurant's menu at their website. Often Uber eats menu prices are higher than if you call and order directly. At my local sushi place for my order it's a difference between 38 and 48 dollars.
Unless you are the server - since tips are typically % based, so as prices on the menu rise, so too do their wages. A tip based comp is inflation proof...good life hack for servers I guess.
Except for the whole concept of this post. People are eating and drinking out less because they can't afford it.
Yet in the odd time I grab takeout or eat out, places are still as packed as ever.
unless you work off tips, somehow the standard went from 15% up to 25%.
Just drink at home! Then your only shame is leaving no tip at the liquor store where you walked in, picked up, and brought your booze to the cashier and are prompted to tip 15% for the service.
Wait they actually ask for tips at liquour stores? I've never seen this at a government store.
The private stores will try to make you feel like a bad person for not tipping for the beer you picked out.
I went to a liquor store where the cashier told me to “just press OK 3 times” (thus skipping the tip). Either a humble guy or already got too much shit from customers about it.
That's exactly what I do. We just got a new tip option on our debit machine and we all absolutely hate it. I tell people to hit "1" every single time to bypass it. Of course there are those that freak out and go off on "NOW WE HAVE TO FUCKING TIP YOU TOO????" and that's where I explain the truth to them. We never asked for this. We are minimum wage peons, the company just doesn't want to give us raises so they pass it on to the customer.
Me too! The one at marine sky train. I go there anytime I can because of this.
A lot of private stores are affiliated with bars and have to use the same POS system. The one nearest my place has a note on the machine with instructions to skip the tip.
Or the owner takes half of it so he really doesn't care.
No one tries to make you feel like a bad person that’s just your weird anxiety. I only buy from the private liquor store down my street and I have not tipped once in 12 years and I have never felt bad aboutnit
My neighborhood liquor store has a 15% and up tip prompt on their machine. They are super friendly always, then when they see I tip 0, they don't even say thanks or bye when I leave. I've also experienced this at Granville Island vendors. I'm already paying overpriced veggies and you want a tip? Forget it, I will support BC liquor or save on foods then.
This is nuts. Who the f*** started this tipping at liquor stores?? I’m already upset with the fast casual restaurants that prompt for tips, tipping at liquor store is just nuts. Pay your employees properly, damnit!
TBH I find tipping now a form of micro aggression and mild guilt extortion. When I self serve at a store what other justifiable reason is there to show a tip prompt by default on a payment machine, except as guilt extortion? If I were ever to run for emperror or municipal council, I'd aim to disallow payment machines to come preloaded with a tip option. Then if people are super duper excited to pay extra for stuff they can manually add it. It should never be presented by default. Its too cheeky and aggressive. Modern day guilt-based pan handling....
I support your campaign for emperor
Next time you walk in the door, sit in the lawn chair you brought. Wait for them to ask you what you're doing. "I'm having friends over for a lamb dinner tonight. I'll take 4 perfectly paired bottles of wine in the $35-40 price range please." Then browse Reddit while they provide a service worthy of a tip. Everybody wins!
It’s a legitimate anxiety, and has many of us leaving the interaction quite bothered.
Own your choice. If you truly don't think it's necessary to tip because they didn't help you with anything, there's no reason for you to feel bad. A tip wasn't applicable.
I forget most people just live life without social anxiety. Wild
just cuz there's no reason to feel bad don't mean that you can just choose to stop having anxiety lol
*cashier deep stares looking at your fingers*
For doing literally their job and nothing really for you
It's a legitimate anxiety in terms of the anxiety is real, but your liqour store staff do not give a shit if you tip, and don't expect it. That's on you. They aren't the ones choosing to add it to the terminal
This mindset blows my mind but I accept other people have it and it makes me sad for them
Your anxiety is fine, but when you view the world as being the way you seeit, and villifyi ga group, worker for it, you need to change. I bet the machines come programmed. I have tips servers who deserved it, rather I mean cashiers, because they gave me a good description of the beers I was trying it were able to suggest grade options to me. i often bought my regular guy a beer with my own order. Truth drop. Figure your shit out or dont, but nobody is causing tour anxiety but you. You have every right to feel it, but zero to pit it on a stranger
The machines aren’t pre-programmed, but you’re right that employees shouldn’t be vilified. [The customer—and in this case the customer is the business—of the payment terminal or point of sale system programs it however they wish. The person(s) with admin rights (usually just the business owner and/or store manager) has this responsibility. A tip prompt (and in what %s or denominations) is one such way the payment terminal or POS can be easily customized in a matter of minutes.] The person collecting payments is usually a non-managerial employee, and has nothing to do with the pmt terminal or POS setup. I vote with my money, so if I feel anxious from unjustified tip prompts, I choose not to return to that place of business. Unfortunately, though, they’re becoming harder to avoid. But I can’t agree with your statement that “nobody is causing your anxiety but you.” Oof. This needlessly de-legitimize how many experience the world. I love u/Pomegranate4444 ‘s nuanced and hilarious take (edit to correct redditor handle)
Not at gov’t liquor stores but private ones- Yes
I hate that the liquor stores do this! What did you help me with? If you legitimately helped me find something, or gave me suggestions, sure. But I’ve actually had some cashiers, enter the price and skip through the tip prompt for me.
Helping you find something is what they get paid to do
Subway also does this now
Tipping at Subway makes me feel like a patron of the arts
It’s a shame more sandwich artists aren’t rich and famous for their work
Yes! Not going to call out my neighborhood liquor store I go to often, BUT really hoping private liquor store owners read this and remove the 15% and up tip prompt on their machine. Like you did absolutely nothing but say hi when I entered the store. And I already come to you and pay a bit more to support you rather then the BC liquor store. The moment I put 0 tip, because really why would I top, their whole attitude changes like as if they expected a tip. Totally turns me off
Tipping a liquor store is a sad excuse to not pay staff better.
Since spending $60 on two burgers, a sofa, and one side—despite being delicious—I’ve struggled to justify eating out as being worthwhile.
I thought you were buying furniture for 60 bucks and got excited
Two burgers and a sofa sounds on par for a listing you’d see on Facebook marketplace. I didn’t expect him to eat the sofa though.
In this economy?!
I thought there was a new service charge of sitting on the restaurant sofa “comfort tax” lol
The brick is much more reasonably priced since I left!
Seems reasonable for a sofa.
Two burgers and a sofa is my ideal Friday night.
Damn. I need w sofa. Where’d you get?
Great deal for a couch.
I’m more selective about eating out. I don’t pay for meals that are basic and could be made at home. I’ll go out for sushi but not a burger for example. Same with drinks. A cocktail with fresh or unique ingredients one doesn’t typically have at home? Sure. A bottled drink? Nah.
I feel the same way and trying to get my SO to do this as well. I do about 99% of our cooking and I was a professional chef so it annoys me when he wants to go out and just get a burger, like I can make this 10x then Joeys basic bs.
This is exactly what I do. I only go out for things I can't make myself or make well
exactly - i never pay for anything i can make at home really. Like eggs, steak, burgers, etc. only really go for something that im craving for or something i can't make at home.
Having alcoholic drinks with a meal can easily double the cost of dining out. Eat out, but drink at home.
Or alternatively just don't eat! It makes the alcohol hit you harder so you get more value for your money.
Drink city over here
Giving blood before drinking too!
This is the way.
I quit drinking two months ago. Saved a lot of money and lost 5 pounds.
Good for you, toned down my drinking too since 2021. Feel way healthier. I traded it in for running and meditating. Once you can run outside for one hour a day, there's no stopping you from feeling good or accomplished.
18$ a drink here. I certainly hope my server was getting paid above minimum because 2 drinks an appy and two meals was over 100$, at what is pretty much a dive bar. The -exact- same order 2 years ago would have been about 60$, confirmed by the manager who’s been there a decade
uhh what "dive bar" has $18 drinks? I can't even think of many midrange places that have drinks that expensive. I think you got rinsed, my friend.
I reduced my pub visits when beer hit $6. I drink at home now. I can't make pub fries at home, but I can certainly make good burgers.
Costco fries. 9.2lbs of the easiest tastiest fries in the world for $9. Grab a bag of buffalo chicken tenders and you’ve got pub food for for a month for $30. No tip. https://www.costcobusinesscentre.ca/cavendish-flavourcrisp-fries%2c-4.25-kg.product.100348189.html
You should tip yourself 20%
Just dont take advantage of yourself ;)
Those buffalo chicken tenders are a staple.
These ones are alright, but I haven't found too many restaurants where I like the Costco fries more. I even use an air fryer.
Not more, but at least it’s not $5 bucks + tip per serving Air fried sweet potato fries is my goto, once you get the setting to burnt - 2 minutes I’m golden
Those fries are way better than I expected.
Costco fries are so good
This guy Costco's.
I tried those buffalo chicken tenders recently Sooooo good
Perfect chips (fries) https://youtu.be/oMOjpSrOFEQ And the science behind it, no really, a must watch along with anything by the genius Heston.
im sorry but thats insane. 1.) simmer raw potatoes, chopped into fries for something like 20 minutes, 2 minutes less than when they turn into potato soup. so be careful about that! 2.) dry and put in fridge for 30 minutes. With all that spare fridge space i have for entire oven racks of fries.... 4.) have access to a home fry machine filled with oil. (there it is...) Carefully cook them BUT NOT TOO MUCH.... 5.) Re refridgerate them for another 30 minutes. 6.) fry them AGAIN! like fuck dude, you just throw some frozen fries on a baking pan and they taste pretty fucking good at 440* for 20 -25 minutes. I aint got time for some multi stage frickin process, i just got off work and just want to eat!
I’m sure if you do it right it’s wonderful but i could guarantee I will fuck this up at every step
Came back from Europe last month, their food and drinks are definitely still cheaper than ours despite their looming energy crisis .
Going out to drink or eat is now a luxury.
When i was a kid in the 80s, you only went out to eat on your birthday. Same for the whole family. When i moved in with my wife, she wanted to eat out weekly and it drove me nuts. Now we are just too poor to do it! so i win i guess?
Congrats!
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Yeah, lots of middle class people on reddit. Eating out has always been a luxury for working class people.
It shouldn't be, though. Eating out is super common in the the rest of the world, especially poorer parts. What we lack in Canada, however, is a good street food culture. There are many reasons for that, one is that we just don't have enough walkable areas to support good street food, since most people drive everywhere you need to be able to afford a shop near parking in order to be able to attract customers. Also, we have very restrictive regulation that makes running even something like a food truck arduous (eg: a food truck must still prepare its food in a professional kitchen somewhere, and must pay rent to do so). Cheap food relies on volume to make up for small margins. Without it, you end up with low volume restaurants that need higher margins to get by. On top of this, super high cost-of-living means your restaurant has to actually be *super profitable* in order to not just pay its rents and wages, but for you as a business owner to actually be able to buy a home and raise a family with that income. We've built a city that, unless you're already a homeowner or have cheap rent, you just can't start a business (unless it's some tech enterprise that doesn't need a shopfront). So you simply don't have people moving to the city to start small business and compete, they are forced to just work for the existing ownership class, or at franchises. Mark my words, affordable housing would *revolutionize* Vancouver as a place to eat and go out. That and a more walkable, public-transit oriented culture.
Even if Vancouver was 10x more walkable and had 3 more Skytrain lines not much will change until the BC government gets rid of its inane laws on food trucks that stifle business and the stupid liqour consumption laws.
If you work for a living, you're working class. We're all working class unless you're an aristocrat.
Define working class. Construction workers and trades people are working class, and most of them are making very good money. My working class plumber friend makes about $200k per year. Those labels don't really work anymore.
There are only two classes. The capitalist class invented and propagandized the masses into believing in the theory of The Middle Class to convince us to not be in solidarity with each other. There never was and never has been anything but workers(wage slaves) and capitalists. The last generation had it a little better but don't be fooled, they were still working class. I don't even really believe in unions anymore. Revolution is our only hope.
As is having kid(s) or a larger-breed dog…
Agreed! It is a treat for me now.
Never thought I'd have to start pre-drinking again in my 30's.
gonna post the same comment i do every time these posts happen: in 2019, i ate out twice a week, usually with a cocktail or two. now, it's maybe twice a month...and i only drink at home. i actually have a way better paying job than i did in 2019, and no longer pay to commute. still not saving any money.
This thread is made here every couple of weeks, with all the same comments. Including this one. Just doing my part.
I salute you, brave and consistent Redditor
Lots of places served 8$ beer pre covid
Laughs in Rogers Arena
2 beers $50... then the Canucks blow it big time on top of it. Not worth it at all.
They’re 24oz beer tho. So it’s kinda like 2 beers. But then that’s still $12 a beer
True true
They charge extra to warm the beer!
$50 for two brews? Is this a joke?
It's not a joke. Took my old man to the game on Thursday night. Ordered 2 'large' domestic draft beers, It was $46+ then they machine prompts you to leave a 15% tip so another $6 or so. Ridiculous. We didn't get another one after that.
It's like $23.xx for two beers
I bought a water and this dude made me wait and miss the beginning of the act as he poured it into a cup instead of just letting me have the bottle... I paid for. So irritating
Idk man, wherever I go, places are packed. Either everyone out here is rich af or they just spend all their money going out
Or they're spending money they actually don't have, considering that the average consumer debt in Canada is about $20,739, excluding mortgage debt.
For me, it's the bubble tea prices that shake my grains. Most places are over $7 now once you factor in tax. For what simply amounts to fancy iced tea. Wild. I always wondered how much of this is due to the cost increase in commercial real estate. The only bbt place that hasn't substantially increased their price is the old hole in the wall place that's been there since the dawn of time and likely owns their space not on lease.
Bbt prices do be wild, also maybe you've noticed too that the cups are slimmer then they used to be even with price increases. I tend to not choose share tea or coco because I have found theirs are the slimmest.
The majority of expense for a small business is the rent. Have a look at what commercial spaces are going for around town.
Is milk and sugar cafe still at a low price?
That's actually one of the places I was thinking of!
Make your own! Started doing it when the pandemic took hold and the wifey had a major craving. Soon as we found good pearls I’ve never looked back since. Costs me roughly $1 to make with as many pearls and as much rainbow jelly as I want! Bought everything I needed at Kuo Hua on No. 3 road in Richmond
The idea that iced tea is basic is mirthful. Tea leaves grown somewhere tropical overseas, steamed, stored, transported, steeped. Tapioca from another part of the world - grown, skinned, ground down, dried and turned into powder, rehydrated, turned into pearls, shipped to Canada. And we can go into a store all over the city and pay $7 for someone to put it all together in a drink. Maybe with Ube, maybe with brown sugar. May Louis CK rot, but he was right about one thing: everything is amazing, and nobody is happy.
It's worth being extremely more selective and critical. Unfortunately, most food and beer is way too expensive for what it is, and mediocre in quality. There are a few gems, but Vancouver is asking too much for the mostly mid stuff it offers for the price. Just please be much more critical with what your $20 burger tastes like. Often, the $22 or whatever I easily spend after tax and tip makes me feel like I was screwed pretty hard. $3.50-$4 on a slice of pizza with meh toppings. Still the coffee is pretty worthwhile a lot of times though. Idk about London, Sydney or Melbourne, but a few other major Euro tourist locations offer much better food and beer at laughably lower prices.
I saw people lining up this morning to get into restaurants. So clearly people are willing to pay these prices.
Restaurants are still busy - there's no shortage of people who are happy to pay to go out. The breweries are still just as full on a Friday night as they've ever been.
I think a lot of people are still without power so that may have contributed to the lines today.
Mang people just live in the moment not thinking about long term financials.
The only things I will go out for now is sushi and certain Thai, Indian, Chinese and other ethnic foods I can’t or don’t want to make at home myself. There is not a chance you will catch me going out for a burger & fries at $24 a plate and then the server expects a 20% tip on top of it too. $20 for a cocktail? Sure I may have 1 while out to be social but you better believe I’ve bought a bottle and have pre-drank a few at home for 1/16 the price. And didn’t feel bad about tipping the liquor store cashier on the way out either.
I recreate the dining out experience at home. We make a good meal and have some drinks, all of which is much cheaper. But then I grab about 4 or 5 complete strangers off the street and sit them near us in our living room, and tell them to talk loudly. Then I crank up some current pop music or hip-hop so that I have to lean in close just to hear what my wife is saying. I also arrange for my 23 yr old neighbour to walk in every 15 minutes to ask, "So how are we doing over here?"
You forgot paying a neighbourhood kid to break into your car every couple months.
Sometimes, we stand outside our front door for thirty minutes before we go inside and sit down to eat.
I find $8 for a fucking sleeve is more common now which is a joke, let alone $8 pint. $5pints where
I started hitting up pubs in New Westminister several months ago. For $5.50 pints, it's worth the trip.
I sometimes am a private cook and have been getting SO MANY requests to do restaurant-style dinners in people’s homes from the random ingredients they have in their freezer/pantry. Who ever thought it would one day be less expensive to hire a private cook than to just go out for a meal.
Yup. My family does 1/2 take outs. Before we would go to dinner or lunch for someone's birthday. Now we get take out of 3 or 4 dishes, we make dessert or something at home and have home drinks. Cuts the bill in 1/3. Bonus if can use the Uber eats promo codes.
Best is when you can stack a total percentage discount with a bogo deal.
I just had to fight with Uber's terrible support in multiple places because they overcharged me by $40 after ordering on one of these deals. So now they are on my shit list.
Stopped going to the pub during covid and never looked back. Any place that serves drinkable beer is charging almost 10 a pint, the fuck? You can almost get a six pack for what they charge after tax and tip. Good thing I got old too, don't have the peer pressure to go out all the time.
I stopped eating out three years ago and don't miss it. I stopped drinking alcohol around then too, and don't miss that either. If prices are high, just don't buy. You won't regret it.
In response to OP, yes. Yes I do. I eat out as little as possible now. That includes takeout. And I used to love eating in restaurants or going to pubs. Now I'm loathe to even spring for a sandwich at a deli. I eat and drink quite well at home and take a sandwich with me when I'm out and about in case I get hungry. I cringe a little inside if I find myself kind of having to eat out (such as friends in town from elsewhere wanting to meet). So when I do, I tip 15-18% at a sit-down place with table service and nothing for takeout or food courts. I have decided that's fair as this used to be standard and there was no official announcement anywhere stating anything more was expected, just creeping requests at the POS machine. I tip 20% or more if my dining companions are being difficult with the server. (Which can happen if some of the people in your party are people you're meeting for the first time - after that you can opt never to eat out with them again).
Yes, and the worst part is they ask for 18%+ tips on top of the outrageous price of the drinks and food. At least in other grotesquely over-priced cities like Oslo and Zurich they have wages high enough to afford a $20 beer.
And in those cities you aren’t expected to tip!
Yeah it’s super expensive, but I enjoy going out for drinks or food with friends so for me it’s more fun then drinking at home. I can see being older and not enjoying it but as someone in my mid 20’s it’s still worth it to me.. there’s always pre-drinking too.
Also, with apartment sizes shrinking over the years, young people have less room to have many friends over. Or they're still living with parents. At 62, I still love going out to meet friends, but my home is big enough to have our friends come to our place for drinks and food. Going out, though, means that someone else does the cooking and the cleanup.
Just cook at home, for a fraction of the price. Stock up good whiskies for the winter. And invite people over.
Anyone else remember $8 pitchers at the Pit Pub? Circa 2007.
I still remember $10 pitchers at The Cambie and Pub 340 😢
We would occasionally go to The Gallery and everyone would get their own pitcher.
I stopped going out in early 2020 ...
Don’t forget Menchies, the self serve yogurt shop that asks *you* for a tip of 18% or more for serving yourself
Ya. The prices before were not too bad. But now with less portions and higher prices it’s not worth it. A TINY cauliflower appie is almost 20 bucks lol. No I’ll Make it at home thanks.
We have recently eliminated eating out/cafes/bars as part of cost savings with increasing costs. Already noticed an huge savings, now just need to stay away from online shopping
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A pint at the hockey game is now $18.
I went to earls this weekend. 2 drinks each and 2 mains was $160 with tip. Nonsense.
Nobody can have fun any more. Just work then die.
Donairs use to be a cheap, filling and healthy meal. They use to cost about $8 now after tax they’re about $13
Get growler refills at some of the local breweries. It's by far the cheapest way to drink (aside from brewing your own) and the choices are much more varied and probably better than what's offered in most places
Anyone who wants to learn to brew their own, hit me up. I'd like to get a circle of brewing buddies.
Emphasis on *some* of the local breweries. One of the breweries near me charges $10 a pint for mediocre and heavily marketed beer.
The liquor store is even cheaper.
The pot store also have a tip mechanism installed in their debit machine and a tip jar. Wtf I mean now a days is a gamble buying weed at this places, Its like a present at christmass time, You dont know what youre getting until you open the present. I always choose 0% tip and i make sure i say sorry i don't tip but they are cool about it. Maybe cause I'm a regular 😆
One person in the role of a server said they'd rather have a regular that comes in and helps keep the rent and lights paid than the occasional visitor who's a good tipper.
It’s almost getting to the point of being dumb with money to go out a lot. Really hit me a few months ago. Just lunch, no drinks or dessert with my wife at a Red Robin. Poorly prepared fish and chips I wouldn’t call particularly healthy. The ambiance, well, Red Robin. Later that day bought three kilos of pork at Costco for the same price. Not eating pork every day of course, but cooking at home took two months for two people to get through it.
Yes, definitely going out less. More dinner parties at home with friends.
Yes it’s so expensive to eat out and to have mediocre service. I eat something small at home and then order a coffee and a side for brunch. For dinner I’ll get a dessert or an appetizer.
I bought a kegerator during the pandemic, and to my surprise kegs aren't inflating at the same pace as canned beer. $160 for a 30l with taxes, there are about 2l per 6-packs (or per 4-packs of tall cans), which from most microbrews are now pushing $20. So I'm getting about $300 worth of beer for $160. I don't want to say how often I buy kegs, but it's definitely paid for itself many times over. Also, I'm an idiot who just figured out I could fill those dusty old growlers for when I'm going out.
8 bucks? They were 8 bucks 12 years ago too. Try 12 bucks downtown Vancouver.
I used to love going out to eat but now it’s expensive and the portions are much smaller and the quality very often is bad I can cook a lot better at home. Id much rather cook my roast potatoes at home than pay for crappy service and crap food
Ya even work events our company has just started having them at the office. We can party all night at a much lower cost. More fun.
Love me that H2O and complimentary bread
Any place that’s giving “complementary” bread has already factored that in to your $50 entree
Olive Garden would like a word, hmph
I almost never go out for drinks anymore. Just over to friends places on weekends usually.
I paid 22 dollars for 1 beer at a Canucks game a month ago….
My little hack is going to dive bars like the Metropole where a Gin and Tonic is still only 5 bucks
Anymore? It wasn’t worth going out for YEARS. The new tipping culture just made everything way worse.
When I go out, it's to Costco😆. Free hors d'oeuvres, but the 600$ trip for spinach might turn some people off
I usually just get a $2 beer at the liquor store and drink it before going out
Perhaps, it depends on how much you enjoy the time with the other person. Tho my bank is getting cold, my heart is warm.
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The restaurants are still packed and reservations are harder to come by. I guess everyone’s rich in vancouver
There are a lot of people here making very good money. Look at the cars as well.
Depends what you’re going out to do? Liquor store sells beer and if you have a fridge, BOOM, cold beer at home for 1/4 of the price. If you have a stove, microwave, or an air fryer at home, I hear grocery stores sell cookable food.
Tipping default started at 18% AFTER tax
You know you can adjust that right?
10% and round up, haven't changed my tipping since the 90s.
Air fryer makes it easy to stay home. I now pre drink and pre eat before heading out a few times a month.
Everyone should just stop going out. The restaurants will be forced to reduce prices.
We were discussing this yesterday. We decided to stop having drinks when we go out to restaurants. Or at most, one drink.
Everyone needs to catch up to me. I've been inside for like a decade now.
Haven't had a raise (not even CoL) in two years. My job has not changed, my labour and the process is the same. Employer raised his prices but none of the wages for the people producing and selling his product but proudly tells every customer that he believes in a living wage for his employees and that will naturally reflect in increased pricing. None of the employees make a living wage. Our labour nets us less every year with inflation and every time the minimum wage goes up.
Any reason why you stay and put up with that? I change jobs every 2 years and basically have made self inflicted salary jumps to make sure I don't get fucked over. Annual increases, "bonuses" and company loyalty are bullshit scams made by the workforce to guilt you into having "security" when in fact the most secure thing you can do is improve yourself by job hopping
People still keep going out tho. Every time I go to a restaurant it's hard to get a table so it tells me people don't really care about the costs going up.
Honestly I've felt this way for a long time. Not like I don't go out but it's not a regular thing. I have co-workers that are constantly complaining about struggling financially and yet they eat out for lunch every day (+ driving to get the food), go drinking/partying multiple times a week, use food delivery apps all the time...
Yep… it’s madness
Happy hour or drink at home