For the uninitiated, Luby’s is a cafeteria style restaurant in the southern United States. Basically the drill is: you grab your tray, pass up the salads because they’re nasty, slide down to the entree window and see what looks edible, slide down to the sides and pick 2 that look the freshest, grab a roll, drink, piece of pie if you’re so inclined, then find your own table.
Its all very no-frills. The best part is you get to eat right away if you’re hungry and you’re in and out in much less time than a regular restaurant. Plus, they have a better selection of vegetables than most places, since elsewhere you’re pretty much stuck with the “side of the day”.
Then something bad happened…
It started slowly, by introducing a waitstaff who would walk around and basically offer you whatever you forgot to get yourself when you went through the line the first time. This was entirely useless and management probably found that out fairly quickly by looking at their tips. (non-existent) Would you leave a tip for someone who didn’t take your order, didn’t bring you your food, didn’t fill your drinks, didn’t even set your table? I didn’t think so.
So, to add value to this waitstaff, management removed items that you used to conveniently acquire yourself. Items such as a sharp knife for steak, butter for the rolls, cream for the coffee, take out containers for the leftovers, and so on. Its to the point now that when you sit down with your meal you need to flag this person over to gather all these necessities before you can commence with the consumption.
Therein lies the rub…
Now you feel obligated to tip this person, for something you would have happily done for yourself. That’s the whole point of a cafeteria. To pour salt onto the wound, consider that the price of the meal went through the roof. It happened almost immediately, since we would eat there almost weekly. We’re talking 30% here. What place can raise their prices 30% and expect people to come back? A meal there (adults and kids) would come to $22, provided I bought a coke. The same meal now costs $31, plus tip.
Not that $31 is a lot, but I could go down the street and get a made to order steak for the whole family for that.
Sorry, Luby’s, you are officially off my menu!