posted
I'm riding 49 on Wednesday, can't wait for the New York Strip Steak! I really like this idea of having 3 separate menus as it adds so much variety to the food offerings on all trains, this was definitely a step in the right direction for Amtrak! That Chocolate Bombe sounds absolutely delicious!!!
Posts: 113 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Sep 2002
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Menu 3 for Trains 3, 5, 8, 14, 21, 28 (SPK-CHI), 421 (CHI-SAS).
It's sort of like a pitching rotation. Passengers on round trips, or connecting routes, will have different selections.
The Chocolate Bombe sounds like the bomb!
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The menu just makes me wanna ride the train again. Last year the variety sucked. But the food itself was very good. It's still kinda pricey but the quality is there. Next time I'll have to bring alot of dough for the diner, I want to try some of those new dishes!
[This message has been edited by coach34135 (edited 04-22-2003).]
posted
I wish they had that variety last year! The steak varieties sound yummy! So does the salad. And cheesecake....and pancakes....im hungry
Posts: 139 | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Geoffm: Don't know if Amtrak chefs use it, but try some roasted garlic in the mashed potatoes.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
This means that if you pay for your meal and the waiter or steward does not give you a receipt to you. Then your meal is free.
Posts: 27 | From: Cleveland | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
It's a way to ensure that monetary transactions (particularly cash and credit card) are properly executed and accounted for.
As many restaurants have discovered, an unscrupulous employee who knows how to work the system can make money mysteriously disappear. If a server accepts payment for a meal, but doesn't issue a receipt, there's no record that the meal was ever served.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 04-23-2003).]
posted
I don't think so, the "receipt" is the bottom of the form on which the waiter takes the order, sleeping car passengers sign, and from which the LSA writes the total tab for the coach passenger. It is the top part of the form which is the basis of the accounting process. My last trip was the first where I was given a receipt.
Posts: 181 | From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Unless they've changed the format recently, those forms are extremely casual (just glorified scribble pads, really) and far from high tech.
If the passenger isn't given a receipt, the entire form remains with the crew member. If the crew member later "loses" the form, neither Amtrak nor the passenger has any documentation that the meal was ever served, let alone that any money was handed over to pay for it.
If Amtrak is instructing passengers that they're supposed to get a receipt -- even for simple cash transactions -- it suggests that there've been problems with some of the more "creative" crew members on certain routes.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 04-23-2003).]
posted
"If you paid by cash, credit card, or traveler’s check and did not receive a receipt, your meal is complimentary."
"If you paid" (past tense), and did not get a receipt "your meal is complimentary." How can a meal be complimentary if you just paid for it? Are they supposed to give you your money back if they fail to give you a receipt? If you are a sleeping car passenger you don't pay for complimentary meals at all.
An unscrupulous server who pockets the money isn't going to give a complimentary meal after stealing.
This just doesn't make any sense.
Dilly, I believe the forms are sequentially numbered, so if a server "loses" one it should be noticed in the day's accounting.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
posted
That's strange - I've seen it a lot over in the US but never in the UK. Perhaps because it's not in the UK, I notice it more than locals? In any case, the wording (just like the others I've seen) suggest that the money would be given back. Unfortunately I've never been given a reason to try!
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Re: "I believe the forms are sequentially numbered, so if a server "loses" one it should be noticed in the day's accounting."
I'm not 100% certain the forms are numbered, Mr. Toy -- although you may be right. But even if a "lost" form has a number, the person tallying up the day's business still won't have any way of knowing what the passenger ordered ("The New York Strip Steak? Just a bowl of soup?) and how much money changed hands.
After all, many diner crew members have an uncanny ability to rapidly calculate a passenger's total check, right on the spot and completely in their head, without even glancing at the order form or asking the passenger what he or she just finished eating.
I've seen families of four look completely bewildered by this practice. They never see an itemized bill, and never question whether the total tab they've been quoted is correct. They simply pay up without a peep.
I'm sure most Amtrak crew members who do this are accurate and honorable. But the practice also gives unscrupulous employees broad leeway to overcharge -- and pocket the difference later.
If you're not traveling by sleeper (and enjoying those "complimentary" meals), always ask for a receipt. Be certain that what you're paying for is what you actually consumed.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 04-23-2003).]
posted
Dilly, I have never had any servers take an order without writing it down. But on some trains they may do things differently (and incorrectly). However, I don't recall ever getting a receipt on a train as I have in a restaurant. That would be nice.
I kmow first hand that opportunities for employee theft abound, and they can be creative. I saw all sorts of schemes years ago when I managed movie theaters.
That's why every business, including Amtrak, must have established procedures and policies to discourage theft of this sort. One way to combat this is for cooks not to accept any orders not written on a numbered form. Dining car stewards should also be held accountable for any losses on their watch (just as theater managers in most companies must absorb any losses from their concession commissions, as I had to do) to keep them alert to theft. If Amtrak isn't doing these things money could easily be flying out the window.
But none of this explains the bizarre wording on the menu. If they are supposed to give you a receipt but don't, the remedy is to give a receipt, not a refund. ------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
quote:Originally posted by dilly: Re: "I believe the forms are sequentially numbered, so if a server "loses" one it should be noticed in the day's accounting."
I'm not 100% certain the forms are numbered, Mr. Toy -- although you may be right. But even if a "lost" form has a number, the person tallying up the day's business still won't have any way of knowing what the passenger ordered ("The New York Strip Steak? Just a bowl of soup?) and how much money changed hands.
Mr. Toy is correct, the forms ARE sequentially numbered and this is the form on which the waiter takes the order. Everything the passenger orders must be shown on the form. After the order is taken, it is sent to the kitchen, and returns with the completed order.
posted
I suppose then the problem would be for correcting orders, ie when an order comes from the kitchen that is wrong, a request is sent back to the kitchen for an extra bowl of something to fix a wrong meal - without any slips of paper. Seems to happen a lot with Amtrak for some reason.
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Re: "I have never had any servers take an order without writing it down."
I think you've misunderstood, Mr. Toy. I didn't mean that servers don't write down meal orders -- although I've traveled on trains, particularly the Lake Shore Limited, where the servers seemed to prefer writing everything down in their heads.
My point concerns the moment when that aforementioned family-of-four decides it's time to pay for their meal. Many head stewards come wandering down the aisle, pause beside the table, roll their eyes toward the ceiling in zen-like contemplation, and then announce without hesitation, "Thirty-seven dollars" (or whatever).
It's anybody's guess how the steward arrived at this total. He didn't take the original order. Often, he doesn't even glance at the family's multiple order forms, which have already disappeared under a pile of soggy salad dressing pouches. Nor does he quiz the family about what each of them had for dinner.
It's simply "Thirty-seven dollars."
Now, maybe some of these guys are clairvoyant. But I've always suspected that some are simply pulling a random -- and inflated -- dollar figure out of thin air.
Was the family's bill thirty-seven bucks? Or was it really twenty-nine?
Who knows? Nonetheless, I've never seen a passenger question one of these verbal totals.
With such a casual system, a "creative" employee or group of employees can make out like bandits -- charging thirty-seven bucks for a twenty-nine dollar meal, and pocketing the difference.
So I suspect the "free meal" notice on the menu isn't really targeted toward the passengers.
It's a not-so-subtle way to put the staff on notice to toe the line, provide accurate receipts, keep the cash transactions above board, and think twice before getting "creative."
After all, if you make a habit out of "forgetting" to provide receipts -- and enough passengers begin to call you on it -- you'll eventually have to explain why so many people are eating for free.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 04-26-2003).]
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