Decadence in Perspective

We ate at Pere Antoine's in the Quarter last night. On the blackboard in the foyer was written, "Decadence: before Katrina 37 staff, today 11 (crossed out) 10."

During our recent trip to New Orleans the strain on staff at various establishments (bars, restaurant, shops) was clear. The level of service in the city was not what it used to be. This raises some ethical dilemmas as a consumer in the city. How should we tip sloppy service? Should we be understanding and ignore the gaffs and surly service recognising that these people need our help? Or, should we hold them to the standards that we expect?

Having given this some thought, I think we need to follow the latter path. There is a shortage of staff, but also a shortage of consumers. It's not like our wait staff is really stretched so thin that quality of service needs to be abandoned to merely reach a basic standard. If the proportion of consumers has risen relative to wait staff, the wait staff are making good money, and don't need excessive tips for shoddy services.

One of the charms of New Orleans is the friendly quality service. Unless we hold the pioneers who are leading the fight back to the standards that we expect, we will be creating a culture that is foreign to what we want New Orleans to be. So reward good service, and stiff on bad service.