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Sear, you might ask a manager if that buffet pays their staff in expectation that they will receive tips. Some don't, in which case little tip is necessary.

By the way, in describing our tipping practices I am not promoting them as a model for anyone else, nor will I defend them against anyone who might make that assumption. Oh, and we don't have children, but if we did and we ate steak so would they if they wanted it.

Actually, for the first couple of decades of our marriage, a five dollar tip was a great tip in ANY of the places we would have gone. Only in recent years have I ever paid more than twenty dollars total (usually INCLUDING THE TIP) for the two of us - and that twenty dollar meal was what we thought of as really living it up.

That may come around again, but right now we can afford to eat at a better place if we want to do so, and when we do, we intend to tip well. Not only because we have it and can do it, but because we know what it's like to look at four dollars in a wallet on Wednesday and wonder. We're not rich and we can't make anyone else rich, but we can give someone a few more dollars to look at in their wallet. And if someone thinks that's showing off, so be it. I'll bet they still spend the money.

Back in those days when five dollars was a good tip, we ate out on a special occasion - it may have just been that we had our tax return (special occasions tended to wait for money to come in). The young man who was our server initially was enthusiastic and pleasant - he was doing a great job. He was sent on break, and the young lady who took over for him was equally good. As it happens, she also checked us out and he was just coming back off break when we left. We told them that they should split the tip. She started to say that she would just give it all to him, and we stopped her to say that we had left enough for both. As we were getting in our car, we looked back toward the restaurant, and the two of them were running excitedly back to a couple of the other servers waving the money over their heads. We'd left a five dollar bill for each.

These days, it'd probably take a lot more to get that kind of reaction, but that's not the fault of the servers.

Sear is correct, by the way, about the labor and other costs that go into a meal. Chances are, the cost of the ingredients isn't even 20 percent of the final cost of the dish. I used to do cost analysis for an office furniture manufacturer, and if the material costs associated with a normal production item ran more than 20 percent everyone was looking for ways to get the material cheaper, reduce wastage, etc. Labor and labor-related costs ate up much of the remaining percentage of the selling price and facilities costs took most of the rest. Ten percent profit was great, and if some unit(s) made 15% or more profit, then we felt like we were really raking it in. Of course, those units were soon targeted for price reductions by our corporate office. Somehow, they were never quite as quick to raise the prices of the units that lost money for us. We had an entire series that was a money-loser. Corporate set the target prices and insisted we produce the product, but as our manager at the time said, we'd have been better off writing them a check for the price of the units and telling them to go buy it elsewhere.

While there may be some places that really are making 40-50 percent profits, that's nearly always nothing more than a consumer fantasy. I'm afraid that point may be driven home in the current economy with a round of business closings as gas prices drive up all other costs.

I'm pretty sure that the answer about the salads is "no", and if they were reported and/or an inspector caught them doing it, there'd be trouble. I might not go so far as to report them, but I would never order another salad there. That's NOT a correct way to reduce waste, for health reasons if nothing else.

I think you've given me a reason to be very careful if I ever eat at an Olive Garden...!