Was This Move At a Maine Restaurant Bad Waiter Etiquette?

Maine Restaurants

The great thing about living in Maine is that there is definitely no shortage of amazing places to eat, no matter the time of year.

Obviously, we dominate summer with tons of amazing seafood restaurants to chow down at, both along the waterfront and coastal areas, as well as spots that are more inland. But we're more than just good seafood in Maine.

We have amazing spots for burgers, pizza, vegetarian, vegan, Italian, Mexican, sushi -- there's not enough room in this article to include the countless amazing spots with killer cuisine of all varieties that Maine has to offer.

And that includes breakfast places.

Best Maine Breakfast Spots

Here's the thing -- there are endless restaurants that serve a killer breakfast or mindblowing brunch, but none of them will be listed. Because this article isn't highlighting said endless restaurants (but a future one may). Instead, this article focuses on what a waiter did that could be seen as bad etiquette.

And before I get into it, let me just make this perfectly clear -- at no time whatsoever was this waiter rude, off-putting, or even not providing anything but great service. He was fantastic from start to finish. But it was a move at the end of the meal that was interesting.

After finishing breakfast with a friend and paying the bill -- a process done on an iPad at this particular restaurant -- the waiter had entered all of my credit card information in the iPad, bringing payment to the final step that I've encountered at countless businesses, whether a restaurant, barbershop, or something somewhere in between.

It was time to input the tip. But in past experiences where the iPad (or whatever device the business chooses to use) is usually on a rotating stand that flips the face of the device to the customer to make a selection, this waiter was freehand holding the iPad the entire time.

And when it was time for me to input the tip, he simply put the iPad down. There was no stand, there was no handoff, he just placed it down, face up, keeping it in plain view for him to see my selection.

Now, make no mistake, not one part of me thinks this was actually an intentional move so he could put the silent pressure on me to tip high or higher than normal since he positioned the iPad in clear view of his eyes as well as mine.

It just struck me as interesting since it's the first time I had ever encountered something like that. Normally, there is an iPad handoff or even if it's a paper tab you're handwriting a tip into and signing, a waiter or bartender isn't usually eyeballing you to see what number you're writing in the tip space.

Again, I have not one negative word or thought to say about this waiter and especially not this restaurant -- the food was delicious, the service was super friendly -- it's just one of those hypothetical questions you toss out into the universe every now and then out of pure curiosity, not a smear campaign.

Although the restaurant or even the town/city in Maine where it's located wasn't mentioned, I can't recommend it enough. I say it all the time -- local/Mom & Pop anything beats generic chain businesses 11 times out of 10, and it wasn't a shock at all to see this business fully packed for the entire duration I was there.