Is Soapy Smith’s Spectre Still Swindling in Skagway?
September 14, 2008 at 11:25 am (Food, Livin' North of 60°, Photographs)
Tags: alaska, Carcross, Photographs, skagway, yukon
The drive to Skagway is quite spectacular to say the least. It’s easy to bring visiting family and friends for a pleasant day trip, as it only takes two hours to drive there. Yesterday was a perfect autumn day for it, and only one cruiseship was docked, which meant no fighting for sidewalk space.
One of the popular landmarks in Skagway is the Red Onion Saloon, a bordello turned eatery. The place has much flavour of the goldrush days: ladies are dressed in corsets and wear bright red lipstick.
Since I was bringing a visitor for the touristy stuff Skagway has to offer, and trust me, there is much of that, I decided to take her for lunch at the famed red velvet curtained establishment. I wouldn’t say the food and service is outstanding, but it is good, and the prices are very reasonable.
However, when I received my bill at the end of the meal, this is what I got:
I couldn’t believe my eyes, and I was downright insulted. Not only did she write down a tip without even implying that it was just a suggestion, but she was trying for about 20% in tips. This was insulting not because of the level of service or the quality of food, but because of her presumption.
We called her over to the table and first asked if we were expected to pay the $39.00 or if it was just a suggested tip. She said it was a suggestion.
I then mentioned to her that I am from Whitehorse (most of their business is from cruiseship passengers) and have been at the Red Onion on a number of occasions, and I have never ever seen a server do this. Was this something new? She replied that “we get people here from all around the world, and sometimes people don’t know how to tip, so this is just to help them.” She’s helping herself more than anything else in my opinion.
We reassured her that the food and the service were very good, but that the norm for tipping is 15%, not 20%, and that we felt that she was being very forward by indicating a 20% tip on the tab for herself.
In the end, I did leave her a good tip (a little more than 15% but not the requested amount). She eventually came by the table to collect payment and apologized, which I was pleased about, but I have to wonder if “Madam Jan” doesn’t have something going with ‘ol Soapy Smith, the most famed con artist in Skagway’s history. Maybe his ghost resides in the old Red Onion Saloon.
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To leave you with a more pleasant impression of our drive, here are a few photos taken in and around Carcross, Yukon, the halfway point:
Baino said,
September 14, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Oh Carole those are stunning photographs. My you have such great material to work with. We generally don’t tip unless the service is exceptional. Wait staff are paid a reasonable award but the limit is definitely 10% . . very cheeky to try to rip off the tourists! She’d have trouble eeking that out of an Australian wallet let me tell you!
Meandering Michael said,
September 14, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Man, I would have been so insulted by the push up to 20%, I might not have tipped at all. In spite of her reason, to push for 20% comes across as just plain dishonest.
On the bright side, those pictures of the lake are incredible!
Tammy said,
September 14, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Gorgeous shots of Carcross! I admit, I miss the view out there. Not enough to move back, mind you….
That waitress has nerve! I’m with Michael. I wouldn’t have tipped at all. Too rude!
Carole said,
September 14, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Thanks for all your comments on my photos. It’s really, really hard to miss a shot around here.
As for the Red Onion, I wonder if it’s just her or if all the servers do that. I’m betting she thought we were off the cruise ship because we took a few photos together. Regardless, it was tasteless.
Murray said,
September 16, 2008 at 10:39 am
I’m with Michael – she would have gotten no tip from me. Of all the nerve!
Moon said,
September 22, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Wow, some wonderful photos !!!!!!
and as for the Tip thing, grrrrr, so so mad with that attitude !, you get a tip ‘if’ you are giving a great service, NOT because it’s accepted !
Don't Bug Me! said,
October 1, 2008 at 3:31 pm
While I will agree that she was out of order with expecting 20%, I will sympathise with her where some tourists are concerned. I am English, and in England either the tip is included in the bill (10% service charge) or you only tip the 10% if the service is excellent. I have now lived in Canada for nearly 15 years and I finally got used to the fact that tipping is customary unless the service is exceptionally bad and the tip runs from 10-20% of the bill, pre-taxes. The English, and I suspect many other nationalities that do not normally tip, probably would not know this. Having said all that, I would have been insulted and reduced her tip to 10% – her little scheme can obviously mis-fire if directed at the wrong customer!
Beautiful photos – I will make it further north, one day………..
Indigo said,
October 24, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Stunning photos.
The tipping discussion: spent some time in New Zealand last fall and have been both there and to Oz several times where they actually pay their wait staff a decent wage to begin with . In NZ it was $14/hr in October 2007 and you were NOT expected to tip. Makes sense to me. When my partner did leave tips as he always does (I rarely do) the wait staff would usually come after us because we left something on the table!
My most memorable tipping experience was in High Level (that ghastly northern Alberta town) where we were directed to the Boston Pizza by many local and well meaning folks as the best place in town to eat a decent meal. My partner ordered a steak. He likes them medium rare. It was over cooked and extremely tough. So tough he could not eat it. When he told the waitress (a twenty something transplanted easterner) she put her hand on his shoulder, leaned in and said” eat it, it’s good for your teeth.” She was serious. We howled. Then we ordered drinks. Then we howled some more. Then we had another drink. Then we left her a generous tip after explaining to her the one penny part of tipping. The entertainment value of that comment was woth every bit of 20%.
LUCKY BUCKY said,
December 5, 2008 at 11:51 am
do honestly beleive there is soapy smiths spector in there.wow……youo pretty much ……i’m not gonna say it.
LUCKY BUCKY said,
December 5, 2008 at 11:53 am
i meant to say you.but that was kinda stupid.”ahhhh the waitress told us what to tip that must mean there’s a ghost here.” Think a little.
Jeff Smith said,
December 26, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Soapy Smith would have bet you double or nothing…
Jeff Smith
great grandson of Soapy
http://www.soapysmith.net
http://soapysmiths.blogspot.com/
Trina said,
July 31, 2009 at 2:52 am
Oh my gosh that is unbelievably beautiful. (the pictures, not the tip thing, lol)