A little help please

[StoneTheCrow]

I need the help of someone that has worked in a restaraunt indusrty before or just has a knowledge of such. What would be the proper name of the small plastic thing that restaraunts bring your check to your table in. I didn't want to look foolish so I swallowed my pride and asked

 

[MathGirl]

Dear S the C,
My first question would be, "Who gives a damn?" You said you swallowed your pride and asked. That either means you asked at the restaurant (ergo, already know the answer) or you are now in the act of swallowing the aforementioned pride and making inquiries of us at the AH in the sincere hope that your question will be answered.

Perhaps I should qualify the above. If you asked at the restaurant, you either (a) got the correct answer, (b) got the incorrect answer, (c) got apartially correct answer, or (d) the person whom you queried did not know and lied. If (d) is the case, we must accept the possibility that (a) the lie was a false answer, or (b) the liar didn't know but just happened to get it right.

In most places where I dine, the check (or bill if you prefer) is merely smacked down on the table, sans holder, container, or any other superfluous adornment. More upscale establishments utilized the time honored black tray with the American Express logo in hopes that the diner will pay with the AE Gold Card (Platinum optional, the green one being only for stoop laborers). Others use a plastic sort of wallet thingie to contain and obfuscate said check (or bill). I believe that's commonly called a "cloistered dingbat."

I sincerely hope this short epistle has shed light on your quandry and that you will no longer experience insomniac episodes as a result thereof.
MG

 

[StoneTheCrow]

Well to be honest I haven't slept over this As a mater of fact, I didn't ask at the restaraunt, I was hoping to get the technical name of the "check holder" for a story I am writing. But yes the black plastic thing with the american express was what I was looking for.
"Thank you for your support" -( The old, fat man from the Bartles & Jaymes commercials in the 80's)

 

[Quasimodem]

When they were used for presenting bills at restaurants, or calling cards at one’s home, they were known generically as "salvers".

Usually they were made of silver, as in "silver salvers?"

What they call them now that they are made of a turd brown plastic, I don’t know.


See a dictionary:

salver >noun a tray, typically one made of silver and used in formal circumstances.
-ORIGIN French salve 'tray for presenting food to the king', from Spanish salva 'sampling of food'.

 

[champagne1982]

salivating over the savoury samples offered on the salver

Well to be honest I haven't slept over this As a mater of fact, I didn't ask at the restaraunt, I was hoping to get the technical name of the "check holder" for a story I am writing. But yes the black plastic thing with the american express was what I was looking for.
"Thank you for your support" -( The old, fat man from the Bartles & Jaymes commercials in the 80's)

Hi there Crow,

Personally, I would recommend that you avoid the hell outta the "salver" or "turd brown tray" use. Unless the implement becomes a sex aid or a murder weapon I can't see the significance. Just tell us that the waiter brought the tab to the table. We can imagine it's on a silver or plastic tray all by ourselves.

 

[MathGirl]

That's exciting, but................

Originally posted by Quasimodem When they were used for presenting bills at restaurants, or calling cards at one’s home, they were known generically as "salvers".

Dear Quaz,
That's wonderful information, but I feel you did not give the subjet the in-depth attention it deserves. Could you comment on the etymology of the word "salver?" Latin, Old German, or other origin. Also, was the salver (a) silver plate or (b) homogeneous of composition? If (b) was it the .817 fine silver so common in seventeenth century Spanish eight escudos of New World origin, sterling (.925 plus) or coin silver (.900 fine)? Could they have been made of "German silver" which is actually not silver at all, but a Cu-Ni alloy.

There are numerous other types of check-presenting lore which I would love to hear about, but your answers to the above would be a decent jumping off point.
MG
Ps. I'm afraid Champ is treating the subject of check (bill) presenting devices in entirely an excessive superfluous manner.

 

[Quasimodem]

Well, Math, just off the top of my head:

They were called salvers, because if you couldn't pony up with the cash to pay for your meal, you would have to wash dishes to pay for the meal.

At $10.00 for a meal [In the days restaurants used silver salvers] and $0.05 an hour for a dishwasher, by the time you had paid for the meal, you would have unattractive, red, dishpan hands.

You do the MathGirl

Being able to put money - silver, gold, or paper - on the tray was the salvation of your hands.

 

[StoneTheCrow]

Thank you both. I assure you that it I'm not using the item for a murder or sex aid. I was actually looking for a way to describe the item under which I placed my money for the tab.

 

[champagne1982]

Frivolously handling your bill.

Dear Quaz,
[...]
Ps. I'm afraid Champ is treating the subject of check (bill) presenting devices in entirely an excessive superfluous manner.

Actually the tray in question is not solely for bill presentation. It's also a way for the person who is handling your eating utensils to avoid handling money. There's a reason it's called filthy lucre, y'know.

I have an incredibly offensive story about cash to tell. My mother was at the emergency room one evening and was in such a frame of mind as to be forgetful of little things like her car keys, shoe tying and apparently, the location of her handbag.

She'd gone in and used the washroom and returned to her seat. She watched down the hallway as an RCMP constable stood outside the washroom she'd just vacated, waiting for a woman to finish using the facility. The mountie came out to the waiting room and sat near my mom. Then he was called to the desk and Mom didn't concern herself anymore.

Mom was called in to the little exam room and when she stood up realized that her handbag wasn't with her. She went to look in the washroom and couldn't see it at first glance. She looked with more detail and found it tucked up on a ledge beneath the sink counter. She was missing a few dollars in bills, the coins were there.

When she'd seen the doc, Mom asked the nurse for the constable's name and called the station when she got home. He told my Mom that he'd check things out. There were 2 policewomen in the building that evening since there was a woman prisoner and they asked the female if she had taken money from a purse at the hospital. They told her that she could surrender it or make them do a cavity search.

Well my Mom got the cash back in a sealed evidence bag, the mountie told her that she may want to ask the bank to condemn the money due to the place it had been secreted inside the woman. Needless to say, I'm now a little obsessive about washing my hands at the mall.

The phrases: dirty money, filthy lucre, private stash and deposit box all gained new meaning for me when she told me.

 

[MathGirl]

Dear Champ,
I take it that the female prisoner hid the money between cheek and gum or between the toes. We're not talking silver dollars, are we?
MG

 

[Guest]

EWWWWW

C-

Thanks for sharing...

STC-

My brain is particularly mushy tonight, so I don't have an answer for you unless you went with the "folder the bill came in".

I did want to pop in and say welcome to the AH.

Some days we are more helpful than others.

b

 

[MathGirl]

Re: EWWWWW

"folder the bill came in".

Hiya, Bridget,
Leave it to you to have the definitive answer.
MG

 

[Quasimodem]

Champ,

There was a story a few years back, that the FBI had conducted tests of money in the Los Angeles area, and found that ALL of their bills were impregnated with cocaine.

Nobody got very excited about it. Had someone published your mother’s story in its place, I bet bank tellers would have begun wearing surgical gloves.

Appropriate to nothing:

One of the duties of a valet, in the days when those gentlemen’s gentlemen were common, was to iron their employer’s money. This was not for sanitary reasons, but so that they would present a fresh, crisp appearance.

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by Quasimodem One of the duties of a valet, in the days when those gentlemen’s gentlemen were common, was to iron their employer’s money.

Dear Quaz,
The St Francis Hotel in SF used to do that. Washed the coins, too.
Numismatically,
MG

 

[Quasimodem]

... The St Francis Hotel in SF used to do that. Washed the coins, too...

St. Francis of Ass C. C.* I suppose

*Coin Carrier

 

[Guest]

My brother the writer worked at the St. Francis for some years as a room service waiter (he loved it because it gave him lots of time to think) knew the old man who'd been washing the coins for decades. The service began when women used to wear white gloves regularly and dirty coins soiled them easily. After ladies day gloves went the way of so much other traditions the St. Francis kept the service.

I read in the SF Chron that after the coin washer retired a machine took his place.

Perdita

 

[Guest]

St. Francis of Ass C. C.

San Francisco de Assisi, por favor.

 

[StoneTheCrow]

Ok I really need someone's serious opinion on this one.
Let's say two people in my new story are having a discussion via yahoo messenger, would it be in bad taste to display the emoticons in this manner for example
Character1 : hey you (smiley with tongue)
Character2 : hey (kiss)
etc etc etc
the reason I am asking is that I don't want to interpret something that noone else is going to understand or find incredibly stupid. It's not going to be in the typical jack-worthy categories, i think it's going to be erotic horror. I'm not sure yet though as I am still in the rough draft stage.
Chris

 

[MathGirl]

San Francisco de Assisi, por favor.

Dear Perdita,
Is that the guy everyone called "Frisco?"
Ducking,
MG

 

[Guest]

Dear Perdita, Is that the guy everyone called "Frisco?"

Yes, Marge.

Perdita

 

[StoneTheCrow]

Ok I really need someone's serious opinion on this one.
Let's say two people in my new story are having a discussion via yahoo messenger, would it be in bad taste to display the emoticons in this manner for example
Character1 : hey you (smiley with tongue)
Character2 : hey (kiss)
etc etc etc
the reason I am asking is that I don't want to interpret something that noone else is going to understand or find incredibly stupid. It's not going to be in the typical jack-worthy categories, i think it's going to be erotic horror. I'm not sure yet though as I am still in the rough draft stage.
Chris

Nevermind

 

[ffreak]

Yeah, we love Frisco, and all his great contributions, sourdough bread, the shake, rattle and roll dance...

His brother was another matter. The Cisco Kid was a nuisance and an embarrassment to the family. Seems he couldn't leave the family jewels alone. Especially when they were from someone else's family.

Seriously Stone, I like your approach of using the parenthetical description of the emoticons. This leaves you open to inventing emoticons that fit the story as opposed to limiting yourself to the measly menu here at Lit. And it can be a great device to build suspense.

In Stephen King's Misery he uses a typewriter style font and handwritten letters as a suspense builder. The farther you go into the book, the more typewriter keys break and the more the writer has to fill-in with the penciled letters.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Stone,

I share your obsession over words for stupid little things like that. Speaking of restaurants, you know those sugar dispensers they have with the glass bodies and the silver screw-on tops with the little flaps that always clog? I got in a big dispute about what they were called when a friend referred to one as a "sugar shaker". I maintained that they couldn;t be "shakers" because you didn't shake them. Well, not when they were working you didn't.

I finally was in a restaurant supply place and I asked. They're listed in their catalogue as a "sugar dispenser". I was much diappointed.

I have an uncle who was obsessed with why champagne bottles have that big indent on the bottom. For years no one could tell him or even tell them what they were called. He finally found out. It's called a "punt" and it's there to hold the bottles during the racking process.

If you mean those leather or vinyl things they give you your check in, I think they're called check wallets.


---dr.M.

 

[oggbashan]

I have an uncle who was obsessed with why champagne bottles have that big indent on the bottom. For years no one could tell him or even tell them what they were called. He finally found out. It's called a "punt" and it's there to hold the bottles during the racking process.

---dr.M.

In wine bottles it is for the dregs to settle around. When decanted the punt should assist in stopping the solids from passing from the bottle. Now most wines are filtered so there are fewer solids to settle. Wine should not be shaken because that disturbs the sediment around the punt.

Og