Day 1, On a mission

Hello fellow foodies out there in the world! My idea in creating this blog was to gather input and yes, voice my frustration at my dining experiences in my beautiful home town of Santa Cruz, CA. After having been a frequent diner at a variety of restaurants in the Santa Cruz area for over 15 years, my utter frustration and disappointment has manifested into this blog. This blog is what I refer to as my attempt in improving the dinning experience for both tourists and locals to create a more symbiotic relationship between "us" and the restaurant establishment. I feel I should provide some background on myself as not to appear as if I am just talking out of my (#@$%) as they say.
I started to really love food and the dining out experience in my early career as a waitress for an Italian restaurant. I started out like everyone else I guess, eager to please the management and eager to make big tips as to pay for college and life. I was good at my job from the start, if I do say so myself. I loved providing customer service, yes even to the low tippers or 'repeat offenders' as we called them in the business. It was a competition among co-workers to try and get low tippers to change their convictions on tipping and tip big! I never felt that earning tips was my right, even though I made below minimum wage, I believed then (and still do) that you must earn your tips and this is where I believe the Santa Cruz restaurant population differs with my philosophy on the difference between 'right of passage to get tips' and 'right of passage to earn tips'.
I have traveled around and outside the United States dining at a variety of restaurants and can tell you that Santa Cruz is unique in its belief that 'you' the diner should be appreciate that you are being waited on at all. Yes there have been exceptions here and there but overall the dining experience in Santa Cruz has been bleak and is becoming bleaker everyday.
As this blog evolves I hope it will serve as a tool in providing input to both restauranteurs and diners to create a much more pleasant and repeat experience for all! I hope you readers (if I actually get any) enjoy this journey and discover the art of eating out, as I believe it can be! Let's eat!!