Bad tippers and bitter waitresses

American Thinker ^ | 11-26-05 | Jack Kemp

[smoothsailing]

Bad tippers and bitter waitresses

By Jack Kemp (not the politician) Nov. 26, 2005

Once, years ago, I heard a heard a lecture by a rabbi on dating. He advised that if your date treats a waiter/waitress or a busboy in a condescending and mean manner, that is the way they will treat you after a while – if you were to marry them. Today's New York Post had an article about cheap celebrity tippers listed on the website www.bitterwaitress.com.

I went there to see how many well known political "champions of the little guy and gal" rated. I cross referenced the website with liberals from Bernard Goldberg's One Hundred People Screwing Up America.

........

Let's see. First up, Michael Moore, 3% tip.

Tipper's Name: Michael Moore (yes THAT Michael Moore)

Where it happened: Los Angeles

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $452.25 / $17.74 / 3%

What happened:

OK I ran my ass off for this guy and his friends. Funny I didnt know this guy had friends, maybe they were kissups. 2.5 hours they spent shoveling food down their fat faces. Numerous refills. By the way MM is a pompous ass judging from his treatment of the staff.

............

Let's see again. Barbra Streisand, 2% tip.

Tipper's Name: Barbra Streisand

Where it happened: New York

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $457.00 / $10.00 / 2%

What happened:

She demanded the best table, acting rude to everyone and then barely tipped.

..........

Next "champion of the people," Jessie Jackson 9% tip.

Tipper's Name: Jesse Jackson

Restaurant: Sam's

Where it happened: Kansas City

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $228.00 / $22.00 / 9%

What happened: rude,arrogant,demanding and cheap

......... 

Next up, Sen. John Kerry, 2% tip.

Tipper's Name: John F. Kerry

Where it happened: St. Louis

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $773.24 / $20.00 / 2%

What happened:

Added $20.00 on the signature line and then scribbled a little note to vote for him. What a load of crap.

......

Kerry's former running mate, Sen. John Edwards, 2% tip.

Tipper's Name: John Edwards

Where it happened: Washington, D.C.

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $746.25 / $13.75 / 1%

What happened:

This is the guy running for Vice President… Sat in our private section for 3 1/2 hours and left less than 2%. Jackass.

.........

Former VP Al Gore. 8% tip.

Tipper's Name: Former VP Al Gore

Where it happened: Alexandria, VA

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $40.00 / $3.50 / 8%

What happened:

Al and Tipper Gore were regulars at the restaurant I used to work at. You'd think this would be cool, waiting on a former Vice President. And it would be, if not for the fact that Al Gore is cheap.

Last time they came in, Tipper actually spilled her beer on me (it's not smart to gesture wildly with a bottle of Corona on your table). She didn't apologize—he apologized for her. Still. Less than 10%. You'd think they'd know that the 'underclass' the Democrats claim to represent are people like waitresses in VA making $2.13 an hour. Guess not.

.........

Lastly, Sean Penn, 0% tip. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Tipper's Name: Sean Penn

Where it happened: New Orleans

Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $450.00 / $0.00 / 0%

What happened:

Sean Penn is in New Orleans filming & came into my restaurant with 3 other people. Waited on them hand and foot. The bill $450.00 – the tip: none. Cheapskate.

........

There you have it. The champions of "fairness" and "the little guy."  Yes, President Bush and VP Cheney made the website as well. But who is claiming them as champions of the poor and oppressed victims, advocating extra government payments to make up for past suffering, etc.?

.............................

Thomas Lifson adds:

I have followed Bitter Waitress for years. It is well-known in the food and beverage industry, and at least at the upscale restaurants, it has a big following among the wait staff. When one of these bozos comes in, they usually will not treat them overtly rudely. But vengeance of another sort may sometimes occur. Let the diner beware.

Most people realize that watitrons (that's the non-sex-specific term favored theses days, believe it or not) are usually paid less than minimum wage, and that tips provide the margin of survival (to use leftist terminology) for them. To stiff a tip is to relegate someone to below minimum wage. This makes the behavior of these compassionate liberals all the more phony. Judge them by their deeds not their words.

I absolutely agree with Jack's rabbi that the best way to judge someone's character is to observe behavior with those who have no power or standing, and to do so in private in the case of celebrities and politicians. I have used this as a guide to friendships for almost my entire life, and it has proven highly reliable.

[No Blue States]

Good idea. Cook for your lazy self @ 2 T-bones and a bag or charcoal for under $20. No tip expected.

[RadioAstronomer]

There is always someone willing to tip 30% for the same experience.

It makes a difference. Believe it, I know.

[HungarianGypsy]

My husband and I often tip well. Especially any waiter or waitress that can put up with a family of 7, because a lot think families rarely tip. The few times we have tipped low have been when a waitress is really bad. Either by being rude or just plain ignoring our table. We had a waiter who had to wait a lot of tables, so did not give us a lot of attention, but he was obviously doing his best. He got tipped well.
A waitress at a Mexican restaurant (this was about two children ago) completely ignored our table several times, while giving wonderful service to the police officers at the next table. I don't mind the police getting good service, but we didn't get any refills until I mentioned to my husband how the only way to get good service is to be a police officer. I didn't realize until I turned around that the waitress was right behind me. Suddenly she starting asking if we needed refills, anything else, etc. We were about to leave at that point, so refused. We gave the tip we would have given her to the busser who helped us out when the baby spilled a drink. It was a 20-25% tip.

[HighWheeler]

I can understand John Effin Kerry not tipping much. He probably hadn't received his allowance that week from Terry Heinz.

So back off with slammin' Kerry, mmmmkay?

[elbucko]

So I tipped. When I gave 20% of the bill at least half the table chastised me telling me I'd never get rich that way & the rich never tip much at all.

I told them I'm already rich. My life is blessed.

Yes you are and it will continue to be blessed. I learned the following lesson from my late father when I was a kid in the early 60's.

We had stocked up on groceries for an ocean fishing trip. Along with us was one of the subcontractors that worked for my Dad's construction company. When the box boy finished loading my Dad's station wagon, Dad gave the box boy a dollar tip. That was "Big Bucks" then. When the sub-contractor saw this he went ballistic at my Dad and said that; "..it was the kid's job to lug out the groceries and load the car". My Dad replied that: "Someday , (my Dad) might loose everything he had and need to look for a job and this box boy might just wind up being the manager of the store and he'd ask him for a job" (I remember the box boy smiling at this speculation). Between my Dad and the sub-contractor, one became more prosperous, the other poorer. My Dad never did need to ask the box boy for a job.

My father would have been pleased to know you.

[ADemocratNoMore]

Two stories that ran in the very liberal Cleveland Plain Dealer in the past year. If it happened here, chances are that its the same in your city too.

Here’s a little tip about gratuities

Thursday, April 1, 2004
By Connie Schultz
Plain Dealer Columnist

If you’ve ever used a coat check, you probably noticed a tip jar on the counter at evening’s end.

You might stick a bill or two into that jar without even thinking about who is getting the tip. You probably assume the person behind the counter, usually a woman, is getting the money.

That’s certainly what I always assumed. From now on, I’m going to ask.

In the last year, I have attended three charity events at Windows on the River, a banquet hall at the Powerhouse in the Flats. At the end of each dinner, I picked up my wrap at the coat-check counter.

One of those times, I pointed to the large tip jar bulging with bills and said to the weary clerk, “Well, at least you get a decent amount of tips for standing here.”

She shook her head and said, “Oh, we don’t get to keep those.”

I thought I misheard her. “What?”

“We don’t keep the tips.”

“Who does?” I asked.

“Management.”

When I asked her how that made her feel, she sighed. “They say they use it to give us a Christmas party.”

Nowhere was there a sign indicating that the pile of bills in the tip jar was going, not to the clerk, but to management.

Recently, I attended another dinner at Windows on the River. This time, the tips were stuffed into a large, opaque box. I watched as one person after another shoved bills into the slot on the top.

“Who gets these tips?” I asked the coat-check clerk.

She resisted telling me, but I pressed. “Management,” she said softly.

more at...

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/plaindealer/index.ssf?/schultz/more/1.html

and

No living wage for airport aides

Thursday, July 28, 2005
Connie Schultz
Plain Dealer Columnist

To most of us, they are invisible.

They are the wheelchair assist ants at airports, the folks we rush past on our way to somewhere else.

They push elderly and disabled passengers through the concourses; sometimes, they lift them directly into their seats on the planes. Many of the assistants are elderly themselves; some have physical or mental disabilities.

Some are retirees just looking for fun money or a way to meet people. Others augment meager fixed incomes. For many, though, this is their only income, and they must rely on our tips to make minimum wage. Too often, they don't.

more at...

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?/base/living/1122543397121290.xml&coll=2

[RadioAstronomer]

450-750 dollars. Blackball me, please! I'll go shopping at Walmarts and cook yall all a good meal and have enough money left over to tip for a year:')

Depends if you are doing business meetings.

My biggest bill I can remember was over 1100$ US.

[ASOC]

LOL
I do the same - I eat out for lunch quite often, and where I go the most (two or three places) I leave a 2 or 3 dollar tip for a 7 dollar meal (lunch place remember)


Next time I come, the staff is right there - and at my regular places, my meal is at the table shortly after I sit down. So the extra couple of bucs is a good yield if I happen to be in a bit of a hurry that day.

BTW - I met my wife while she was working in a cafe - out in the middle of nowhere in the West. Liked the service so much, I came back and took her home with me - that was 30+ years ago.

[CindyDawg]

Nope. I'm telling the family that I want at least 20% now:') My point was that, I personally would feel that it was a waste on my money to spend 750 for a meal. Maybe that is what being poor teaches you. I could afford it now but I wouldn't. More importantly, I would not want to eat at a restaurant, charging this much, knowing that their help is making 2.50 an hour and depending on me to subsidize their income. Sorry if that offends you. It's just me.

[Jeff Gordon]

The difference between a 15% tip and a 25% tip for any meal will make absolutely no difference to my bank accounts and life style. That same difference will make a much bigger difference to the bank accounts and life style of most Servers.

I usually go with the 25% unless the server was loser.

[Mr_Moonlight]

I'll have to defend John Kerry here. I did the math, and he tipped 2 and a half percent, not just 2 percent.

Ahhhhh, that nuanced 1/2 percentage point .... /chuckle

[Pharmboy]

I tip differently depending if I'm dining out personally or picking up the tab for business. I tip about 5% more on business.

[furquhart]

The help at a place which charges $750 make an awful damned lot more than $2.50 an hour. Trust me.

[furquhart]

Well, I always order the same thing so, at some point in the last four years, I've stopped even ordering at that particular place. I just sit down and, poof, my meal appears after a few minutes.

Best Fish & Chips I've ever had. I'd eat there every day, save for the obvious downside of such a diet.

[No Blue States]

No that didnt offend me at all, I agreed with you.
Sorry if it wasnt clear. Im going to cook more and eat out less as I cant keep up with how much the tip is supposed to be anyway.

[BraveMan]

As a general rule I'll tip 20%, more if the service is exceptional. I rarely use a small tip to send any 'message' concerning poor service; I just don't patronize the establishment again. The service has to border on ridiculous for me to contribute less than 20%.

Our dining experiences typically start at the bar as we wait for a table. It has been my experience that, especially in crowded establishments, a kind word and a generous tip to the barkeep upon receiving the first round of the evening usually results in superlative service for the rest of the engagement (apparently word travels quickly amongst the staff). I cannot remember the last time this wasn't the case.

Excellent service enhances the pleasure of dining out; I'm perfectly willing to pay for the privilege. The trick is to get this point across to the staff at the beginning of the engagement instead of at the end.

[CindyDawg]

Then why all the guilt trips that customers are supposed to supplement their income from around here?

[CindyDawg]

:')

[Dust in the Wind]

"More importantly, I would not want to eat at a restaurant, charging this much, knowing that their help is making 2.50 an hour and depending on me to subsidize their income. Sorry if that offends you. It's just me."

emphasis mine and no it is not just you!

[mountn man]

Well I'll show my lack of sophistication. My usual restaurant that I would tip at is Cracker Barrel (or comparible) so my bill is going to be in the $20 range. My motto is "if you can't afford the tip, you can't afford the dinner" on a $20 bill there will be about $2 in taxes. I tip 20% usually, sometimes less for BAD service, and often times more for exceptional.

But on a $20 bill with $2 tax, paying tax on the tip only means $0.40. I'm not going to concern myself with $0.40. whats the difference in paying $4.00 or $4.40 in a tip. If someone is so worried about $0.40 on a tip, they can't afford to eat out in the first place, and should be staying home and eating, and saving their money, so that some day they can afford to go out.

I worked at a few restaurants when I was younger, and I know what its like to earn tips. For those who think tipping is strictly for extra stuff, they need to RETHINK their tipping. Our societal norm is that you tip at certain restaurants. 15%-20% being the usual standard, and 10% being considered cheap. For a person not to tip, or tip less than even 10% is down right rude.

One last thing. To all you Born Again Christians (of which I am one). DON"T EVER leave a skimpy tip and a tract. Not only do you embaress me, but you embaress Christ. Nothing enrages waitstaff more than to work hard for someone hoping/expecting a desent tip, and instead getting a tract. All they'll do is throw it out. And it removes all credibility from you, AND YOUR MESSAGE. If you want to attract your wait staff more, leave a GENEROUS tip with the tract.