Posted on 11/26/2005 9:50:03 AM PST by 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.
You may want to be wary of foods such as potato salad or tartar sauce in restaurants from now on.
I agree. And have the experience of some asshat with a condescending attitude trying to show off to some date. I mouthed back to one and luckily my boss backed me up.
Oh yeah, if I'm in a restaurant and see they're slow - I tip more.
If I sit in a table for longer than a normal meal time - I tip more.
*shrug* Just the way it should be really. I am their employer at that point in time.
I was never a waitress, but I was a hostess. I got to hear the wait staff complain about people & their tipping habits.
Who sets this scale? Awhile back it was 15%. 10% used to be acceptable. It wouldn't surprise me if this is coming from the left. If your service is good most will tip accordingly but why should they feel obligated for 20%?
I'll have to defend John Kerry here. I did the math, and he tipped 2 and a half percent, not just 2 percent.
pre-tax, definately. and hubby, who is a very generous tipper, always says you should only tip 10% on the bar/beverage part of the bill
A HISTORY LESSON
Beer and evolution and other facts The two most important events in all of
history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel
was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern
civilization, and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity
into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered it required grain, and that was the beginning of
agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so
while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be
invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were
formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while
they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the
Conservative movement. Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting
learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ and
doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the
Liberal movement.
Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became
known as girliemen. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the
domestication of cats, the trade union, the invention of group therapy and
group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the
meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most
powerful land animal on earth,!
the elephant.
Liberals are symbolized by the jackass. Modern liberals like imported beer
(with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water.
They eat raw fish, but like their beef well done.
Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another evolutionary
side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their
men.
Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in
Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the
designated hitter rule in baseball, because it wasn't fair to make the
pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for
their women. Conservatives are rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction
workers, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, soldiers,
athletes, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own
companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and
decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe that Europeans are
more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained
in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. The liberals crept in
after the Wild West was tamed, and created a business of trying to get MORE
for nothing.
And you thought history was boring!
Just wondering, have you ever worked in a restaurant?
This is great!!!
A fair tip is between 20% of the pre-tax and 15% of the post tax.
I expected to see Clinton on this list. All I can figure is he must give a ten percent tip, but he is probably spending someone else's money, and he probably leaves with the silverware in his pocket.
You had to even ask? This sounds like the person who gets 6 of her friends together for a 3 hour lunch at a nice restaurant and tries to leave coins as a tip. I ALWAYS added the 15% on large groups of women after losing huge amounts at lunches as they camped on my tables drinking coffee and splitting dishes.
Its called the Wellstone disease. They're always generous with someone else's cash.
Share this story with these cheapskates, it has been around for years:
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.
The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59.
That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.
So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six -- the paying customers? How could They divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"
The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and The sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man, then, pointing to the tenth. "But he got $7!". "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".
"That's true!" shouted the seventh man," why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!".
Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him.
But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.
It's not that hard, I take the total AFTER TAX and give 20% of that. More if the service was above and beyond. It's very rare that service is bad...or intentionally rude. In fact, I can't really remember a time I was not happy with service. But I'm easy to please!!
I know what you mean. Unless the service is incredibly ghastly, I always tip 18%-20%. I have left no tip exactly once. I was one of three customers at an IHOP, I waited over an hour before my meal appeared. The waiter said he forgot to turn in my order slip, but he did not apologize and seemed exasperated with me for having the nerve to inquire how much longer it would be. Finally, when I asked for tartar sauce with my fish, he stomped off to return with the tartar sauce, which he slammed on the table before stomping away again. Needless to say, he did not receive a tip-and I mentioned on the customer survey that such treatment was probably the reason that they only had three customers in the restaurant.
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