Clinton: Stiffed the waitress? Big tip found

Baltimore Sun ^ | November 8, 2007 | Glenn Thrush,

[radar101]

At first, the story line went like this: Sen. Hillary Clinton may have committed the ultimate political culinary sin -- not tipping the waitress.

But the story was wrong: NPR has retracted its initial report, a nasty little anecdote about iClnton meeting a working-mom waitress at the Maid-Rite eatery in Iowa over the summer, using her story in a speech -- and then stiffing her on the tip.

Now NPR has confirmed the tip with an editor's note: "Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton's campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $100 for food for the day of Clinton's visit and left $57 in tip money. NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left.

"Crawford, who was not in the restaurant at the time, said that he believes a campaign staffer left the money with one of his employees, but "where Hillary was sitting, there was no tip left." Neither Anita Esterday nor the manager on duty that day were available for comment as of noon Thursday.''

[Tall_Texan]

Okay. If they left a 57% tip, they are guilty of “wasteful spending” (typical Dem).

When did they eat here? Was it months ago? If so, I question why the story is coming out just now. I presumed this happened in the past few days. I’m beginning to doubt both stories now. Would Ms. Easterday kindly step forward and give us all the true story?

[UCANSEE2]

NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left.

Not 'the bill', but 'a bill'. More PARSING by the QUEEN OF PARSING.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

You need to start tipping and encourage your parents to do so as well. It’s rude not to leave a 20% tip for average to good service. If you receive bad service, adjust accordingly, but let the wait person know exactly what you found deficient. You have to tip. Wait staff only makes about $2.50 an hour and that’s nowhere near a sufficient wage.

I always boost my father in law’s 10% tip to 20%.

[VirginiaMom]

Do you realize the minimum wage for waitstaff is $2.13/hr. ? I was a waitress for 16 years and I hated waiting on people like your folks, but I always did it politely and with a smile on my face.

VirginiaMom

[Suzy Quzy]

I believe the FIRST story....that they paid NOTHING, and when NPR broke the story they gave money to someone....but AFTER the fact!!

[Suzy Quzy]

Crawford says ‘a bill” was paid...”a tip was left” Why not QUOTES??? PARSE people!!!

[Suzy Quzy]

Good Grief, Jane.....tell your parents these wait staff make only about $3.00 an hour with TIPS making up the difference between the $3.00 and minimum wage!!! Your parents must be so popular...:)

[norton]

"Sensing the story was reaching the tipping point, ABC News’ Eloise Harper contacted Brad Crawford, manager of Maid-Rite..."

"...who is getting big advertising from this, supports Hitlary (that's why they were there in thd first place), and will remember anything he is told."

Sorry that the waitress didn't hear of the discovery until too late - but I'm sure she'll get a great reference.

[Suzy Quzy]

NO ONE got paid until the story came out is my bet.

[listenhillary]

Hillary’s staffers probably didn’t trust the “little people” enough to leave the tip on the table.

[VirginiaMom]

BINGO!

[Suzy Quzy]

AMEN!! “A” bill was paid....”A” tip was left......but why didn’t the MANAGER say EXACTLY what was paid???? PARSE is right. NEVER trust a DEMS words!

[UCANSEE2]

(/sarc)

Anita:”Here is your check. It comes to $32.00”

Hillary: “Huh?”.. Remember to vote for me.”

Anita (turning to another waitress):“I don’t think she understood at all what I was saying.”

[Lancey Howard]

Somebody bought some damage control.

[Suzy Quzy]

The Clintooids paid off CRAWFORD.

[NordP]

Perfect point - perfect post

[UCANSEE2]

Anita Esterday stated (meaning a known fact): “NO ONE GOT A TIP”

I don’t think it could be any clearer, but that statement is being left out of most of the news articles.

It is obvious that NPR got a call after the article was printed.

It is obvious that Brad (manager of Maidrite) got a call, or a ‘visit’. Wonder if his cat is alive.

I note that neither he nor Anita are answering phone calls, or have been to work.

Maybe the cat is alive, and they aren’t.

[mad_as_he$$]

Billy just paid a tab from 9 years ago in England.

[wai-ming]

Depends on the meaning of "was" (past tense of "is").

A tip "was" left sometime between the incident and now (several days later). Perhaps the Clinton campaign went back to the restaurant and left a tip after they got caught by the media. That way they can safely say it "was" left (sometime in the past).

[Miss Didi]

From the NPR article:

'Nobody Got Left a Tip'

"I wished I would have been asked first," the waitress, Anita Esterday, said of Clinton's decision to insert her in a speech. "I wish she would have asked if she could talk about me later. I didn't like it when someone called me up and said Hillary Clinton is talking about you. It's like, what'd I do now? What's she saying?"

When I returned to the Maid-Rite a few weeks later, Esterday said the senator had caught her off guard. But once they got talking, she was honest with Clinton about her need to work two to three jobs.

"I've been doing it all my life. Why should it change now that I'm old," Esterday said.

Esterday does not think Clinton got it. "I don't think she understood at all what I was saying," Esterday said. "I mean, nobody got left a tip that day."

Clinton may have decided not to tip. She was also never given a bill — her meal was on the house. Still, Esterday said Clinton might have left her something: "Maybe they don't carry money. I don't know."

The visit hurt Esterday in another way. The local paper ran photos of her with Clinton. She said her supervisor at the nursing home isn't a big Hillary Clinton fan and she thinks that may be related to why her hours were almost totally cut.

Now, Esterday is looking for a different second job. However, she said she's not upset that Clinton visited the restaurant.

"I got my 15 minutes of fame out of the world," Esterday said. "There you go. I got her autograph. That's something I'll treasure forever."

But as far as the attention she's received? "It hasn't helped me. It's made things worse."

Still, Esterday doesn't blame Clinton; she says she may even vote for the former first lady. She's also considering voting for Barack Obama.