Celebrities (mostly liberal) who are terrible tippers

Bitter Waitress ^ | 8/23/03 | ILMH

[I_Love_My_Husband]

*Natalie Portman - (loc.)Boston (#in party)2 (amt/tip)$27.00/$3.00 (tip %)11%

*Tom green (loc.)Los Angeles (#in party)5 (amt/tip)$175.00 /$15.00 (tip %)8%

*Serena and Venus Williams (loc.)Boston (#in party)12 (amt/tip)$280.00 /$20.00 (tip %)7% *********

*Madonna (loc.)New York (#in party)4 (amt/tip)$120.00 /$10.00 (tip %)8%

*Natalie Merchant (loc.)New York (#in party)2 (amt/tip)$108.00 / $8.00 (tip %)7% ******

*Allen Iverson (loc.)Detroit (#in party)5 (amt/tip)$495.00 / $50.00 (tip %)10%

*********Tipper's Name: Serena and Venus Williams Restaurant: Italian Where it happened: Boston Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $280.00 / $20.00 / 7% What happened: They came in with coaches managers and groupies....ordered things that were not on the menu only drank a strict 40% water 60% cranberry juice mixture and very rudely snapped their fingers for water refills (they had played that afternoon). The manager payed one bill and tipped well the groupies payed the other and left only 20 bucks. They were awful, and when they got the bill had us split it 12 ways and denied ever ordering half the things their fat asses just ate! Never again if these two walk in will i jump to serve them and their group of 12- 14 aunts uncles cousins neighbors and any or all other groupies that walk around kissing their asses!

******Tipper's Name: Natalie Merchant Restaurant: Campagna Where it happened: New York Total bill / Tip amount / Percentage: $108.00 / $8.00 / 7% What happened: Not to mention all the shit she got for free that night from the evil owner of this now defunct B-list celeb shit hole

[BradyLS]

I agree. If waitstaff demand 20% (from the 10% I was taught many years ago) I'd like to know why. I want the math. Until then, I'm cuttin way back on eating out.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

See my previous posts that came after yours.

I overtip at less expensive restaurants. I don't find the service 'better' at high end rests. Quite the opposite. I find attitude at high end rests.

I am the Robin Hood of tipping.

[zarf]

You ain't neva been a waiter sir or madame. You suck.

[jocon307]

"The idea that a 15% tip is a minimum would be like a 15% tax on food."

ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here we go with the 'tipping wars' again.

Look, in this country it is customary to tip (approx. 12-15%) for service by waiters, etc. For food. My hubby can figure it all out exactly, how much for food, how much for drinks, etc. But you know what, it all works out to 15%.

Now, pay the lady or gentleman, and if they are AWFUL, don't pay them, or if they are GREAT, pay more. But don't get up on a high horse about it, because our entire "dining out experience" assumes you'll leave a tip.

Don't like it? Move to France, and let your grandma die in her overheated apartment.

[mrustow]

Have you ever heard of a celebrity getting bad service? Many New York waitresses are notorious for giving ordinary Joes who pay their own way terrible service and expecting big tips, and then slobbering all over celebrities, who often get a free ride.

That stuff goes on in Austin, TX, too.

I suspect some bad habits have traveled 'round the country. Or maybe it's a characteristic of "upscale" locales.

In addition to receiving financial aid, I partially worked my way through college as a potwasher, bus boy, waiter and eventually, restaurant manager. My mama raised me to be a pushover as a tipper. But after all those years of busting my butt to give customers good service, I became intolerant of lousy service.

Then, in 1985, I moved to NYC (I grew up on nearby Long Island), home of the world's worst waitresses, who also expect the highest tips. Prior to getting married in '97, I was leaving ever smaller tips, and sometimes stiffing waitresses (and the occasional waiter), because they were so often nasty or negligent. Accordingly, I spent less and less time in restaurants. And my wife does not care to spend money in restaurants at all.

Now, we only go a couple of times a year to fast-food joints, because our finicky, 3 1/2 year-old son's favorite food is fresh, hot french fries. If you bring them home, he won't eat them, because they've already gone limp and flat. So, my wife makes french fries at home, from scratch.

I also go a couple of times a year on my own to Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. I used to work there, and still go on shopping expeditions to the fish markets and bakeries, and know how to order in a restaurant like a Chinese, to eat well for a song. (They have a separate, more expensive menu for "tourists.") The service is fast, no-nonsense and polite, the food cheap but tasty. Like many Chinese, I leave a dollar or two, depending on how much I ordered, which comes out to about 30%. But it's not about percentages. To leave 50 cents on a meal that cost only $3.50 (roast duck on rice) would be really niggardly. I always leave those restaurants feeling better than I did when I entered them.

What's the point of spending good money to eat out, if you're not going to enjoy yourself?

[zarf]

Being a waiter taught me a good lesson: Alot of customers are complete as*holes.

I'd give my best, but I damn well remembered those who didn't appreciate my efforts and stiffed me. I won't tell you the rest of the story....

Believe it or not, lots of service folks will give as good as they get.

Chew on that for a while before you decide to f**k with some kids head.

[Chu Gary]

"...including the tip in the bill as a percentage of the price of the meal such as is done in Germany."

In my experience, tips are included in bills throughout Europe; actually normally called service charge. However, when a waiter knows the tip is included, where's the incentive to actually provide good service? From what I've seen, mediocre service is what is provided throughout Europe. In the U.S., you at least get great service on occasion. I tip very well when the service is above and beyond, 15 - 20% when it's good, less when I get less service. On occasion, I leave nothing or a tiny amount. Once in an airport in Mexico, I took out the smallest bill I had, tore off a corner and left that after a very irritating bartender really aggravated me!

[Chu Gary]

"...including the tip in the bill as a percentage of the price of the meal such as is done in Germany."

In my experience, tips are included in bills throughout Europe; actually normally called service charge. However, when a waiter knows the tip is included, where's the incentive to actually provide good service? From what I've seen, mediocre service is what is provided throughout Europe. In the U.S., you at least get great service on occasion. I tip very well when the service is above and beyond, 15 - 20% when it's good, less when I get less service. On occasion, I leave nothing or a tiny amount. Once in an airport in Mexico, I took out the smallest bill I had, tore off a corner and left that after a very irritating bartender really aggravated me!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Everything I said is the truth.

I delivered food via my own cars for 5 years in all types of weather in a congested city of middle class people.

I never complain about how abused I was and was grateful when people generously shared their hard earned income with me, the delivery driver, AFTER they paid a good buck for the food itself. I also had to do some work in the Kitchen between deliveries, all at $2/hr. Delivery people, by the way, are tipped far less than waiters with many more expenses and RISKS.

You sir, are a loudmouth or an ingrate.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Thats brutal!

See my newest posts.

[Cvengr]

Maybe the good server could re-evaluate the potential job market to realize the higher profit to service ratios should go to those positions requiring not only service but some capitalization as well.

0%-100% is my tipping range and I'm less likely to tip by percentage scale in a higher cost restaurant.

I've generally have found better service in less expensive restaurants where less salary was paid the employees and enjoy tipping there.

I also find paying the tip up front to be more constructive than after the fact.

I've found that the same folk who find 10%-15% tipping in the desert to be cheap, also don't even bother to offer a glass of water when you first arrive or cause you to wait an extra 5-15 minutes for each task they perform in the critical path of conducting the meal's transactions.

The custom tip percentage doesn't increase over time because it's a percentage.

In addition, half of the service I've seen in nicer restaurants, I'd tend to prefer serving myself or walking up to a delivery counter than have to wait for the waiter to get around to serving my table.

I never entered into a bilateral agreement to hire the server/waiter/waitress, but tip based on courteous behavior and value of service. Their task is to serve, not to become a brokerage.

[Snidely Whiplash]

Warren Buffett is a notorious tightass when it comes to tipping. Suppose that's how he stays rich, right?

Snidely

[Coeur de Lion]

If you mean by a racism thing the use of playing the race card as a means of getting a free ride or pass, I agree. "Racial profiling" affirmative action, the fact that supermarkets don't operate in certain urban areas or offer poor service when they do--the list is too long to catalog here--but all of these things are attributed to racial discrimination. People buy into the lies and frankly racial discrimination has nothing to do with it.

[auggy]

A few years ago, my son was a waiter at a hotel restaurant. He took a tray of food to Willie Nelson. Willie was in his personal bus. Willie, invited him in to chat, offered him a beer, and gave him a $35 tip for $26 of food.

Now there's a man with class.

[auggy]

"I don't know what the deal is, but the website in the link (bitterwaitress.com) keeps crashing my browser. Its happened twice now."

Are you a bad tipper?

[Allan]

In many countries, tipping isn't even done. It's considered rude.

I don't know any country where tipping is considered rude.

Please name one. I'll take my next vacation there.

[xp38]

I don't know if this was an anomaly or a coming trend but I was in Cooperstown NY this week at the Otesaga Hotel at their Hawkeye Bar and Grill and when I got the bill there was a 17% service charge included.

[tame]

I encountered the following celebrities at my place of employment (Not a diner):

Barbara Hale (She played Della Street on Perry Mason)...She was/is a respectable tipper. She tipped me $20.00.

Martin Scorcese (director)...Respectable tipper...His assistant tipped me $20.00.

Jonathan Winters. I honestly don't remember how much he tipped me, r if he did at all. I do remember he was never out of character.

The guy who played one of the uniformed police officers in the Ed Wood directed movie "Plan Nine From Outer Space". I don't remember how much he tipped, if at all.

Michelle Phillips (Mamas and he Papas). Well, she doen't count since she was no my direct customer. But I do remember she looked like she was about to freak out when another customer went into a seizure or something. Michelle needed to get past the seizure customer in order to exit, but she couldn't right away because the seizure patient was laying on the floor receiving medical attention.

[Gorzaloon]

Like many Chinese, I leave a dollar or two, depending on how much I ordered, which comes out to about 30%. But it's not about percentages. To leave 50 cents on a meal that cost only $3.50 (roast duck on rice) would be really niggardly. I always leave those restaurants feeling better than I did when I entered them.

For a real spectacle, do as my wife and I did once..In a hurry we made an error and GROSSLY overtipped in a local Chinese restaurant. The waiter flipped out, made a little speech and bowed from the waist...I never saw anything like it.

Another time, on my first visit to England, we picked up the tab when our hosts took us to a nice place. A wonderful meal, but by the time I got to the stilton and vintage port, the jet lag plus the sozzling effects caused me to make a disasterous conversion with the funny-looking money. I told the waitress to keep the change. The young waitress came back to the table, flustered, "Sir, you left 150 Pounds!"

"Did I short you?"

""NO!..But..."

"Fine."

"...At least let me bring the dessert cart back!!!"

My host, outside in the parking lot, jokingly told me she probably would not bother going into work for a day or two, or perhaps I should come back after she gets out of work...

So the next morning, it was kind of a double hangover. Oh well, that's what vacations are for....

But we know a few waiters and waitreses socially; Frankly, the job sucks, and I would not want to do it. From my posts anyone can tell I am not always the most "Dale Carnegie" person around, and I would probably not even last an hour were I to try it.

[Twinkie]

What if any of the rest of us "little people" tried
skipping out on a restaurant bill like that? You know,
if someone does that in one place, you have to wonder if
they do it everywhere they go. The guys who really have
a hard time are bellhops. A bellhop in New Orleans told
me that he had to pay for his rolling carrier and that
many times people would have 8 bags plus and toss him a
couple of quarters for his trouble - or take off with his
carrier and he would have to spend a long time going to
every floor to look for it. ($1.00 a bag was the
acceptable going rate at that time. Don't know what it is
now.)