Replies

I was more than a little surprised by the tipping comment as it ran counter to my own experience. While in college, I waited tables at one of the two good off-campus eateries. I really enjoyed the job, respected the owner and took it seriously. Faculty members would often eat/drink there.

There was an art history professor (Dukakis pin on his man bag)who would be the biggest pain and would never leave a tip. One time he sent his meal back because the presentation "wasn't symmetrical enough" for his liking.

The head of the military science/ROTC and his wife would come in every week. They were very pleasant but not especially friendly. They always left 20%.

There was a history prof who would try to impress people with his Phi Beta Kappa key but always seemed to feel two dollars was sufficient- whether his bill was ten dollars or one hundred.

The absolute worst were the drama faculty. They were always obnoxious and in a group. They'd smoke and snap their fingers and trust that the one of their group would get the tip. Sometimes one did but it was usually for their portion of the bill.

There was a computer science prof that always left exactly fifteen percent. It was pretty funny because I assumed if he could carry out the decimal or write fractions of cents down he would have!

Among the best was a chemistry professor. He frequently came with his wife (a nurse) but he'd also come in by himself and read, eat appetizers, and drink decaf coffee. I assumed that these were times when his wife was working. He had two stickers on his Jeep Cherokee- "It's Amino World without Chemists" and "Reagan". He was always nice and a good tipper. One night after we had about half of a large party not show up we had an abundance of cheesecake. After he'd cashed out, I brought him a plate of it. He was pleased and needed more coffee. After he left, I found that he'd left approximately 20% of the price of the dessert.