[HighWheeler]

I also worked a summer as a waiter and a bartender. In only a matter of a couple weeks, I could pin down the tip I would get by looking out at the table of people.

4 women - 4 bad tips
1 woman or 1 man - great tip
family of 4 or more and the man has shorts or sandals or t-shirt - awful tip.
1 middle aged guy with his wife or girlfriend or concubine (especially if the guy ordered for his wife) - great tip.

The next step was the approach. Inside 10 seconds of being at the table or bar talking to them I knew how hard to bust my ass. The people and their attitude drove the tip, my effort had virtually no impact on the tip.

The more detailed the dinner order, by anyone, the less the tip.

Everyone of the other waiters and waitresses knew all these things and would try to $lant the hostess to give them the big tippers.

[HairOfTheDog]

The people and their attitude drove the tip, my effort had virtually no impact on the tip. The more detailed the dinner order, by anyone, the less the tip.

I know what you mean..... I have a friend who is so cold and so picky and so cheap with a tip, I have overtipped when with her out of sheer embarrassment. I have not been afraid to work on her about it though, and she has actually gotten better.

[CFC__VRWC]

In the pizza biz, you learn real quick which neighborhoods and addresses had the great tippers and the lousy tippers. At the stores where I worked the runs went out in the order that the drivers came into the store (oldest run, first driver, etc.). The lengths the drivers would go to to look at the addresses and jockey for position were just mind-boggling. It would be a cycle, with drivers getting angrier and angrier with each other for "snaking " runs, until the managers would get tired of hearing all the bitching and hold crew meetings where they would tell us to cut out the BS. And then it would start all over again.

[Dianna]

4 women - 4 bad tips

This makes no sense to me. If you're only buying a meal for yourself, the difference between a good tip and bad tip is what, a buck or two? If you're that damn cheap stay home and make a sandwich.