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Bad tippers and bitter waitresses
American Thinker ^ | 11-26-05 | Jack Kemp

Posted on 11/26/2005 9:50:03 AM PST by smoothsailing

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To: durasell

I've had friends (and they have friends) who have told me some curling-hair stories too.

To be clear, I have never "stiffed" meaning leaving no tip at all. I don't believe I've ever had service that would even make me think of it and I'm hard pressed to recall leaving even a small one.

Your tone sounded quite confrontational [of course it's difficult to say for sure when merely reading, not hearing]. But I still can't get my head around how leaving a tip that might be smaller than a waitron would want is "stealing" from them. That is rubbish. It reminds me of the old joke that goes: if you walk you save the 75-cent bus fare, but if you run behind a cab you save $10.


261 posted on 11/26/2005 6:12:20 PM PST by Fudd Fan (God bless President Bush! (Proud member of the Water Bucket Brigade - MOOSEMUSS!)
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To: Keltik

the driver a huge tip, $3 -- equal to perhaps $50 today.



In the late fifties and early sixties $3 was a lot of money. It would purchase four loaves of wonder bread, four quarts of milk plus a pound of hamburger.

about what$12 would buy today.


262 posted on 11/26/2005 6:13:49 PM PST by Chickensoup (Turk...turk...turk....turk....turk...turkey!!!!!!)
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To: smoothsailing

I always tip 20 Percent for Good service. Even is the food is lousy which is not the fault of the waiter. I tip 25 if they go above and beyond.


263 posted on 11/26/2005 6:18:26 PM PST by ColdSteelTalon
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To: wouldntbprudent
ha ha - I also have left no tip exactly once in life and it also was at an IHOP!

I walked out of a IHOP without paying let alone leaving a tip. When I was starting to pore to maple syrup I observed a live roach stuck to the can trying to free its self. I then saw,I presume,its mate, standing on my over easy eggs, beseeching me to release her husband.

264 posted on 11/26/2005 6:31:18 PM PST by MilspecRob (Most people don't act stupid, they really are.)
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To: elbucko
Jesus said that as you do for the lesser of His, so you do to Him.

What attracted me to Conservatism and the Republican Party was the emphasis on faith in all men and women. What turned me off of Leftist politics was the usefullness of the "working class" (read: producers) to gain power and control by unscrupulous "men of the people".

265 posted on 11/26/2005 6:32:25 PM PST by Thumper1960 ("There is no 'tolerance', there are only changing fashions in intolerance." - 'The Western Standard')
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To: Fudd Fan

Maybe my tone was a bit confrontational. Having a good meal out with friends, etc. in a nice restaurant is one of the major pleasures in life.

The problem today is that many people don't know how to behave in a restaurant. They see it as an opportunity to exert some measure of pointless power over the wait staff. They scarf down their food as if it's a competition for speed. And table manners have deteriorated to the point of shameful...




266 posted on 11/26/2005 6:49:02 PM PST by durasell
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To: quantim
Tax them too much...they may just not show up at the table anymore.

Interesting story.

267 posted on 11/26/2005 7:02:12 PM PST by Ciexyz (Let us always remember, the Lord is in control.)
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To: smoothsailing

He is nice person for real just like Drew Carey. We should have more people like them. Not only they tipped their servers good but they are being nice and not making trouble. Too bad, we still have to gone through with some customers that always wanted to be treated like royal families. To make thing worst, some will make a big mess on a table, asking too many questions on little things, having too many refills, too impatience.., rude reply.. or non-reply when being asked a question politely.. no tips.. etc.. Man, I am just a server not their personal servant..


268 posted on 11/26/2005 8:33:08 PM PST by chachachia
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To: ErnBatavia

That's really funny!


269 posted on 11/26/2005 8:39:23 PM PST by chachachia
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To: Jeff Chandler

I learned that you started at 10%. Only in recent years have I heard that 15% should be considered norm, and I'm not sure who is the one doing the considering. As I've stated, as food prices have risen, so has the tip, and as someone who has both waited tables (for a short period of time) and sold on commission rates much less than 10% for much less in sales in a day or night than a good waiter will rack up in a shift, 15% should be considered exceptional.

I rarely drink and never at a restaurant, so while my ticket might be a lower one for their night, I am also very low maintenance. Tonight, we left about 15% or so for what we considered very good but not exceptional service (as I stated, we typically round up a bit). But my tea was refilled twice, my wife's drink once, and he made perhaps 4 other trips to our table. I think he got what he deserved.


270 posted on 11/26/2005 8:44:21 PM PST by 1L
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To: ErnBatavia

Dang! He's being pretty obvious about it and the young lady to his right is still star-struck!


271 posted on 11/26/2005 8:48:12 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: 1L
sold on commission rates much less than 10% for much less in sales in a day or night than a good waiter will rack up in a shift, 15% should be considered exceptional.

That is the post.

272 posted on 11/26/2005 8:51:19 PM PST by doodad
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To: Blurblogger

Jeepers. Thanks for the ping!


273 posted on 11/26/2005 8:52:16 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: JRandomFreeper

For years it was always 15 per cent...it was drummed into me 15 per cent! Now I'm a cheap skate if I don't pay 20 per cent?...I'm sorry but restaurant prices have also risen over the years thus even though my tips are 15 per cent, my tips have risen in the same ratios as the prices. Now I'm expected to pay 20 per cent? fagettaboud it!


274 posted on 11/26/2005 9:00:55 PM PST by mdmathis6 ("It was not for nothing that you were named Ransom" from CS LEWIS' Perelandra!)
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To: Elsie
So, when the crooks at city hall decide to grab MORE of your money, waitresses gets more too, eh?

Depends on the local tax rate. Well, with that formula, the waitress will always get less if you calculate it off the tax. The effective tax rates seem to run between 4% and a little over 9%.

A $10 tab at 4% tax would be 2.00 and 1.56; at 9% 2.00 and 1.64.

275 posted on 11/26/2005 9:04:53 PM PST by PAR35
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To: Fudd Fan; durasell; indcons

The one time I'm sure didn't leave a tip was when I found dirt all over my salad and the waiter acted as if he didn't care. Otherwise, I tip twenty percent. Not tipping isn't stealing because it's a add-on benefit and not pay or entitlement. Some people act as if you should tip them for merely doing what their job requires and not beyond what their job requires (like Starbucks baristas!).


276 posted on 11/26/2005 9:08:54 PM PST by cyborg (I'm on the 24 plan having the best day ever.)
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To: durasell
Having a good meal out with friends, etc. in a nice restaurant is one of the major pleasures in life.

How true!

My husband and I frequent a neighborhood eatery (a pizza place with a separate, small restaurant room where you go for the food, not the atmosphere) and the wait staff get to know you as a regular. One evening there was a family with a screaming toddler; he was really laughing, and at the parents' prompting - the mother was actually encouraging him to laugh with screeches, then would look around as if to say "what can I do?" When our waitress came with the bill she asked how everything was, as usual, and I said "well the food and the service were great..." She looked at me and quietly said "I hear ya!" It annoyed her even more than it did us, as we could leave! She got a larger than usual tip that night.

277 posted on 11/26/2005 9:41:39 PM PST by Fudd Fan (God bless President Bush! (Proud member of the Water Bucket Brigade - MOOSEMUSS!)
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To: 1rudeboy
when calculating the 20%, does one use the pre- or post-tax total?

I worked as a waitress for a number of years. Customers usually base the tip on the post-tax total. However, in situations where the restaurant's computer software adds the tip to the check, the computer calculates using the pre-tax total (at least in the places where I worked). So, while tipping based upon the pre-tax total may be technically correct, it rarely happens and normally annoys the waitress.

278 posted on 11/26/2005 9:43:17 PM PST by Sandy
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To: JRandomFreeper

My stone dead cold lowest tip is 10%, for worst-case scenarios of extraordinary rudeness or long-term disappearances.

Twenty percent rounded up to the next dollar is the decent thing to do and, yes, in bars it can easily go higher.


279 posted on 11/26/2005 9:49:08 PM PST by Petronski (Cyborg is the greatest blessing I have ever known.)
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To: smoothsailing

I prefer tips/service to be included in the price. I think it is a form of begging.


280 posted on 11/26/2005 9:51:28 PM PST by af_vet_1981
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