# Midnight Restaurant Customers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012 "2008-10-01T16:03:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/61 "2008-10-02T00:58:40Z")
> [@villa](#): > > What I mean here is that when a white, elderly couple tip poorly, the server thinks “old people tip badly” rather than “white people tip badly.” If a black elderly couple tip poorly I would imagine many servers think “black people tip badly.” I’ve never thought about it before, but in the several years I waited tables I can’t remember waiting on \*any \*black elderly couples. Odd. Maybe we need a “why don’t elderly black couples go to restaurants?” thread. > [@villa](#): > > I’ve got indifferent service before because I have a British accent and British tourists have a reputation for tipping poorly. I remember waiting on an English guy who was dining alone. Extremely convivial, finished the entire plate, said everything was fantastic—then left me no tip and complained to my manager that I hadn’t checked on him often enough. That was about 12 years ago, but now I finally have the chance to ask: why are you people like that? ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/62 "2008-10-02T02:57:09Z")
FWIW, you might find it interesting to go [here](http://people.cornell.edu/pages/wml3/working_papers.htm) and poke around the papers that are posted. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/63 "2008-10-02T04:13:37Z")
> [@myskepticsight](#): > > Oh fuck off. It’s not self-righteous to dislike people perpetuating stupid stereotypes. Fuck off, yourself. People have cited a fucking university study that supports this “stupid sterotype”. 22-year-old university student? I just read that sentence as “fucking moron”. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/64 "2008-10-02T04:30:41Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Despite what the Government wants you to think, no one who’s seriously studied the physical evidence believes in the “lone black man” theory. If you analyze the trajectory, his tip would have had to physically change course between his pocket and the tabletop. Clearly, this man was a decoy, and your tip was actually left by the CIA (acting on orders from Lyndon Johnson). Ladies and Gentlemen, **Tom Tildrum** wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/65 "2008-10-02T05:08:37Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It was a sultry night. A quiet hush fell on the city. The alluring scent of barbeque sauce hung thick in the air. An African-American couple walked into the restaurant, where only four other people, two of them homeless, were sitting quietly. The couple sat at a booth, over which hung a framed print of ducks. The couple perused the entrees. He was in the mood for a burger and fries. His lovely wife of 26, concerned with her appearance, ordered a salad. But it was a large salad. The husband wondered silently if she was just fooling herself, as she doused the enormous bowl of vegetation with creamy Italian. > > The couple ate in angry silence, having fought over expenses earlier that day. The husband wanted to buy a giant screen TV. The wife wanted a trip to the Poconos. They could not afford both. > > As they finished up, they decided that it would be a good idea to order two full meals to-go. The husband tipped 12 cents. TWELVE FUCKING CENTS. 😛 -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/66 "2008-10-02T07:34:03Z")
“Why da fuck I gotta tip” lady said that they left an $8.00 tip on the change they had left over. Their Bill was $164.00. How do you make change from that sum? They either got $6.00, $16.00, or $36.00 doallars back. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/67 "2008-10-02T11:57:40Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Ladies and Gentlemen, **Tom Tildrum** wins the thread. Nah, I think he should have a post-off with **tdn**. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/68 "2008-10-02T12:09:27Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Yep. I teach in a mostly black school. We haven’t had an on-campus fight involving any of the boys in a couple years. All the on-campus fights and other drama involve the girls. Any petty disagreement is far more likely to get escalated into a screaming confrontations and physical assault if 4 or more girls are present. The principal combatants generally feel that they have to put on a brave show for their faction is why. The girls do the same shit back in their neighborhoods and then continue it when they get to school. Every day you hear them gossipping about who snatched whom bald the night before and who is going to get her ass kicked over it today. > The boys fight, too, but for one reason or another they don’t drag their mess in to school. > Our white girls fight too, but they don’t do the group thing. Their fights typically don’t feature as much screaming and the combatants don’t each have an entourage cheering them on, the level of violence is the same, though. When women fight they seem to be more intent on mutilating eachother than men do. When I was a freshman in high school, after a wrestling meet, my buddies and I were loitering in the parking lot and a group of (very large) black girls was nearby. One of my friends made some idiotic remark to them (I can’t remember what it was but it _wasn’t_ a racist slur) and the pack of girls actually started _chasing_ him around the parking lot. He was running around the lot like a rabbit with hounds on his trail (naturally, being an athlete, he was able to keep a good distance away from them) but they actually managed to keep up with him, chasing him in circles around the parking lot while screaming at him unintelligibly. Finally he ran to his truck and got in and locked the doors, and drove the hell out of there! It was one of the most insane things I’ve ever seen before or since. And at our high school, all the fights at lunch were always between the black girls and man could those girls fight! Much more entertaining than the standard issue redneck-guys brawl. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/69 "2008-10-02T12:37:17Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > [Why da Fuck I gotta Tip??](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6pi-9LBtxs&feature=related) > > For your edification and viewing pleasure… it’s a pretty common viewpoint. > > I have a feeling this thread is going to explode… 10,9,8… Jesus Christ on a pogo stick that’s painfully ignorant to watch. 15% of $164 is roughly $25 and they left $8? Fucking bitch. I’d have run after her too, but only to hand her the $8 back and tell her that she obviously needed it more than I did. Someone mentioned upthread about socio-economics, and I think that’s the key factor here. I had a long, illustrious career as a waiter and bartender (as a means of propping up my decade long hobby of being a college student) and the level of restaurant tends to weed out cheap people simply because the more expensive the restaurant is, the higher the likelihood of receiving a better tip because most of the people that eat at fine-dining establishments either can afford to, or aren’t noobs to the industry and are aware of tipping practices. When I worked at Ruby Tuesday’s, black people and old white ladies were the worst tippers. When I worked at a very high-end restaurant later in my service career almost _everyone_ tipped at least 15%…it was that extra 5-10% that you really busted your hump for. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/70 "2008-10-02T12:47:44Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Nah, I think he should have a post-off with **tdn**. Sorry, I’ve gotta vote for **Borborygmi** ’s post #41. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/71 "2008-10-02T12:54:59Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > [Why da Fuck I gotta Tip??](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6pi-9LBtxs&feature=related) > > For your edification and viewing pleasure… it’s a pretty common viewpoint. > > I have a feeling this thread is going to explode… 10,9,8… Two things that I noticed (before I got sick of having to listen to her creative use of some variation of “fuck” every third or fourth word): At one point she said that “he should have been happy we had enough money to pay the bill”, implying that there was a possibility that they might have stiffed him on the total bill. Then she mentioned that her sister was a waitress who expected to be tipped, but she still felt that this guy should have been happy they left him anything because the bill was so high. As someone mentioned in one of the past innumerable Pit threads about tipping, if you only have so much money with you, don’t order something that’s so expensive you don’t have enough for a tip. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/72 "2008-10-02T12:58:50Z")
A friend of mine who owns a restaurant in Mobile, AL, told me Canadians are consistently the worst tippers and that it is not just a coincidence but that it happens almost every time. I never thought they’d have that many Canadians in Mobile but that’s what she said. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/73 "2008-10-02T13:28:32Z")
**Cat Fight** , I’m with you. I don’t want a waiter kneeling on the floor, touching me, trying to sell me food I don’t want and using my name unless I have introduced myself (“table for 4, name irishgirl” doesn’t count). Show me the table. Pull out my chair. Give me the menus. Come back in 5. Ask if we need any help, if we’re ready to order our meal or if we need more time. Pour the wine like it’s for a sane person- the glass is not supposed to be full to the brim. Bring the correct food, hot, to the right people in a reasonable amount of time. Come back only when we are clearly finished or we call you. Clear the plates, offer coffee and pudding. Bring the bill promptly when asked. Do that, you’ll get 10%. Do that without me having to call you and quickly and you’ll get 15%. Jokes, games, reciting the menu as if I can’t read, invading my personal space, inserting yourself into my evening, taking an age with the food, or coming over to the table every 5 minutes to ask if we need anything- your tip will be 5% or less, and I’ll write why on the back of the restaurants copy of the receipt. Here waiters get minimum wage regardless of the tipping practices of their customers. BTW- I feel sorry for the girl with the period, I hope it wasn’t her first one. She must have been mortified. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/74 "2008-10-02T14:01:53Z")
Perhaps it isn’t “PC” or even polite to mention it, but as a person who has worked for tips for the last 13 years–in nice restaurants, in crappy ones, in dive bars and swanky martini bars–there are a few patterns that emerge. There are exceptions but as the saying goes, they prove the rule. Shall I write a list? People Who Aren’t Likely To Tip Worth A Shit Or At All: People of either sex under the age of 25 Women (of any age) who have never worked in–or known anybody who has worked in–the service (tipped) industry African Americans Senior Citizens Tourists who aren’t American Americans from small towns/rural communities There. I said it. It isn’t always true but it’s true far more often than it’s not. Fry me if you like; this is what I’ve observed throughout over a decade of paying my rent with tips. Any of the above folks who tip worth a shit surprise me; it has happened, and will happen again, but I am seldom surprised. And the idea that I give lesser service to people in these groups is ludicrous; hope springs eternal and it’s my job to take care of people. I am not going to explain why they don’t tip–or why they tip badly–because I wouldn’t venture to guess. I have theories but they are just theories. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/75 "2008-10-02T14:12:20Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I remember waiting on an English guy who was dining alone. Extremely convivial, finished the entire plate, said everything was fantastic—then left me no tip and complained to my manager that I hadn’t checked on him often enough. > > That was about 12 years ago, but now I finally have the chance to ask: why are you people like that? I do hope you are joking. If this is true, he is a rare Englishman. Pretty much all my British friends find the degree to which American wait staff repeatedly check on the table to be extremely irritating. I’d tip more if the person brought me my food and left me alone, but was available if I caught his or her eye if I needed anything. It isn’t a matter of not tipping at all. But in the magic tip ratio was always 10% when I was growing up. Many people would come to the States and not realize that a higher tip was expected. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/76 "2008-10-02T14:16:42Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > There. I said it. It isn’t always true but it’s true far more often than it’s not. Fry me if you like; this is what I’ve observed throughout over a decade of paying my rent with tips. Any of the above folks who tip worth a shit surprise me; it has happened, and will happen again, but I am seldom surprised. And the idea that I give lesser service to people in these groups is ludicrous; hope springs eternal and it’s my job to take care of people. Well friends who are waiters/barstaff have told me flat out the first time they served on me that I received less than the “top notch” service because once they heard my accent, they assumed they would get stiffed. Not that I got bad service, but that they were less inclined to go the extra mile. If you treat all your customers the same, well done. I know when I bartended, my good tippers would be more likely to get served first when the bar was crowded over Rudy, who never left so much as a nickel in his life. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/77 "2008-10-02T16:00:45Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > A friend of mine who owns a restaurant in Mobile, AL, told me Canadians are consistently the worst tippers and that it is not just a coincidence but that it happens almost every time. I never thought they’d have that many Canadians in Mobile but that’s what she said. I have no idea if this is a woosh or not; however, I’ve read (on this very board) that in some parts of the US ‘Canadian’ is actually code for ‘African American’. I have no idea if that’s true. Assuming that’s NOT what’s going on here, I have to say - at home in Canada I am a very good tipper - 20% is standard. 25% -30% if you’ve done a very good job. 15% if you suck. The last couple of times I’ve been in the US (I go pretty often), I’ve recieved really, really bad service. Slow. Food not hot. Server is distracted or pays little attention. Didn’t bring bill - we had to go up to the front and try to pay there after waiting for 10 minutes at the table. I’m afraid I really didn’t tip very well because the service sucked ass. 10% at the most I think. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/78 "2008-10-02T16:28:51Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > People Who Aren’t Likely To Tip Worth A Shit Or At All: > > People of either sex under the age of 25 > Women (of any age) who have never worked in–or known anybody who has worked in–the service (tipped) industry > African Americans > Senior Citizens > Tourists who aren’t American > Americans from small towns/rural communities I’d add one more to your un-PC list: “Indians\* who bring in the entire extended family.” _\_ - Subcontinental, not Native American. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/79 "2008-10-02T17:20:24Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’ve never thought about it before, but in the several years I waited tables I can’t remember waiting on \*any \*black elderly couples. Odd. Maybe we need a “why don’t elderly black couples go to restaurants?” thread. Or a “Where are all the elderly black couples?” thread, a la “Where are all the baby pigeons?” > [@Audrey Levins](#): > > People Who Aren’t Likely To Tip Worth A Shit Or At All: > > People of either sex under the age of 25 > Women (of any age) who have never worked in–or known anybody who has worked in–the service (tipped) industry > African Americans > Senior Citizens > Tourists who aren’t American > Americans from small towns/rural communities I’m going to risk my hide and add teachers to the list. Never EVER got a decent tip out of a table of teachers. We used to actually draw straws to see who had to take them when they’d book a party. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012/80 "2008-10-02T18:21:13Z")
OK Chimera, we’ve heard what you don’t like about your job, so perhaps you might like to share a few of the things you do like about your job. There are things you do like, aren’t there? Oh, and maybe if you include a few positive anecdotes about those of an ethnic persuasion, people might be more inclined to accept that there is no racist slant to your RO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midnight-restaurant-customers/466012.md?page=5)