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.
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?
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Or a “Where are all the elderly black couples?” thread, a la “Where are all the baby pigeons?”
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.
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.
