Hi all, I haven't really been following the thread too closely, but I noticed that few of you (of those messages which I read, and of those who actually chose to talk about it) have ever actually worked in the food service biz. Well, I worked as a waiter for 10 years during and after college. The restaurants don't matter, although they were here in the cities. I want to bring up one really interesting point: lousy tippers are remembered by waiters and waitresses. Not only that, but they warn each other if one person knows something that the others haven't heard about yet. Not only that, but groups are remembered even more than individuals. The situation of a group that tips poorly (regardless of some individuals being generous and others being cheap) will rapidly degenerate, because a server thinks, "Why should I bother giving them good service if they're just going to stiff me anyway?" Meanwhile, the cheapskates are pointing at the sub-par service to justify their already low or non-existent tipping (even though it is likely that their cheapness is what inspired the poor service in the first place). Those sitting on the fence, as it were, may very well be swayed by the cheapskates' argument, and lower their tip as well, further adding to the degeneration of service. And those who tip 15% minimum, more for better service, and less for poor service, end up getting poor service even though they are perfectly willing to tip well for good service. Now let's throw another variable into this mess. What if you get a not-so-ethical server who already knows about a group or individual? That person has no problem spitting in your drinks or food, or dropping food on the floor and then just picking it up and serving it to you. I've seen it done, and it happens a lot more to the cheapskates than the generous folk. So from a purely selfish and pragmatic point of view, it makes sense to tip well, in order to motivate your server to give you not only good service, but clean food and drink. If I ever actually went to a beer meeting, I would do like I've done at other group meetings: I personally hand the server my cash tip, so he or she knows that *I* am generous, even if the rest of the group isn't. And, in order to really make a distinction between myself and the rest of the group, I usually give a 25-30% tip -- that covers at least a little bit of what is lost from those who don't tip or tip poorly, and further cements the memory of my generosity in the waiter's mind. The server will remember me in the future, and tell his associates to give me good service even if they ignore the rest of the group. Just my three cents. I'll not saying anything more on this topic. -- Dave Sherman - MCSE, MCSA, CCNA Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with ketchup. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list