Tuesday, January 25, 2011

To tip or not to tip...

My roommate and I went out to dinner a few nights ago and we had a very...disconcerting experience. A little bit of back story, my roommate and I are both people of color, the Jets-Steelers game was on so a lot of folks came in and stayed a while, our table happened to be right next to the wait staff station, and I have VERY good hearing.

Towards the end of our meal, three wait staff, our server included, were having a conversation about how bad the tips had been that night. One person blamed the football game and lack of table turnover. Another person blamed the weather, but our server had her own reason for why she had made less money. "All those hispanics and blacks...they just don't tip well. I just want to get paid for what I deserve."

Initially I was SHOCKED, but then shock led to anger, and anger to damn-near explosion. Let's just put it this way: I had a moment. Luckily for our server, my roommate was there to talk me through it, and before she came back to the table to give us our check, I had decided that I wasn't in the right state of mind to address the situation head-on.

The question then became: to tip or not to tip?

If we didn't tip, we would just be enforcing what she already thought of "people like us," but if we did tip, we'd be tipping someone that really pissed us off. The pressure to not give my entire cultural group a bad name was immense. Now...I was a waitress for 5 years, so I ALWAYS tip at least 20% if not more...but this woman didn't know that about me. She saw brown skin and assumed that I would be a bad tipper. Here's a tip: if you're going to make racist comments, try not to make them in earshot of your customers right before you give them the check.

We tipped...but I won't ever be going back to...

Houlihan's

700 Plaza Drive
Secaucus, NJ 07094
(201) 330-8856

...ever again.
Posted by Zaneta Marie at 9:35 AM

3 comments:

  1. KatieJanuary 26, 2011 at 10:52 AM

    You should write a letter to their corporate office!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KevinJanuary 27, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    There was a segment on Louis C.K.'s show about this, where he overhears a waitress say almost the same thing you heard and confronts her. While looking for it online I found this instead, you might find it interesting: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1329241

    I like the part about self-fulfilling prophesy, a bullet which your waitress barely dodged because you're a nicer person than most.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paul JamesJanuary 28, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    1) I wouldn't tip.
    2) I would complain to the manager
    3) I would demand a discount on my meal and a drawn out, face-to-face apology by the waitress.

    It would be the least that establishment could do.

    ReplyDelete

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