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Show fU o uuxy u u Anti-tippi- ng half-a-doz- en Anti-Tippi- ng co-work- ice, ers and don't kid yourself: where would we be if people weren't willing to pay the price to get it? three years ago 1 was on the other side of the tip. Lake everyone else, I was mildly uncomfortable and plenty uncertain about the custom, but without much thought I tipped taxi drivers, waiters, powder-roo- m attendants, bellboys, chambermaids, beauticians, and others. I had read that the average businessman paid five times the original cost of his hat to check-roo- m girls, and I'd heard about headwaiters growing rich on favors. I; too, was outraged during the war when a few butchers sold choice meats only for a "remembrance," INTIL nn nn and when a handful of hospital attendants answered buzzers more promptly for a price. But the evils of tipping never really struck me until I put on an apron and, in the words of my boys, began "slinging hash." I've learned a lot about human nature since and I've learned a lot about myself, too. For one thing, I never dreamed I would size up a customer in terms of his tips. I'm not money-hungr- y, either,' but workers like me live in great uncertainty about their weekly wages. My boss is no Scrooge, but my salary is little better than the minimum set by law. The rest of my earnings depend on me (my. smile, speed, solicitousness) and my customers (their gratitude, digestion, and generosity). In short, the tippee is a gambler, and make no mistake this gamble for weekly security breeds two things: preferential treatment and its opposite, rudeness. I don't condone either. In fact, I fight both in myself, but it isn't easy for me. Take the customer who sits down alone at a table, studies the menu for half an hour, then asks your advice about poached eggs vs. filet of beef. I try to avoid him, for I've learned that he's oblivious to the line of waiting diners but highly critical of the slightest smudge on a glass. When his poached eggs are brought to the table, he says, "You wouldn't mind, would you, but I really wanted Here's What the Ttppees Say Asked what they thought about the practice of tipping, three employees of a. large metropolitan hotel a maid, a bellhop, and a doorman had this to say: Maid "I don't receive many tips because I don't see the guests very often. When I do get a tip, I'm usually surprised and a little embarrassed. I'd just as soon not take tips." ...... . Bellhop "I make most of my money from tips, so naturally I'm in favor of them. Actually, I've never thought much about. whether tipping is good or'bad; but the hotels would have to pay us more if we didn't get tips, and that would probably mean higher rates for rooms." "I don't see anything wrong with tipping for services received. A lot of people seem to think we're getting rich from their tips, but that just isn't so." Doorman By Mary A. Fenwick eJ u u people in this country who collect $750 million in tips each year, there are plenty who think I'm as wrong as oysters in August. Listen, they say, tipping is older than the Bible, and every time anyone's tried to abolish it, the custom has sprung back. laws That's true, too! were passed in states but eventually all were repealed. At one time there was an Society with 100,000 members. That's gone too. In 1947 the late Robert R. Young put signs in his New York Central dining cars which said in substance: "No Tipping." Three years later the signs were gone and the little silver .trays were back. So relax, my argue, it's human nature to want better serv- I ft beef." The beef comes and goes back (too rare). The coffee's cold. Finally he finishes and saunters off, leaving you "skiffed" (trade word for tipless). The poor fellow is probably lonely, but when you have boys to educate or a family to support, you measure time in tips! You begin to see why Mr. X gets the ringside seat and prompt service while Mi Y does not. You understand, too, why an occasional waiter or back your meager cab driver-throwtip with the biting words: "Keep it! You need it more than I do!" It's not right, but the system s wrong, too. A pullman porter, asked the amount of his average tip, replied, "I reckon a dollar' "Hmm," his questioner mused, "yu must do very well." "No sir," he said, "you see, not many folks come up to average!" s , Decently i read an etiquette column in which the questioner asked whether he should hide the waitresses' tip under the plate or beside it. Advice: "Either way, so long as it is not visible to other guests nearby." We hide things we're ashamed of; that's why tips are pushed into clenched fists or buried unc!eTdHydishes. Neither giver nor receiver is comfortable about saying or accepting thanks in silver. The custom is unpleasant and undemocratic. Not long ago some friends, who had no idea I was working, came to the . v restaurant. "Why Mary," they said, obviously embarrassed, "imagine finding you working here!" They were uncomfortable about an erstwhile equal waiting on them. How ridiculous, I thought to myself! I've served those! same people often in my home. If they found me on the other side ofa bookstore counter, they'd envy my career. If I carried a bedpan to one of them in a hospital, they'd consider me noble as Florence Nightingale. No work, "regardless of its nature, could create this discomfort. It's the tip which spells the difference between an honest worker and a crawling servant, "which renders server and served unequal citizens. The tip breeds a different kind of ugliness, too: a temptation to cheat the man. In fact, government agents keep a close watch on dining income-ta- x rooms of plush hotels, and several vears affn a former Waldorf Astoria employee was convicted of evading tax on tips estimated at $36,000! But whether the agents are watching or not, the temptation to pocket tips is a very real one, and any custom which encourages dishonesty is questionable. Perhaps the thing that saddens me most is the change that has come over the word "service." People used to take pride in their work. It still should be 1 1 1 11 lt i enjoyaDie 10 ao a jod wen ana wunoui selfish motive. But today tips are expected, mathematically figured, and like everything else, inflated whether the tippee does his job well or not I know how pleasant it is to walk into a restaurant which announces: "No tipping, please. Our employees are well paid and glad to serve you." I appreciate the store where employees carry my groceries to the car gratis. I prefer traveling by plane and stopping at mo- tels, largely because 1 am free of this patronizing gesture. I realize it will take a tremendous amount of education,- - not - only of: the 1.1 to abolish tipping. I realize, too, that my may be right, that the custom may be here to stay and partly i i .u uui Decause many empwyers tuuiu operate their businesses profitably if they had to make up tips in wages. But it this is true, then at least we snouia arrange that no money be passed from palm to palm, and that the tip be in -eluded in a fixed service charge. This way there would be more dignico-work- ers ty, more equality between server and served. And this waitress, at least, would feel more certain about her wage, and therefore more eager to insure prompt service from the heart, not in hope of a handout! (Famihi Weeldv welcome vour views on tipping, in 300 words or less. Letters must be postmarked no later than mid- ' 1 . mgni, june io. ij we prim your teiier you will receive $2$. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request. We reserve the right to edit contributions. Letters cannot be returned. Address contributions to Tipping, Family Weekly, P. O. Box Z, w m - x a mm- - a Chicago 90, III.) family Weekly, Jwu i, 1151 IS |