My co-worker lectured me on rudeness of a large tip

[tpsbmam]

143. "What is it about being served that makes people forget their manners?"

I kid you not, that's the front page this week of our local weekly independent paper, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC). I picked it up today and immediately thought of your thread.

I found it online when I got home -- four paragraphs from the article, The Tipping Point:

Still, Gilfillan, like many servers, is paid slightly more than $2 an hour, a standard restaurant practice (the federal minimum wage does not apply to tipped employees). "We rely on tips to make our living," she says. As is the case with many servers, the wages go to pay the income tax on her tips.

Many people either aren't aware that servers live exclusively on tips or they feign ignorance, Gilfillan says. Even though Gilfillan is friendly and mentally capable — she's holding down a double major in French and psychology at UNCA — she ticks off a number of stories about people flat refusing to leave her a gratuity. U.S. News & World Report says that all service providers should be tipped from 18 to 22 percent, calling the 10 to 15 percent tip “archaic.” Twenty percent seems to be the industry standard for good service (Condé Nast Traveler backs this up) and even more for exceptional service.


Although, on plenty of days Gilfillan and her co-workers walk out with pockets of cash, she says that watching parties leave $3 (or even nothing) on a check of $100 is a common occurrence. Gilfillan shrugs. "I just don't think they see us as real people," she says.

Still, tourists will fawn over artists in the River Arts District, but not so much when they’re jotting down orders at their dinner table. McGee says servers sometimes are reduced to food-carrying machines in the minds of some diners — ever hear the termwaitron? "People don't want to see their server's humanity so much," McGee says.

Hmmmmmmm, sounds to me like it's the people who stiff the wait staff who are insulting them.....well, I'll be damned! Thought it had to be "over" tipping that's insulting.