Hillary leaves no tip

[begin_within]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/11/clinton-stiffs-.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Oh, for God's sake. How stupid. Her staff probably forgot--is this important at all?

[NeedleCast]

13. Not Important at All

But that doesn't mean we won't get another year+ of it and associated 100+ post threads dedicated to such "headlines". Remember, we have a lot of stupid to go before we get to the primaries. Watch for other important headlines like

"Racist Obama uses fork instead of Chopsticks at Chinese buffet."

"Kucinich says red-heads more fun than blonds."

"Edwards goes to Church which shows his clear hate for gays."


It's best to just try and laugh at the ridiculous nature of it.

[bpeale]

30. don't marginalize the server. they did their job & deserve an appropriate tip

[NeedleCast]

46. Look, there are a number of things that could have happened

I worked in restaurants and bars for years. I'm completely sympathetic to the people that do this unforgiving job, but I'm not going to base my candidate selection on this kind of ridiculous shit. If Hillary's people made a mistake, they made a mistake. Since the meal was on the house, I'd assume there was no bill and when you're busy pressing the flesh and making a quick stump-stop, maybe HRC drops the ball and forgets to leave a tip.

On the other hand, it'll be fun watching the right wing see how high they can run this non-issue up the flag-pole. Wonder if it'll get as high as the Obama non-compliance with manditory American-flag pin wearing "issue."

[walldude]

14. I'm sure it was to the single mom with 2 kids waiting tables

to make ends meet. They live off of that money. If you want to see how others fare in the "tip world" go to www.bitterwaitress.com

[TwilightGardener]

25. This was oversight, IF it really happened. This lady doesn't sound very credible to me.

[begin_within]

41. I see it as a telling illustration of her real attitude and beliefs:

Working class and "working poor" people are to be exploited as a political prop to get elected, then to be abandoned when the time comes to actually reward them for their loyalty and hard work. I see this as a clear illustration - actions speak louder than words.

[AspenRose]

2. Here we go....

It does raise a question, though: Do you leave a tip for a meal that was on the house?

[durrrty libby]

3. Some would take that gesture as a kickback, bribe or payola

:evilgrin:

[AspenRose]

8. Right...it's like damned if you do, damned if you don't

:shrug:

[DS1]

5. Yes, the server has to do the same amount of work regardless of the price

[youthere]

9. That's right..I doubt the server cares who paid the bill.

[TahitiNut]

21. Absolutely! The tip should even be bigger.

With a nephew who's a manager in an Applebee's, it's something I'm keen on. (I also worked as a busboy in one of my college jobs.) When I get "comped" for a meal, I leave a tip that's about 75% of the amount that I'd pay for just the meal alone. The server is not only doing all the work (s)he normally would, (s)he's doing it under the gaze of the manager. It's a "win-win" for everyone when I leave such a tip.

Under other "comping" circumstances, the server usually gets screwed. Customers who complain about food quality (outside of the server's control) will sometimes get "comped" for the cost of an entree or occasionally the entire meal. They then, both out of anger and out of greed, stiff the server ... even though it's both neither the server's fault and the server has usually put forth even more of an effort to please the customer.

So ... absolutely! The server should be tipped.

[AndyA]

10. Absolutely you leave a tip!

The server depends on tips to pay bills. Just because the meal may have been a freebie, the server still had to spend time attending to your needs. I always leave a tip based on what the bill would have been, regardless of the reason for the meal not being included on a bill.

[bunnies]

16. Absolutely you do!

In fact, one should tip MORE. The server is still working their ass off regardless.

[Tesha]

17. Yes. You tip on the equivalent value of the meal. (NT)

[blondeatlast]

18. Yes. The server isn't profiting off of the meal but still schleps the food and bev. nt

[Quantess]

26. OF COURSE!

YES, absolutely!
You should tip at least twice as much as you would have if you had paid for the meal. Better yet to tip the equivalent of the price of the meal.

[havocmom]

27. I always do

If a wait person worked to get it to me, damned right they get a tip! If the meal was gratis, the tip is all the bigger.

[Clark2008]

31. Yes, you do.

The owner may have given the food away for free, but the server still worked her butt off to provide service to the table. It matters not if the food was complimentary - her services still deserve payment.

My best friend's family owns a very popular restaurant in town - I NEVER pay to eat there, but I always leave my server a tip.

[MilesColtrane]

45. Absolutely.

The establishment comped the food.

The server still performed work and deserves compensation.

[Mike Daniels]

48. You alway tip for anything that's comp-ed.

Even if the entire meal was on the house, you still had someone bring the food out, atttend to your requests and clear the table setting. Just because the meal is free doesn't mean it just magically appeared at your table.

If you intentionally don't get charged for something it's not that hard to ask for a menu and factor in the cost of the freebies when calculating the tip.

[Glorfindel]

4. I wonder if there's a subject - anywhere - too trivial to be publicized?

"Hillary leaves no tip"
"Obama's middle name is Hussein"
"Edwards has a great big house"
"Kucinich is shorter than his wife"

et cetera ad nauseam.

[begin_within]

42. I don't see it as trivial at all. I see it as a clear example of her attitude and beliefs:

Working class and "working poor" people are to be exploited as a political prop to get elected, only to be abandoned when the time comes to actually reward them for their loyalty and hard work. I see this as a clear illustration - actions speak louder than words.

[mod mom]

6. NPR interviewed the waitress. DU discussion here as well:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3696266

[beberocks]

7. Oh, lets bring this up over and over again as if it is the biggest issue in this election!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Trillions in debt, no end to the Iraq war in sight, $100 per barrel of oil, etc, and all you care about it that HRC didn't leave a tip?

[mod mom]

11. The issue isn't the tip but that a candidate who is willing to use a woman's story

toward her own goals, fails to really understand the situation that she is in. I posted a link to a DU story . If you go to the link, you will find the interview.

[phantom power]

15. And the issue with Edwards' $400 haircut was campaign fund usage.

:eyes:

[book_worm]

22. $400 haircut? I wonder if he left an $80 tip?

[AlCzervik]

12. oh someone is so getting fired.

[Tesha]

19. Unfortunately it will be an underling instead of the overling. (NT)

[AlCzervik]

23. yup, some low level staffer no doubt.

[mod mom]

29. Then the campaign needs to address it because it's certainly bad press.

Both ABC and NPR covered it and stories like this affect people's opinion.

It wasn't just the tip, but Hillary's visit and use of this woman in stumping caused her more grief. Perhaps the campaign should immediately remedy it:

from ABC:

But a tip-less visit wasn't Esterday's only complaint.

"As for all of this attention on me, it hasn't helped my life, its made my life worse," added the Maid-Rite waitress.

Esterday's picture with the Senator also landed in a local newspaper. Her employer at the nursing home is not a Clinton fan and, since the photo appeared, the waitress claims her shifts have been reduced; she suspects the picture in the paper was the reason.

[msongs]

20. maybe the service was lousy? nt

[DS1]

24. And if she'd tipped 50%, she be labeled condescending

Still, no tip is fucking dumb.

[MindPilot]

28. OTOH what an opportunity to bring up the issue of a living wage

Tipping has morphed from being a reward for good service into a de facto wage subsidy.

[blondeatlast]

32. Good point--wonder if she'll run with that?

Not holding my breath or pee on that one, though.

[Scout]

58. exactly, thank you

pay people a decent wage, and eliminate tipping as a standard practice--not just in the restaurant business either.

[F.Gordon]

33. Maid-Rite is still in business?

:wtf:

I'm peeing my pants over here right now. Laughing so hard. If this is what the "political debate" has been reduced to..... I'm not riding that bus. :eyes:

[Feron]

34. She'd get Mr. Pink's vote....n/t

[blondeatlast]

35. Dumb. Dumb. Really, really dumb. There's really no good way to spin this

and I despise people who don't tip.

[Dora]

39. Please go read the entire story at the link. nt

[blondeatlast]

44. I did before I posted. Just no good way to spin this. Sorry.

:shrug:

[Dora]

50. The campaign says they paid AND tipped, and THE MANAGER ACKNOWLEDGED they did.

The truth needs no spinning, but manufactured outrage does take a lot of work.

:shrug:

[tjwash]

36. heh...

[Dora]

37. "... may not have been disbursed properly." For shame, Marshalltown, IA!!!

My mother and father fled that town forty-five years ago. It's a middle-class backwater - the classism and racism there is unbelievable, but oh-so polite and under the table. I'm not surprised the manager admitted that the money the campaign paid might not have been "disbursed properly."

I'm a little sorry my bloodline is connected to that community.

[ronnykmarshall]

38. Again ..... who needs freeperville?

[begin_within]

43. Well,

[mdmc]

40. no tip deserved

survival of the fittest

[MilesColtrane]

47. I've heard that there's no money in the Queen's purse either. n/t

[Greyskye]

49. I'm not a Hillary fan, BUT...

...did any of you actually read the article linked in the OP?

The Clinton campaign contacted ABC News to assert that they did, contrary to Esterday's claim to NPR, pay $157 for food at Maid-Rite and left a $100 tip to be split among the staff.

Sensing the story was reaching the tipping point, ABC News' Eloise Harper contacted Brad Crawford, manager of Maid-Rite caught in the political mixer, who said the senator's staff did pay a tip but "it might have not been disbursed properly."

[Dora]

51. I caught that too. Willfull ignorance abounds in this thread.

I'm not a Fan of Hilary (Go Kucinich!), but neither will I invent something to attack her with.

[NeedleCast]

52. That's about what I figured

The mangement pocketed the tip money. No shocker here. Happens all the time in the food service industry unfortunatly. The stories I could tell...

[MilesColtrane]

54. How does that happen?

Almost all restaurant transactions I've had involves paying the server.

Is this something that only happens when the tip is put on a credit card?

[NeedleCast]

66. Who knows in this story

I doubt this was your normal sit down at a quiet restaurant situation when HRC and assorted staffers come in. Sounds like it was a pre-planned event in any case. It very well might have been the owner/manager who actually took their money. It also might have been a pay at the register place. Who knows?

If they just handed the manager cash, or wrote them a check, or even if they paid the full amount and then added the tip to the card, it's possible it never made it back to the waitress. As the manager said in the quote upthread 'She did leave a tip, it may not have been distributed properly."

[begin_within]

55. I did read that, but I still don't buy it.

I believe the waitress' story completely, but I don't believe the Clinton campaign's story nor the restaurant's story.

[Greyskye]

56. I see. A "truthiness" fan.

Whatever. Have fun in your own personal reality. :eyes:

[begin_within]

57. There are 2 sides to every story - in this case 3 sides - and you choose which one you believe

I chose the waitress

[Greyskye]

60. Actually...

I believe the waitress was telling the truth in that she did not receive a tip. I also believe the Clinton campaign and the management of the restaurant when they say that a tip was left, and was not disbursed to the wait staff.

Occam's razor dude. Why in the world would the restaurant management lie about this? :eyes:

[Dora]

61. Two out of three stories match, but you choose not to believe them?

The campaign said they paid and they tipped - $100 tip, in fact.

The manager agreed, and said the tip wasn't disbursed properly.

You still don't believe it?



Willful ignorance abounds.

[Greyskye]

62. No kidding.

I guess he's going to continue to "Bob" and "Weave" around the facts so that he can bash a candidate that he doesn't care for.

And here I thought that we were better then that. Silly me! :dunce:

[ronnykmarshall]

67. Wow! What a shocker!

[begin_within]

53. At least it didn't happen at a

[SoCalDem]

59. Every election cycle, reporters always fall all over these "events"

1. candidates on "tour" usually carry NOTHING with them..no wallet, no purse..no money.

2. the places they visit KNOW in advance that they are coming, and prepare food for them (whether the candidate is hungry or not)

3. it's a PHOTO-OP, people...Hillary or any candidate does not say.."Hey I'm starving, let's all go to Mom & Pop Diner over there..and chow down"

4. the place gets a "claim to fame" after the candidate visits..and they get a ton of free advertising..

5. the "server" probably was pre-chosen to "wait on them" for the picture..and is surely not "worried" that he/she did not get that $2 tip

6. the restaurant will probably get a followup call/visit by the candidate's "people" ..to settle up for any costs..which will be waved off by the owner/manager..

These stories always surface, and it's always the same.. Candidates are not "dollar robots" with pockets full of ones at the ready ..to be passed out to every waiter/waitress they should meet

[Tellurian]

63. SHE DID LEAVE THEM A TIP..

Do Not Vote for Obama!

ha!

[Blue Diadem]

64. I see it's been confirmed that the $100 tip was received and not properly disbursed. n/t

edited for stupid spelling.

[Lucinda]

65. UPDATE: Story false.. NPR corrected info and ABC posts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3697482&mesg_id=3697482

[Greyskye]

68. So, Bob...

...do you still not believe the restaurant or the campaign staff? Or is the 'liberal media' :sarcasm: covering up for Hillary's faux pas?

[Greyskye]

69. ...crickets...

:popcorn: