as some or maybe none of you know, im waiting tables at a mexican food restaurant in austin for my night job this summer. ive worked three other summers at two other locations for this same chain and have always made pretty good tips. but for some reason this summer im at a location that doesnt draw as much business, but even when it does, i dont make shit. this is largely due to the fact that even though im busting my ass for the two or three tables i have at any given time, i get tipped only about 10% of the tab about 1/2 the time. so instead of making $4-5 on a $25 tab i get 2 or 3, which adds up over an evening. i dont know whether this is because the economy is down so people feel they have to be assholes and save themselves a buck, or whether i am just waiting on poorer people in my new location or whether its just a trend among hispanics (as about 90% of these bad tippers are in fact hispanic, where is usu. i get 15% or more with people of an anglo persuasion)...but it is very frustrating to do a good job of service and only make 2 dollars. all this just to plead with you 20+ dedicated readers that i have to tip 15% to your waiters who do an adequate job. matty, can i get an amen?
Posted by dp at July 20, 2003 12:40 AM | TrackBackYou've got one brother. One obvious solution is to move to Soutern Maine, where everyone is white and yuppie.
Posted by: matt at July 20, 2003 8:49 AMDP hates blacks too.
Posted by: JosiahQ at July 20, 2003 8:56 AMyou really are evil. i am an equal opportunity blogger. i just noted a general trend.
Posted by: dp at July 20, 2003 8:45 PMActually, there was a feature on NPR this week about a new study showing blacks and hispanics actually do tip significantly less. Must be a cultural thing. They didn't mention Jews. (I tip 15-20% on average, but I would tip more if my waiter was DP.)
Posted by: mesh at July 21, 2003 1:13 AMThanks for reminding me why I don't wait tables in Texas anymore.
Posted by: Christin at July 21, 2003 4:55 PMBecause you hate hispanics Christin? Geez!
Posted by: JosiahQ at July 21, 2003 6:29 PMYeah, you're right. I'm a racist jerk.
; )
ooh! ooh! so am i!
Posted by: dp at July 22, 2003 1:32 AMYou'd think a racial group that constitutes a signifcant percentage of the service industry in this country would be used to the idea of good tips.
Posted by: ryan at July 22, 2003 2:39 PMI tip 15% for acceptable service, 20% for out-of-the-ordinary service and 10% if the person completely ruins my day by being a big, fat jerk. Maybe you're just ruining everyone's days ;o)
Posted by: kristen at July 22, 2003 5:01 PMa significant portion of the service industry maybe, but certainly not the service itself, at least not in my experience. the vast majority of hispanics work in the back of the house (cooks, bussers) not in the front as servers, even at the mexican food places ive worked at.
and even tho, the last post was perhaps in jest, i am quite confident that i am providing service worthy of at least 15% to these folks. i think the main reason may be that i work in south austin, which is much poorer than westlake, where i used to work.
Where in South Austin exactly? Mike and I got an apartment off Riverside, at Riverside and Parker (pretty close to I-35) sight unseen. Are we in the midst of the ghetto? It don't matta, we chose it because it is walking distance to City School, where I am teaching this fall.
Posted by: kristen at July 24, 2003 9:59 AMwell yes you are, to be brutally frank. although i dont know quite where parker is. but anywhere near 35 in that area is pretty ghetto, but east of 35 (the famed east austin) is truly ghetto. i had a teacher that used to live in apts at 183 and 35 (which is north of where you will be) and his apt. was broken into on multiple occasions and also had his bike stolen, so um lock your stuff up and dont leave anything outside. that said, austin is a pretty safe town as far as i can tell so i wouldnt worry.
but youre more in central austin, or east-central. i work off of ben white (71) at first street just a mile or so west of 35. id consider 71 to be delineating south austin, since anywhere north of 71 and 360 (the southern part) is westlake and rollingwood.
It is just east of I-35 and north of Ben White by a few miles. I really don't mind living in the ghetto, but we only have one car and I was really hoping it would be safe enough in daylight to walk the 3/4 mile to City School on Woodland, but that's Mike's call.
Posted by: kristen at July 24, 2003 5:10 PMyeah, um get padlocks on all your doors and get bars on your windows. carry a gun. everything will be ok.
Posted by: dp at July 24, 2003 11:12 PMfor the record, the above post is a joke. i really dont know that area, kristen.
Posted by: dp at July 28, 2003 4:35 PM