I'll agree with this. I was never a waiter, but I had many friends who were and they all said the same thing. I even knew two black waiters/bartenders who said for the most part this was true. Nobody should be declined service because of a lack of tipping, but when a certain group of people tend to tip better then others then they will likely get better service.
I'm confused...why was it an insult to you? Bringing up the ads was only to let you know how well you (insultingly) were describing me. Tips - well, sure it is a sticky thing but it is just an odd situation for waiters to rely so heavily on tips...on the benevolence (or non standardized "code of conduct") of strangers. I do fully understand that tips are the life blood of waiters, though. Intellectually, I can get behind the idea of getting rid of it for philosophical reasons but I know it is not a practical issue.
I waited tables for almost 2 or 3 years. The restaurant paid me $2 an hour and the rest of wages came from tips. I had car bills, medical bills, credit card bills, etc. Now here's a better question, when was the last time you got bad service at a restaurant because of the color of your skin? We can start with the dismissive notion that blacks bring this on themselves when you have been denied good service because of your color.
Wrong. It's not based on skin color. It is based on tipping practices. If black people were known to tip the same and waiters were less enthusiastic about waiting on them, then it would be about skin color.
I'm confused. I thought the above was your whole thesis -- that blacks were known to be bad tippers and that waiters were therefore unenthusiastic about waiting on them. What am I missing?
I don't think I have. I have bad service for other reasons though. I have had bad service being a teenager. We used to go to this mexican place with no money to drink cokes and eat chips. For some reason the service wasn't top notch. I'm sure the waiters wanted to kill us. But we were kids and didn't care. You think if I went into a nice restaurant with a mowhawk, tattoos and and sleeveless Rockets shirt that my service would be the same? Waiters would look at me and think "crap, small tip." I would get service but not as good as the guy with a fancy car and suit. It's just the way it is. It's one reason I don't care for nice places. I feel more comfortable at the local Taqueria. I'm not so sure how the waitress who don't speak English feel when the see me walking in again. It's usually real fun for them to try and take my order.
The idea that is solely based on skin color. It's not about them being black in of itself. It is not a prejudice against black people. If a person owned a "order and the counter" restaurant and gave black people bad service just because they had a bias against them as a people (because they didn't like the way the looked etc), that would be racist. But when you are not getting the same money from them, or more likely none at all, it is based on profit anticipation.
So you think there is an inherent dislike of old people that would cause waiters to be less enthusiastic about making money from them?
Yes but if you had the mohawk and the tats, it would be voluntary, like you CHOSE to dress or look that way. Black people are born black. A black guy in a nice suit would still get worse service than a moderately dressed white person.
Look MEOWGI, I don't dispute the fact that a lot of blacks do not give good tips. What I dispute is that when you look at somebody because of a certain characteristic such as age, race, religion, or whatever that is discrimination. My friend, who is a black waiter and has been for the past 9 years, said he feels the same way about blacks and tipping but he also realizes when he treats them different he is discriminating or being something of a racist to his own group.
Not necessarily. If Tmac came in I don't think his service would suffer. There are many variables. I think most waiters would rather work in an 5 star, upscale restaurant with predominantly black customers, than an 1 star with mostly white ones.
So why do you keep bringing up race? You're saying here that wait staff would rather work in an upscale, expensive restaurants as opposed to poorer ones. Previously you said black clientèle is avoided by wait staff. Which one is it?
you don't know the tipping practices of the individual, meowgi, unless you've waited on him before. the only thing you know is the skin color. and you're extrapolating out, prejudging and discriminating when you assume that a black guy is a bad tipper and, thus, you won't serve him.
I can understand the guilt. I also understand that past racism is pretty much reason the black people to not tip as well. It sucks. But I also understand waiters maximizing their profits and preferring to wait on a white table rather than a black one because they have a better chance of tipping.
I've had mixed experiences with Black restaurant workers. I used to go a McDonald close to my office several times a week for breakfast. The makeup of its employees somewhat resembles that of the customers it serves: lots of Blacks, some Whites and Latinos, and few Asians. I had about a handful of bad experiences where my order was either skipped or delayed for inexplicably long time (i.e., many who came later than me got served while I was still waiting). None of these bad experiences occurred when I was served by white receptionist/cashier or when there was a white manager on duty. I somehow felt the White employees always seemed to be aware I was an odd man out there and make sure I would be taken care of promptly. The same cannot be said about the Black employees in that particular McDonald, who would often displayed a lack of interest, or some kind of aloofness when I inquired my order that was delayed. Perhaps the Blacks in that McDonald were less professionally trained, compared to their White counterparts? Or maybe the Black employees couldn't care less if one fewer Asian male customer showed up, given that their restaurant is located in a mostly Black neighborhood, and there will be no shortage of customers of their likes? Then again, I also went to another fast food restaurant a couple of blocks away for lunch just as frequently during the same period. Unlike the McDonald, it is an exclusively Black owned and operated franchise, and I don't recall I had any unpleasantry over there as far as service was concerned. Of course my experiences at fast food restaurants don't involve any tipping related services, but since they are in some way relevant to this thread I thought I would share.
