I earned money as a student through waiting , typically in holiday camps run
by Butlins. My experience kind of parallels that of Diane - working class
holiday makers tipped the best. However, within the "waiting community" you
learnt very quickly how to get people to tip more by helping them to screw
the rest of system that tried to ration their food (the holiday camp idea
developed in Briatin after WWII when a rationing culutre was still in force.
Even though I was working in the camps in the 1970s the idea of rationing
still seemed to hold force - what Moscovici would call a social
representation?) Further more, people who returned continually to the same
holiday camp had also learnt and understood the "rules of engagement" and
they would tip you at the beginning of the holiday to ensure that you
"looked after them" and then at the end if you had. The wages of the waiters
were less than those of the kitchen porters because the employers expected
us to make up the difference in tips.
My experience of holidaying in France more recently is that "servis est
compris" and a waitress in Paris explained that you only tip if you think
you have had particularly good service.
My son, who works as a commis chef, works in a different system. All the
tips are pooled and split equally between all of the kitchen and waiting
staff at the end of the evening.
Geoff Hayward
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diane Hodges" <dhodges@ceo.cudenver.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2001 7:25 AM
Subject: Re: Tipping in restaurants
> this is fascinating!
>
> i've been a waitress in several contexts - a donut stand in a suburban
> mall, a cowboy bar in Calgary, a steak house (Calgary),
>
> and in these situations , the tips were contingent upon our pay. if we
> were paid minimum, it was assumed we'd make up the difference in tips: in
> the donut stand, the tips were pitiful so the pay was better:
> in the bar and steakhouse, the pay was worse but the tips were much
> better...
> and the tips were contingent upon familiarity, no more no less. regulars
> have always tipped more than wanderers-in;
> men tip women more than women tip women,
> drunks tip more than social drinkers,
> and service is usually directed towards the tipping in all waitressing
> situations. Americans are not as good tippers as Canadians, and in my
> experience knowing waitresses (from everywhere, including NZ and
> Australia; Europe, Africa, Caribbean), socialist economies produce better
> tippers because of a shared sensibility in the cost of living.
> socialist economies produce more of a community than the independent /
> individual perspective advanced by so-called free capitalist/democratic
> economy.
> diane's 2 cents, two dimes for a tip on that 2 pennies of expense. ;)
>
> "If you never try, you'll never be disappointed."
> Homer Simpson
>
> diane celia hodges
> university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
> instruction
> vancouver, bc
> mailing address: 46 broadview avenue, montreal, qc, H9R 3Z2
>
>
>
>
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