Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-02-22

WHICH ihSO ~
system in most of the Atlantic sea-
board cities and perhaps in all large
towns of this country, is born of the
presence in the United States of profess
sional foreign-born walters, says the
Philadelphia Press. The race of pro-
fessional walters in Europe is largely
native to three or four small countries
bordering the great nations and speak
ing several tongues. Switzerland and
the duchy of Luxembourg contribute
most to the corps of professional walters.
The men speak several tongues, usual
ly French and German, Dutch or ltal-
ian, and sometimes all four. A few add
to the language which they have learned
at home in childhood n smattering of
English, and thus equipped these men
go from one end of Europe to the other
You find great numbers of them in
Paris, some in London, many in Vienna,
thousands in st. Petersburg, and a few
in all the cities, big or little, frequented
bv tourists Some of them turn trans
lators and you may see their signs all
over Paris. They undertake TO trans
late almost anything from any of half a
dozen European languages. In this
capacity they are wretchedly paid, and
only very proud man or very poor
waiter would consent to change the
latter's employment for that of trans
lator.
Many of these polyglot walters have
come TO the United States, and they have
thA,, thniF notion tn
their natural right to receive tips. A
naturalized American, unschooled in
the ways of fashionable restaurants at
home and abroad, cannot easily under
stand the attitude of the professional
waiter toward the tip. Upper and
tipped in Europe view the tip in dit
ferent fashion from that of the un-Eu-
ropea nized American.
Somebody has said that it is safe to
tip any Briton below the dignity OF
bishop, but an American travelling in
England found that it was well to draw
the line as low as dean. Mistaking
one of the latter dignitaries for some
thing less than he was the American
fumbled for a shilling after having re-
ceivcd some courtesies at his hands,
but paused when he saw his guides
face flush and took the hastily-prof-
fered advice TO put his coin in the poor
box.
The colored waiter unspoiled by con-
tact with great cities or summer resorts
accepts tip with a gratitude that
makes the donor feel that it is more
blessed to give than to receive. The
European waters attitude toward the
tip is as much beyond that of the I'M
spoiled colored man as the lowering
tenderness, the respectful yet SYM
pathetic and half-familiar interest of
the latter toward the person he serves
is beyond the compass of the profession
al European waiter The one receives
a tip as his simple due, the other ac-
cepts it as gracious act of generosity.
The Partisan waiter especially re-
CARDS the tips as a right. He not only
knows exactly what to expect but he
does not hesitate to remind a guest who
gcants the fee that something is yet due.
The iron rule OF Paris is one sou to the
franc, or FIVE per cent. OF the price
charged for the meal. In some fashion
able restaurants there is a minimum of
one frame but in ordinary restaurants
the waiter who serves twO-franc dim
ner expects two sous and no more.
In some English inns the custom has
gone beyond this, The guest finds upon
his bill a charge of five per cent for
Service" and is still expected to tip
the waiter.
These details are slowly taking form
in Philadelphia, New York, Boston,
Chicago and a few other cities. Time
was when a malignant waiter went un-
feed. but now the fee has become 50
much hard and fast rule that any neg
lect not serious enough TO justify an APP
peal to the head waiter is entirely
overlooked. The minimum fee is higher
in American cities than abroad, perhaps
in part because all labor is better paid
here than in Europe, and again because
the tipping system is stiil something
less than a matter of course here, and
some persons omit the fee. The hard
and fast rule of percentage is gradually
fixing itself upon the restaurants of
large cities and ostcntatiousIy large tips
have disappeared or are disappearing,
1t has long been literally true that head
walters demand share in the tips of
their subordinates and that all walters
are paid low wages at fashionable res
taurants because they are expected to
live on tips.
Women walters find that they re-
ceive comparatively few tips from men,
| just as male walters dread the appear
ance of an unescorted woman in a res
taurant. Gallantry makes an American
hesitate to tip woman, as he hesitates
to yield his travelling bag to be carried on
the shoulders of a slender girl up the
sleep, rocky stairs of Capri. Some
men who visit restaurants where the
walters are women have hit on the