Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-05-17
The ETHICS OF TIPPING
tFoGress OF an Abuse Tint Ia Hard
ening Into q System.
INC frsctice Introduced Into This Conn.
wy oy Foreign Born Walters In Tari-
the Amount Expected /, tiv" Per
Cont of the Price OF tn. Meal.

the Amount Expected /, fiv" Fer
Cont of the Price Of the Meal.
tipping, which has hardened into
system in most II the Atlantic SEQ
board cities and perhaps in AL large
towns Of this country. is born u the
presence in the nitcd States Il prp.-,-
sional reign-born waters. SANS thu
Philadelphia Press. The race - pro
fessional waters in Europe is largely
native 10 three or four small countric.
bordering the great nations and spcah
ing several tongues. Switzerland ano
the duchy Of Luxcmbury coI,r.hut,
most u the corps uf professional waiter,
The men speak several tongues, usual
ly French and German. Dutch or I,;ll
ian, and sometimes all four. y few add
to the language which they have Learned
At home in childhood a smattcriny al
English, and thus equipped these meI
60 from one end of Europe To- the other
You find great numbers ~ them II
Paris, some in London. mary in Vienna
thousands in st. Petcrshur and a few
IN all the cities, big or it'll, frcqucntec
lators and you may see thor signs al.
over Paris. They undertake IL trans
late almost anything from any Of halfa
dozen European languages. In this
capacity they are wre,chrdiv paid, anc
only very proud man or a very poor
waiter would consent Ia change the
latter's employment for that Of trans
lator.
Many Of these polyglot walters have
come to the United States. and they have
brought with them their notion rs &c
their natural right to receive tips.
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 diff
ferent fashion from that of the un-Eu-
ropeanized 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 shilling after having re-
ceived 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 q tip with \ gratitude that
makes the donor feel that it is more
blessed TO give than to receive. The
European walters attitude toward the
tip is as much beyond that Of the I'M
spoiled colored man Us 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
. tip as his simple due, the other ac-
cepts it as a gracious act Of generosity.
The Partisan waiter especially re-
CARDS the tips as q right. He not only
knows exactly what to expect but he
does not hesitate to remind a guest who
scants 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 q minimum Of
one franc, but in ordinary restaurants
the waiter who serves q two-franc din
ner expects two sous and no more.
In some English inns the custom has
gone beyond this. The guest iinds upon
his bill q charge Of five per cent. for
Service" and 10 still expected to tip
the waiter.
These details are slowly taking form
in Philadelphia, New York, Boston,
Chicago and . few other cities. Time
was when q malignant waiter went I'M
feed, but now the fee has become SO
much hard and fast rule that any neg
lect not serious enough to justify an ap-
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 still 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 ostentatiously large tips
have disappeared or are disappearing.
It has long been literally true that head
walters demand share in the tips of
the. subordinates and that all walters
are paid low wages at fashionable res
taurants because they are expected 70
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
...urant. Gallantry makes an American
hesitate to tip q woman, as he hesitates
to yield his travelling bag to be carried on
the shoulders of slender girl up the
sleep, rocky stairs Of Capri. Some
men who visit restaurants where the
walters are women have hit on the
scheme Of tipping in q lump at Christ
mas, and doing it very quietly.
One feature of the tipping custom has
thus far made small progress in the
United States-that of leaving a gratui-
ty under ones final plate after dinner
1t the house of friend. A young man
at . reception at an interior city con-
fessed, however, that in order to be
served by professional walters hired for
the occasion guests found it necessary