Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-29
TIPPING MATTRESSES

in restaurants that employ girls for walters.
to tip the girls" said a governmental spe-
cial agent who travels about good DR.
In the several Restaurants in Washington
where young women serve the tables. the
practice Of tipping Them is now an ac-
cepted thing. although the tips are not SO
large as those usually bestowed upon male
walters. Men are bit shy about tipping
the young wornHn. and good many OF
them, 1 observe, pass the change over to
their wives or-other women foiks with
whom they are dining and allow them TO
hand the silverqo tins girls.
Now. the tipping business is tremendous
~ overdone in this country, as everybody
knows, and regard great part OF IL as
gouging of the worst sort. All the same, as
long as the evil does exist with no effective
scheme yet suggested for doing away
with the system, should like to know why
women who wait on table are not Just as
much entitled to tips, and more. for the
matter of that. than male walters!
I'm the first place, the girl waiter nearly
always gives you better service than the
male waiter. She is more anxious TO please
more attentive. neater, certalniy cieahss,
and altogether more desirable for table
serving purposes than any man can poss.-
bly, be. according to my view And. with
the girl waiter, you haven't got thal con-
slant and depressing feeling that sne Is
sake of the tip that she is expecting from
you. When, after failing to tip the aver
age waiter girl, you return later 10 Ier
table. she doesn't bestow snin ana a
glare upon you, as most male walters 90,
but is just as pleasant and smiling ana Will
ing to attend ito you again as before
Moreover, waiter girls are paid less by
a whole lot. than male waiters-Wny' i
never could figure out, but they are, all
the same. And consequently, they neeu
the extra money great deal more, ana II
Is certainty that they make better use VI
it than the well-tipped male WATERS. Ihey
don't toss their super1ous change away on
whisky or craps but devote it to the legiti-
mate purpose of eking out their small IN
comes In view of all this, CAM unuer
stand why people should have any nesita-
ton in tipping waiter girls, nor why people
who do hand them a little extra change
should bestow smaller tips upon them than
they give to male walters. great many
Of these waiter girls are decidedly pretty ana
attractive from every point of view, anu
the Individual who doesn't respect and ad-
mire them for taking up and sticking 10 the
hard and exacting and poorly -paiu "oih
of waiting on table, and doing II with Smii-
ing faces and pleasant Manners ish puh'
right. 80. .
Il am willing to admit, however, that
good many quite free-handed men, dining
alone in restaurants employing girl wafer .,
hesitate to tip the girls for rear OF peins
regarded as fresh or forward, OF OF peinS
looked upon as trying to make MT VIII
the girls. In modern city there isr
chance in the world of a man belng turheu
down by a waiter girl Tor oHerlns nSi q
fin but lots of chaps have got that feeiing
and If will take some time to completely
.I shall not forget the trepidation with
which l offered my first tip TO waiter
girl nor the embarrassing outcome OF the
offering. -,
.It was at a mean little hotel in VII
lage in central Illinois, into which drove
in a buggy one day on government DUST
ness I took dinner at the hotel, and was
the only dinner guest. The dinner was
a surprisingly good mess of corned pee1
and cabbage, with slabs of pie ana cake
and coffee on the side.
II was served by a large, red-haired
Irish girl with a good-natured face and
brogue such as l had never before heard off
the stage.
..The girl was very solicitous that 1
should get enough to eat, and, In her
clumsy elephantne way, she did the very
best she knew how to please me. so 1
decided, at the end of the meal. to give
her tip of a quarter.
Just before rising from the table I
placed the quarter beside my coffee cup.
without saying anything to her about It,
But she noticed it Immediately. and
asked me: .afl
"'Shure an phwat's this. sorr? OF
doan't take tn money. sorr--yeez pays tn
boss for yeez dinner. He's sittin outside
''Oh, that's mot for my dinner Ire
piled. That's for you. you know.
1.-The huge red-haired girl flared up in
stantly and her face became as red as
her hair. She dropped the dishes she was
handling with a clatter on the table, put
her hands on her hips and surveyed me
most threateTingly.
"'Oill have yeez understand, sorr. that
Dim a loidy, aven If am waitin' on table,
and then she burst into tears and founced
out of the room, with her Bingham apron
at her eyes, leaving me feeling like the
traditional 30 cents
ut was some time after that before I
screwed up sufficient nerve to offer an
other waiter girl tip. The next time l
did 1t was in small eating place in an
Arkansas township. The girl who gave
me my dinner in that place was an ex-
tremely attentive and kindly little woman
to believe that l was getting my moneys
worth, but was constantly fetching me
fresh dishes from the restaurants regular
dinner bill of fare She wore pitifully
shabby, but perfectly clean dress, and l
couldn't help but feel sorry for her. So 1
decided to take another chance, although
had keen remembrance of that incident
of the red-haired girl and when l finished
my dinner l placed. quarter beside my
plate.
THAT is for your being so attentive to
me during dinner | explained to the girl.
''She picked it up and tucked it into her
apron pocket with the most delighted ex-
preston. L ever saw on woman's face.
GOSH she exclaimed now l win take
in TIL side show an stay FIR tn concert,
besidesr
1.-THE circus was due in town the next
day, and she meant that in addition to
the price of a seat under the main tent
she was now in possession of funds that
would enable her to take in the accessory
exhibitions"