The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-07-23
INTERESTING FACTS
 ABOUT TIPPING Those Who Will Suffer if the Custom is Abol-
 ished.
WAGES ARE VERY LOW
Charges Are Made in Keep ing With the Style of
 the Hotel.

ployes succeeds in it's desire to abol- ish the system of tipping walters? .Some enthusiast has estimated that about $80,oOO,OOO is spent in a single year upon tips In the United States. That is lot of money, but when one stops to think how much he himself pyas in the course of a year in that way and realizes that there are millions 'oi others who do the same, the esti- mate looks under rather than over the mark. There are many hotels and res- taurants in New York where walters are not paid sufficient wages to live on without the tips they receive from the public. The average wages paid at the clubs where tipping is not al- lowed are from $39 to $70 a month
 Some of the hotel and restaurant man. agements do not recognize the tipping system officially, but there are none among the well-known places where tipping is prohibited. The Waldorf, for instance, refuses to recognize the sys- tenn, and claims that the guest who tips lis not expected to receive any better attention than the guest who lavishly throws dollar bills about The fact, is, however that in nearly all hotels and ! restaurants the guest who does not tip lis served with less alacrity and care than the one who does. There are few places where larger wages than the average are paid. The
 Holland house, as an example has in- troduced a system where the amount paid to the walters is increased from year to year in accordance with the length of time they have been in the establishment. The walters start at $25 a month, after years service they get $S0, after two years $35, and some re- ceive as much as $60 month At Iplaces like Sherrys, the Hotel Astor and Delmonico's the wages paid are sSO 1 Q month as rule lAt the St. Regis, | the Waldorf, the Knickerbocker and Rector's the average is $25 In all these places walters have only one table to look after, while in many of the less fashionable places they have three and 1 four tables to serve.
 In the downtown restaurants. where luncheon is the principal and in many cases the only meal served, the scale | of wages is different, At Haan's the walters work in the luncheon hour only, and receive $3 a week. Monquin pays his waiter six per cent. of the amount of the orders they take. The waitresses
 in the Childs restaurants receive $6 a
 week. At Hitchcock's the mana cement
 pride themselves upon retaining their ] old hands and paying them wages oi
 from $40 to $60 a month, so that they
 can live without receiving tips from
 the guests At Coney Island and many
 of the beach resorts about the city
 walters receive no wages at all but
 are paid 10 per cent. upon all order:
 taken by them.
 The walters side of the question i.
 interesting. The most enterprisine
 stand for continuance of the tippina
 system, asserting that system ol
 higher wages would not enable then
 to please their patrons. They explain
 that it is not the guest only who has
 to pay tips. It is the matter of tips
 from the kitchen range and the win,
 cellar to the table in order to serve g
 meal properly To begin with, the walt.
 CT explains that he cannot hold his jot l unless he gives a "rake-off" to the head waiter out of his days profits. He may
 not be discharged for negligence in this respect, but in all large eating places
 there is system of fines for breakages and other delinqencies on the part ot | the waiter. For instance, lost check
 in some places, means a fine of $5 l Breakages and mistakes in ordering from the kitchen are fruitful source of excuses for fines. These fines are
 imposed by the head waiter, who is
 really the autocrat of the table. He enforces discipline, and enforces 1t rig lorously, unless he has share of the
 walters profits on days business. Then there are the special laundry bills which the waiter has to pay in many first-class places. In the summer espe- elally these bills run up to as much as S15 month. Generally speaking, the walters declare. their services cost the l fashionable eating establishments noth- ing when the amount of fines and oth-
 CT assessments is taken into account, Still they do not want to be prohibited from taking tips even If their wages are raised, and, as matter of fact, they say the prohibition of tips would be
 impossible anyway.
 There Is little use in attempting to indicate what amount should be given
 in tips. No general tariff will apply to all cases and places, According to the
 walters themselves, 25 cents is the | smallest gratuity which should be of- fered in a fashionable hotel or restaur- ant. For light breakfast, for instance,
 that Is enough in any hotel or eating place in New York. On orders running from $1 to $2, 50 cents is the right thing.
 After that the tips should be 10 per cent. on all orders up to $10 and if the | guest uses table all evening the percentage should be 15 per cent. after
 the first dollar, This is the tariff the walters expect in the fashionable eat.
 ing establishments. The homogeneous,
 where they will express an opinion at all, indicate a slightly lower scale \ Practically all admit that 25 cents is the
 smallest gratuity that should be offered
 Most say that that amount should be
 sufficient up to a $1 check. A $2.5o check
 calls for a tip of 50 cents, a $5 order {
 tip of $1, and $1O order a tip of $2. IT
 popular-price places anywhere in thu
 city the 10 per cent. tip is the usual
 thing on all orders over $1.-New Yorl |