The Washington bee., 1912-01-13


large tips-thOugh AT times, It must be !
admitted, the tipping system renders
men so CallOuScd to every COnsIdtTa-
tion save the tip itself, that they see
nothing good in anybody or anything
except in SO far as that person or
thing becomes a delivering agent for
the coveted coin. The good people"
are men and women who never fail TO
treat all the hotel help as human be
ingS, who show that they are aware
of the hard conditions which surround
people who labor under the tipping
system, and they do a great deal TO
| Tighten the burden OF the turnkey and
save him from the inclmatlons which
| his life tends 10 engender within him.
Opposite TO good people comes
| the snakes who are the boys who
never give up anything at all( and
who incidentally live hard indeed, l
tell YOU. Between those two classes
! come the Charlatans, CONcOmbs, lush
! ers," and all the others whom l have
mentioned above. Bitterness, Cynl-
| Cism, resentment, dssininity, all these
are to be se \ standing forth, clearly,
visably, as II were, in every cafe and
| hotel dining room throughout this
land, and | claim that the tipping sys-
TEN IS responsible for their presence
My experience OF ten years Convinced
me long before 1t came to a clase,
that the tipping system was, and IS, a
breeder of contempt, hatred and dis
honesty. The more airs a chap gave
himself as he handed out a quarter or
a half dollar, the less thanks he al
ways received | recall that the best
and most unselIsh service | ever rem
dered during all my years in the hO-
tells, was for a dear little woman who
. never gave me d cent. | felt sorry for
her. Her husband was 4 big brute
whose money the boys used TO take
literally out of his hands before his
VERY ewes, and all the kicks he made
: from time TO time amounted to the
same thinG-eXaCtly nothing. The
proprietor knew the burly rascal never
gave up a cent; he also knew he was
mot paying his walters a living wage
! land-what of it?
Walters picl, up in legitimate tips
all the way from forty to one hun
| dred and fifty dollars per month, ac
: cording to the character of The house
lthev work in Their income S uncer
q {
Iwheedle some people and bully 9th
ers. Walters know that the people
= who employ them are not paying
l | them, and like all other people, they
= have contempt for the fellow who
iallows himself to be continually
| kicked. WATERS know their trad,
; under the tipping system is practical
4 and they ply it with a vim-some
= times savagely-after the manner o
. 3pirates.
In this connection | recall what wa
in my estimation the most dIsastrOu
Z economic move any hotel management
= ever undertook. 1t was made by tn
- prOprietOrs of the --- Hotel /
\ Atlantic City some years ago whe
- they began to employ scores OF me
e to work nightly in the cafe, withOu
=, any compensation, save what the
" lcould pick up" in tips. Decent, sell
= respecting men, unless they were a
- most destitute, would not work Their
The result was that cafe became tn
- rendezvous OF about as hard an
- ruthless a set of VaTlets as ever sale
> the Spanish main. They felt that nC
=. Ionlv was the pound of flesh neare:
> the heart being taken from them, bJ
- also the blood, aye, the heart itSel
- land their watchwOrd was "NeI
- geanCe." There may be those wh
" were surprised when that house WEI
into the hands of the receivers, but
liam not one of them. The proprietor
- NAV think tOday-as they thought an
~ explained then-that they fully III
~ derstOOd why failure had overtake
le them, but 7 am sure that my dlai
y and the memories of walters WI
- worked there that summer COnta
- evidences of the causes OF that d1Sru
,, ton that were never dreamed OF
= their philosophy.
i. Now the solution of the tippir
o. question is to be brought about. IT
= all. by the use of common sens
- Men who have been receiving iro
T.. seventv-fve to one hundred and eigh
dollars per month, including tips al
.s wages. are not going to be satlsH'
l,o with a fat rate of fifty or sixty dOlla
no per month. Your ideal waiter Is
= person of engaging manners, hne d1
in elimination, and he must have sor
ar education He Is a pretty good So
.,- of fellow after ali, whose evil tra1
s. were engendered by the tipping sy
II TEN. of which he has been the ytctl
ar and not the creator
nd MATTERS. like other men, ha
ir wives and children whom they lo1
ba They want to thrive and If DossiI
It. lAy by something for q rainy da
There isn't one i'm a hundred vs.
,fa would not give up his uncertain
come for q certin fixed stipend, b
"a he certainly Is not to be expected
- approve any plan which will ma
eoR that fixed stipend less than he is prg
= tically sure to receive, even und
~ the unsatisfactory and dubious Il
~ ping system. There are many augl
@ from which to view this questic
We That angle which includes a cons
Grafton of what the walters themseIv
- want and expect Is about the or
~ one from which any kind of sat
l factory solution Is to be reached
he TANES c. WATERS. J-
I'm
.s." ISAAC N. NUTTER.
lch Atlantic City. n J..
md Ian z