The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-13
r |NESSE SECRET .FOR GETTING TIPS Tip Cultivators' Crop In Br- mingham Killed By Frost
 Annually

When Birmingham tips it forgets all about calculating a certain per centage of value received and pulling out the proper coin or bill.
 Its favorite tip is the good old sub stantial-looking quarter. unplugged
 And it's favorite protege is the little dark-hued bootblack who does his stuff tunefully-and with an itch ing palm.
 It's worst tipped servator is tht taxi man; he rarely gets more than quarter. most often 8 dime. and very frequently nothing at all. K The barber betters the tan mans late by only a small margin: his weekly earnings in tips average only six or seven dollars-which is small, darn small-according to the bar bers.
 But Birmingham tips temperament tally. This Is whaA the Age-Herald Babsonite discovered on a close in- vestigation of the situation. The city gives what ii feels like, when 1t feels inclined and in a direct pro- portion to the importance it attaches to the service.
 Procuring refreshments, for i'm stance. is, according to one execl -
  !, Making an appointment with the tailor or dentist rarely gets the ser vator anything, he said.
 O O Q
 Unconscious Society.
 Although the city gives generously there are many who parody Mark Twain's epigram when they discuss Society For The Abolition of Tip ping" There is a lot said about It but nothing done.
 The city seems to like tipping, according to the concensts of infor- nation, and therefore a cult of tip ping has arisen here and the higE priests are found in the hotels. rall- way stations, restaurants. barber shops, boot-blacking paFlors and o1h- CT establishments.
 In it's school the neophyte Is taught the powerful effect of the subI4t glance. the almost imperceptiblt movement, the listlessness of mov- ing off. and the sleight-of-hand trick of balancing a suggestion in the palm of ones itching hand. Tipping says the school, is a premium oI the personality of the servator-
 It's a poor scholar who has te make a blunt suggestion, the school declares.
 In the highest form the lever which loosens the pursestrings takes the form of a smothered glance o1 contempt,-even 8 patronlZing anc pitying air when. necessary Thlf in hotels and restaurants.
 But this ia rarely needed in Bir- mingham. It is unnecessary. accerd- ing to the leading hotel men Anf other employers of servators- We pay our men a living wage and { great deal more; you may expec' to get the same service without tip ping" they declare.
 Politene.s Doubtful.
 Being courteous and omittins gestures which lead to tipping ark sometimes disastrous to the servator The taxi men declare themselves VIC tims of this terrible virtue.
 The messenger boys put themselves in the lucky or unlucky' class Some guys have a sense Of duty anu others ain't," is the way one young ster put it. Frequently the little tei- lows perform the most difficl II du- ties with little or no added compen- salon. They are often, as they say "Bawled cut by some old maid whc didn't know what she wynted in ahe first place." Il
 The barber is not tipped as ofter as one might suppose Only foul out of ten men-or girls-tip hi1n They give him a dime, quarter, ol a half dollar-sometimes even more But sometimes a mere nickel some patrons tip him weekly, others monthly, and some only once a year but 1t is from s10 to s15 then
 Some folks has a regular habit o1 tipping" said one oldtime haircut ting darky. "They tips the barber and the brushoff boy reg'lar- They make it a business. And some makes 1t a business not to.
 One Birmingham bootblack ana brushoff boy makes from $40 to sat weekly in blacking and tips, 1t was said. The tip for the shine ls' ll most cases, five or ten cents
 The restaurant tips run from tex cents, a quarter or half dollar up Usl ally, however, it Is from ter cents to a quarter. A
 .'The most disappointing tip In the world" said one hotel man, IS when five or six walters spend their eve ming attending to 6 dinner or pan auet of perhaps fifty persons ane get a couple of dollars to divide among them"