The Wilmington morning star., 1940-08-12
Man About

Rv GEORGE Tucker

NEW YORK.-Aug. 11.-"As u.s.
ual." notes Abner Glib, the'human
stymie who unfortunately seems to
have escaped his obscurity again,
"you miss the point. I mean in that
piece you wrote about tipping. You
said YOU knew a waiter who bought
a yacht, and another who opened
his own restaurant, with the tips
he had saved. I believe you. But
that isn't the angle that is sapping
the vitality of the saps. It's the
dime and twenty centers, like my
self who are paying through the
nose. and I for one am beginning
to resent it.
.'There isn't a day goes by that
the accumulated tips l am COM
PEELED to distribute wouldn't buy
a first class-well, anyway, a very
good dinner.
s"Take today for instance. The
holocaust began before the sun was
barely up. Being tardy for work,
II decided to take a taxi from
Grand Central to the office. The
fare was Csc and the tip was a
dime.
II went down to the drug store
for breakfast. Almost anywhere
else in the country the matter
would have ended there. But in
New York the tipping practice has
gone to the point where even soda
jerkers' salaries r set with an
allowance for prospective tips, and
if you don't leave one you are
likely to get a mouse in your cof-
fee-or so is the tradition. So there
was another dime gone.
1.-THE shoeshine boy came around
in the middle of the morning. A
shine is a dime but you can't
stop there. Everybody kicks in
another nickel. Total so far, Csc.
Lunch meant another 15c, and
late in the afternoon I purchased
a haircut and shampoo. In Man
haitian that comes to $1.20. If a
barber charged any less he is apt
to be ostracized by his c%onferees
or, at least, have a bomb tossed
into his establishment. On a. 10
per cent basis, a $1.20 check calls
for a 15c cent tip, but my barber
announced expectantly that he was
leaving for his vacation and I could
not help giving him an extra nickel
send-off.
"After that, 1 stopped for a glass
of beer, and as almost anyone can
tell you, bartenders in Manhattan
have developed a lovely technique.
They spread the change out on the
counter, and the dime they hope to
get is always a little separated
from the rest of your change, so
that you are tempted to just ig-
more that dime. But at this point
I staged a one-man rebellion. l
picked up all the change. I ina
CINE the bartender is still sore.
II could 60 on like this for days
AS for instance the extra tip for
the cigaret girl, who also is adept
at returning change. The sad point
about buying cigarets from girls
with trays is that there never is
any fixed price. They may be 18c
they may be Csc. They may even
be 35c. Unfortunately, this girl is
very pretty and appealing, and my
cigarets cost me all told 27c.
II started out to itemize all tips
for the day, but between the beer
and the cigarets 1 lost count. I do
know that for the amount dribbled
away I could have had a fine din
ner in Kansas City, or Omaha, but
then l was a long way from Kan
sas City or Omaha, and in any
case I was so befuddled when l
got on a homebound bus ] dropped
a nickel in the slot and absently
started to hand the driver a tip. 1t
only when he almost wrecked
us that I came to my senses, and
sat down." 2