5 RULES AND SOME TIPS ON TIPPING
Last week in this column, I reprinted part of a long and reasoned letter on the subject of tipping from veteran Arcadia restaurateur Eric Greene. In the letter, Greene also proposed five “rules” for the dining public in this matter, noting that for the tipping system to work properly, “customers must play their part intelligently and well.” Because I think his rules make sense, I would like to pass them on:
1--A gratuity is the equivalent of a sales commission; if the server gives extra service, he should be rewarded with extra cash.
2--You are under no legal obligation to tip; exercise your right to free determination of what the service is worth.
3--Minimum service should get a minimum tip. The IRS says 8% of the guest check is a minimum tip, so since the server has to pay income tax on about 8% of sales, that should be a bare-bones minimum.
4--In those rare cases where the server was insolent, rude and absolutely failed to give even a minimum of service, NO TIP SHOULD BE LEFT AT ALL.
5--Most of all, do not let yourself be intimidated by what you feel are rules carved in stone. Every one of us needs a lesson in humility every once in a while, and the most aloof headwaiter is no exception-- especially the aloof headwaiter.
To these rules, I would simply add the reminder, regarding Nos. 4 and 5, that a waiter should not be shortchanged because of problems in the kitchen or other matters beyond his control (long waits for food, for instance, are rarely a “service” problem)--though, of course, the way he deals with such problems certainly does reflect upon his professional abilities and perhaps should be taken into account.
MORE TIP TOPICS: My (and my readers’) remarks on tipping have generated a lot of mail. Without turning tips into an iceberg, I’d like to mention two more letters: Jack Rector of Thousand Oaks told me that, when presented with a $156.35 check for a dinner for eight (a seafood buffet) at the Westlake Plaza Hotel in Westlake Village, he found that a waiter had taken the liberty of penciling in $23.40 (approximately 15%) as a gratuity and then totaling the check. Rector was--justly I think--annoyed (though he paid up, since 15% is what he usually leaves anyway, he says). He has since contacted me again to report that a letter of complaint to the hotel’s general manager has brought him a refund for the 15% and a letter of apology (“(This) does not agree with the type of image we wish to maintain here”) from food and beverage director Thomas Kovari. Hooray for Rector for having complained and hooray for Kovari for having responded appropriately.
And Burt Richardson and Steve Kendrick, “cooking owners” of the Restaurant of Joe Greensleeves in Redlands, seem to address Eric Greene’s first rule when they write that one of them (which one is unspecified) recently left a $25 tip on a $90 tab at Rockenwagner in Venice. “Why?” he asks. “I dunno! I’m not a big tipper, but those kind personnel were so nice and the food so good that I wanted to let them know.” The same letter, though, raises another question: “Is it fair to the guy who pops for a $30 bottle of wine to calculate another $4.50 (as) service when the next table orders a $10 bottle and is ‘obligated’ to add only $1.50?”
This is a vexing question, made all the more complicated when the amounts involved are, say, $20 and $200. Should the diner who orders a “special occasion” wine, in other words, be expected to add 15 or 20% to its cost as part of the tip--when, with the possible exception of decanting, there isn’t much difference in the labor required to pour it or a simple table wine? I know what I think--but what do the diners and servers of Los Angeles think? I’d love to find out.
TALKING TURKEY: “We peel the potatoes and stuff the turkey, mash the potatoes and make the gravy from the turkey drippings. As the potato bread rises, the turkey broth boils to start the sour. When the apples are peeled, Mom makes the crust for the apple squares. . . .” Some Early American farm memory? Some Midwestern Thanksgiving chronicle? Nope. Part of a note I got recently from Susan Kalina, co-owner (with mom Helen Kalina) of the Main Course in West Los Angeles-- which serves roast turkey, cabbage rolls, beef goulash, and such, “to take away (or) delivered to your door.” If the food is as mouth-watering as Kalina’s prose, it must be quite a place.
ON THE FRONT BURNER: Sources say that Sam Duval, whose New Orleans-style restaurants in L.A., New York and San Francisco (including our own Ritz Cafe) have reportedly lost a bit of business since the cooling of the Cajun-Creole craze, is now at work on a new top-secret project: a stylish Caribbean place, to open early next year on Pico in West Los Angeles. Tentative moniker: The Sugar Shack--not to be confused with the popular Caribbean place in New York, Sugar Reef. . . . Meanwhile, the Angel City Grill has bowed in on Melrose in Hollywood. . . . The Boogie Woogie Bar has debuted at Le Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood. . . . And the California 500 Bar & Grill has started up in Newport Beach.
