Okay, as you all know I waitress.

When I started waitressing my Mom told me that a person placing a penny with a tip meant that you were doing a bad job and the penny was serving as a warning.

Then as I worked more one of our regulars pulled me aside and told me that a penny meant that I did a very good job and that if i ever see a penny with a tip on the table then I should know that i did a great job.

Since then I have seen once or twice a tip with a single penny sitting on top of the bill(s).

So...which is it???

They probably meant different situations.

If you get only a penny, it's pretty bad.

If you get a penny in addition to the tip, it means that the customer had a penny in their pocket and didn't want to carry it around anymore. Pennies build up annoyingly.

I would tend to agree with Kundor on that one. A single penny either means that you did terrible, or they are lousy, cheap scumbags. A tip with at least one penny in it probably means that the tip-givers simply used the opportunity of the tip to get rid of some annoying spare change. I personally have been guilty of adding all of my pocket change to the tips of water-peoples who did a great job.

In closing, I shall tell the three penny joke:

There was once a man so cheap he never left a real tip. One evening, he left the waitress who had served him three dull pennies. The waitress, annoyed at the insult, decided to get back a little of her own.

"You know," she told the man, "You can tell a lot about a person by the tip he leaves."

"Really?" he asked, interested. "And what does this tip tell you?"

"Well, the first penny tells me that you're thrifty."

The man smiled and nodded.

"The second penny tells me that you are a bachelor."

Once again the man nodded.

"The third penny tells me that your father was one also."

:D

No no no. I waited tables for years in my younger days (Oh,and as a side note, when you imagine Ghost' younger days think early Tom Cruise ala Risky Business with a dash of Tom Sellick aka Magnum PI in Hawaii) and you'll have a clear picture.

Anyway, if a penny is left on top of the money, and it is FACE Up (that's crucial) it means good service. If it's left FACE DOWN or set ASIEDE to the money and not on top of it (or without ANY cash) it means bad service.

Dude, as a customer, I can tell you I NEVER take that much care putting coins down, and if you're basing whether you did good or bad on that, you'd be getting many wrong impressions :\

Well, yeah - you're only getting the *right* impression when the customer IS goint to the trouble to do that in order to make a point - which IS the whole point! :P

Kundor...you leave tips...WILLINGLY??? :mischief:



Typically if the couple is older, as in 60s, I know that I will be getting a dollar plus some pocket change. Those people count pennies...believe me :|. I dropped a penny once and it rolled under this cabinet we have and the customer made me get on my hands and knees and go after it :(. She was elderly so I figured that with her...the penny was crucial so I dealt with it.

And today I went to harrass a waitressing friend of mine :D...but I left her a 100% tip (the meal was only $3.18).

The thing is Chris, a great deal of the customers don't even realize that the so-called penny rules are there. As far as they know, they're just putting change on the table, carefully or otherwise. And you're reading all kinds of good and horrible things into it.

Maybe if you put up a sign on the door, it would straighten things out.

Attention Customers:
Our OCD waiters and waitresses will probably read more into your tip than you intended. Take care not to place any pennies face up, unless your server was truly awesome, or at least very hot. Face down means bad service, or not even worthy of a pity date.
Thank you for your time.

hmm, I don't think I've ever had a waitress I wouldn't have gone on a date with :mischief:

at least, in the under-40 range, i can't quite handle the 20-year age gaps.

Even the male ones??? :naughty:

I've found that some waiters have no shame when they're after a good tip :lol: :mischief:

It would be pretty weird to have a male WAITRESS, considering i said WAITRESS and last i checked males fall under the category of NOT WAITRESSES.

foo.

meh

Huh. I always thought they fell under the category of 'Waiters'... :)

someone would have to really suck for me not to leave a tip. except, i get confused at Cinese restaurants. one place i used to go to said that it was bad luck for a tip to be left, and then i read somewhere that it was an insult in China to leave a tip bc you would be saying that you didn't get enough for your hard-earned money. but the waiters and waitresses at other Chinese places seem to be quite happy to get a tip.

if you're in America and you have a non-Chinese waiter/waitres...chances are...they want a tip :|

If you're in America and have a Chines waiter/waitress, chances are they want a tip :P

and @ghost: no, males don't really fall under the category of waiters: after all, i'm a male, but I'm not a waiter. And so are most other guys. However, every guy I've ever met falls under the category of NOT WAITRESSES.

Screw leaving a penny face down. If you don't like the waiter(ess) then have them fill your glass full of water, put your tip in change in the glass, put a menu over the glass, flip it upside down onto the table, and remove the menu. Viola! you have an upside down glass, full of water and full of change that can only be removed by spilling the drink everywhere. If you are really nasty, you make it something like Coke or Sprite.

:|

Don't you EVER come to my restaurant :mad:

for one thing...you'd ruin the menu and then I'd have to pay for a new menu :scared:

That is so mean! Only jerks do that!

That and unscrewing the salt and pepper lids.

I've fallen prey to that one :(

and let me assure you...I was mad.

:mischief:

Hey, I've never done it guys, I just heard that you could.