I found this on Joey deVilla. It was reportedly found by a waiter. I’m inclined to think that it is the real deal because it includes the bit about Prop 30 in California.
What I think it most interesting is how petty this is. All those years of reading Shakespeare warped my mind into thinking that the wealthy ought to be above this. Of course, all my experience in life indicates that the rich are fairly miserly. When they do give, they tend to be ostentatious about it.
Think about this for a moment. The federal income tax is only going up 4.6 percentage points on income over $450,000. The Prop 30 tax is going up roughly 1 percentage point on income over a quarter million. This is no justification for not tipping, because a rich person’s income devoted to eating certainly is included in the income that is not taxed more. Additionally, the total tax rate hike on this upper income only goes up by about 6%. This is much less than the 15% minimum expected tip.
There is another side to this, of course. If you really were limiting your expenses, you would not stop tipping. You would eat at cheaper restaurants. Or eat out less. But let us not forget that it is very likely that this card wasn’t left by a rich person at all. It was just as likely left by a conservative trying to make a point. You know the kind: Joe the Plumber, who was so concerned about paying taxes on income he had never come close to making.
Whoever left this card is just being a dick. And I even tend to think that he (You just know it’s a guy, right?) will soon get over it. Then he’ll go back to tipping. But I tend to think he is a pretty bad tipper anyway. Most people tip well because they want to be liked. People who want to be liked try not to be dicks; they don’t go out of their way to be one.
Afterword
Note also the, “I wish it didn’t have to be this way for both of us.” This is definitely a dick way of saying, “I know it is because of poor losers like you that my taxes went up!”
Some people tip to be liked, some tip to get in good with the bartender, others because they know servers depend on tips for a large part of their income. (I’m in both of the last two camps.)
Incidentally one of my hangouts is a bar/restaurant near a major event venue in St. Paul, and the servers there tell me the two worst groups for tipping were/are the GOP convention and anything Christian (revivals, concerts, etc.) Makes sense. Those aren’t two groups who are overwhelmed with concern over anyone’s livelihood but their own.
I need to be able to LIKE this on facebook, the only public place I am noticed by a small number of people.
"As a direct result of Proposition 30 and President Obama’s Insistence that I pay ‘MY FAIR SHARE IN TAXES,’ I find that I must cut back on discretionary spending and gratuities. I wish it didn’t have to be this way for both of us."
This is after spending several hundred dollars on a fancy dinner and even more on over-priced wine.
You’re probably right that it wasn’t actually a rich person who left that, but either way, this guy is a fucking prick. I love the logic of taking out his anger on a waiter who is just trying to get by. Having worked at a restaurant several times, and at several different positions, I hold a great deal of respect for anyone working as a dishwasher or a waiter or a cook.
Waitresses and waiters, however, have the worst job of the bunch because they bear the brunt of the mistakes of the rest of the people working at a restaurant. If a waiter or waitress does a good job, I always tip very well. Even if they suck I try to remember that people have bad days, and I still give the minimum.
@JMF – I think that all three of those are the same thing. But maybe the last could be called empathy. But I think that people who want to be liked also tend to be empathic. It is all about getting in the other person’s head.
I have heard from a couple of waiter that gay men are the best tippers. But I’ve had a lot of gay friends, so maybe my sample is biased.
@Will – I am working on it.
@Mack – Yeah, I try always to put the best spin on it. In my experience, servers are remarkably good. They are pleasant at a level that I have never been–at least when I’m sober.
Whoever it is, has got to be a dick. No question of that. What these free market people miss is that their behavior just makes the case for socialism. See what "dog eat dog" leads to: people acting like animals.
I just did a Google search on that phrase. An oft repeated comment is, "He’d better never dine in the same place twice." Which, following JMF’s comment, is another reason for tipping well. (It also falls under being liked, though.)
Here’s another: "If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to have professional plaque cards printed out explaining why you can’t tip."