Jacqueline Kravette Blind Items - Worst Tippers
At one of the trendiest Hollywood bars, this year's hottest free agent tipped a mere $6 on a $300 bill. Despite his tens of millions in athletic endorsements, this poor tipper doesn't believe in sharing the wealth.
Forbes magazine deemed this entrepreneur's net worth to be over $4 billion. When he ate at a popular Hollywood eatery he loved every minute of the experience and had servers surrounding his party to make sure he was taken care of like a king. Even with all this attention, this eccentric billionaire only laid down a 10% tip.
Following close behind this billion-dollar man are two close friends. This two time Academy Award Winning Actor and two time Academy Award Winning Director tip 15% on the nose according to various Westside eateries they frequent.
Apparently this teenybopper boy band didn't quite finish math in high school as evidenced from their very miscalculated tip. They may be the heartthrobs of every teenage girl in America, but there is no love lost between them and their servers as they are known to tip less than 10%.
One of the most notorious non-tippers is this former Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer turned pop star. On several occasions, this singing sensation stiffed the bellmen at a stylish West Hollywood Hotel.
From pop queen to tennis queen, this champion apparently agrees with the no tip rule. Even with winning a dozen Grand Slams, she gave the bellman the ole stiffaroo after he nearly threw out his back hauling down three monstrous suitcases.
hmmm . . .. tipping is great, and I love to give and receive. But it is not compulsory, nor do I think it's fair to complain when people tip 10-15 percent. Of course, I have never received famous-person service in my life, so I probably don't understand what's involved here.
ReplyDeleteservers make less than minimum wage -- in some states, as little as $2/hour, so while it's not "compulsory" it is expected in the US. 15-20% is the standard, so complaining about 10% when they probably gave exceptional celebrity-caliber service, seems reasonable to me.
ReplyDeleteYou know what they say - 'rich people don't get rich without being tight'. lol.
ReplyDeleteOliver Stone and Sean Penn for the director and the actor because they're notoriously stingy
ReplyDeleteThe pop queen is Christina Aguilera for me
and Selena Williams for the tennis queen
ReplyDeleteeccentric billionaire = Rupert Murdoch
ReplyDeleteI'd say Anna Kournikova for the tennis queen, except she hasn't won a dozen Grand Slams (unless you count doubles). Maybe one of the Williams sisters? They seem nasty to me.
mickey mouse club is Britney or Christina. I'm guessing Christina, though I wish it were Brit
LeBron James came to mind for the first, and I'm on the Christina wagon for the pop star.
ReplyDeleteJonas bros for the boy band
ReplyDeleteI HATE HATE HATE bad tippers. I waitressed in college, and in Massachusetts we received $1.67 per hour. Because of taxes, I received a blank paycheck every week, because the system assumes that you make 18% of what you ring up.
ReplyDelete20% is standard these days. I tip 25% for exceptionally great service.
My sister's boyfriend waited on Conan O'Brien the other day and Conando left $100 on top of the already-included 20% gratuity. :-)
LeBron definitely for the 1st paragraph.
ReplyDeleteSteve Wozniak for the 2nd paragraph.
Britney Spears for the mouseketeer.
Thanks for that story @Adventurous! Now I love Conan even more. :-)
ReplyDeleteRichard Branson was my first guess for the 10% tipper who received royal service, just based on the "eccentric" qualifier. But I went to Forbes to check anyway and was surprised to learn that just over $4 billion barely gets you in the Top 150 richest people in the world. Anyway, he is on that list, with a net worth of $4B, so that's still my guess.
ReplyDeleteLeBron James
ReplyDelete?
Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg
Jonas Brothers
Xtina
One of the Williams Sisters
I believe Timberlake was a Mouseketeer, too, so he's in the running for that one.
ReplyDeleteI always tip 20% or more unless the service sucks.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to believe anything bad about the Williams sisters. I worked with Venus a few years ago on a project and she was fantastic - gracious, funny, polite, just lovely. No way it's her.
ReplyDeleteI tip 20% for good, friendly, and helpful service and next to nothing when the service was bad or the person was rude or mean.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think tipping is just taken for granted or expected in a lot of places and it's gotten out of control.
lebron james
ReplyDeletejonas brothers
xtina (i don't think britney would be credited as a singing sensation)
serena williams (venus hasn't won a dozen slams)
not sure about the entrepreneur, director, or actor
I tip 20% normally. For bad service - like the waiter last week who *spaced* our order and put it in twenty minutes later then *spaced* our drinks but didn't *space* charging us for them - I tip exactly 10% to the penny. It sends a message without me completely stiffing any bus staff who shares the tips.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how poor I was in grad school my friends and I always figured a 15% tip into our meals out when we could spring for such a event. Always.
ReplyDeleteTo this day I am not Ms Moneybags but I still tip 15%-20 depending on service. A whole lot less if the wait staff is being awful.
I think the blinds have all been guessed.
ReplyDeleteI tip 20%. I was a server in college and my husband is a lifelong bartender. But you better believe that we worked for those tips and don't expect them. I just hate when a table runs you ragged and then leaves way less than 15%. Karma bitches. I won't complain though, because the kind people will make up for the shitty tippers on an average day.
I did get told I had no integrity once by a guy that was pissed that his burrito took a long time. I said something along the lines of "you're complaining about a burrito and insulting someone who had nothing to do with how long it took, I have more integrity in my pinky finger than you have in your whole body."
Oh, but what pisses me off is counter service with a tip jar. Think subway or the like. UM? What? I had a person shake the tip jar at me once. No. Just no. Now I have to tip everyone for everything? Whatever.
I meant to say why I think the billionaire is Richard Branson. 10% is the standard gratuity in the UK (when gratuity is included). So 10% isn't being cheap in his world - it is the standard amount.
ReplyDeleteCould someone please explain *why* the "standard" gratuity has gone from 15% to 20%, a 33% increase? I'm not getting 33% better service. I tip minimum 15%, but can't buy into the idea that the baseline tip has now moved to 20%. If a server does a great job, I'll tip 20-25%, but they have to *earn* that. Someone who does a really crappy job gets 10%.
I always tip 20%. Less if the service is bad (and it has to be really bad to make me mad) and more if the service it good. I used to be so embarrassed to go out with my mom and grandmother. I would ALWAYS have to make my mom leave more. My grandma will never tip over 10% plain and simple. She goes so far as to not tip on the total. She tips on the subtotal without the tax added in.. :P
ReplyDelete1. No clue? Is Tiger too easy??
2. First thought was Branson.
3. Not sure.
4. Jonas? Too easy??
5. Imma say Brit Brit.. Remember all of the crazy nights at hotels?
6. Venus or Serena?
When did standard tipping go from 10%-15% to 15%20%? I spent years as a waitress and have to say that many servers I've had in the last few years hardly deserve a thing. When you only get a water refill about half of the time something is wrong with the service! I agree about the counter service tip jars.
ReplyDeleteAlso, wasn't there once a federal employment law about employers having to make up the difference between tips and salary to bring the total up to minimum wage if someone didn't make at least that in tips? Not that employers follow that or employees even know about that, but I'm pretty sure there are laws on the books.
The tennis star has to be Serena. She's been rumored to be a bad (or non)tipper before. Plus, she thinks she's a fashion designer and travels with trunks of (hideous) clothes.
ReplyDeleteTipping is optional, and people's ideas about tipping are the product of their usual stance toward the world. Thus, there are angry and bitter people who explode with rage at the mere thought that they are being asked to tip, while there are other people who understand it and participate, and there are other people whose generosity compels them to tip a lot more. I accept all of these types because I recognize it isn't a choice, it's how they were born or what their experiences molded them into. Let's all just get along, whether we're cheap or generous. Life is short. Tip as you wish!
ReplyDeleteAs a Brit, I just don't get the gratuity thing. We don't routinely tip over here, but our servers get a minimum wage, think it's about $10-12 an hour. We tip for great service and we don't work out it out to the last penny, we just round it up or leave a few pounds.
ReplyDeleteWe are warned though if we're holidaying to the US that WE HAVE TO TIP, that it's considered the height of bad manners not to and you know how obsessed Brits are with manners lol.
But then it's way more expensive over here, even a Big Mac and fries is nearly $10.
So I guess my point is that with the profits that a lot of restaurants make, they should be able to pay their serving staff a decent wage, if not increase the price of the food by 15% so that you can pay your staff and the staff know exactly how much they are going to earn every week.
I had a long reply about my tipping habits, but I think I'll just go ahead and agree with Barton.
ReplyDeleteI think the tennis player is older like Chris evert. She is known to be a bitch
ReplyDeletehot free agent - Tiger Woods?
ReplyDeleteeccentric billionaire - Warren Buffett or Bill Gates
Two Close Friends - Michael Douglas and ?
teenybopper boy band - Jonas Brothers
Mickey Mouse - Has to be Britney
tennis queen - one of the Williams Sisters
I'm probably on the other side of the tipping scale. Why do restuarants get to pay their people a dollar an hour?
ReplyDeleteIf the service is reasonable, I tip 20% across the board (and a millionaire I am not). In our culture, the customer picks up part of the gratuity to the server. The server's pay is service-linked. Any customer who doesn't understand that, should opt for fast food where the quality of food and service are predetermined. That's what gives the low price.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in Europe, I tip the European way. When Europeans are here, they should tip the American way. It's rude to insist upon acting like we're in our own country when we're in someone else's land.
Good for Conan. A friend's daughter waited on the cast of 24 not long ago. The bill was $400 and their tip was $400. When you consider how small the cast of 24 is, that's really saying something.
I haven't even read this post or any comments, but I spent a good portion of my life either cocktailing, bartending or waiting, and TO THIS DAY in my "new life" as a local business owner I still judge people by the way they treated us local waits when we were on the receiving end. To this day.
ReplyDeleteAnd it has hurt a few of them in the long run.
And in those cases where we know the HBIC left a good tip but a party member then effed it up by stealing from the pile, I have those thieves are at the top of the shit list.
Karma is a bigger bitch than I am!
...AND lots of times the HBIC will pay, but a *magnanimous* party member will try to look big by stating "at least let me leave the tip" and, almost always when booze is involved, the HBIC never realizes the tipper leaves jack shit.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe pop star could be Justin Timberlake. It doesn't say female.
ReplyDeletebuffet & gates are worth 10X 4 billion & neither are eccentric unless down to earth & boring means that in the billionaire world.
ReplyDeleteoprah maybe for the billionaire.
ReplyDeletei live in WA state, and servers are paid at least minimum wage, which is actually one of the highest, if not THE highest min wages in the country, almost $9 i think.
ReplyDeletei usually double the tax, which is about 9.8%, so what is that? almost 20% tip, on top of their minimum wage.
servers here make decent money. i don't feel much pity.
How is Tiger the "hottest free agent?" Free agent what? So obviously LeBron.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Califblondy - the whole system is out of control. TIPPING IS OPTIONAL. I almost always leave a tip unless the service is terrible, but the fact is, IT'S OPTIONAL.
ReplyDeleteAnd for waiters and waitresses demanding that it's mandatory - you should be directing your anger at the system that allows employers to pay an employee two dollars an hour - THAT SHOULDN'T BE ACCEPTABLE. Be mad at your employer that in many cases is making hundreds of thousands a year operating a restaurant and only paying you two dollars an hour. I realize not every restaurant is that profitable, but face it, many are.
Not excusing bad tippers, but especially for the billionaire at the fancy restaurant, most places like that automatically put a gratuity on meals but of course you can add your own, like Conan did. So are they complaining that they got an extra 10 percent?
ReplyDeleteSay it ain't so, JoBros!! Eh, well...I believe this of Nick & Kevin, but never Joe until I have proof. Sorry. Sticking to my delusions, kthx.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the optional/situational thing...I have definitely had instances where I didn't want to tip...though I never tend to go below $5. I tend to tip my delivery guys well, especially on cold or rainy nights. IDK, just a habit.
ReplyDeleteThat's 5% not dollars, btw.
ReplyDeleteOK, let's get technical about the Director/Actor pair:
ReplyDeleteHere's the list of living actors who've won Oscars twice (this includes both Best Actor & Best Supporting Actor):
Michael Caine
Daniel Day-Lewis
Robert DeNiro
Gene Hackman
Tom Hanks
Dustin Hoffman
Jack Nicholson (who actually has 3)
Sean Penn
Kevin Spacey
Denzel Washington
Currently living directors who've won Best Director twice:
Clint Eastwood
Milos Forman
Steven Spielberg
Oliver Stone
OK, now who from Column A hangs out w/someone from Column B?
Clint Eastwood & Gene Hackman (IIRC)
Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg
Sean Penn & Oliver Stone
Considering the reputations that both Penn & Stone have for being assholes (and, frankly, for being an embarrassment to those of us who call ourselves liberals, but let's not go there...), I'm going w/those two for the win.
Former Mouseketeer: Xtina or Justin (they didn't say it was a female Mouseketeer, after all...)
I still think Anna Kournikova for the tennis diva--didn't she actually put out a couple of pop singles at one point?
Oh, & eccentric billionaire? Paul Allen, formerly of Microsoft, who's spent an assload of money on the Jimi Hendrix museum & all sorts of music-related deals; he's basically trying to buy his way into being a rock star, or at least be able to hang out w/real ones. (We have a car dealer 'round these parts in Boston named Ernie Boch who's basically doing the same damn thing, but I'm not saying anything else about that...)
As for me, I always tip at least 20% to service employees; the service would have to be REALLY shitty for me to tip less than that, and there are restaurants I don't dare go back to because I was w/people who refused to tip their share, or even--in at least one case--pocketed money I'd left on the table. Grrrrrr... I know women have a reputation for being lousy tippers, so I do my best to take down that particular stereotype, and besides, I figure the good karma will come back to me at some point. :-) At hotels, the cleaning crew gets at least $10, and the bag haulers a couple of dollars, & of course take-out delivery people get at least $5, more if the weather sucks. (To be honest, though, I didn't realize that apparently one is supposed to tip massage therapists; I guess I thought of them more as medical professionals than service providers. Ooops...I'll do better next time, I promise. *cringe*)
ReplyDeleteHere in Australia, we don't tip very much. Usually if we are out to dinner, and the bill comes to an odd number, say $73.40, we would leave the $1.60 in change.
ReplyDeleteI work in a bar, and I think it's a good night if I have made more than $5 in tips. So I don't get the whole percentage thing when it comes to tipping. We make good money in the hospitatlity industry here, considering it is unskilled work. $21/hr is base rate at my job.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe blind after the Mousekteer blind infers that it is a she (from pop queen to tennis queen).
ReplyDeleteRobin, thanks for narrowing the actor/director options for us.
@Robin the Mad Photographer: I like your deduction for the actor/director pair, but Paul Allen is on the Forbes list as being worth about $13.5 billion, WAY over our eccentric billionaire. I still really like Richard Branson for that one, it makes sense if 10% is standard in the UK.
ReplyDelete#1 can't be Tom Hanks, unless things have changed, he left a huge tip and took a picture with my pal when she was his waitress a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking LeBron too.
I hate tipping
ReplyDeleteId love if everything was included straightaway in the price (like its done in most of europe)
it help calculate how much you can spend!
and you can always give an extra if the service was great
I think those that have worked in food service all seem to have the same opinion on tipping. I always tip at least 20% unless the service is bad & even then I still leave something. Yes IF waiters got paid more per hour then there maybe wouldn't be an obligation but when you make $2.15/hr (or whatever it is these days) is not enough to live on. Not sure why anyone would argue with that point...? I don't think people should expect more than 20% but when dealing with celebs it's kind of shitty behavior to do less than the bare minimum.
ReplyDeleteLove the Conan story!!! @Adv Kate!