Anyone who’s ever been a waiter or waitress (the accepted terms before professional servers with six-figure incomes became the norm in upscale restaurants) will get a chuckle over the story in yesterday’s New York Times about the Houston waitress who got a thoroughbred racehorse as a tip. Apparently a regular customer came into Ouisie’s Table just after the lunch crush and 71-year-old A. D. Carrol served him two cups of coffee. “He just looked up at me and said, ‘You’re a good ol’ gal. You want a horse?’ I thought he was kidding,” recounts Carrol.
I still remember vividly the biggest tip I ever got. As a college student in the late ‘60s, I worked the breakfast and lunch shift (white polyester uniform, stockings, hairnet, lace-up shoes, the whole nine yards) at a Holiday Inn on a North Carolina Interstate. I was making thirty-five cents an hour as salary (apparently North Carolina didn’t know from minimum wage back then). One morning a guy ordered half of a grapefruit and a cup of coffee. He left me a $5 bill as tip. I felt like a millionaire. I later learned he was an “owner,” probably a franchisee.
So, okay, it wasn’t a racehorse. Heck, it wasn’t even a “tip” on a racehorse running at the track. But it made a lasting impression and has probably affected the way I tip and the way I encourage others to think about gratuities.
So what was your most memorable tip…or lack thereof. I’d like to hear.
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