St. Fernanda
If you've ever worked for tips, you know that Fernanda Vieira Smith, if anything, saved her customers from the ring of hell reserved for pikers, cheapskates, war criminals and that Mac guy in the TV commercials.
Smith, a waitress in Park City, is fighting allegations that she altered the tip line on her tabs. What amazed me about this story when it broke in March is that Smith's photo was shown on television and in the newspapers — an honor usually reserved for bank robbers and Warren Jeffs. Allegedly, instead of accepting a lousy tips, the waitress made her cheap-ass customers look like high rollers for once in their miserable lives.
The Tribune's Rebecca Walsh addresses the plight of those who wait tables in Utah. Utah servers depend on tips, and Thomas the waiter says:
UPDATE: The Tipping Blog offers an insider's point of view of on the touchy subject of gratuities and offers a tip for tipping:
Smith, a waitress in Park City, is fighting allegations that she altered the tip line on her tabs. What amazed me about this story when it broke in March is that Smith's photo was shown on television and in the newspapers — an honor usually reserved for bank robbers and Warren Jeffs. Allegedly, instead of accepting a lousy tips, the waitress made her cheap-ass customers look like high rollers for once in their miserable lives.
The Tribune's Rebecca Walsh addresses the plight of those who wait tables in Utah. Utah servers depend on tips, and Thomas the waiter says:
A lot of people think 10 percent is enough. It really isn't. ... It's not a drive-up. It's service. And what we have in our hand at the end of the day pays our bills.As another server puts it, 10 percent says ''you suck.''
UPDATE: The Tipping Blog offers an insider's point of view of on the touchy subject of gratuities and offers a tip for tipping:
Being that I have worked in the service industry for a while, I tend to tip a person based on the quality of the service I receive, not the price of the service. Leah always makes sure my coffee is fresh and hasn’t been sitting on the warmer for 3 hours. She refills my cup at just the right time. She remembers that I like the half and half creamers, not that foofy flavored crap. She makes sure I don’t get mushrooms on my Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, or guacamole on my Quesidilla, and she bring us extra napkins, because, well, we’re slobs.
11 Comments:
Now we have TWO Tribune writers who glorify theft.
I have no respect for lousy tippers, but I have even less respect for people who secretly alter legal, mutually agreed-to contracts for their own financial benefit.
Should every "underpaid" employee be lionized for stealing from customers?
If the server deems the tips insufficient, then he/she should seek employment elsewhere. There are good servers out there who make decent money waiting on tables, even though some of their customers are lousy tippers, without having to resort to stealing from their customers.
This is theft, pure and simple.
You should be ashamed of yourselves for glorifying these actions.
I worked as a waiter 13 years ago, so I know how much money a good waiter can make. It all comes down to earning it. There is no magic number if you are rude, inattentive, or forgetful. It's simple really, smile, keep my water full, and bring me what I ordered.
I don't understand this Stalinist view that a tip must be 15% or more. I have left significant tips when my waiter/waitress did a great jobs and very poor ones when the service was horrible.
I have no idea what kind of a waitress this lady was. However, low tipping does not justify theft.
So yesterday you railed Sandy for letting administrators take bonuses by saying "Yo! Sandy citizens! Do your city officials have to be splattered bright orange by a dye bomb before it gets through your heads that you're being ripped off?"
But today it's OK that a waitress ripped off customers? At least in Sandy they could call it a bonus program. In the restaurant theft doesn't have another name.
I wholeheartedly agree. It seems this is a case of reverse discrimination, and it all seems to stem from the victimization politics of some liberal minds: What Tom Dolan did, though legal, was immoral. Therefore, he must be publicly lashed. However, what this waitress did was illegal, and immoral, but because she might be struggling to make ends meet due to the inequity of opportunity she has experienced, she is justified in her theft and fraud.
I just can't abide such reasoning. I'm not defending Tom Dolan: I AM asking for fairness and equity in treatment, a standard that it seems Warchol and Walsh would struggle to meet.
SAINT Fernanda?? Come on, Glen, The woman committed a crime! I would expect this from your colleague but not you. I have no sympathy for poor tippers but a certain tip amount is not a divine right. That's why it's called a "tip." In many places in Europe tipping is strongly discouraged even though service is terrific.
I couldn't agree more with the commenters here. Warchol and Walsh are lionizing this woman for STEALING from people. You two are a couple of the poorest excuses for "journalists" I've ever read. Wait, maybe that's why you're writing for the Trib and not a real newspaper. Best you can do, huh?
Well, if you two think theft is OK, how about if I swipe a few extra copies of the Trib from the coin op machine down the street? Or how about if I steal your words (plagiarism, if you need the technical term) and pass them off as my own?
Yeah, theft doesn't seem like such a laughing matter now, does it?
Previous Anon-
Plagiarism of Warchol and Walsh would not only be dishonest, it would be an assault on those who, unlike those masochists on this blog, enjoy good writing.
Somehow, though both "W's" seemed to stand up for the poor working stiffs (pun intended) among us, I did not get the impression that either one condoned the alleged theft. Tippers in Utah are in fact often rather stingy or "ignerrnt" so this was just an opportunity to point that out and make fun of the park city perp at the same time. --anon. #4
Like a million others, I was a server many times over while working my way through college. 20 percent should be the average tip in this day and age.
And yeah, what the Park City server did was immoral and illegal.
But what I'm really intrigued with is one of the many anonymous (love that courage) posters here who writes he (and I'm sure it's a he) would expect "Saint Fernanda" from Walsh, but not from Warchol?
What the hell does that mean? Why do I feel sexism oozing from that comment? When will you people start measuring male and female columnists/bloggers equally? Women writers in this town always get treated more harshly than their male counterparts. I guess they have no right to a well-written opinion, and certainly no right to make a living at it, eh?
It's quite amazing, really. And keep on keeping on Rebecca.
"In certain parts of Europe tipping is discouraged..."
Duh. It's discouraged because servers are paid well enough to cover the difference. And many in the hospitality industry have union protection. No need for tipping when people earn a living wage--as Rebecca Walsh pointed out.
Wow. Holly Mullen making a sexism claim? Never seen that before... Holly, I really dislike your views pretty consistently, but I'd be willing to say Rolly is on an equal level.
I can't speak for the anonymous post and their intentions, but I understood what they were saying: With Warchol, we've only gotten a snap-shot of his writing on this blog. It's sometimes over-the-top sarcasm, and generally in good fun, even as it rips people to shreds. With Rebecca, there's usually an undertone of dissatisfaction with Utah, and a certain attitude of entitlement. I haven't sensed that too much from Warchol. Just my thoughts.
By the way, Holly, for an example of my wrangling with other male writers, you need go no further than the Salt Blog and Brandon Burt.
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