Busting the Myth That Christians Are More Generous Than Non-Believers

[yardwork]

80. When I was a waitress long ago, I noticed an inverse relationship between income and tipping.

Ordinary guys in work clothes, blue collar workers, middle-aged regional sales managers, people who traveled for a living, cameramen for sports networks, professional women traveling on business by themselves, and of course most anybody who was or ever had been a server - all good tippers. Some of them really, really good tippers.

Lousy tippers = almost any large group. There is something about being part of a group that makes almost every person in that group into a nonexistent or lousy tipper. In fact, waiters get stiffed on the bills for large groups all the time, because many people don't put what they actually owe on the table. That's why restaurants routinely charge 20% gratuity on groups. The challenge is to get the money. It was often the case that after I'd sifted through the pile of crumpled bills and random change, the total amount paid came to less than the total bill, and the difference of course came out of my pocket.

One somewhat surprising group of bad tippers were actors. They'd all been waiters and thought that they were exceptional and nobody else could measure up. Actors used to stiff me on bills, too.

Hands down the very best tippers were two guys out for an evening of drinking.