Letters 10/5/06

Oct. 4, 2006

Tipping controversy
I recently read Rick Coates’ article, “Tips on Tipping” and another in the Record Eagle. And I am sick of the whining by waitstaff and their spokespeople. Unless the public is really dense and are stingy tippers, waitstaff have little to complain about.
And 20% as a tipping percentage -- get real. There will come a day when diners say, “ENOUGH! The meals are outrageous, and you expect another 20% on top of that? It makes my $15 dinner $18.“
Recently, I was out to dinner with my family and the waitress was probably areound B+ to A-. The restaurant, however, was somewhere around C- this particular evening. I tipped her 20% because I thought she deserved it, not because that was the “proper” percentage.
I did a little calculating and thought the readers would be interested.
Assuming a waitstaff person works 4 p.m. - 12 a.m. and serves until 11 p.m., has on average three tables per hour (more during “dinner,” less during late evening and 4-6 p.m.), has an average table bill of $35, and is tipped 15%, at the end of the night they received $121 in additional earnings. After tipping out the bus staff and bartender say 10% each, they still take home an average of $13 an hour above their sub-minimum wage. For waitstaff to complain about not making enough money, think about that; tips and wages combined they make over $15 an hour. On average.
Rick did do the waitstaffers justice by pointing out the minimum amount and tipping on the before discount or before comp amounts.
Put the numbers to it and realize that if they perform adequately, and diners tip appropriately at 15%, waiters and waitresses are making pretty good money.
I used to work in food service and the waitstaff would complain in one breath about the poor tips, but in another brag about how they took home $80-$150 a night in tips (that was back in 1986). So don’t cry to me about waitstaff making sub-minimum and relying on tips to survive. That is true, but not as sorry a situation as these articles made it out to be.

David L. Moore • TC
More tips on tips
Regarding Rick Coates’ article on tipping and quality service in the area: First, it was nearly unreadable. The grammar and writing were atrocious. Someone please give the man a grammar textbook; or, alternately, a copy editor.
Second, and more importantly, I do have a couple of notes for him.
I do agree that service in this area is typically substandard. There are several places in town that I’ve either stopped going to altogether, or have a “two-drinks-at-once” policy so that I don’t have to wait 30 minutes after finishing a beer to get the next one. There are places that you enter knowing that you should ask for your check a good 15 minutes before you need to leave, as it will take that long to get your bill.
There are restaurants where, knowing the quality of the food, the waitstaff slacks off and expects the tip to be commensurate with food quality, not service quality. I believe we’ve all had these experiences.
On the other hand, there are many restaurants in and around the area that employ service professionals. These are folks that are often college-educated, and have spent years, if not decades, bartending or waiting tables. Serving, at that point, is not a temporary position. It’s a career, and deserves the same kind of respect that other careers get.
I am consistently appalled by people who consider serving to be a quite low-end job; the fact is that I make more per hour serving than I did behind a desk (and, incidentally, get a great deal more pleasure out of it). I take my jobs very seriously, as do most of the people I work with. We are constantly learning about wines, food, preparations, and standards of service. We take pride in our work, even when it’s hard.
Most servers will tell you that the “worst” tippers are those who have never had to support themselves by waiting tables. I tend to agree with this. It’s not an easy life.
As Mr. Coates noted, your tips are our salaries. $2.65 an hour barely covers taxes, and most of our paychecks are void because of that -- the deductions are often more than what the hourly wage is. Tax season usually isn’t pretty for a server. If you haven’t waited table, try to appreciate that. Please.
Certainly, not all waitstaff plan to serve forever. It’s usually pretty easy to tell when you’re in a place that the job is a job, or when it’s a career for those working. Not everyone can serve. It takes a certain kind of person to do it well.
However, I would ask that if you’re entering an establishment for the first time, please do a couple of things:
a) Be nice. We appreciate it more than you know. Have a bit of respect for the person who’s waiting on you--we are really just like you.
b) Find something nice to say, even if it’s just about the decoration of the restaurant.
c) Finally, leave a decent tip the first time at a new place. We remember good tippers and bad tippers. The old adage that “tips” really stands for “To Insure Proper Service” is very true. On your next visit, watch the service you get be just that much more impressive.

Elitza Nicolaou • via email

Supports dove hunting
Your recent article on the upcoming ballet issue regarding dove hunting in Michigan was so unbalanced that I couldn’t help but write a few lines. I’ll start with some facts:
Mourning doves are hunted in 40 states.They are the most abundant game bird in America; over 475 million of them according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Michigan hosts some six million doves each year. They are one of the most prolific breeders, nesting several times each season. The wildlife professionals will tell you that doves on average don’t live to be more than one-and-a-half years.
Those same professionals will tell you that mourning doves have a natural mortality rate of over 50 percent each year through predation, disease, bad weather conditions and accidents. Hunting accounts for less than 10 percent of the dove population’s mortality each year.
Easy targets? Sitting ducks? I’m sure anyone who has hunted doves had a good chuckle over that statement.
Doves for the most part are hunted or shot while flying to and from roosting areas. It’s not uncommon for a good shot to average one dove for every five shots taken. This idea of shooting doves from backyard feeders is nonsense. There are already laws that prohibit this, and any yahoo who would attempt it should be prosecuted to the fullest. And let’s remember if this proposal is passed, it would only allow a dove season in the extreme southern counties of the state for 60 days each year.
Julie Baker’s statement that the majority of hunters are opposed to hunting doves is suspect. I believe that the majority of Michigan hunters support the right to hunt doves in Michigan even if they choose not to. And as far as Jennifer Hillman’s statement that “outside groups” are feeding the coffers of the pro dove hunt group. That’s a very interesting comment coming from someone who is associated with the U.S. Humane Society (that has just recently join forces with Fund For Animals). These groups have made it very clear that their goal is to ban all hunting.
Proposal 3 is about more than allowing a dove season in Michigan. It’s about making sound decisions on our state game populations based on science and facts. Not emotions or some extreme animal rights agenda.

Dennis Palmer • Cedar

DeVos shows his hand
It didn’t take long for the true nature of Dick DeVos to come forward (“DeVos backs ’intelligent design’ being taught in school” September 21, Petoskey News-Review). “...teaching intelligent design along with evolution would help students discern the facts among different theories.”
Creationism is a matter of faith, not fact. The theory of evolution, in the science of biology, is as solid as astronomy’s theory that the sun is at the center of the solar system. Evidence is incontestable that evolution has taken place over hundreds of millions of years and continues today.
Does this mean teaching about intelligent design has no place in public schools? Not at all. As a social studies teacher for 26 years I can tell you where it belongs. That place is in our history, government, geography, psychology, philosophy and current events classes. Religious beliefs, including the idea of a divine creator, continue to have a tremendous impact in all areas of the social studies.
DeVos believes our students should be exposed to more ideas, not less.
What’s next? Alchemy as well as chemistry? Magic as well as physics? Numerology as well as algebra?
DeVos stands for further degradation of our public school system. Can vouchers (again) be far behind?

Barry Cole • Petoskey

Irresponsible
Dick DeVos‘s ads accuse Gov. Granholm of not doing enough to provide smaller classrooms for children, yet his hand-picked running mate has voted NO on an amendment that would have provided funding to hire 5,000 additional new teachers.
The Republican legislature voted to eliminate the single business tax without replacing those dollars amounting to 10% of the state revenues. How responsible is that?
If you want someone to represent ALL of the residents of Michigan, someone to create jobs and fight for ethical legislation, vote for Jennifer Granholm.

Lou Ann McKimmy • Rapid City

The meaning of ‘theory‘
Regarding evolution, Devos thinks “It’s only a theory.”
There are two definitions of theory. The one that opponents use against evolution is that evolution is only a theory. They are using the non-scientific definition which means to speculate.
Apparently, Mr. DeVos believes that the theory of evolution is only speculation. In science, the use of theory has quite a different meaning. In science, a theory represents a hypothesis or a group of hypotheses, which has been confirmed through repeated experimental tests.
Accepted scientific theory becomes part of our understanding of the universe and the basis for exploring less well-understood areas of knowledge. Theories are not easily discarded; new discoveries are first assumed to fit into the existing theoretical framework. It is only when, after repeated experimental tests, the new phenomenon cannot be accommodated that scientists seriously question the theory and attempt to modify it.
The validity that we attached to scientific theories as representing realities of the physical world is to be contrasted by the expression, “It’s only a theory.” For example, it is unlikely that Mr. Devos would step off a tall building on the assumption that he will not fall, because “Gravity is only a theory.”

Ronald Marshall • Petoskey

Had enough?
WMD, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, rendition, tax cuts for wealthiest 5%, deficits for your grandchildren, privatize social security, cut veterans’ benefits, secret energy meetings, drilling in ANWR, pre-emptive strikes, domestic spying, spending $1.9 billion/ day on the Iraq War, Halliburton, fraud,
corruption, voter restrictions, outsourcing, working poor, pork, earmarks, DeLay, Abramoff, Republican pledge to never raise taxes when everything costs more, punish public schools, promote private schools, Schiavo, attack women’s rights, attack labor unions, marriage of politics and religion, attack everyone who is not Republican as unpatriotic, 43 million U.S. citizens living in poverty, Katrina.
Had enough Republican incompetence? Vote Democratic!

Beverly Christensen • Cedar