Late last February, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA)— a conference comprised of historically African-American colleges and universities in the U.S.—held its annual basketball tournament in Charlotte, N.C.
Conference participants stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel but many hotel guests were shocked to find an automatic “CIAA Service” surcharge of 15 percent added to their bills at the lobby bar during the annual event.
“When she [a Ritz-Carlton server] brought the receipt, there was a CIAA surcharge that was included,” diner Patrice Wright told WBTV. “And we thought that’s interesting because we have frequented the establishment several times and never had any surcharge that was associated with any organization that was in town.”
Wright and her husband –who were not affiliated with the CIAA–contacted the Ritz-Carlton to understand why the hotel was permitted to charge a fee related to the basketball tournament to non-participants.
“Due to the size of the CIAA event, we instituted a modest 15% service charge for our lobby beverage servers, on whom the event places significant demands throughout the weekend,” said the hotel.
Years back, I was in New Orleans for a Patriots football game. The game was on the same weekend as the annual football game between Southern and Grambling. The locals call it the Soul Bowl. I got in on a Friday and I was the only white person in my hotel. My friends arrives and we increased the diversity of the place infinitely.
Out in town, we noticed a few things. One was the French Quarter was all black, no whites other than us and some other Patriot fans who apparently did not know about the Soul Bowl. It was like being on the streets of Lagos. It was teaming with black people and white faces stood out like the sun.
The other thing we noticed was the lack of cabs. We did not see any cabs and just assumed it was a local thing. Later we learned that the cabbies stay away during the Soul Bowl. When the game was over on Saturday and those fans left, the place was full of cabs. That confirmed what we were told.
Finally, the French Quarter proprietors were strangely racist, even the black ones. At one place, a black doorman waved us ahead of the black people waiting in line. We were a little puzzled by what happened so we asked the waitress, who was black. She flat out said whites tip better and spend more than the people in line.
That last bit is something I hear black people say all the time. I have black friends who proudly say they do not tip at all. I’m not entirely sure why and I’m not alone. This recent WaPo story seems equally puzzled. If your are a French Quarter business, the Soul Bowl turns out to be terrible for business, which is why many of them close. It’s why the cabbies take off during that event.
The hotel in the story at the top may simply have instituted a mandatory tip policy for events. That’s not uncommon either. The thing they know that most people don’t is big events draw lots of deadbeats. The attendees are often there because they got free tickets or as part of a discount package. This becomes their cheap-o-vacation. That means no tips and stealing the towels is an issue. This “tax” is to cover those costs.
Of course, we live in a lunatic asylum so everyone jumps to the worst possible explanation by default. The irony of calling the hotel racist for charging a blacks-only event a premium is lost on everyone. If they hosted an AmRen event, they would excoriated for not charging a premium. But, that’s what happens when you let lunatics take over your country.
Most people who are unfamiliar with ‘NawLins’ are shocked if they get out of the French Quarter; basically it resembles a third world country. When Katrina nailed Louisiana and they decided to accomidate refugees in Texas the culture shock was massive on both sides. In particular, persons who broke the law were shocked that, once arrested, they weren’t immediately released like back home. Those that wanted jobs generally found them, and for several years the State of Louisiana had billboards in Houston and other towns to tell them “Come Home”.
In Germany, where I lived for 4 years, the tip was included in the bill and this fact was called out on the menu as “service charge of 18% included”. I haven’t been in England in many years and have no idea what they do over there.
I’m typically in the 20% club.
Hey, blokes, a no tip system is attractive to me, but the fact on the ground here is that minimum wage for waiters here is half of what applies to everybody else. Of course it would also be great if the very concept of minimum wage did not exist, but on we go with degrees of bullshit.
Clearly, UKer, you are not black, because that waiter would not have dared to call you out on your tip. There is not a waiter in the US that will not tell the same tales–blacks stiff the help, are deliberately obnoxious, rude, and potentially dangerous. Twice a year for many years I endured the restaurant experience with my in-laws, New York Jews, and that was so bad I apologized to the help beforehand, which they appreciated. But as bad as it was it was not personal, and they were not cheap.
No worries, UKer, we have the same debates locally. The Irish, a flinty and difficult people, are known to be bad tippers. Old Yankees can be bad at it as well. I’ve had endless arguments about it with my flinty friends. In South America, it is even more insane as it seems like anyone who even acknowledges your presence puts their hand out expecting a tip.
I’m a generous tipper by rule. By generous, I tip 20% on food and beverages at dinner, unless the service was poor, in which case I leave nothing. In a strange place, I will tell the waitress upfront of my policy and I always get top-shelf service. I learned that from a Canadian. He would go into an unfamiliar bar for a night of drinking. He would take out what he expected to tip and ask the waitress for singles. He would then sit the stack on the table and tell her that it was her tip. For every minute his glass was empty, he would take away a dollar.
That said, it is an insane custom.
As much as I like America, I do not understand the whole tipping business over there. I accept that people are possibly paid less if their wages can be boosted by tips, but I’d rather pay a reasonable price or fee and not have to fork out extra in some unspoken scale just to keep people smiling. Your nation’s obsession with it puzzles me because I don’t see why people need a tip for doing their job. If you are going to use that argument then surely everyone you meet who happens to be working should be tipped. So, for example, you go into a bank and the teller serves you, do you tip them? How about the pilot of your plane for the smoothness of the landing? Does your president get tipped when he delivers a rousing speech?
(Loved the bit about equality, your highness: here’s an extra five dollars!)
I was once in a restaurant in San Francisco and left a tip. Apparently it wasn’t big enough by the waiter’s measure and he shouted angrily after me as I left the place that it wasn’t enough. I found that remarkably rude and if it was designed to make me go back and give him more then the ploy didn’t work. I carried on leaving.
Tipping is a stupid custom and I’m with the black folk on this one. No other civilised nation on the planet need bother with this ridiculous custom other than The United States. Yeah, yeah, you can drop a tip in The UK or Australia but they don’t give a shit if you don’t. If they do, tell them to shut up and get back to work. In fact, grab them by the throat and demand they get back to work. I know Americans have a garbage minimum wage. So?
There is no rational argument why tipping need exist and it is a an unnecessary and annoying custom for tourists and Americans alike. Just do away with the stupidity of holding a member of staff to ransom and just pay the bill.
By the way, I hate tipping and every time I am in America I tip the bare minimum regardless of the “level of service”.
Go Grambling.