TYRANNY OF THE TIP.

Mataura Ensign, 22 April 1913, Page 5

TYRANNY OF THE TIP.

EXTORTIONS IN AMERICA. ( i R AI) I.J ATK I > CO VI R.T K SIKS. In a recent i,rrii.-I<. in the 'Si ::.i,<]a:■;]' on tii-- "tinj.-iiiir" grievances in England, reference was mad.' to what were considered to bo unjustifiable usages in th.\ connection, hut it may b„ sonic consolation to Knglish peonle to kno.\ that theirs is a light burden as compared with the tyranny that obtain.-, in America. I'ndoubtedly the loyal Londoner has not. such ground ior comnlaint in this respecters haw tho loyal New Yorker, for tipping in London jiikl throughout Kurojie is ipoii a. Percentage generally recognised as fair, while, in the I'nited States it is what an iricomnotent waiter or an audacious hall-liey can extort from his temporary victim.

A doubt as to what to give is indicated in Mm following letter appearing in, the 'New York Sun.' The, writer says;~

"I liavo r.ad with interest various letters regarding tips, but nothing that will act as a guide to a. countryman cowing to Nuv York, say, for a'week or two. Whom should he. tin, and how much? In Europe at -in hotel I I have known tho tin to lie generally- 10 nor cent, of the bill. A,.much-travelled EngliishinM.n said Im« gave as a tip—when lie left and not before—JO per cent, if he remained a. week, 7£ per cent, if two weeks, and 5 per cent, if loni£iM- ; Would that bo sufficient in New York? Is there any wm.se in tipping the barber, the shoeblack, or the hat-boy r"' Formerly New York ethics required a tip for the waiter; to-day a. tip is demanded by practically every employee in the restaurant or hotel, and not the moderate, rational tip that satisfies European servants, but the exorbitant tip that has no justification. The. 10 per cent, to tho European waiter would be scorned by that species in America. Ten per cent, on a, fourshilling dinner would lie (kl, but if the diner offered a, waiter 5d on such a meal he would receive an insult in return. One shilling is expected by the waiter on a four-shilling meal, and this ensures tho diner an amiable "Thank you, sir." For 2s the waiter hands the diner his overcoat and cane, and the diner has tho right to expect a. smile and to hau* the waiter pull back his chair. Cerfain courtesies, it. will lx> seen, go with each tip,' and the larger the tin the more extended is the list of courtesies." Blackmail at Christmas. A letter printed in the 'New York Tribune' discloses another field for the tipping blackmail: — "I am a tenant, of a Riverside Drive apartment-house, and 1 write about the condition there because I believe hundreds of apartment dwellers in this city suffer as 1 do, ami the only chance for relief is in ncwspajKv publicity, "Shortly before Christmas I give my five dollars (£1) to the fund made up by the tenants, and if each contributed five dollars the result would be 750 dollars (£150), a not unworthy sum fer a jwirpo.se so honorable as distribution among the Fewer than 20 employees. On Christmas Eve tho five dolors' was returned to me with the explanation that tho hall lioys refuged to accept this mode of largesse, wishing, probably, more than their nro rata would thus, have been. So 1 dispensed with tin* small sum I could afford and much more than any service the boys had given me was worth. "But this sum was clearly not sufficient to meet their ambition, for siincc Christmas they have given frequent evidences of their disapproval. They have in the lift taken my wifo beyond her door, they have doeed the lift joo.s and gone up when the hom* and so avoided carrying me. letters I posted when leaving my officio in tho evening were not delivered to me in the morning, but on tho following evening, and otherwise so far as the capacity of hall boys goes to annoy. "I am not mean. 'I distributed 10 dollars (£2) among those boys, which was all I could afford, and tho result is an evidence of tho difficulty one encounters when trving to live properlv upon an income that does not admit of extortion."