Republican Tennessee State Rep. Mary Littleton, was unhappy with the service at a restaurant and stiffed her waitress. Of course the waitress took a photo of the credit card receipt and then it went viral. Ms. Littleton released a statement about the event:
“Everyone has had a bad experience with service at some point when dining out at a restaurant. It is unfortunate that my private note to the server regarding the quality of service in this instance was made public. Due to the overall experience that evening, I decided not to provide a tip. In hindsight, rather than writing a note on the receipt, I should have asked for the manager so that I could register my concerns with the quality and promptness of service. As the mother of someone who has been a server, I know that servers have difficult and demanding jobs and, as such, it is has always been especially important to me that I make sure to tip generously when I receive good service.”
That’s all well and good, but I have the real story:
Once upon a time a republican state representative from Tennessee named Mary Littleton decided she wanted to go out and have lunch.
“Hmmm, where I can I get me some fried pickles and Lots-a-Tots® all served in a classy environment where the waitresses will be wearing tight orange shorts and teeny-tiny t-shirts?”
A light bulb went off in her head, providing the first bit of brightness in that deep dark skull since she went into office in January of 2013.
“I’m gonna go to Hooters!” she yelled! “Roberta, make me a reservation for Hooter’s,” she screamed at her secretary who already had Hooters on speed dial.
Fast-forward an hour and a half later and Mary is sitting at a table with a plate of Original Hooters Style Buffalo Wings, her face covered in sauce and her waitress once again trying to offer her some napkins.
“I don’t need no napkins,” Mary growled. “That’s what this here tongue is for!” And with that, her enormously long tongue came out of her mouth and she licked her face clean from her forehead down to her chin. “Bring me another bucket of sauce and a order of them chili cheese fries and make it snappy!” She then belched with great authority; a belch so low and deep that the vibrations of it were felt two tables away.
By this point, the waitress was quite disgusted by her customer. “Who the fuck is that?” she asked her manager. “She’s like an animal. And did you see her tongue? Did she grow up next to a nuclear reactor or something because that is not normal.”
“Oh that’s Mary Littleton. She’s our state representative. Isn’t she exactly who you want representing you?”
They both looked over at Mary who was lapping up her beer like a dehydrated dog and somehow, farting and belching at the same time.
“Well, she’s grossing me out,” said the waitress. “I don’t think I can get near her anymore because she is seriously about to make me throw up. After I drop off these fries, I’m done with her. She’s too fucking nasty.”
As she placed the order of chili cheese fries onto the table, along with the check, the waitress saw Mary blow a snot rocket directly onto the floor. She noticed that a booger landed on Mary’s sensible black pump while a string of snot hung from her nose to her right tit. Once again, the gigantic tongue made an appearance, moving like a single giant windshield wiper across her face and cleaning away wing sauce, snot and what appeared to be a few crumbs from a donut that Mary had eaten for breakfast.
The waitress could take no more. She went to the bathroom, violently ill ,and there she remained until the feeling of nausea had passed over her.
While she was in the restroom. another waitress ran Mary’s check. As Mary signed her credit card, she hovered at the tip line, questioning if she should leave her usual 8% tip.
“Well, I ain’t even seen this waitress for a good 10 or 15 minutes and not once did she offer me a napkin. The wings didn’t have enough sauce and I think she threw a booger on my good pumps. This service is horrible!”
And with that, she wrote the word “sorry” onto the tip line and left the restaurant, leaving behind a pile of bones, snot on the floor and a stinky wet spot on her chair that may or may not have been vaginal sweat.
Rick
The following link provides a guide to tipping etiquette that I think is accurate:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g191-s606/United-States:Tipping.And.Etiquette.html
I think the most important takeaway is “tipping in proportion to the amount and quality of service,” and while tipping is obviously not “mandatory” (otherwise, it would be already included), it IS understood as stated that 15-20% is standard.
With that said, and to get back to the amount and quality of service, let’s remember that Hooters, the original Breastaurant (also known as the “Attentive Service” sector of the industry) is somewhat unique compared to the average type of restaurant. It’s about the Hooters Girl as much or sometimes more than the food. If you take the analogy of leaving 10% at a buffet IF wait staff refill drinks and clear away plates, where full service would get 15-20%, then at Hooters where the staff is not only encouraged, but expected to interact with the customers (their job title is “Entertainer”), then by my logic, MORE should be added if and when this occurs. If you’re not interested in that, then go to a regular wing place like Buffalo Wild Wings. Those of us who understand this can be very generous in tipping our Hooters Girl servers/entertainers. If I get service equivalent to a regular fast casual chain I’ll still leave more than 20% because I figure “why run around in that outfit to get paid what you could somewhere else?” If you see any value in looking at the attractive girl in the uniform, you should be over 20% right there. Then if she is fun and entertaining, go up from there.
Another thing to consider that most folks don’t care about at all or bother to notice is how busy the restaurant itself is. If the server is handling 6-10 tables they are slammed. Above that, unless they are the greatest server ever, they will be totally frazzled and in the weeds.
I completely believe in tipping because I think it aligns with the notion of the free market. Unfortunately that means some people are free to be jerks about it. Just as some are very generous. You have to take the good with the bad and the alrernative would be worse, no doubt. It’s unfortunate that Ms. Littleton doesn’t seem to have a clear idea that her totally stiffing the server is not really philosophically in line with her party affiliation. After, Republicans are about free market and business and by not tipping she is leeching off of everyone else. I am skeptical the service was SO BAD that NO TIP was deserved. To me, this would be extenuating. I have gone to many Hooters and am a regular and have to experience anything that would REMOTELY warrant no tip.
She deserves the ridicule; paeticularly for the smarta$$ “Sorry” written on the tip line and then the response of how she should’ve talked to the manager. Yet she didn’t explain her reasons, even vaguely, in her public statement. If she isn’t willing to do that then she should have left some amount for the tip.
anon
Ok I generally agree with servers, however Nikki if the service is terrible I do not owe you a tip.
Matthew Myers
Why be passive agressive about your experience? If something is wrong, then say it’s wrong and then give the server the opportunity to respond to your complaint. Writing “sorry” in place of a tip takes away any opportunity for the server to present a resolution. With all due respect, grow the fuck up!
Yarrgh
I totally agree. In fact, writing “Sorry” in the tip line basically implies that she’s aware that she’s intentionally stiffing the waitress, not withholding her tip due to poor service, otherwise she wouldn’t be “sorry” about it. She could’ve written “Poor Service”, and then her explanation would’ve made sense. As it is, her excuse is just backpedaling.
Su Wut
Meh. Girlfriend is most likely a closeted lesbian and was so hot, bothered and flustered by all that smooth, firm , young woman flesh in tight tshirts at lunch that she couldn’t do the math for a tip anyway. Off to her office for a little jiggle with her trusty Hitachi MagicWand she keeps in her desk for “stiff muscles”..and Hooters lunches! Yeehaw, Mary!
Alan
Why should her party affiliation matter? I’ve heard of politicians from both sides of the aisle who are bad tippers.
I once worked with a guy who waited on Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and her entourage. She and her lapdogs were rude and demanding and ultimately left him a $3.00 tip on a $150.00 check.
G. B. Miller
Wow.
Since when did tipping become an entitlement? If you do a shitty job with a customer, what makes you think you deserve a tip?
Nikki
Bc regardless … That server has to tip out the busser and bartender around 3% of the total sales before tax of that check. So if you leave NOTHING, the SERVER then has to pay out of THEIR OWN POCKET for you to be served by them, eat at that restaurant, and be most likely rude the whole time. If you leave 0, that sever now has made NEGATIVE money… I’m trying to make this as understandable as possible. Now matter how terrible your service is, don’t be an asshole. Servers are not there to pay for you. They are not there to clean up after you for FREE. That is what you pay for when you go out to eat… To have people cook and clean for you… Otherwise, go to the grocery store, go home, and do it yourself. Now if there was something outlandishly done to you by a member of the restaurant staff, please direct your concerns to the manager on duty. Do not take out your gripes on your server if something happened during your visit that was OUT OF THEIR CONTROL! i.e. the kitchen screwed up your food and someone else ran it out to you before your own server could see a physical mistake, or it’s too cold in the restaurant, or the free bread wasn’t good today….
Long story long, you’ve obviously never served tables in a restaurant and have no idea how wrong your thought process on the subject is. In closing… Always leave a tip… Or stay the fuq home!
Christine W Chandler
If the server is on the hook to payout, that server better do a damn good job. No sense in a server making $30 or more an hour. If the server is halfway competent, they’d overall make it. Trouble is they all think everyone owes them.
Kennedy
Dear Christine,
1.Tipping is not optional. AND Tipping less than 15% is always culturally unacceptable.
2. It is seriously not your job to decide how much a server should make. You are only responsible to pay gratuity. It is the owner’s job to decide how many tables a server can take and therefore potential money for them to make.
Server wages/taxes and Basic American cultural tipping 101 for those of you who are also as uneducated as Christine:
A. Servers do not make money on their hourly wages of ($2-5/hour depending on state) because when taxes are deducted from tips, it is all taken out. In fact, if you are like me you end up owing a lot of of money come tax time. In fact…servers have to pay taxes based upon credit card charges with the assumption that someone left an 15-18% tip depending on the restaurant. That being said, customers do owe us, it is socially understood– even all the way to federal taxing– it is a rule of thumb that when you go out to eat, you tip a minimum of 15%, no matter what. Your server is being taxed this amount! If you have bad service, complain to the manager and leave a 15% tip, it is not a “choice”. If you have good service, let the server know by tipping them additional funds. Servers are motivated by tips and will provide the best possible friendly and quick service for you even in a high stress over-crowded environment. When they see that people appreciate it by tipping them extra, this causes them to continue to go above and beyond.
B. If a server is making more than $30 an hour they are probably MASTERS of multi-tasking, taking shit, kissing ass, and are working very, very hard for that money. Take into account, Christine, that there are times the shifts are short, (only 3 hours!) or you only make good money during certain hours and then may be sitting around for nothing for hours and overall weekly pay when all hours spent at work are added up it is typically not overall 30$ an hour. And if it is, they certainly earned it, please I encourage you to work as a server for a week and prove me otherwise.
Merlon Yega
The only scenario that deserves a 0 tip is if your server completely and utterly forgets you or your order. Even if your food was late it still arrived at your table not by magic but by work from a server, manager or kitchen staff. That work deserves SOME compensation even if it is 10-15% of your check. Most servers make 2-4 dollars hourly.
Beaujolais710
When the IRS started taxing on you tips even if you don’t make the amount they are taxing and when it became legal ti pay servers half of minimum wage. When managers became so afraid of customers who often are out of line that they always take their side over hard working, loyal employee. People actthe way theydo because they are allowed to.
Pat
How does she gets to pass judgement when her she dies an awful job, should we don’t pay her salary then?
Ana
WHY CAN’T PEOPLE BE FORGIVING, WHY DO THEY HAVE TO ACT STUPIDLY AS IF THEY HAVE NEVER EVER MADE A MISTAKE. OR WHY CAN’T THEY FIGURE OUT THAT A SERVER OR ANY OTHER PERSON IN ANY OTHER KIND OF JOB IS LIMITED AS TO ONE CAN DO. ONE CAN BE THE BEST SERVER, EMPLOYEE, OR LAWMAKER BUT NOT EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THAT ONE PERSON, THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE INVOLVED AND SITUATIONS MAY MESS UP YOUR GOOD PLANS. THIS IS LIFE, IMPERFECT AND FULL OF GOOD AND BAD THINGS. JUST BE GRATEFUL PEOPLE.
Sharon
Please! Use your INSIDE keyboard!
CincyDrunk
@Sharon I wish you could “like” comments on here. xD
Jeri Velgreen
WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?
Anonymous
Wow. That’s a shame. I work in an upscale restaurant and we have a state Representative who dines there with his family quite frequently. Both he and his family are EXTREMELY polite and gracious every time they come. Mary Littleton’s behavior is a real shame.
Rational
The real question Republican Tennessee State Rep. Mary Littleton might be asked is what is a member (as it says on her website) of the Church of Christ, a church I grew up in, doing in a place drinking beer and where women are immodestly dressed. Both of these things are preached against by the church. She’s given a Per diem, by the state of $198/legislative day…where is that money going to if she’s stiffing wait staff? She got a receipt, wouldn’t you like to know if she’s cheating the state by saying, on the one she turns in, that she left a tip for the waitress? She didn’t even pay for the meal, the state did a tip wouldn’t even be out of her pocket. This woman, naturally a Republican, is evidently not above misrepresenting herself everywhere…church included. May all this publicity for her stinginess end up in her losing her job…and being kicked out of the church she claims to attend and be a member of. The Church of Christ doesn’t cotton to liars either.
Deb
When I’m on company business, they pay for the meal but the tip is on me. I always leave a good tip since it’s less than the meal and it would be piggish to eat free and stiff the waitperson.
Christine W Chandler
There’s no explanation as to what Littleton’s real complaint was. Good lesson to not tip AND speak to the manager/corporate, that way if the complaint is valid maybe the waitress can get what she did documented. Why just let her go without a tip when you can also maybe score a black mark in her file that the manager can file away for when he wants to constructively fire her ass? This dumbass did her kind a huge favor, this incident will curry a lot of favor for the “profession” with the legislature if any wage related bills come up.