Amid a tottering economy, rising inflation, increasing unemployment and a housing market meltdown, waiters, beauticians and pet groomers report that customers are growing tightfisted.

[snip]

On a typical Saturday night, Brian Best once earned as much as $200 in tips as a server at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Universal CityWalk. Since the fall, Best's tip take has slid to about $120 on a weekend night.

"People just don't have the money. They will go out to eat, but won't tip as much," Best said.

He now gets 10% to 15% of what his customers spend at the eatery, down from 15% to 20% before the economy's nose dive.

"I am hanging out a lot less at clubs and bars. I don't have the money," Best said.

That tipping tale is from today's Los Angeles Times.

It stokes a simmering question for diners:

Do you tip less when money's tight?

It stokes a simmering question for servers:

How are your tips these days?

I hadn't planned on doing so, but I'm glad I was told I didn't have to, because I now feel it's officially on the record:

"You don't have to tip. It's just take-out."

That's what the guy at a pizza place in Kent told me Sunday when I signed the credit card receipt for my take-out pie.

Good to know.

As for the brewpub bartender who accommodated my special request and got me out the door in time to pick up my pie while it was still hot from the oven, she got a $3 tip on a $2.99 tab.

To the manager of the Federal Way fish restaurant where a customer allegedly got frisky with a waitress Sunday night (Sitting in the adjacent booth, I saw an awkward hug and later heard "sexual harassment" and "touched a button" in the follow-up discussion):

Dude, you are one cool cucumber. I would have had the dishwashers knee-cap the (alleged) creep. Customer-service kudos to you, Joe, for the diplomacy (and restraint) you demonstrated.

Now, let's talk about that rock that landed in my steamer clams. Not a pebble, but a rock bigger than the clams themselves.

Whom do you tip for a rock? Charlie Brown?

Good food, but good grief.

Humility and honesty need not be lost in the rush of service.

I was having a bad day last week. A waitress at a waterfront resturant was having an even worse day.

I got an apology. She got a tip. We both came out ahead.

Lunch went like this:

I ordered wine, an appetizer and an entrée. She brought the appetizer. A few bites into the appetizer, she told me she’d forgotten to put in my entrée order. What was that again?

Finally, she brought wine. It was red; I’d ordered white.

A few sips into the correct wine, she returned. A cook burned my entrée, she said.

My entrée finally arrived.

When she brought the bill, I noticed she’d charged me for the more expensive red wine rather than the less expensive white wine I’d ordered.

Everything got fixed, and somewhere in there she offered me a complimentary dessert for my troubles. (I demurred, as I wasn’t even hungry enough to finish the appetizer and the wine.)

Lunch had eaten up 90 minutes of my bad day.

But I tipped the waitress anyway, about 15 percent.

Why?

Because every time something was screwed up, my server immediately apologized and did her best to make things right.

Like when the cook burned my entree.

"I told him, 'Look at me,'" the waitress told me. "'Do you see these tears in my eyes? I'm not going to serve that.'"

Attagirl.

Come to think of it, I might have under-tipped.

Takeout service, with a smile -- and a tip? TNT photo by Peter Haley

Here are three leftovers from my last post about tipping:

1. Do you (or should one) tip on the total bill? Or do you (or should one) tip only on the pre-tax subtotal?

2. What about takeout? Do you (or should one) tip when you go into a restaurant for a takeout order?

3. What about tipping delivery people?

Keep those calls and letters coming, people, because they make for great blog fodder. Here's one on one of my favorite topics, tipping:

Bet you saw the article on tipping in TNT Business, March 6. According to the first paragraph, I can't even shave a tip for writing down the wrong order. The second paragraph informs me that tipping is mandatory even with poor service. I was shocked - me who leaves 20% routinely - me who looks for any reason to not shave a tip - slow service? oh, it looks extra busy today, 20%!

Mandatory? If it's mandatory, shouldn't it just go away and each item price go up by 20%? I thought it was the option of it all that provides the incentive for the server. Most of us wouldn't be too happy at work if our boss (or our clients, customers..) got to evaluate each days' productivity and enthusiasm and pay accordingly, but we've lived with this quirk in the service industry for a long time. If it's now
mandatory, maybe it's time to go. If there is no incentive in the tip, no element of reward, then let the restaurant manager keep a closer eye on the wait staff and counsel and fire as needed based on a living wage, with raises given for good performance.

And $2.95 is plenty for a latte that takes 3 minutes to make while I stand on the sidewalk waiting. How do they even think of that as tip worthy service? The article does say I only have to tip a barista for "exceptional" service. How do you even tell the difference between good solid service and exceptional in a 2-3 min coffee making episode? But I'm digressing.

By the way, I've changed my tipping minimum for the basic level of acceptable service (ie, I get what I ordered, when it should arrive, no questions asked and no attitude given): 15 percent, up from 10. Call it a cost of eating adjustment. Twenty percent is not unusual, but I have a problem going higher than that without something phenomenal happening.

CORRECTION 2/21: I incorrectly reported the location of this new "smoking bar." My original post stated the "smoking bar" was opening where a defunct bar and grill with a similar name resides.

UPDATE 2/21: North Point Bar & Grill is now looking for cocktail waitresses.

If you see smoke at 6210 29th St. NE in Tacoma, don't call the fire department. Call all your cancer-craving buddies.

A "smoking bar" is about to fire up at that address. Here's North Point Bar & Grill's job ad on craigslist:

Cook/Dishwasher in Smoking Bar
North Point Bar & Grill is seeking a full time and/or part time cook. The menu will be mainly bar food. Such as burgers, pizza, deep fried food. Must be 21 years or older. Must be able to work in smoke filled environment. Dishwasher also needed on part-time basis. Located in Tacoma 98422. Opening soon apply ASAP.

The state hasn't lifted its smoking ban; judging by the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer's records, the "smoking bar" is a tribal thing.

Also, do you know that The Tacoma Club tips its cooks?

Although I've appropriated E.F. Hutton's tag line, I know very little about taxes. Can any of you in the tax or restaurant field help sort out this server's tip-tax dilemma?

I work at a hot spot in Tacoma. My employer just allocated me way too much money. I claim my tips accurately and fairly.

Management added tips on my W2 that they claim I made. I claim tips every night. They allocated me an additional $10,800. And if I don't dispute this allocation then I will have to pay taxes on it.

They allocated tips to every Front of House staff member and the amounts they allocated are outrageous. I don't mind paying taxes, but I do mind paying taxes on money I didn't make.

I have been a server in many reputable restaurants and have never had this happen to me. ... Is this fishy or what? Or am I simply not aware of some new government mandate that says all servers must be allocated?

[The employer] is saying that the IRS made him do it. Is this true? Is the IRS internally auditing every restaurant and deciding for the employer how much a server can be allocated? I was always under the impression that you can't be allocated unless an audit is going on.

Any thoughts or insights or tips on how servers can protect themselves from this unjust allocation, and who do we contact, or how do we dispute this?

Am I wrong about this? If I am, I can change.

I hate it when food servers address two or more women customers as "you guys" -- as in, "Are you guys ready to order?" or "Can I get you guys something to drink?"

It's just as easy to say "you folks," so why do they insist on saying "you guys"? This usually comes from 20-somethings, and I suspect it's a matter of poor training. It even happened to my elderly mother and me when we went out to a nice place for dinner. What about us makes someone think "guys" when they look at us?

I'm seriously considering beginning a "you guys" tip penalty, maybe even print up a little card to leave with my tip to explain the deduction.

I would start out at 20 percent, which is my usual tip for good service. For every "you guys" from the server, I deduct 1 percent. You wouldn't believe how quickly the tip would drop to 15 percent, even 10 percent.

Thanks for letting me vent. This is my No. 1 gripe when I go out to eat.

Ed's Diner will be closed for vacation until Nov. 20. In the meantime, I leave you folks with my co-worker's letter. I don't think she's wrong.

What do you think? Care to partake of my co-worker's tip penalty for "you guys" and other service transgressions?

Does your server insist you'll love his restaurant's deep-fried whatevers after you tell him your doctor won't allow you to eat deep-fried anything? Ka-ching.

Did your server say, "I told my assistant to come to your table" when you asked about over-due coffee refills? Ka-ching.

Is your server sharing disturbing details of her kitty's clinical health while you're eating? Ka-ching. Ka-ching.

Did you see your server scratch her butt while gabbing at the next table? Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

Please, you folks, log in and discuss.

HOW MUCH IS HER SERVICE WORTH? TNT photo by Russ Carmack

The people who take our orders, take our grief and serve our food may get stiffed by Congress.

Seven states, including Washington, allow waiters and waitresses to keep their tips on top of being paid the state’s full minimum wage. A provision in minimum wage legislation moving through Congress could cut tip-earners’ wages to $2.13 an hour.

But they'll still have their tips, you know.

“If it wasn’t for my tips, I would barely survive,” one 30-year-veteran waitress who earns minimum wage ($7.63 an hour), plus tips told The News Tribune.

Restaurant owners back a smaller hourly wage, plus tips. It saves them money in wages. The Washington Restaurant Association said the proposal before Congress would not lower the hourly wage of any tip earner in the state.

Whichever way the outcome tips, I’ve got a simmering question: Should we reconsider tipping?

Should waiters' and waitresses' (or bartenders' and busboys', for that matter) wages be tied to tips?

Would a European-style system under which servers are paid a decent wage and don’t depend on the kindness of customers be better?

Do you tip? How much? Based on what? Good service? Just because?

For the record, except for that time my ex-landlady demanded dessert and I only had 60 bucks in my wallet, resulting in a 7.5 percent tip for one Pacific Grill server, I leave 10 percent tip minimum. It goes up from there, depending on service. Non-tipping exceptions are for take-out (I’m already being charged for the containers and none has to come by and refill my water) and when owners sling their own hash.