Big names don’t always translate into big tips
- Mil8
- Great golfer, bad tipper …
Every veteran server I know has a story about getting a bad tip — or stiffed — from a well-known Kansas City resident. Some of these stories might be apocryphal, because it’s always fun to “out” a wealthy person or a celebrity as a stingy creep. For years I heard that the worst tipper in Kansas City, hands down, was a local theater producer with a reputation for being a tightwad … period. But he was always a generous tipper to me. Could it have been that, at the time, I wasn’t just a waiter but also a theater critic for the late, lamented Sun Newspapers? I’m thinking, well, yes.
Last week, a list of the top national celebrity bad tippers was released with superstar golfer Tiger Woods topping the list (his supporters rationalize his bad behavior by saying, “He doesn’t carry money with him”), joining legendary miserly tippers such as Madonna, Babs Streisand, Bill Cosby, Jeremy Piven and Rachael Ray.
Closer to home, George Brett has a solid reputation as a very good tipper (he topped a Sports Illustrated list of big tippers in 1991). On the flip side of the tip tray: Almost every elected local politician, particularly on the Kansas side of the State Line, is generally known for being surprisingly stingy.
