Rich people find a new reason to stiff servers?

• boing boing
• There’s a special kind of hell for customers who would leave this instead of a tip.

I’m not sure if this alleged “tip” left for a server, somewhere, is a hoax or the real thing, but it has stirred up a lot of controversy on the Web. If this story – most recently posted on the boing boing website – is to be believed, a presumably wealthy patron left, instead of cash, a slip of paper stating: “As a direct result of Proposition 30 and President Obama’s insistance that I pay “MY FAIR SHARE IN TAXES,” I find that I must cut back on discretionary spending and gratuities. I wish it didn’t have to be this way for both of us.”

As a young waiter, I was notorious for throwing tip trays – coins and all – back at stingy customers as they were walking out the door of a restaurant. Not a very endearing habit, and I soon came to my senses. There are always going to be customers, rich and poor, who don’t like to tip and find many excuses not to do it. That includes my late Uncle Bill, who had lots of money and never, ever left more than a 5 percent tip. Even as a teenager, I would hang back after he paid the tab to add a couple of bucks to the tip tray. Bill’s excuse? “I was a child of the Depression. In those days, a waiter was lucky to get a dime.” It wasn’t worth arguing with him. That Depression story was his mantra every time he opened his fat wallet.

That being said, as a waiter, I did get quite a few embarrassingly pathetic tips from a few of Kansas City’s wealthiest citizens. No names mentioned.