I agree with the waitress, except for the price of oil part.

Well, all that's as may be.

But if I were a Clinton supporter, I would argue that the non-tipping was another coup by her extremely able and unrelenting campaign staff. The non-tip may have been deliberately engineered to show that Hillary has the courage and resolve to risk walking boldly into the cross-hairs of her misogynistic detractors by validating the stereotype that women are lousy tippers, in order to send a signal to reassure the vital conservative and "swing" elements in her base that she's no tax-and-spend Democrat who intends to revive the welfare state by dispensing handouts to the working poor.

But then why deny it afterwards, and take pains to publicize that a tip was provided after all? Ah! That's the beauty part! Her shrewd and savvy handlers are appropriating the "Rovian" strategy of Serial Doublespeak that has served President Unitard's maladministration so well.

See, scientific research has shown that even if a subliminal message is later retracted or contradicted by facts or counter-subliminal messages, that the original message's persuasive power remains undiminished. Furthermore, the new, contrary message reassures the vital liberal/progressive and "swing" elements in her base that she's no corporatist elitist, but is committed to provide a hand up-- but not a hand out-- to rescue the abandoned and struggling Amerikan working- and middle-class. Thus, this most dedicated, hard-working, and consummate politician turns a contretemps into a win-win situation, and advances a few more steps ahead of her rivals towards the moral high ground.

See, I'm not a Hillary supporter, but I have no patience with those idealistic and delusional so-called "progressive" dolts who expect to find and support candidates who are straightforward and plain-spoken, and eschew the realities of modern politics as described above. They just... don't... get... it!

What's the waitress' name? I wanna vote for her for President! She gets it better than any of the others.

My my, I see someone has made sure it is still news.

If the issue was tipping, we should be talking about the custom of tipping in the US.

I assume most Americans don't know this; but, in most of the industrial world, tipping was abolished a while ago due to it's inegalitarian, master-servant connotations.

In it's place, restaurant people earn a living wage.

For those who think tipping is needed to reward good service and hard work, then should we also be tipping other service providers, like doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants? You may answer: "They don't need tipping - they are paid well, and if they perform poorly, their will be punished by a poor employer's performance review or even their state professional license boards".

Exactly! And so it should be with restaurant workers.

Social undercurrents float gossip

significance

While gossip may turn out to be a clever way to simplify a candidate's image, it can also indicate the interests of the people. I guess one would wonder, if indeed there were more important issues to address, as the waitress states, why the hell was the lack of a tip the first thing the waitress mentioned? Perhaps the larger answer is found in why "the media" took the ball and ran with it.

"Fear? Inequality? Hillary is too good for all of us common folk? I mean who doesn't tip?" What is it that registers so well with these examples of tipping and presidential military bravado that so many of us become(?) subject to the hype- to the gossip?

The author doesn't really approach why gossip exists and why it is so powerful. His message is that gossip is detracting from issues he sees as more important.
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ps. Project Vote Smart lists both announced and potentially announced presidential candidates. It also has a list of questions it calls the Presidential Political Courage Test.
vote-smart.org

later.
Rob
casual_jabber@yahoo.comm

I heard from a reliable source that Hillary Clinton sucks on her left big toe, while rocking back and forth, whenever she is alone.

I really do not know how to take this post, but I'll say this with all the honesty I can muster...whether it's meant to be humorous or not...who gives a crap!

Well until they do PJD, food servers, card dealers, hotel employees, etc, work for far less than the minimum wage and tipping is appropriate here. ___ When in Rome.

I'm faily certain that hillary is not responsible for paying the food bills when on tour duty and like WILLYBILL wrote, who cares? Now the toe sucking is news.

SHANTI November 17th, 2007 1:27 pm

I agree with the waitress, except for the price of oil part.

SHANTI,

I love your posts! Now more than ever.

I just want to say it took guts to be willing to change your style or manner of expression and still get across your point of view! I'm going to think on that myself for a while. I think you made a point, and then made a point beyond the point you made!

What did HRC and her sycophantic entourage eat? That's the big question!!! Are they eating healthy, or do they love their southern fried everything? America don't need no fast food chuggin' Pres, now - what a bad example for the fat children! Did anyone order V8? Or was it chocolate sodas all around? What about dessert? Bottled water or tap?

Come on, people - the voters need to know the truth!

If I were Hillary (and thank GOD I'm not), I'd make sure every check (unless the place refused to take credit cards) would be paid for with a VISA debit card etc.

They MUST have to keep very good records of all campaign expenditures, no?

Which means all things should be paid with credit/debit cards if for no other reason than to simplify the bookkeeping and avoid any sign of impropriety.

Then Hillary's campaign manager could have simply shown CNN and the other "gossipers" the freakin' RECEIPT which would have shown the TIP....(20%...?)! Duh!

I would avoid cash like the plague if I were running for office. Every dime would be accounted for!

PJD's point seconded. A person who relies on tips is a beggar. In other countries, service staff are not reduced to beggary to make a living.

This is not another country. We are different. Boy, are we ever.

That's the dumbest article i've ever read here. I thought this was a forum for progressive news. I may be wrong and it may just be me.

Little Brother,
Priceless post. Bravo! Better than the original article.

It's interesting that those who have done so much to disenfranchise and impoverish the working class Americans represented by these servers should make so much of how much Hillary tips. What about raising the minimum wage to a livable level? How about health care coverage for working folks? How about education and job training? How about better public transport? If the right wing bloggers, media personalities and politicians really cared they'd do more than carp about a candidate's alleged failure to leave a tip.

KEM,

Agreed. One has to tip in the current US setup. Not doing so is a serious faux pas.

I eat out all too often for my own physical or financial health and always tip - but not very much as a reflection of the level of service as much as just knowing that good or bad, the wait person has to eat and pay the rent.

Reminds me of the joke of how copper wire was invented..

With the low wages American workers get, it's no wonder a tip is expected.

U.S. Falls to No. 15 in Average Worker Income:
http://www.alternet.org/story/67723/

Have you all forgotten the big hoopala about Dan Rather stiffing a New York taxi driver? Guess we just love a story about tightwad celebrities!

Now me, I'D like to know if HC could be pinned down on whether or not she really IS bought and paid for by AIPAC.
Nevermind, that question just doesn't have the legs the tip story obviously had.

Americans in general are superficial and shallow. The "real" news that Americans want to know is where Paris Hilton was last seen partying.

Oh, and the fact that 600,000+ people in Bangladesh are refugees and 300+ had died (as reported at the time) from a natural disaster didn't even make my local paper yesterday. If a blonde, blue-eyed American female tourist had been there and gone missing, that one missing person would have been front page news.

Americans are not "superficial and shallow." They are disenfranchised, dissociative and afraid. They/we just hope to make it through the month with a job, our health, and the rent and power bill paid. They know the system is pure corruption in practice and that the news is a stack of lies but feel powerless to do anything about it. They are fed a diet of powerlessness and cynicism by the corporate media to keep them depoliticized.

Our job, should we choose to accept it, is to talk to people, to get out progressive literature and to do everything we can to cut through the cynicism by organizing around issues in a way that builds class-conscious resistance. Nothing destroys cynicism and powerlessness better than joining with others in struggle. Even one small community victory empowers.

To hp:

So. Tell us the joke of how copper wire was invented!

Hi Billy, I knew you were a nice guy.

And yes HP, let's hear the copper joke.

Has anyone seen Natalie Holloway? She went to Aruba and is now missing! Faux News spent almost a year making this story its top news story sometime in 05 and 06. How ridiculous! The dumbing down of America!

I heard about the habitual toe
sucking too. Kinda weird if
you ask me.

PJD and Paul M, if you are a server, bartender, barista, trashman, cab driver, concierge, I could go on forever. This is America and persons that make their living doing this would starve if not tipped, not the damn concierge, the others. When we were starting our business, day at the business, home off to wait tables until 2 am, $1.25/hr. Now they are up to a bit over $2, so generous, with there almost all cash, tax evading asses of owners.
My daughter tends bar until 3 am, comes home and writes until 9 or 10 am, if she was not tipped, 1st they'd never get a drink in under an hours time, wise ass drunks, never get a drink ever, and men that react in a violent manner towards her, bouncer takes them out and she beats hell out of them, 10 years Kung Fu. The alcoholic owners don't have camera's in certain areas, beat down free zones, if they spit on her or take a swing at her by the time the L.A. sort-o-cops got there she'd be on her way to the hospital. Of course, she would be homeless also, then maybe you would spare a dime. The good ol' US of A!!
Sorry, non-American's we tip, on NE coast, appropriate tip for good service, 18.5%. If you have never had to be subserviant to pig Americans that want all the food all the time NOW, you deserve every penny, and learn to discern when it is the cooks fault or the servers. If your food sucks, tell them, they will have it fixed properly. Do not eat the entire meal and piss and moan, then leave a buck. Of course, if you are really condescending towards the server or bartender, treating them as though they do not exist, the next time I ate or drank in the same establishment, I would be scared, very scared......

so we're supposed to think the internet is bad for good politics?

I can't say whether this is the copper wire joke, but it's a copper wire joke:

How was copper wire invented?

Two lawyers were arguing over a penny.

turkiye,

So because "this is America" we need to continue to do things the idiotic way?

The whole bitter tone of your spiel makes you a good poster boy for abolition of the tipping system.

Don't you forget now, and don't you blame the Internet or other media. When issues such as tipping or not tipping, dog bit man, or Paris Hilton farted become news, it goes a long way telling us about the audience. THAT is the real news.

Has anyone here ever been to a Maid-Rite? I went with my former in-laws who were from Iowa. What they serve there they refer to as a loose meat sandwich. What it really is, is steamed hamburger. No kidding. Steamed. Hamburger. People in Iowa eat this crap. And we trust them to hold the first primary and set the pace for the upcoming elections? How messed up is that?

If you work in a service occupation by definition you are a servant and tips are taxable income. When you are a public servant the tips are much better and you probably get healthcare.