Blue Crab Boulevard

Tippity Tappity Tip

I thought this was another one of those silly gotcha stories that become more and more frequent as the campaign season progresses. But I'm beginning to wonder. Yesterday NPR ran a story that mentioned that Hillary Clinton's campaign had failed to leave a waitress a tip at an Iowa restaurant. Today they run a clarification that does little to clear the issue up.

Not so the reference to Hillary Clinton and the tip. As soon as that story aired in the 5 o'clock hour Eastern Time, it was picked up by a number of political blogs. And the Clinton campaign immediately contacted news organizations to tell its side of the story. Clinton spokesman Phil Singer wrote to NPR in an e-mail: "The campaign spent $157 and left a $100 tip at the Maid-Rite Restaurant. Wish you had checked in with us beforehand."

Esterday said "nobody got tipped that day," and NPR should have checked with the Clinton campaign before the story aired to see if any tip was left and how it was done. We regret that this was not done. On Thursday, Esterday was sticking by her story.

"Why would I lie about not getting a tip?" she told NPR. She also maintained that her co-workers at the restaurant had not received tips.

A Clinton campaign staffer called on Esterday at the restaurant Thursday after the story aired. The staff member apologized to her and gave her a $20 bill, according to Esterday. The Clinton campaign confirmed that visit. The campaign also produced photocopies of receipts showing $157.46 was paid to Maid-Rite on a VISA card on Oct. 8 for meals consumed by the candidate's entourage. The tip was supposed to have been paid in cash, and the campaign insisted such a payment was made but has declined to make available a staff member who was present at Maid-Rite and left tip money.

The actual tip issue is kind of moot at this point. What is not is the almost frantic spin control mode that the Clinton campaign went into. They immediately went on the all-out offense on this, going so far as to set up a website specifically to "debunk" the story. Fine, fast reaction in today's political environment is not a bad thing. Unless of course you're trying to browbeat a waitress from Iowa:

Esterday, speaking to NPR from home later Thursday, said the Clinton campaign staffer who visited the diner apologized to her and said a $100 tip was left on a credit card the day of Clinton's visit. Esterday said the staff member said the money was meant to be shared.

"I explained to her that our credit card machine, you know, doesn't add on the tip," Esterday said. "And she said, 'Well, then, they left a $100 bill there.' And I said, 'Well, it didn't get divided up amongst us, because I had gotten nothing.'

"She just said, 'Well, there was one left,'" Esterday said. "She just kept repeating, 'There was one left.'

This is one of those times when the old Shakespeare quote, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks," in its original context applies.

By "protest," Gertrude doesn't mean "object" or "deny"—these meanings postdate Hamlet. The principal meaning of "protest" in Shakespeare's day was "vow" or "declare solemnly," a meaning preserved in our use of "protestation." When we smugly declare that "the lady doth protest too much," we almost always mean that the lady objects so much as to lose credibility.

Politics | Gaius November 9, 2007

By jpg, November 9, 2007 @ 10:19 am

There was a similar story during Hillary’s senate campaign in New York. She stiffed a waitress after having a photo op breakfast at a diner. Some things never change.
By quilly mammoth, November 9, 2007 @ 11:02 am

“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bush an officer”.
By Chris Andersen, November 9, 2007 @ 12:14 pm

Why automatically assume that Clinton did something wrong? From what I have read on this the most likely explanation is that whoever got the $100 pocketed it and stiffed the rest of the restaurant staff.

It’s insane that we are even spending a minute talking about this.
By Gaius, November 9, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

I said the matter of the tip is moot. The reaction, however, is not. I linked it because of that – the tip story did not interest me yesterday when (I think) ABC News ran with it.
By mockinbird, November 9, 2007 @ 1:47 pm

I’m going to believe the waitress on this one. Hillary, and her campaign compatriots are not reknown for their truthfulness. Also, Maid-rite’s owner wouldn’t pocket a $100.00
tip, when his waitresses know one was paid.
By Uncle Pinky, November 9, 2007 @ 7:24 pm

Odd.

The check was paid by credit card, the campaign flack said that the tip was included but that is easily debunked by the Veri-Sign credit readers that are ubiquitous these days, the flack then asserts that a C-note was left. Repeat the assertion.

Who left it? Where was it left? Is it more likely that people who work together (sometimes for years) will rip each other off than that good food-service folks got stiffed?

My take: Unforced error. Restaurants get busy, especially when you are trying to do things like look and act human. The staffer who merely apologized and handed off the double sawbuck gets a lot of respect in my eyes.

Once upon a time I was waiting on a two-top when I got sat with a greasy dirty pair of hippies. Hostess even apologized to me for tha seating. I was professional, they were very cool (actually very nice) but that two top expanded to pretty much shut down my section. I’d go over to the wait station and get ribbed about it. Being me, I noted that my section was pretty full whereas their’s were echoing, but it kind of sucked to hop from behind the bar into a floor shift that looked pretty grim. Nae’theless I did my job, and before long we had a kind of party going on in what I had thought was my section.

Turned out that they wern’t hippies: they were Skynryd.

When asked to seperate the checks (after my manger had gotten tickets, damn him) I replied that it would take an extremely advanced abacus and a week. I was, at that point, totally willing to write the night off. Popped down the check, with the standard curlicues and arrows that go with the late separation of checks, and was not surprised to see the guys go for their pockets. Everybody hucked in (except for name redacted) and I ended up the night pretty fat.

It works the other way as well.

Best way I can figure it, everbody at the counter thought they were covered by the campaign payment and, reasonably, figured that they owed nothing. The campaign guy figured differently. To him a gratuity should not come out of public funds, and I respect that, while reminding him to look up the definition of “earmark.”

Just don’t lie about it. If you forgot…then you forgot. Sucks. Hate to be you. After you get done beating yourself up, I’ll still be voting the other way. It’s not that I like the Republicans, it’s just that I find you and every thing you’ve ever stood for abhorrent.

Thanks…try the fish…your wife is very attractive..and…

Tip your waitress.