CHAPTER XXIV 



TIPS 



IT is neither easy nor pleasant to speak frankly on the 

 matter of tips, and as it is a question that essentially 

 concerns the master and his guests, it might seem an 

 irrelevant subject for a keeper's book. And yet we 

 feel that it will not do any particular harm for the 

 keeper to listen to us " thinking aloud," and whilst we 

 address a few observations to all whom it may concern. 

 What was originally a recognition of good and special 

 service has now, in every branch of life, come to be 

 regarded as a matter of form, apart altogether from the 

 fairness or justice of the question. In the cases of 

 certain well-known restaurants where waiters are not 

 paid, and are even compelled in many instances to pay 

 for the privileges of their positions, a tip is in reality 

 no longer a tip it is a wage, and a most unfair and 

 mean attempt on behalf of the proprietors to throw 

 upon the pockets of the public the payment of their 

 servants, while they retain sole control and the right 

 of dismissal. It is generally admitted that the man who 

 pays the piper calls the tune, and yet while the public 

 pay the wages they have to take such service as they 



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