Waitpersons' Shared Culture
It was apparent from the interviews that tipping is something that virtually every tipped employee in the restaurant business thinks about a lot and discusses with fellow employees. As many said, it will often be the topic of conversation during breaks or after work. Consequently, there was a great deal of consistency across interviews in terms of what was discussed. It is unclear therefore, to what extent any individual informant's comments reflect his or her own observations versus a report of these shared beliefs. Most informants admitted that conversation often centered on the tipping behavior of various customers, and also admitted to making certain value Judgments about the customer based on the size of the tip. It is important to note, however, that many of the respondents would tell the interviewers of a shared belief, then explain how their own experiences have deviated from this folk wisdom. This was particularly true of their beliefs about what kind of customers tip well