Beliefs About Customers
According to the informants, there are stereotypes about kinds of restaurant patrons in terms of who are good tippers and who are not. This seems to be a part of the folk wisdom among the people in the industry. For example, it is generally held that a table of older women are the worst tippers. What is interesting, however, is that in spite of these shared stereotypes, most waitpersons indicated that one never knows who is going to tip well. They indicated that they may size a customer up when he or she sits in their station, thinking about the kind of tip they will get from the individual or party. Many mentioned that they were often surprised