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Ms. Esterday said she did not understand what all the commotion was about.
“You people are really nuts,” she told a reporter during a phone interview. “There’s kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now — there’s better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn’t get a tip.”
Oh, look over there, it's the flag pin flap writ in pancakes and coffee. Whatever it takes in the next round of irrelevent gotcha so that we don't ever have to discuss real problems and issues that real Americans face outside the fantasy world that is the Beltway.
Taaa Daaaah! Presto Change-o!
For heaven's sake, can we just this once discuss something substantive, in depth and with real emphasis given to facts and honesty and its application to everyday lives of Americans instead of a bunch of manufactured hooey and salacious BS that relates to nothing except tabloid ratings and manufactured idiocy? Please?
Because we have a year to go in this election coverage, and it is way too early to be this cynically lacking in content. There are a whole host of issues to be debated and discussed. Then again, perhaps not. Jeebus...
(H/T to Atrios. Photo via Leslie Duss.)
[And to be completely clear on the issue of tipping: tip and tip big. Waitstaffs live on their tips, as do the busboys and bartenders who get a cut of the tipping action in most restaurants. I've waited a bazillion tables in my lifetime, from high school forward, and I can tell you that no one survives long on $2.45 to $3 an hour for long without decent tips. Start at 20 percent and move upwards. And, for heaven's sake, I don't care which party the candidate represents, the political staff always -- ALWAYS -- needs to carry some cash for tips for the waitstaffers at whatever diner you are using as a location prop of the moment. Use your common sense. Doesn't negate the fact that the media is using this as yet another distraction-gotcha-come-lately, but for the love of pete, tip your waitstaff.]
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Ein?
Hello Christy!
Bhutto is freed from house arrest!
where’s the tip jar for this post?
The ironic thing was the story was total bullshit to begin with. The Bill was $150 and they left a $100 tip.
ex-restaurant workers tip best!
I’ve told my girls that a good test of a guy’s character is how they treat the waitstaff on a date…
do-si-do @ 3
lol!
Nice to see that some people have the sense to ask the right questions.
Quick! Hire that one as a reporter!
tw3k @ 5
Damn straight.
May I add something Christy? Even if you are paying the check with a credit card, tip with cash. Some resteraunts/bars/whatever will not clear the credit card tips until all the bank work is completed.
Yep, rome is burning and we’re talking lapel pins.
Here’s to ordering off the MSM menu…
No kidding, tip big and often.
I worked as a short order cook for a while right out of high school. seeing it from the inside, I always tip.
I even tip the gas station attendants in Oregon where they don’t have self service gas pumping. You ought to see the looks of amazement I get for a buck.
( I pumped gas for a living for a while too, back in the day.)
As for the media hype?
Get a life.
Loo Hoo @ 2
Hmmm. Interesting.
we are fortunate that our existing candidirt will continue to spew non committal nonsense. it will allow a leader to step in at some point. of course, that will be the antichrist and jerry falwell will appear on tv again, only live!, and bugs bunny will be driving a taxi in brooklyn just like it is all supposed to be.
Until there is a progressive media nothing will change. The MSM will continue to provide gruel for the mind to the masses. The blogs and AA Radio are a start but they do not drive the coverage. America’s traditional media is a far greater danger to average Americans than any terrorist. It’s time to acknowledge who the real terrorists are: The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, Russert, Williams, Judith Miller, George Will, Hume,Broder, Matthews, et al
I made a similar comment about tipping awhile ago and got hammered; because “The important thing was better wages and benefits..blah..blah. My thought at the time was, it would be damn hard for a single mom to feed her kids a dinner of “political rhetoric”.
Loo Hoo @ 2
Morning Loo Hoo.
I wish I thought that was better news.
And images of Benigno Aquino flash before me as I read this.
Clinton campaign says they left $100 tip on a $60 tab. (That’s on drudgereport.com)
do-si-do @ 6
I knew that but didn’t pay close enough attention until it was too late. My daughter, having worked in the restaurant business, will not be making the same mistake.
Has looseheadprop checked in with a report on the rally in NYC yesterday? I still can’t believe it’s not a mainstream top story.
dakine01 @ 10
I always leave a cash tip when paying with credit but write the word “cash” in the tip line on the receipt.
Small wonder that the MSM has been reduced to what it is today; infotainment. Unfortunately most Americans have allowed themselves to be dumb-downed, but occasionally someone appears with enough common sense to speak truth to power.
Someone should give Anita Esterday a medal
This is really fucking rich. The mark of a Republican is that he insists the waitress “earn” her tip with exceptional service — correct that, subservience — pretending not to know she’s paid below minimum. And the food better be good, too.
Hi newtonusr! Such a world this administration has contributed to, huh?
Steve-AR @ 4
Yeah, apparently the confusion was because they paid the tip with the bills for the whole group of tables together, rather than leaving it on the table (via TPM, I think; don’t have time to look up the link right now.)
do-si-do @ 6
Good afternoon all. Excellent advice do-si-do! I’ll share it with the young people in my family.
Thankyou!
I heard this on NPR coming to work this morning and spent the last moments of my trip ranting like a banshee. Who cares!!!!
Meanwhile, what about … oh, good grief, fill in the blank - the war, the economy, healthcare, our new pro-torture AG, yada yada yada.
Sheesh.
newtonusr @ 9
Mothers of ex-restaurant workers tip really well…
Just because the minimum wage raised does not mean it applies to all classes of employees. Wait staff in AZ are excluded and paid with the following formula …..
base rate plus tips = minimum hourly wage
So no matter what, they rarely earn MORE than minimum wage. Each employee class gets a percent of the tips so if someone pockets a tip and it does not got into the general pot then others loose for the night.
Be interesting to know how many pups worked in restaurants to get through college. I did.
Sometimes the little things like how much they tip says volumes about the character of a candidate. How many times have we heard about how Bush takes something from a store and leaves a quarter or nothing to pay for it and none of his staff come through with the rest of the payment? (I don’t actually expect the President or candidate to worry about the actual payment, their staffers should.)
From the 2004 campaign - I live in St. Louis, we hosted one of the debates. At the same time, the Cardinals were in the playoffs. The day before the debate, I was in a horrendous traffic jam coming home from work. Heard on the radio that one of the candidates had arrived at the airport and was driving down the highway to Ladue. Closed I 270 and all of the bridges over it. Care to guess which candidate had to arrive during rush hour and drive down a major highway, inconveniencing half of greater St. Louis who either just wanted to get home or go to a playoff baseball game? John Kerry didn’t arrive until around 8 PM when traffic was light. I’m still PO’d about it 3 years later.
Of all the discussions worth having, only this crap fits into the network soundbites.
Stephennnn @ 22
So people actually think the news is accurate?
I guess it all depends on the sponsors…
Who’s Failing Us With Bad Information?
OT - heard on Thom Hartman
“Conyers has been threaten by Pelosi that she will take away his chairmanship of the HJC if he proceeds with impeachment”
OMG…
Elliott @ 23
yup! peel that veneer off the msm!
katymine @ 34
God help this nation.
The disconnect that we have seen for at least a decade is now being articulated by ordinary people. The centralization of so-called poltical ‘news’ reporting in Washington DC along with infotainment programme executives has pretty much severed the connection between people and their media. She should have told the reporter, ‘get a life’.
We can’t expect the national democratics to tap this vein of resentment. It has to start local, as Howard Dean figured out some years ago. Get the local party in shape to the point where activists can have real influence on elections, and we will get better candidates. The notion that money and some financial backing qualifies a person to represent a constituency has got to be broken. There has to be real representation for a change.
Steve-AR @ 4
But it doesn’t beat getting linked to by Drudge. All the traditional media loves him. Don’t you know!!
katymine @ 34
She sounds like The Decider: making demands with no explanation and few accomplishments.
katymine @ 34
Primary Pelosi!
Loo Hoo @ 30
Me, too. But not for tips.
Loo Hoo @ 30
I did too, very briefly. I could probably take the award for worst waitperson ever. I just couldn’t convince myself to care what people ordered.
Office work suited me much better and got me through most of college.
tw3k @ 35
I wonder what kind of tippers those of the MSM are?
TexBetsy @ 36
There is no god, it can’t help the nation.
Elliott @ 43
Cow tippers.
hillary claps her hands for no apparent reason.
obviously, she’s not qualified to be a candidate for president.
lightly @ 28
Yeah, Morning Edition ran a confusing semi-correction. I ended up knowing less than before they ran it. But at least the reporter admitted the messup.
katymine @ 34
And she wonders why people protest in front of her house. What the hell happened to her since becoming speaker? She is fast becoming a monumental disappointment. Is she afraid of the Broder’s and Mr. Potato Head’s(Russert) of the world?
katymine @ 34
wha…….?!!!!!!!!!
Knut Wicksell @ 41
I did and after as well.
Bustednuckles @ 45
707!
tw3k @ 7
Upper right hand corner of the page…
Loo Hoo @ 20
“Um, what rally” said the New Yorker.
yellowsnapdragon @ 42
I was pretty good but I did spill a bowl of soup in a lady’s lap one time!
My last ex..left home at age 17 and moved to HI. She worked her way through College and Med School on tips.
katymine — I’m in fairly close contact with several people close to Conyers, and I have never heard that from any of them. FWIW
linda @ 46
gotta engage the audience somehow.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 48
She gives “house arrest” whole new meaning.
Although my stints as a waitress were brief (and memorable, since I’m both absent-minded and bad tempered) I always start my tipping at 20%.
Good service gets more, for instance, cab drivers who carry my groceries up two flights of outside stairs, my tips start at 40%.
Only wish I could afford to tip like a friend wealthy from real estate: he overtips until the wait staff is giddy.
tw3k @ 54
Carafe of red wine here…
msmolly @ 52
good point!
Loo Hoo @ 30
Nurses aide….. kind of the same work with no tips
Waiting tables is a tough job, so I always tip well. Never done it, but I know many people who have.
BTW, I spotlighted this to the worst offenders in pundit world.
newtonusr @ 60
at least it wasn’t hot!
tw3k @ 61
(grabs calculator) ok, 40% of saving the democracy, serving up accurate journalism with integrity is about…
katymine @ 34
Any reason given? Poor Conyers is getting it from all sides, huh?
Flamethrower @ 47
NPR devoted TWO segments to this, first yesterday and then this morning. Shows where the news priorities are, doesn’t it?
On the Conyers-Pelosi story: found this at DemocraticUnderground:
I wouldn’t bet against her threatening him if he actually does anything on any of the stuff bottled up in his committee. She’s made it clear that she doesn’t have time for impeachment, whether anyone else wants it or not.
neokneme @ 33
Investors or consumers of news should just assume that most of the information is incomplete, missing, or wrong. I only watch cable news to make fun of it and see how fast it takes a reporter to go off the rails in his/her story.
I don’t pretend to be an economic expert on but it truly shocks me when I see that I know more about some economic issues than the resident media experts and that in many cases they simply do not know what they are talking about.
Jane (nyc) @ 19
Can be overrated. I’ve dealt with guys very generous on the waitstaff, but still real assholes with the people they date.
I have a pretty funny Denny’s story that involves a grilled cheese sandwich flying through air in slow motion, but it will have to wait for Late night…;)
I dated a waitress once. Never again. All they talk about is their tips.
do-si-do @ 65
and about 90% of 10% for accuracy and honesty…
That Dana Milbank column is precious. The man’s clearly been reading too many inflight magazines.
I wish there were a way to reflect this incident back on the MSM. they are so shallow.
OT..Good news….
Rep. Jim Saxton, the twelve-term Republican from New Jersey’s 3rd District, plans to retire after his current term, an announcement that could come as early as today, according to sources familiar with his decision.
WaPo
George Simian @ 72
Based on your experience with one waitress? Perhaps they’re individuals and have different topics of conversation.
P J Evans @ 68
and she lets do-no hojo sit, wtf.
peanutbutter @ 70
rats, word got out, huh? did this treat the waitstaff nice thing become part of the Mystery Method?
sorry about the dates from hell.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 56
That is why I put in where I was hearing it….
If you can get the audio of the Ed Schultz & Wasserman Schultz interview yesterday. I was shocked how Ed really was pinning her to the mat on impeachment. Wasserman Schultz was no no no… no time, too many other things to do…. the people do not want it….. not in the top 10 things the American people want….
When we knew in Oct 2006 that impeachment was off the table, why would it be in our top 10?
Yellowsnapdragon, that is so funny!
I did too, very briefly. I could probably take the award for worst waitperson ever. I just couldn’t convince myself to care what people ordered.
Ah, I think I’ll get that gal a tuna sandwich, and grandpa should have the soup. The kid should be eating more vegetables, and the fat lady does NOT get the banana split she ordered. A salad would be much more appropriate. To hell with ‘em!
If I were John Conyers I would call Nancy’s bluff. What an idiot she is. Has she turned into a republican????????
Steve-AR @ 76
Cool! Who’s running against him?
Um, the election is a year away. There can’t be many more retirements to announce, right? This is cutting it a little close for the people of both parties who’ll run for the seat.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 48
I think disappointment is pretty weak word for what she has become.
Why do so many people say that there is more important work to be done? And that impeachment would be a big distraction? Does it really need to take that long? The Mukasey nomination practically flew through.
Of course if they had done some investigation earlier this year, they would have been strengthening their negotiating position…instead, Nancy-girl negotiates with herself and unilaterally locks one of her biggest guns firmly in its holster.
It’s not just bad for the Constitution…its bad for politics. Exactly why is exposing the BS that Cheney and Bush have been up to bad for the Democratic brand or short term political gain?
marymccurnin @ 82
y yes she has
Funny, I thought the more telling comment was this:
“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.’”
TexBetsy @ 77
Nah, all the same. They all come out of the same test tube and then are reared in the same waitressing academy until they’re old enough to complain about tips. Then they’re loosed on the world after a secret ceremony involving .., oh wait, sorry sworn to secrecy on that one.
Hugh @ 69
Long live pots and pans… “~}
Got me thru and well past college. Taught me much too. Dumped a shrimp cocktail down the very low cut dress of a customer - not good to see and hard not to laugh.
Waitin’ tables: easy to do; hard to do well.
Sparkatus @ 53
Courthouse steps over the feds wanting to take over New York’s elections. Scary article by Looseheadprop about this time yesterday.
Sparkatus @ 84
On the way home for lunch, I caught a bit of Diane Rehm, and a caller asked the panelists why impeachment was “off the table” and the answer was “bad for Democrats, a distraction, yada yada yada.” Since I didn’t hear much, I’m not sure who gave that answer. Made me pound the steering wheel!
Loo Hoo @ 90
Ah, ok. Thanks.
Considering that it’s already been shown that Hillary’s people did indeed leave a massive tip, that’s what makes this even sillier.
Somerby has got to be blowing a gasket over this.
OT..Oh..this is just peachy:
Israel and the United States have agreed to appoint two working committees in order to hone a joint strategy against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, public radio reported on Friday.
link
For those of you who haven’t lived in the center of the political universe, Iowa, a maid-rite is known as the sandwich you ‘eat with a spoon.’ Normally, you don’t get a plate, but eat it atop a waxy paper wrapper. As the meat inevitably falls out of the sandwich, you scoop it off the waxy paper with a plastic spoon.
If Hillary gave a $100 tip, it would be the greatest tip in the history of maid-rites by several fold.
Cujo359 @ 87
lol!
OT .. but worth a read. For those of us whose contempt for Liarman knows no bounds, read the Comments section in this NYT article.
Lieberman calls liberal Democrats paranoid
msmolly @ 91
And they’re getting so much done, aren’t they? Frankly, I wish they’d get distracted so they’d stop passing legislation. Maybe someone should leave bright, shiny objects around for them. My cats used to love dead batteries under the sofa.
Been missing KKKarl?
Rove Decries ‘Nutty’ ‘Vitriolic’ Bloggers Who Spew ‘Bad Words’
Dude. Who’s the kook? Show up sometime…
msmolly @ 91
Exactly!
So more time can be spent Condemning Move-On? Revising FISA? Confirming Mukasey? Spending on Iraq? Vilifying Iran? Not enforcing subpoenas?
What could possibly be more important than getting the criminals at the top out?
And, yes, tipping is good. Used to wait tables myself. Funny, everyone talks about it being tough. But it was also the best money I made for a quite some time.
TheOtherWA @ 83
Harumph! My thoughts exactly. You have, in short and sweet language, crystallized my thoughts on this presidential race. Who, except the MSM, gives a damn about who tipped who, who wore a flagpin, who forgot to put a hand over their chest for the pledge. I have a kid suffering from autism and I fight every month with his school and my insurance company for his benefit. I have had two liver transplants and take $1,000’s of dollars of meds each month - I am worried about losing my job and my insurance. I can barely fill my tank anymore because of gas prices. And lastly people are dying in an illegal war. I just about give up…
Jane (nyc) @ 97
From the article: