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week—he would be obliged to charge much more, and
have, altogether, a higher-priced bill of fare. Num
bers of people would not then be able to patronize res
taurants, who are in the habit of doing so now. This
is the reason why the waiter receives tips, as his wages
are generally not sufficient to pay his living expenses.
It is not always themeanness or parsimony of the pro
prietors, but forced circumstances that compel them
to pay their help smallwages. Give the owner or man
ager of an establishment more profit and, generally,
he would cheerfully advance the wages of his waiters
and other assistants.
There are thousands of waiters who would rather
not receive tips, if they could demand and receive the
proper wages that would support them and their
families. There are as many men in this line of busi
ness who have just as good a character and principles
as men in any other endeavor to earn a living; but the
vocation makes a man slavish, and he is virtually com
pelled to, accept presents (tips) from generously in
clined people, in order to get money enough to pay his
own expenses.
Another point, to which my attention has been
drawn hundreds of times, is, that waiters when clean
ing off a table, just after a party has left, are in the
habit of beating the cloth with their napkins and whip
ping off the erumbs,. which may possibly drop upon
people sitting at an adjoining table. This is entirely
wrong. The crumbs should be brushed off carefully
into a crumb pan, or mopped up with the napkin, so
that the guests in the vicinity may not be disturbed.
I do not wish it to be understood that every feature
of the restaurant and caf6 has been mentioned by me,
but only some of the principal points specified, as it
would take too much time and voluminous space to
itemize everything, connected with the subject.