quietlife.net

what?

24 Oct 2006

Glen Dean:

If you have ever waited tables, then you know that a lot of black people do not tip. Not only that, but they have a tendency to complain a lot, especially black women. The same can be said for white church people. Of course we are dealing in generalizations here. I know that many black women and many church people are good tippers, so please don’t go there with the stereotyping BS.

What?

UPDATE: I should clarify that I posted this not so much to express my confusion at the actual component generalizations (although I certainly have some), but rather to highlight my confusion over the sum. The sum total of these generalizations doesn’t make any sense. Black people don’t tip, but neither do white “church people”. Black women complain a lot, but so do white people. I feel like I need a finite state machine to navigate his logic tree. If you make a generalization but then immediately provide a counterexample, what exactly are you trying to say? Did you ever notice that black people wear hats? I mean, white people wear hats too, but have you ever noticed that black people do it?

Incidentally, the whole “black people don’t tip” thing reminds me of this quote from Crash, which I haven’t seen, but the quote is funny and appropos:

Anthony: That waitress sized us up in two seconds. We’re black and black people don’t tip. So she wasn’t gonna waste her time. Now somebody like that? Nothing you can do to change their mind.
Peter: So, uh… how much did you leave?
Anthony: You expect me to pay for that kind of service?

Comments

SayUncle — October 24, 2006 at 14:12 · reply

I know many folks who were waiters/waitresses and they all have said the same thing. They’ve all said that when a black group comes in, shortest straw gets the table.

Not saying it’s good they think that but they do.

R. Francis "Random" Smith — October 24, 2006 at 16:14 · reply

Not only did he immediately provide counterexamples, but he then added that his generalization doesn’t hold over the generalized group, and (somewhat peevishly, I’d say) demanded he not be called out for generalizing in the first place. “Black people don’t tip, except white people also don’t tip, and some black people do tip, and hey don’t go around saying I said black people don’t tip!” Whatever.

Ned Williams — October 25, 2006 at 05:21 · reply

I’ve always heard that smokers are better tippers than non-smokers, too. But whether you agree or are persuaded by Glen Dean’s assertion, it is not per se fallacious . . . “white church people” are a distinct sub-group of “white people” and “black people” are distinct sub-group of “people.”

Les Jones — October 25, 2006 at 16:55 · reply

Chris, he said that black people and “white church people” don’t tip. I’ve had friends who work in restaurants tell me the same thing. The Sunday after church crown tends to tip poorly, and so do black people. And women in general tend to tip less than men. It’s the conventional widsom in the waitron universe.

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