Last night I was in the city with friends, and we had dinner at a place with free valet parking. As is usual The Wife and I tipped the valet. (For those of you unfamiliar, that’s pretty much expected.)
We headed out, handed over the ticket, and the fellow went to get the car. Between the two of us, we only had a $1 bill and a $5 bill… and honestly, the valet wasn’t doing a $5 job to us. So $1 was the tip. Not a big deal. That was all we had.
The valet got our car, pulled it up, and started yelling and honking as he was ready to go get his next car. We were with a friend from out of town and needed to do a follow-behind to give her directions, so we were talking things over. I went over, though, as I didn’t want to be a big jerk. I said, politely, “Thank you, sir” and handed him the dollar.
He then scoffed. Out loud. I was stunned!
I got in the car and started chortling in a Costanza-like fashion. The window happened to be down so, honestly, I hope he heard me.
This bugged me a lot last night. Where does he get off? I had $1. It was a tip. It’s a very, very busy restaurant, so he’s pulling down great tips. I don’t know about you but if I was doing my job – not even necessarily being extra polite, but just doing it – and someone said, “Here’s a buck!” I wouldn’t turn it down and I wouldn’t scoff at it.
In hindsight, of course, I thought I should have turned around and said, “Well, then, if you don’t need the dollar, I’ll take it back.”
The city: sometimes, people are jerks.
Posted in Everyday Life
Ryan February 25, 2008, 12:12 am
“Well, then, if you don’t need the dollar, I’ll take it back.”
That’s totally what my dad would have said.
Terry M. February 25, 2008, 12:40 am
Did you have to de-stinkify the vehicle afterwards? If not you made out pretty well.