To just hate rich, braying people today. I know I am, but I am just not thick-skinned today, angry, RANT alert

[Lauriefairycake]

So we went out for a lovely afternoon waffle at the fabulous waffle house in St Michaels (St Albans). We don't go out much so it was a real treat.

Middle aged almost (mid 50's) couple next to us - him in burberry jacket, Hackett scarf and shirt. Her with £800 quid Chloe bag.

They were on the table next to us and came in the same time. They kept saying how lovely it was and how quick the service was. They had virtually the same as us. Their bill came to £16 - they paid with a twenty. They kept the change. The bloke said what about a tip. The woman said "that'll do, she's only young".

When they left they put 40p on the table for the waitress

Incidentally, I have been told never to leave the tip added to whichever debit/credit card chit you are signing. Employers often DO use that 'tip' to make up their staff's wages.
Always leave cash, and make sure it goes to the whoever was waiting at your table.

Sorry- should be staffs' wages, (naughty apostrophe) as I would imagine they have more than one member of staff working for them (!) :0)

no, staff is a collective noun - so staff's was correct

doh!

but why do you care?

what? About the employer getting away with paying their staff too little, and then nabbing their tips as well (when rich OR poor customers have felt they wanted to tip) at every given opportunity?

I care, because I think it is cheeky. I have nothing against tipping, I just don't like being expected to, and consider it a 'bonus' to the wages, not being there 'in leiu of' (sp?)

Apologies for all the inverted commas!

Did no-one tell you bergentulip, there is no such thing as society? It's a jungle out there. It's every man for himself. And nice guys finish last.

Bastards.

swedes - yes, have you ever been to that Billy's wine bar? V. funny. Some footballer used to live in our road although obviously not a terribly rich one!

Can't understand why people think there is jealousy here?? It seems to me that OP would never in her wildest dreams want to be like those people or aspire in any way to their life. But the excessive vitriol is not attractive!

Just having a quick flick through at the uproar before I pop to bed for a couple of hours.

To those who have been lovely, Harpsi,greeny,bookkepper,souteastastra,misdee,skyatnight,kerrymum,expat,others - thank-you

To those who were rude and there are a few. Just to respond to the last few - "treating them with respect and dignity" - I would if they were my patients but never being angry in my head or on an anonymous talk board with random strangers would be a bit much to ask. It's not like I ever actually spoke to them.

I also winced a little at someone starting a thread calling me 'common' -yeurgh

Sorry nappyaddict about those who would leave an insulting tip of 4p or 1p - I interpreted the 40p as an insult to the waitress because of what they said and their attitude - I'm glad the waitress didn't hear it.

And I only noticed the chloe bag because I was 'painting a picture' for you all (would have mentioned their new range rover but didn't want it to to turn into a thread about 4 by 4's)

O.K. so Op bad choice of words, but I do actually agree with her point.
Like nappyaddict, I have done alot of waitressing. I did it all through school and Uni. Often I gave the best service, it was so good, even I say so
And the bill would come to something £xxxx .90 and the person would stand and wait for their 10p change, whilst I was rushing around with cups of tea, cakes, or shredding duck or carving chickens, or clearing tables.
It used to astonish me.
And that kind of "tightness" , used to make me really quite sad.
I am sure that most people can appreciate that.
I thjink Op has a very reasonable point. Badly worded but reasonable.

It is true that 'Berko' is even more bourgeois and nouveau riche than Harpenden. Even more 'Hertfordshire House-Wives' in their Landrover Discoveries or Mercedes dropping one child off at school. There are quite a lot of normal people in Harpenden. FGS, I used to live there!

Billy's wine bar. Ugh. I can remember going there about 15 years ago. It is awful - like a goldfish bowl full of posers.

As I said, I prefer understated elegance (not sports cars and Chloe bags). My kind of thing is more ancient Mini Metros in sludgy paint colours, kagouls, Jesus sandals and hessian carrier bags with something printed on them!

Yes Laurie, I agree.
I found those threads that were started most unpleasant. They made me feel quite ill actually. All that haw-hawing...
I'd rather be common any day

Just Greensleeves post- LOLOL!!

I understand because I'm not rich nowhere near but whenever I give a big tip but a small one if the service is just about passable. I always give more than I can afford, ie I could put the money to good use on myself, stupid I know but I do.

Haven't read the thread, only the OP.

Braying types annoy me too, but the key point made is "you are the reason she will probably never be able to afford what you have", which it seems to me is the assumption on which the whole argument hinges.

Does one person having wealth prevent another from having it? Interesting. I once heard this argument taken apart by an economist who pointed out that people see the economy as being like a "pie", where one person taking a larger slice leaves less for others - whereas in fact the economy is more like a language, where one person having a wide and rich vocabulary does not deprive another of having the power of speech.

I've no idea which end of the political spectrum that could be seen to come from, but I thought that was rather a nice analogy.

Having said all that, a 40p tip is bloody mean!!

Rah rah rah for the 'common' people!

Laurie, I've just waded through this mud slinging festival and YANBU, with knobs on.

LOL @ Greensleeves.

I think what annoys me is they all gon on about the fact that it is her choice to work there, which is true to a certain extent but they take no interest in the fact that some people lives are a little more complicated than that

Hertfordshire is hideous for this type of noove

apologies to 'Lauriefairycakes' if you thought my post was rude. I missed the point totally, I got drawn in by the 'rant' comments.I agree 40p was pretty pants. people are all different regardless of how much money or how little money they have. what i should have said is if the service is good & reasonable & leave a reasonable tip.

whoever said that them being rich 'doesn't mean they have to share it around'

well it's not sharing, it's paying the waitress for the service she provided. her age should not have come into it.

one of the key defences of Capitalism and the greed and disparity of wealth that it encourages is the 'trickle down' effect - i.e because the people in the richest 1% of the population have more, they necessarily have more to spend, and so the people on the lower tiers of society benefit from their wealth. The O/P is a great example of why this theory is bollocks.

YABU...for noticing what you noticed. for listening. and then for coming on here and calling them scum.

who do you think you are?

i agree with scottishmummy. if a thread was started that said 'i hate people in cheap clothes, vinyl bags, no home ownership. then that would probably evoke a strong reaction'

ffs. another ridiculous thread.

Oh come on, half the threads on MN are ridiculous, that's the fun of it.

Anyway it was a fairly mild rant and the OP admitted she was probably being unreasonable in the title!

Besides, you can't help but notice what people say when they are sat right next to you and a 40p tip is just bloody rude IMO. Better to leave nothing if you are going to be so cheap and insulting.

BTW I overhear people all the time and wish I didn't. A pair of middle-aged women sat on the bus yesterday spent the entire journey (20 minutes) effing and blinding like a pair of navvies on a bender.

Oh for a pair of earplugs!

lol at "vinyl bags"

priceless

remove the pokers from your arses ladies, you'll be much more comfortable