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Clinton's Tipping Point?
November 08, 2007 9:43 AM
ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Rule number one when campaigning at a diner: always leave a good tip -- and, apparently, make sure it gets properly 'disbursed'.
In early October, Sen. Hillary Clinton's 'Middle Class Express' made a pit stop at the Maid Rite diner in Marshalltown, Iowa.
The New York senator, joined by local political luminaries Christie Vilsack and Ruth Harkin, enjoyed a famous loose meat sandwich and attempted to hand caucus cards to the Iowans inside.
Clinton also spoke to one of the diner's waitresses, Anita Esterday. It was her first day on the job and she and Clinton shared a short exchange. Esterday, who has three jobs and works 12 hour shifts, said to Clinton "both of my sons have worked since they were 14 years old"; Clinton told her, "I'm proud of you."
But, according to Esterday, that's where Clinton's gratitude ended as the campaign crew left with nary a gratuity for any of the hard working Maid-Riters.
"I mean, nobody got left a tip that day," Esterday said in an interview with NPR after a visit by Senator Clinton.
UPDATE: The Clinton campaign contacted ABC News to assert that they did, contrary to Esterday's claim to NPR, pay $157 for food at Maid-Rite and left a $100 tip to be split among the staff.
Sensing the story was reaching the tipping point, ABC News' Eloise Harper contacted Brad Crawford, manager of Maid-Rite caught in the political mixer, who said the senator's staff did pay a tip but "it might have not been disbursed properly."
The NPR report claimed the meal was on the house. And even the Emily Post Institute doesn't have anything to say on the etiquette of presidential campaign tipping. (Post does, however, have something so say about the National Anthem -- a sore subject in the Obama camp these days).
"I don't think she understood at all what I was saying," Esterday continued to tell NPR. "Afterwards it was like do you guys live in the real world, maybe they don't carry money, I don't know."
Esterday's assertion may be a bipartisan one: earlier this year, former Governor Mitt Romney, R-Mass., who holds a fortune estimated between $190-$250 million found himself sans wallet and without the means to pay for his vanilla steamer at a campaign stop in DeWitt, Iowa.
But an allegedly tip-less visit wasn't Esterday's only complaint.
"As for all of this attention on me, it hasn't helped my life, its made my life worse," added the Maid-Rite waitress.
Esterday's picture with the Senator also landed in a local newspaper. Her employer at the nursing home is not a Clinton fan and, since the photo appeared, the waitress claims her shifts have been reduced; she suspects the picture in the paper was the reason.
Despite everything, Esterday did take Clinton's pitch to heart: she's still deciding whether to support Clinton or Obama.
November 8, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (242)
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Maybe Hillary thought she shouldn't tip this waitress because then you would have to pay taxes on it....NOT!!!!! I am sad that this woman is having to work 3 jobs, but I am proud of her for doing so and not relying on welfare. If it had been me and the meal was on the house I would have given the server a tip for sure. Personally I do not believe that tips should be counted as income at all, they are a gift to the server and should not be counted as income. This waitress should look into Ron Paul, he believes in our Constitution and believes we hard working Individuals should be able to keep the fruits of our Labor, and that is the truth.
Posted by: Tess, California | Nov 8, 2007 10:05:17 AM
The Clinton camp is reading this story and they still didn't give this waitress a tip!?! No wonder this waitress is working three jobs! Clinton is too busy trying to hand out political favors that she forgets to give a little cash to the people who actually earn it. This would not be a big deal if this were simply an oversight that was quickly corrected, but the best the Clinton camp can muster is that "the meal was on the house". The Clinton camp derided Bush 41 for being surprised at the workings of the grocery store scanner. Failing to leave a tip for a diner waitress is a bigger faux paus, if you ask me.
Posted by: Sean O'Brien | Nov 8, 2007 10:33:24 AM
Isn't being graced with the presence of a Clinton gratuitous enough? It’s something even more valuable than a tip, which the waitress might waste on feeding her children or something. Not only that, but Hillary knows that she shouldn’t need tips anyway, if there were just more socialism, which she promises to take the country into after the women elect her based on the sole fact that she’s a woman being attacked by the men of her own party.
Posted by: TexBork | Nov 8, 2007 10:40:05 AM
Perhaps socialist Hillary thought that since the meal was "on the house", so was the gratuity and all of it should be paid for by the Federal government with our taxes.
Posted by: Go Ron PAUL! | Nov 8, 2007 10:43:27 AM
The fact that the meal was ‘on the house’ is irrelevant. I never tip the customary percentage. If I get good service I leave a good tip. If I get lousy service I leave a lousy tip. I have tipped anywhere from a penny to $20 for a $20 meal. I believe in getting what you deserve, nothing more nothing less. Waiting tables with a lot of reporters around must have been rough. The fact that Clinton failed to leave a tip shows how little regard she actually has for working people. The fact that “...nobody got a tip that day,” is a fair indicator that it wasn’t an accident, it’s just how her people think. .... This lady is working 12 hour days and Clinton doesn’t leave a tip? The classic, “let ‘em eat cake” attitude if ever there was one.
Posted by: Royce | Nov 8, 2007 10:45:18 AM
You ALWAYS tip on a complementary meal! She doesn't own the restaurant. NO EXCUSE!
Posted by: Michael | Nov 8, 2007 11:22:52 AM
Leaving tips only encourages employers to pay staff slave wages. Having said that, I always leave a tip because I feel sorry for anyone who is in a low-paid job...I have worked as a waitress in the past and the tips were a lot more than my hourly rate.
Posted by: Ger | Nov 8, 2007 11:32:55 AM
She's had a silver spoon so long in that big mouth that she does not understand. Did she think she was in Europe with the V.A.T? What a dope! She will tax the hell out of us though! Bravo Chillery!
Posted by: castra regina | Nov 8, 2007 11:32:59 AM
Liberals always think the gov't should take care of everything. So it does not surprise me . Hillary only takes, she doesn't give. watch your wallets middle class.
Posted by: martin | Nov 8, 2007 11:33:30 AM
I used to be a 0% - 10% tipper till my daughter worked as a waitress and explained to me that wait staff are taxed as tho they were tipped 17%.
So 20% should be the standard tip.
Recently we dined together with a 2 for 1 coupon. I then learned that the tip should be based not on the actual cost to the customer, but rather on the cost of the serving. Thus I should tip based on the value of the meal without the 2 for 1 coupon.
I was quite surprised when my daughter informed me most people actually do tip the higher amount.
Hill's campaign needs a money bag man to follow in the wake of these complemtary dines to avoid alienting all that she touches.
Posted by: Arturo | Nov 8, 2007 11:34:37 AM
--Maybe Hillary thought she shouldn't tip this waitress because then you would have to pay taxes on it....NOT!!!!!--
Tess? Are you saying you don't think waitresses and waiter's etc have to pay taxes on tips?
If you are saying that you are WRONG, FYI.
Posted by: Kipper | Nov 8, 2007 11:35:24 AM
Serfs don't get tips. The little people don't get tips. Minimum wage is plenty enough. Pee-ons don't get tips. The "help" don't get tips. The Queen is entitled to free everything. Someone else will tip her. Tips are for suckers. Hillary is above leaving a tip, get used to it.
Posted by: Roninacreage | Nov 8, 2007 11:35:55 AM
problem with all politicians, they have so much money they are out of touch with real life. Its ashame.
Posted by: pur | Nov 8, 2007 11:36:05 AM
The wage for servers has not been raised in over a decade. IT IS STILL $2.13 an hour, EVERY SINGLE PENNY OF WHICH goes towards taxes, and then the server usually owes money at the end of the year because the wage was not nearly enough to pay the taxes. Clearly there is some lobbying by someone keeping this wage so ridiculously low. I am absolutely sickened that Hillary did not leave a tip, THEN proceeded to use this woman like a cheap prostitute any way she wanted for her own benefit. What makes me most disgusted of all, and which will actually bring me to the polls to vote against her for WHOEVER else is available is this: How could someone SO out of touch with appropriate behavior run this country properly? I've waited tables for 14 years and can count on one hand how many times I have been left absolutely nothing. Most Americans know it is downright shameful to leave nothing. After so many years and so many hundreds of thousands of tables, I believe it is unequivocably true that a persons character can be judged by the tip they leave. If I give someone poor service - I expect a poor tip and am fine with that. But nothing? From the woman who wants to run this country? She most likely did not fail to tip because she is cruel, but she undoubtedly did fail to tip because she's completely selfish and out of touch with reality. Thanks Hillary, for showing your colors so clearly that I no longer have to fret over who to vote for.
Posted by: kmassoud | Nov 8, 2007 11:37:59 AM
Trivial issues that probably are false!!! This is exactly how we should judge who should be the next leader of the free world. Keep it up media, the people really appreciate it. Think of the entourage with Clinton or any presidential candidate. What a BS story that even if true, has no bearing on the job one would do as president. Have'nt we suffered enough in this country by letting triviality trump competence. No more, and the media should be leading the charge. Instead, they are brewing up non stories about half truths so Limbaugh will be happy with them, even though he never will.
Posted by: Seeryer | Nov 8, 2007 11:38:29 AM
You know what they say about people who don't tip, or only tip 10%...
they're just %$&^$%&%.
Posted by: waiter | Nov 8, 2007 11:39:07 AM
So, leftists leave no tips but tax working waitresses as if their tips were 17%.
Leftists tax you for money you don't have.
And abc.news convinces most people to vote for the democRATic party.
Modern media is the opiate of the ill informed.
Posted by: Hater-of-the-left | Nov 8, 2007 11:39:12 AM
Hillary just forgot to tip. If she thought of it she would have tipped. But she was absorbed with HER campaign. She was absorbed with the adulation. She doesn't believe she has any obligation to anyone but herself. Just ask those who worked for her in the White House or anywhere else. She is self-centered. It's a personality trait. She has done nothing in her 60 years of life that qualifies her for the preidendcy, but she believes she is owed it. She will now try to justify that being First Lady is enough qualification. Her leadership in the federal Healthcare debacle and Arkansas Education program program is now all forgotten. She has nothing in her past to show that she is qualified for the job as president. She is owed it. Anita Esterday and all the rest of you should know that Hillary believes "it's all about her". She will take from others to give to you but she owes no one anything. Do we want that type of person to become our president.
Posted by: Garth | Nov 8, 2007 11:40:21 AM
WHY DOES EVERYONE IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY THINK THEY DESERVE A TIP FROM EACH PATRON? I ALWAYS TIP WHEN SOMEONE GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND THE ORDINARY. BUT IF YOU ARE NOT FRIENDLY, THE FOOD IS COLD AND THE PLACE IS NOT CLEAN WHY SHOULD I TIP, EXECPT TIP EVERYONE OFF I KNOW ABOUT THE LOUSY SERVICE AND ATMOSPHERE.
Posted by: KERRY | Nov 8, 2007 11:42:13 AM
Maybe y'all are making a bit too much of this? Of course there should have been a tip -- and I'm not going to go into how much it should be, good service vs. exceptional service vs. bad service -- that's irrelevant. But y'all are acting like she went out to eat after a day of work and decided not to leave a tip. In reality, it was a meal that was part of her campaign, with other local politicos, and she was working the room -- that's what politicians do (from both sides). Her staff obviously should have done better -- they are at fault, no doubt about it. But you can't find me a state senate or house campaign candidate who doesn't have a staffer who really is in charge of this stuff -- it's too hard, too busy, too crazy in a political situation for the candidate him- or herself to remember things like this. Again, a tip should have been given -- but to read anything into it and make silly comments about socialism or how Hillary thinks about people is a bit much.
Posted by: mddc | Nov 8, 2007 11:43:07 AM
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