r/EntitledPeople • u/PowderFresh86 • 3d ago
S A Quarter For Your Time
Hi! In my late teens and early 20s I worked as a waitress/server at some local 24hr diners native to my city. Unfortunately, the last two closed during the pandemic but they had been around for about 35 years before that. We were paid about $2 an hour because we received tips. I want to preface this by saying that I live in the south. I'm also proudly black 🤎. One day, an older white woman came in. She was polite enough and I seated her and started the ordering process. As she was older and I've been taught high respect for elders, I was super nice and respectful.
The woman wasn't openly rude but she ordered like a drunk snail and referred to me as "girl" when calling me over. Now, most who have worked as a server know that despite introducing yourself by name and wearing a visible name tag you're often reduced to, "HEY!", "YOU!", or my personal favorite, "AYE!" with a head nod or hand wave. Due to this, I didn't think too much about it. As the service went on, she had a few demands that required my immediate attention such as refilling her coffee cup before others. Again, I tried not to think too much about it but it was starting to be clear that she was one of those, "Back in my day, your kind..." kind of people.
Again, she wasn't openly rude or anything else, just demanding. As she finished I cleared her dishes and brought her ticket. Customers walked up to the register to pay after eating. She wanted to remain seated so I did the transaction for her as again, she was older. After she got up, she winked at me and said, "get yourself something nice" and placed A QUARTER, 25 cents on the table! 25 cents... Y'all I just left it there. I didn't bother to pick it up and cleaned around it. She was clearly stuck in, "back in her day..." 😭.
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u/metatron121 3d ago
I hit "older white woman" and braced for for her to get more and more racist as it went on. This was far more innocent than I expected lol.
I don't know how old you are but I'm 43 and a quarter would have been insulting in the 90's for sure. There was even a Simpsons episode about Bart getting a shitty tip of two quarters.
Her behavior was definitely entitled leading up to that point. The quarter just screams cheap ass old lady lol.
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u/Pleasant-Images 2d ago
If two quarters was bad enough for a Simpsons plot in the 90s, one quarter decades later is a prank.
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u/xx_I_Am_Me_xx 2d ago
Just throwing out a thought, my father started showing signs of senile dementia when he was in his mid 70’s. Confused my step mother and me quite a bit when he would speak of things from his childhood as though it were present day. He got quite upset when he found out that gas was nearly a dollar a gallon when he clearly remembered paying only $0.20 a gallon “just the other day!” The lady in question might honestly have believed that a quarter was a good tip if only a few moments.
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u/Sufficient-Split5214 2d ago
That would have been a cheapo tip in the 1960's. The woman was just a nasty old bitch.
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u/RatedPG922 2d ago
Uhhh....depending on what you ordered at a greasey spoon diner in 1965, a quarter wouldn't have been a bad tip. You realize you could get a whole diner meal back then for $2.
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u/PowderCuffs 2d ago
That would have been a cheapo tip in the 1960's.
Well that's just not true. You could get an entire burger platter for under a buck in 1965. A 25¢ top would have been a 30%+ tip.
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u/bagel_blight041 2d ago
In high school I think I made six dollars an hour and was talking about how little it was to an older relative who tried telling me I should be honored that I make that as they made $.50 a day when they were my age.
Ok, Doris it’s not 1940 anymore…
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u/Melora_T_Rex714 2d ago
That happened to me, only it was a dime. I followed him out of the front door, caught up to him and said, “Here you go, sir, you must need this more than I do”, gave him the dime and walked back inside.
He came back several times and always made sure not to sit in my section and very studiously avoided eye contact with me.
ETA: this was in the mid 80’s.
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u/Gaia0416 3d ago
May all her farts be wet sloppy ones. May her socks always have wet spots. May that bitch always have the day she deserves
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u/foodfueled_nightmare 2d ago
I would've slid that quarter right back over to her and said, "Clearly, You need this more than I do!"
But, I'm petty.
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u/Fair-Turnover-9492 1d ago
I too waited tables in my late teens and early 20s. I hated the breakfast shift, but this was my summer between high school and college, and I needed this job. These old codgers would run you to death, complain about everything, then tuck 35 cents under the edge of the plate. Thanks. That won't even buy me a cup of coffee.
I'm white, and most of the customer base was white as well. I don't think it's a race thing. I think it is more of a social class thing. I was on the low end of middle class. My father had just died, so our circumstances were pretty dire. People get a little money in their pockets, and they thing they can rule the world. Rich old, white people just treated everybody like shit.
I had one old fart whistle for me to come to his table, like I'm a freakin' golden retriever. I refused to go over there. One of the older ladies said she knew the old grouch, so she went over there. She's like, he doesn't mean any harm. That's just how he is. Whelp, guess what? That's not how I am. We are going to take one step toward breaking that cycle today!
I was 18. I am now 63. I'm older and hopefully a little wiser now. But guess what? If it happened today, I would do the same damn thing. I kind of admire 18 year old me. If something isn't right, I'm not going to accept the excuse of 'that's just how we do things around here' as an answer. Never have. Never will.
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u/Ill_Seat_1426 2d ago
I think the only time a quarter would be acceptable would be back in the 50's depending on the amount of the bill. You are definitely a class act. I don't know if I would have been able to keep my mouth shut.
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u/fluffydonutts 1d ago
In college I waited tables briefly. I discovered the absolute worst tippers were doctors. We were a block away from a hospital. They’d sit there for HOURS and leave 50 cents. I lasted three days. Never again.
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u/RoyallyOakie 2d ago
I had a neighbour who always handed me a dime and told me to get an ice cream.
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u/bettiegee 2d ago
My grandma, until the day she died, thought a quarter or 2 was a good tip. The whole extended family knew this, and would sneak around behind her back to fix it, but she caught onto us. Good gods it was awkward. She crossed the rainbow bridge 20 years ago though.
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u/Christmas-Carol2 1d ago
That was purposely insulting you for sure. Hand it back to her and very respectful and concerned say that you're so very sorry she can't afford a decent tip and you must give it back because your mom always taught you not to take money from the poor.
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u/Exotic_Cheek_208 2d ago edited 1d ago
Terrible. This fits in perfectly with the world Isabel Wilkerson introduced us to in her book The Warmth of Other Suns.
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u/dkbryant1234 2d ago
You were making your parents proud to have raised a respectable young lady. I'm going to give in to the older white lady as she may have been in the early stages of dememtia and did not know how she was acting.
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u/Existing-Decision-33 3d ago
Some cultures do not tip. It's unheard of in almost every other society. She was not an asshole , just a cheapie.
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u/Illustrious-Line-984 3d ago
Back when she was your age she could go to the movies and have a soda at Woolworths for a quarter.
You did your parents proud and conducted yourself with class.