Uh Oh: Does This Town Have the Worst Tippers in the Hudson Valley?

Everyone should work in the food service industry at least once in their life. It teaches teamwork, how to multitask, and most importantly, what a restaurant is like when you're not the customer.

Restaurant Jobs in the Hudson Valley, NY

I loved working in restaurants. Sure the chefs were borderline psychotic,  and I never knew if my shift would end at 5pm pr 1am, but it was all part of the gig. I started at 16 as a busboy at the now defunct Rosendale Cement Company (I promise, it was a restaurant) in Rosendale, NY, and then at a waiter at the also defunct Downtown Cafe in Kingston, NY. While it was fun making new friends and learning new curse words in the kitchen, it should come as no surprise that my favorite part of the job was the tips.

Every server judges a person on the size of their tip. To me, a good tipper equaled a good person, and the same went for the cheap-os, I was also proud of what I considered a job well done if diners left a generous gratuity. Occasionally I thought I could judge whether or not someone would be a good tipper based on the way they acted during the meal, but I never thought I could judge them based on the town they were from. Until a recent Facebook post...

Restaurant Tipping in New Paltz, NY

A local server took to Facebook to level an accusation: "New Paltz - with a few notable exceptions your tips are terrible", she said. "t cost $79 to fill my car. Your $2-$3 tip is bull." The comment section exploded. While it's unclear whether the original post was directed at restaurant patrons of food delivery app users, the discussion that followed covered them both. "So sorry to hear this. We always tip 20% for delivery. I wish others did the same", commented one resident. "2 or 3 dollars is a slap in the face, if you can afford to go out to eat be prepared to leave a at least 10 or more", said another. "Every time my son delivers to the college they do not tip him! He’ll deliver $200 in food and get nothing. It’s unacceptable", lamented an upset mother.

Unfortunately, I ended up more confused after reading the 167 comments than I was before. Nearly everyone who chimed in on the discussion seemed to support tipping generously, but everyone also had a story about a terrible tipping experience. Generalizations are almost never true; there's just too many people to take into consideration. It's like saying all small dogs are happy maniacs, or all men who drive big trucks are under-endowed. So are all New Paltz residents bad tippers? Absolutely not. But just like small dogs and men in big trucks, some of them are.

Speaking of New Paltz, whoever buys this multi-million dollar mansion better be a good tipper. Check out the gorgeous photos below.