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Tip your restaurant servers well
I have some family members who are servers. They are very good at their job. When they come home and tell me about a $1 tip on a $30 check, it upsets me.
Servers who work at a sit-down restaurant make less than minimum wage. They make between $2 and $2.75 an hour. Their livelihood depends on tips. They do not get to keep all of their tips. They have to tip out the hostess, who makes minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and also tip out the bartender, and if they have people who clean the tables, servers have to tip them as well.
Servers work very hard so that you may have a pleasant experience.
The next time you go out to eat, please leave at least 15 percent of the total bill before taxes. If you can't afford the 15 percent, then you probably should just go to a fast-food restaurant.
Sue MacDuff, Knoxville
University exists for education, not sports
A recent letter to the editor was from a gentleman who apparently thinks the University of Tennessee exists for sports. After all, "football used to be the driving force." Really? We should aspire to be like Georgia and Alabama? Sports are the real reason for attending UT?
At age 70, I can report that I have a degree from UT that has been very beneficial to me in my life's pursuits, and the only time I was ever in Neyland Stadium was when Billy Graham held his crusade there. Even that was clouded by the visit of Richard Nixon, who did not know the name of the place in which he was standing. I am proud of the education I got there and I do not think I am any the less for not having attended a football game.
Another letter, suggesting that fans' foolishness is on national display, hits the nail much more firmly on the head.
Randall S. Dyer, Jefferson City
Davenport right on campus outsourcing
I just read the article describing how the University of Tennessee board of trustees are appalled by Chancellor Beverly Davenport's decision not to outsource maintenance on the UT campus. Davenport's explanation is that there would not be as much savings as the board estimated after someone already decided to pick a company to do the work. I sarcastically can't imagine how the board could overestimate something that complicated. The members of board of trustees probably think they desperately need the funds they will gain to offset the other ignorant and baseless decisions they have made in the past and will probably make again. With this board of trustees' record, my money's on Davenport.
Go Vols and Lady Vols.
David Johnson, Cosby