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> May I add another odd case to your files, then?
> It happened to my Grandma, who was eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant with a group of her friends. Imagine five old ladies walking back to the parking lot, being chased by an unhappy waiter who basically demanded they leave a bigger tip. I know that the elderly have been stereotyped as being cheap, but I can couch that Grandma wasn't one of them (don't know about her friends).

The waiters you get on cruise ships are generally very good. A few excell. But on one trip we got one that was only average. He tried, but he was something of a bumbler. On the last day, he stopped by the table as we were getting ready to leave and begged and pleaded for us to give him a good rating on that rating sheet they always want you to fill out. He didn't mention the tip, but the rating really concerned him. He was from Turkey and while it may be acceptable to do that in their culture, it was offensive to us. We gave him fairly good marks and the recommended tip, but it was charity. If we run across him again, we will ask to be moved to another table. That's not likely, because that may have been his last cruise.
Howard