Clinton bashers spin your way out of this one: From the manager of the restaurant

[LynneSin]

But Brad Crawford, manager of the Toledo Maid-Rite, said Clinton's campaign aides paid the bill for lunch and left a tip to be divided among the servers.

"They all paid their bill and they left a tip. They paid it all that same day when they left and everything was good," he said.

Crawford said he didn't know why Esterday may not have received any of the money.

"If she got left out it wasn't because they meant to leave her out," Crawford said of Esterday. "If something happened with the disbursement, it's probably my fault."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003670383

Get over it - Hillary paid the tip but thru the credit card slip. I've waited tables and I've been at places where I've not gotten my credit card tips until the next time I worked since those tips weren't doled out until the end of the day.

The only thing I would be critical about with Hillary is don't put tips on credit card. Some restaurants (and I've worked for them) will deduct the credit card fee (usually 2-4%) out of what was on the slip.

[Donnachaidh]

1. yeah, the owner probably pocketed the cash

So basically she wasn't lying -- she DID NOT get a tip. :shrug:

[LynneSin]

3. Most important thing is the Clinton people left a tip - 63% on a $157 bill

that's $100 for you mouth-breathers

[Donnachaidh]

7. but technically, the waitress didn't get a tip

Far too many folks here seem hell bent on blaming the waitress. That's wrong, too. Especially in light of the fact that Ms. Clinton used the waitress for what is essentially political gain. :shrug:

[CyberPieHole]

18. Clinton's people paid and tipped.

end of story.

[Clintonista2]

22. Nobody is blaming the waitress.

We're saying that it's been proven they left a tip. That doesn't mean the waitress is lying. Who knows what could have happened? Once the tip was paid, it was no longer the responsibility of the Clinton campaign.

[ronnykmarshall]

26. BULL FUCKING SHIT!

Talk about using this story for politcal gain.

Fucking pathetic.

[robinlynne]

2. who cares?

[LynneSin]

4. well for the 100 or so anti-Clinton bashers here this is like their holy grail

and personally I want to see them spin their way out of what the restaurant manager said.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Another discredited BS story spun by some "journalist".

[LynneSin]

6. What I posted or the whole 'no-tip' scandal

:shrug:

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. The original no-tip "scandal". Did NPR have something to do with this?

[LynneSin]

11. To be honest, at the time the woman probably received no tip

if it was a credit card tip, that means there was nothing on the table and the woman had no clue what the status was on the tip.

The right-wing got ahold of this and blew it out of proportions

[IndianaJones]

8. you think thats a reliable source? nt.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Stop letting facts get in the way of a good destructive gotcha.

[William769]

12. Let's also not forget that the Hillary bashers a not pointing out

That the waitress in question is even thinking about voting for Hillary, and is NOT upset over what happened. Righteous indignation anyone?

[Broke Dad]

16. RE: This says a lot about the Clinton organization

Anybody else remember a presidential candidate or president deny making a mistake, change their story, cover up, and then intimidate the press when they reported the mistake, the denial and the cover up? Nixon? W?

Clinton's response horrifies me. If this woman becomes president, we will see the abuses of power by W perpetuated, not reversed. God help us if we have eight more years of secrecy, censorship and intimidation of the press.

[LostinVA]

17. Oh brother

[William769]

21. Once again more smear and accusations without proof.

I guess some people really don't have a concisions.

[ronnykmarshall]

28. What a bunch of shit.

[Vickers]

29. Your response is breathtaking in its sheer lack of logic.

Well done!

[youthere]

13. FACTS? Is that ALL you have? FACTS?!

Pshaw.
:rofl:

[TwilightZone]

14. But, but, but...the manager wasn't there!

That's proof that it didn't happen! If I repeat that enough, it'll become the truth!

Even with a receipt and confirmation, some people are *still* claiming that it's not true.

[PurityOfEssence]

15. This is the same guy who wasn't there himself and said she got no tip

Here's a little bit from NPR's follow-up, which is mischaracterized as a retraction:

Maid-Rite's manager, Brad Crawford, said Thursday that while he was not present at the restaurant on Oct. 8, he knew that a bill was paid by the campaign that day. He also said that he believed three of six servers working that day received tips from people he thought were working for or affiliated with the Clinton campaign.

Crawford said he didn't know if campaign staffers meant "for their tips to be distributed to everybody" or whether they were meant only for individual servers.

The manager said he can't say for sure if Esterday was tipped for serving Clinton and her guests, Christie Vilsack and Ruth Harkin. (Vilsack is the wife of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Harkin is the wife of Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin). But Crawford said he believes Esterday's account that she received no tip.

"Where Hillary was sitting, there was no tip left," Crawford said.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16143435

This is a far cry from the AP story you cite. Here, he only "believed" that three of the six servers that day were tipped by staffers or those affiliated with the campaign.

Maybe they did. I'd imagine so, Democrats tend to tip.

The campaign was making hay from this woman's story, but it looks like the juggernaut that is a campaign may have been a bit quick and sloppy here. The incident itself isn't so bad, it's the damage control that gets a bit greasy. They sent back a staffer to give her a twenty after the story broke. That's a little silly.

What's really interesting is this exchange from the same article:

Esterday, speaking to NPR from home later Thursday, said the Clinton campaign staffer who visited the diner apologized to her and said a $100 tip was left on a credit card the day of Clinton's visit. Esterday said the staff member said the money was meant to be shared.

"I explained to her that our credit card machine, you know, doesn't add on the tip," Esterday said. "And she said, 'Well, then, they left a $100 bill there.' And I said, 'Well, it didn't get divided up amongst us, because I had gotten nothing.'

"She just said, 'Well, there was one left,'" Esterday said. "She just kept repeating, 'There was one left.'

This person is trying to shut down the dissent by flatly stating a "fact" about money being added to the credit card. When this "fact" simply can't be, then this person instantly knows, as "fact" that a "$100 bill" was left, not a pile of change of five twenties, but specifically a hundred dollar bill even though she'd just insisted that this was left on the credit card authorization. That person has ABSOLUTELY no credibility, and the insistence of the whole thing reeks of a powerful person trying to intimidate a weaker one into changing the story. This fits with a lot of our distaste for the tenor of the Clinton campaign: emphatic, resounding trouncing of any inconveniences.

When asked to produce the actual staff member who allegedly paid this tip, the campaign declined. Why? They obviously know for a fact that it was done. If they're a proper business and are obeying election laws, they should have a petty cash envelope to whip out with a "no receipt given" note or something like that. Maybe they're just sloppy, running a bag-o-cash operation, but there's still no reason to not produce the actual person.

Okay? You flatly dare anyone to counter your pronouncement, and here it is. If what this manager said is accurately quoted in both the AP and NPR stories, then he's a slobbering idiot whose word means absolutely nothing.

Regardless, what you demand be recognized as a total retraction simply isn't.

[zulchzulu]

19. Stories that the tip was left as cash and now the tip was on the credit card...

He was there. He wasn't there.

[BenDavid]

20. It's like 2000 all over again. In February 2000

Hillary Clinton had just kicked off her NY Senate re-election campaign.Out of nowhere, a story appeared on "The Washington Times" about a woman who was:a single mother - serving a (gratis!) breakfast to Hillary in a diner - stiffed out of a rightfully-earned tip. It was picked up by "The Drudge Report", then the national media, and enjoyed several days' notoriety.
Flash-forward to 2007; Hillary Clinton is in a tight primary race in Iowa.Once again, seemingly out of nowhere, a story appears - this time on NPR's "Morning Edition" about a woman who is: a single mother - serving a (gratis!) breakfast to Hillary in a diner - stiffed out of a rightfully-earned tip....also posted on Drudge....

DO YOU GET THE PICTURE? YOU SHOULD...

Ben David

[zbdent]

24. like the "white house offices were trashed by Gore's people" ...

reported first on Drudge (with no sourcing other than "high-level sources requesting anonymity") ...

picked up by the Washington Times ...

reported in the Washington Post ... which referenced their source as ... the Drudge Report ...

circular logic ...

[ronnykmarshall]

27. Still posting this shit?

You sure like to cut and paste this Drudge shit over and over.

[closeupready]

23. Somebody got to him.

They have something on him. :sarcasm: :rofl:

[Dr. Strange]

25. Can we have a new forum? The Hillary Tip Forum?

Put it next door to the 9/11 forum.

Let the Hillary Tip Truthers post there.

[JackORoses]

30. this coming from the Manager who wasn't even there on the day in question

What a credible source...

[cascadiance]

31. Boy, if whether Hillary paid a tip or not at a restaurant is the ONLY issue we worry about...

... in this election, then we deserve to go the way of the Roman Empire folks!

Whether or not she did or not, may speak ill or well for her character in this respect, but it still doesn't take away from the huge set of other issues that still have me concerned and are the ones that I worry about for this election. All this does is divide up more Dems.

just two days ago, I had to pay with a CC my portion of a group lunch bill. I added the tip in and asked for me to be billed the amount plus the tip. Of course on my cc slip it asked me for an additional line to put in my "tip". I left that empty, knowing that I'd already factored in the amount in my above line. Did I "not pay a tip"? Some of this crap is just technicalities. Let's leave it alone and stop allowing ourselves to be distracted by it.

[DURHAM D]

32. Ok - here is what I get from this story.

Hillary and a few people were at the counter. Various staff members were at other tables in the restaurant. The campaign picked up the tab for the entire group. They added a tip of 63% to the tab and ran it through on a credit card.

Various staffers left tips on the table (3) even though they were not paying a tab and the campaign had already over tipped.

The manager did not tell the wait staff about the $100 tip because he knew that some of them had received additional tips from their tables. He kept the $100 from the credit card run and did not tell anyone else about it (his first big lie). Later, when the shit hit the fan and in order to cover his ass he lied to the newbie waitress and told her that their credit card system does not add tip. This is his second big fat lie. It is not possible that the credit card system can not manage the tip.

The Clinton staff member who returned to the restaurant had to listen to lie traveling from the manager to the newbie about the credit card system. The staff member did not know how to respond because it required calling the restaurant manager a liar.

Resolution - get a copy of the receipt from the credit card company showing the bill and the tip. End of story.

Note: The IRS needs to audit the restaurant. They appear to be hiding income and perhaps cheating wait staff. More than likely, the $100 tip will be added to the 1099s of the various staff folk at the end of the year even though they did not receive it and other tips.

[CTD]

33. I don't like her and I still couldn't care less about Tip-Gate. What nonsense...

nt

[saracat]

34. This story was never worth commenting on.There is a lot negative that can be said about the Clinton

campaign without concentrating on this story.

Edited for typo.