Higher Tips May Be Within Reach
Touching customers translates into higher tips for waitresses, at least according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Houston.
Waitresses (who were really students volunteering for the study) at a Houston restaurant touched 47 customers on their shoulders and found tips increased an average of 11 to 15 percent over the tips left by 58 patrons who were not touched.
No contact still meant the usual tip was left on the table, but if it’s the difference between 15 percent and 30 percent in tips, waitresses have incentive to put a hand on the shoulder of the diner. (From May Men’s Health)
* You can’t eat the cake: Percent of couples in Japan that rent artificial wedding cakes: 80. (From May/June Utne Reader)
* Staying well: Men who have sex at least once a week are building immunity against colds. A study at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania showed men who had sex once or twice a week had a 33 percent rise in the antibody immunoglobulin, a natural defense against upper respiratory infections.
No report about the effect on the women involved in the encounters since the study involved only the men. (From May Men’s Journal)
* Facts of life: Estimated number of American men who find their wives via mail-order matchmaking agencies each year: 2,000. (From May/June Utne Reader)
* Less violence on TV? Number of subscribers to PursuitWatch, an L.A. paging service that alerts customers when a high-speed chase is being televised: 350. (From May Harper’s)
* Facts of work: The latest study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research says women who work full-time are paid 74 cents for every dollar men earn, or $148 less a week. Women of color who work full-time are paid 64 cents for every dollar men overall earn — $210 less each week.
The wage gap varies by state. In Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, women earn less than 70 percent of men’s weekly earnings.
Women fare best in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island; in those states, women earn 80 percent as much as men.
More information is available on the Web at www.aflcio.org/women/exec99.htm (From April/May Ms.)
* A sign of the times: Sales of document shredders have gone up 30-fold since 1990. (From USA Today)
* Moms at work: Minnesota — yes, the progressive state that elects wrestlers to lead them into the next century — is the only state that requires employers to reasonably accommodate mothers who breast-feed or use breast pumps at work.
Sixteen states, however, have passed laws giving women the right to publicly breast-feed. (From April/May Ms.)