I'll Give You a Tip

24 July 2002 - I had just eaten a good steak dinner at the Sea Palm Grill in Venice. I was walking out to my car when the restaurant's manager came running after me. He tapped me on the shoulder. "Ahh...sir...if you have a minute..."

I stopped and turned around. "Sure, baby. What's up?"

"Well, it's, ahh...I was wondering...did you, uhh...did you find the service here to be adequate?" I smiled. "Oh, absolutely. Karen was a sweetheart. Kept checking to see if I wanted another beer or anything. Just terrific."

"And the food was okay?..."

"Yeah. I loved it. Just like my mom used to make."

He shifted his feet. "Well, I was wondering then, ahh...I noticed that you didn't leave any sort of gratuity, or anything...for Karen..."

"Yes, I did."

The manager paused. "Well, there was a piece of napkin on the table..."

He showed me the napkin. I nodded. "Yup. That's it."

The manager took a pair of reading glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on. He looked at the napkin. "...It has some numbers written on it.

I'm not quite sure what that is..."

I nodded again. "Yeah. That's my phone number."

The manager looked up at me. His reading glasses were perched on

the edge of his nose. "I don't understand."

"I figured I'd give Karen my

phone number. This way she can call me."

"For what?"

I smiled. "Well, there was just this vibe, you know...I could just tell that she dug me." The manager looked at me. "Karen's married."

"Oh."

"To me."

I patted the manager on the shoulder. "Oh, well...cool. Then you know what I mean."

The manager shook his head. "I'm not sure that I do."

I nodded.

"Well, that's okay." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a $10 bill. I handed it to him. "Here you go. Make sure Karen gets this." I turned
and walked out to my Hyundai.

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