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The Behrend Beacon
Old-school punk band
Bad Religion tells it like
Bad Religion comes from the old school of punk, which Is loud, fast and
infused with political awareness. Formed in Los Angeles in 1980, the band
released a critically acclaimed LP on its own label, Epitaph, within a year and
quickly joined the fertile Southern California punk scene that included such
legendary bands as the Circle Jerks, the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and the
Minutemen.
By Rod Harmon
Knight Ridder Newspapers
The members of Bad Religion aren't
ones to mince words, whether it's about
their critics, their beliefs or their compan
ions on the Vans Warped Tour, which gui
tarist Brian Baker describes as a "roving
pack of 600 like-minded people who are
chasing each other in buses all across the
country and frightening the locals."
The Warped Tour is what Lollapalooza
was before big business got involved -
an alternative festival featuring dozens of
bands, sideshow attractions and extreme
sports athletes at an affordable price.
There are critics who say it's heading the
way of Perry Farrell's lost dream, but
Baker refutes them.
"There have been times when the
Warped Tour has had a few token, quote,
'normal bands,' unquote, but that's not the
case this year," he said. "What's interest
ing is that this tour is doing better busi
ness than any of the tours that preceded
it, and yet there is no 311 or Green Day
or anything that brings in people from the
suburbs. It's pretty much an all-punk
thing, which is good."
Bad Religion, which formed in 1980,
comes from the old school of punk, which
is loud, fast and infused with political
Fear factor: When it comes to tipping, Americans lack confidence
By Melissa Kaman
Knight Ridder Newspapers
After receiving bad service in a popu
lar East Bay restaurant recently, my boy
friend and I were faced with an awkward
decision: What should we leave for a tip?
I know from experience how challeng
ing waiting tables can be. A professional
server must be a master in multitasking,
communication and patience. My incli
nation is to leave at least 20 percent. I
like to think of myself as an empathetic
diner, but, in researching this article, I've
discovered I'm also fearful.
"For good service, you should always
tip 20 percent on the total bill," one waiter
had told me. "If you don't, I'm going to
think you're cheap."
Tipping once represented a deal be
tween two people, a promise for one per
son to give quick, attentive service to the
other. Nobody knows exactly where or
why tipping began, but one popular
theory suggests it originated in English
pubs, where patrons would wrap coins in
a note saying "To Insure Promptitude."
In America it has evolved into something
quite different - a social expectation.
We don't want that waiter to think
we're cheap. Consequently tipping is no
longer a reflection of the service.
Tim Zagat, co-founder and CEO of the
best-selling Zagat guides, says this is all
too common. "Too many people tip out
of fear for what the waiter will think of
them," he said. "They tip out of fear, not
confidence."
Tipping fairly requires knowledge and
clear thinking, but typically emotion plays
the stronger role. Mike Lynn, associate
professor at the Cornell Hotel School in
New York, has performed numerous stud
ies on tipping. "The correlation between
quality of service and size of tip is about
as strong as the correlation between good
awareness. By 1983, however, the band
was imploding. A synthesizer-laden al
bum, "Into The Unknown," was hated
by many (including the members them
selves), and contributed to a breakup that
would last five years. It wasn't until
1988's "Suffer" that Bad Religion really
hit its stride with a combination of power
chords and Beatlesque harmonies.
The new album, "The Process of Be
lief," marks a return to that sound and to
Epitaph after a string of spotty albums
on Atlantic. Everyone attributes it to the
addition of original guitarist and Epitaph
president Brett Gurewitz - including
Baker, who replaced Gurewitz in 1994.
"There is a thing that happens when
Greg cGrallin, lead vocalist) and Brett
are writing songs together and against
each other," Baker said. "There's col
laboration, but there's also individual
study where they try to one-up each
other. What you get when you have this
healthy competition is 'The Process of
Belief' ... it's my favorite Bad Religion
album since 'Recipe of Hate,' which
came out in 1993."
Don't expect Gurewitz to show up at
many Warped dates, though. lie's so
busy running Epitaph, one of the biggest
indie labels in America, that he only
makes about 10 percent of the band's
service and whether it's sunny or cloudy
outside," he said.
What is related, Lynn said, is the inter
action between server and customer.
"People don't want their server to think
ill of them," he said.
According to Lynn's studies, anything
that increases social interaction between
the server and guest has proven to in
crease tips. Smiling, introduction by
name, kneeling down to the table, even
touching, has been shown to make the
customer tip more.
Touching? Many would cringe at the
idea. But Lynn stands behind it. "People's
willingness to sign petitions has proven
to increase when they are touched. If you
ask them later if they were, they can't
remember," Lynn said.
Gender is also at play. If you're a
woman waiting on a man, you'll prob
ably get a bigger tip than you would from
another woman. "Men tip female servers
more, and women tip male servers more,"
Lynn said.
Before automatically leaving a big tip,
remember that servers are the highest paid
employees in most restaurants, usually
taking home even more than their man
agers. A study by the Golden Gate Res
taurant Association in 1990, when mini
mum wage was $5.75 an hour, found that
servers make an average of $23.66 an
hour. When minimum wage rose to $7.25
an hour, kitchen employees didn't get a
bump in their pay. Most everyone, except
dishwashers, was already paid well above
that amount. But servers, whose base pay
is typically at the bottom, get a signifi
cant boost when the minimum wage rises.
"This means that the only people get
ting a raise are those who already make
$23 an hour," said Patricia Breslin, ex
ecutive director of the Golden Gate Res-
taurant Association.
But don't think all that money you
FUNNIES
Friday, August 30, 2002
shows, Baker said
There's another aspect of "The
Process of Belief' that's testament
to Bad Religion's longevity: the
lyrics. At a time when rock bands
string together obscenities and call
it a song, Bad Religion continues
Graffin's goal to "make catchy
songs that are infectious but make
you think."
In one album, the band touches
on politics ("I'd like to watch a
thousand cable channels, but
there's nothing on/And my high
speed connection's monitored
daily by the Pentagon"), depression
("Please listen to me, there is no
such thing as human debris/I'm not
broken/A little cracked, but still
I'm not broken"), and religious
dogma ("The process of belief is
an elixir when you're weak/I must
confess at times, I indulge it on the
sneak.")
Such diversity makes it hard to
categorize Bad Religion, which is
probably why it hasn't achieved
widespread commercial appeal. It
may surprise both fans and critics
alike that Baker gets most excited
when he talks about his favorite pastime
- collecting books on the Civil War and
19th-century architecture.
It doesn't sound like your typical rock
lifestyle, but then again, Bad Religion
isn't your typical rock and roll band.
"I think the reason the band never re
ally made it into that 'you can't go to the
grocery store because there are scream
ing girls' category is because we're fat,
old, bald men," Baker said. "We're not
cute, and we were never cut out to be cute.
That's not how you get on the cover of
Teen Beat - and I also submit that I have
absolutely no interest on being on the
cover of Teen Beat.
"We're not a music product, we're a
band. And I'm proud of that."
Of course, some people never get past
the name. That's their prerogative, Baker
said, as long as they let others decide for
themselves.
"There's a Christian in this band, actu
ally," he said. "I would never, ever want
to deny anybody whatever spiritual joy
they might get out of whatever their be
liefs are.
"Basically, people aren't digging quite
as deep, and we're kind of hard to dig
into. I like not being that easy, I like not
being able to be served in the buffet line.
It's a cross we have to bear - if you will
excuse the glaring reference."
leave is going into the waiter's pocket.
At the end of a shift, a server adds up all
tips and distributes set percentages to their
co-workers, through a process called "tip
ping out." Busers, hosts, bartenders - all
the dining room workers that played a part
in your meal - receive a percentage of
your tip. Some servers also tip-out the
kitchen. Depending on the restaurant,
servers can tip-out up to 50 percent of
their daily income.
And what they end up with is taxed.
The IRS figures waiters are making a cer
tain percentage of their total restaurant
sales in tips. So, for every $l,OOO a waiter
brings in for the restaurant, for instance,
the IRS will assume he is taking home,
say, $lOO. If the tip you leave doesn't
meet the percentage the IRS calculates,
the waiter is essentially paying taxes on
income never received. Stiffing a
waiter actually costs him or her
money
Also, that $2.
for a shift last
Calculated out
daily take WOUI
than $lB an hoi
receive any bens
insurance, retir
or vacation, th
doesn't look so
When you dii
rants like Chez
in Berkeley,
Calif., these
factors are null
and void
Twelve years
ago, Chez
Panisse de
cided to add a
15 percent ser
vice charge to
the price of
dinners, al-
r
I Through the looking glass
I by Mike Pingree, KRT Campus
NO! NO! DON'T LOOK DOWN THERE!
Salvador Bravo returned to his Yakima, Wash., home to find the
police inside. They had initially responded to a burglar alarm. There
was no burglar, but the cops decided to investigate the strong odor
of harvested marijuana coming from the basement
When they informed him of this, he fainted. They arrested him when
BUT OF COURSE, SIR, RIGHT THIS WAY
A man robbed the Wells Fargo bank in Salem, Ore., and then fled to
a nearby restaurant where he raised the waiter's suspicions by
tipping him $lOO for a table away from the window.
When police showed up by looking for the robber, the big tipper
came immediately to the waiter's mind.
I'M MAD, VERY MAD, DARLING, BLAM!
In the Don't-Date-People-at-Work Department, a Pennsylvania
narcotics officer got into a spirited discussion with her boss - who
used to be her boyfriend - outside his condominium
She fired three shots at him before he wrestled the gun away
L
CAPTAIN R
Martha Stewart Living Safely.
lowing the restaurant to pay everyone an
elevated wage. "It bothered Alice (Wa
ters) that the front of the house made so
much more than the back of the house,"
said Lee Ann Phillips, floor manager at
Chez Panisse. As a result of the service
charge, there's more harmony among the
staff. Everyone gets a check twice a
month, receives medical and dental in
surance, paid vacations, and 401(K)
plans. "This is one of the reasons why we
have such little turnover," Phillips said.
"Some waiters have been here for 20
years."
This kind of security is virtually un
heard of in the restaurant business, how
ever. Most waiters depend on individual
tips to make a living. If tipping less than
10 percent, be sure you're sending the
right message
It's not fair to punish
the server for a slow
sold-out menu
iottles of wine, or
citing lists - it's
tng, but it's more
.tly a management
and should be
,ht to
;ement's attention.
should expect,
ever, that your
'ver will politely
inform you about
iroblems or long
waits and give
you a reasonable
explanation.
he came to
"He made five or six mistakes, one after
the other, and he didn't even apologize. I
wrote him a note explaining why I hadn't
left him a tip."
Tipping what is fair is tine, but leaving
less than 10 percent without an explana
tion is behaving like a rude waiter. Rather
than learning a lesson, they'll more likely
just to think you're a jerk.
"I have an issue with people who re
main silent about bad service,
undertipping or not tipping at all," says
Jason Keadjian, who managed an award
winning East Bay restaurant for several
years. "You should always give the server
an opportunity to correct the situation."
Zagat says a fair tip is 15-20 percent of
the total bill. "People should think about
the waiter and the job he or she has done,"
he says.
"A tip is earned, not guaranteed," one
waiter told me, who's served for 22 years.
So with all this in mind, on that slow
Monday night, I recounted our waiter's
performance. He obviously was disinter
ested in his job, took forever to come to
the table, finally took our order then dis
appeared. While our drinks waited at the
bar, he popped his head out of the kitchen
a couple of times, blatantly chewing on a
mouthful of food and sipping on a cock
tail.
Before researching this article I still
probably would have left 20 percent. It's
late, he's hungry; I've been there.
My extremely irritated boyfriend
wanted to leave 10 percent. I pushed for
15, but I didn't push hard.
One restau
rant regular, who
worked in the
business herself
for many years,
left no tip once.
"It was really
bad," she said.
Looking at our waiter, when we got up
to leave, I felt no fear. But I'm still kick
ing myself. Not for leaving $4 on a $4O
check. What's fair is fair.
But I should have left a note.
lmeyer &Davie
S; F.
ORAPPLII
IN 'TNIII
CIMPILI
sow ma lot
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cv
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