Ahh...you need the other posts.
The short of it is: earlier, you sussed me out. I never stole a tip in my life. That was just to get a rise out of the real waitresses on the list. I found you.
As you guessed, I was being facetious. Nor could I throw tips out like that without a waitress soon noticing. That was merely a a fantasy at the time when a certain waitress accused me of stealing tips. I thought it might be poetic justice since she was stealing far more by not reporting her tips properly.
However, I neither stole nor threw out tips, o.k.? I think CC's example gives truth to that cliche: damned if you do, damned if you don't. I never stole a tip nor did I tolerate it when I saw another busboy doing it, yet I was the one who got accused of stealing tips (though I suppose if you bus tables long enough it's bound to happen). So not only was my pathological honesty rewarded with a false accusation, my honesty was rewarded by other waitresses (who knew I didn't steal) with more unrewarded work.
Later, the IRS did clamp down on unreported tips, as you (Kelley) said. As for tip sharing, it was not a part of the restaurant culture I knew. Race didn't have anything to do with it as far as I can tell.
Fastfood was the great equalizer there, since everyone got paid the same rate except the managers (who got a salary). I have plenty of stories to tell about that experience, too. Someday.
Charles Jannuzi