Instead of tip, server gets a critique

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published May 8, 2006

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His antiabortion T-shirt didn't sell on the Internet and his Christian gift store in Springboro, Ohio, failed.

Now, entrepreneur Paul Lundy a crusade of a different sort: telling bad waiters how to clean up their act.

Lundy is selling ''gratuity slips'' that unhappy restaurant customers can leave on the table instead of a tip. The front looks like a $20 bill with a grimacing Andrew Jackson clutching a fork.

On the back side are 12 choices of reasons for stiffing the server. They include "My cup was half empty, thus suppressing my consumption'' and "Server was unpleasant, rude, insincere and/or unfair.''

Customers can check the appropriate offense, fold the slip and place it - green side up - under a glass or plate.

"If a server approaches the table as the customer is leaving, (he) will see the slip ... and think (he) has a gratuity, giving the customer time to exit the restaurant without the feeling of embarrassment,'' Lundy wrote in a note to the Times.

He didn't explain how you go back without attracting unwanted attention.

Go to his Web site, gratuityslip.com, for more information.