<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3>In a message dated 3/6/03 11:02:31 PM Central Standard Time, Jazzjerry@aol.com writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">The implication here is that the running of the large number of jazz clubs in <BR>
the UK is a professional activity on the part of the promoters and this is <BR>
certainly not the case. a very large number of the jazz venues in the UK are <BR>
clubs run by amatuers, often committees, who put on jazz events in local pubs <BR>
and other venues because of their love of the music and certainly not to make <BR>
any money. The musicians get paid, not always large sums of money, but these <BR>
promoters generally get nothing at all and usually have to take the risk if <BR>
the audience fails to materialise. I'm sure that the great majority of jazz <BR>
club organisers pay the bands as much as they can manage but it all depends <BR>
on the size of the venue, and some are very small, what the audience is <BR>
prepared to pay, what can be raised through a raffle and if the pub landlord <BR>
is prepared to cough up a contribution towards the band. The jazz punters in <BR>
the UK expect their jazz to be cheap and will resist higher entrance prices <BR>
by simply not attending. <BR>
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<B>This is just about the same situation here in the USA</B><BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">There is also the strange situation where under British licensing laws you <BR>
are not allowed to charge admission to a public bar in a pub!</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B> that is weird. What does a club like Ronnie Scotts do for money to pay for the expensive groups they bring in?</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B><BR>
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Norwich,<BR>
U.K.<BR>
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Whilst in New York the week before last I had breakfast in the hotel and the <BR>
menu stated that a gratuity of 15% would be automatically added to the bill. <BR>
When I was brought the bill to sign I noticed that the 'tip' was added as <BR>
they stated but there was also a space for me to add a further tip for the <BR>
waiter and another for the man in a suit who showed us to our table. You've <BR>
got to be joking! I just paid for the meal, the sales tax and the added <BR>
gratuity.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B> I believe that an 'automatic tip-gratuity' is fairly rare. More often there is a space where the customer can write in a tip if the bill is being charged to a credit card.<BR>
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Tips for waiters and waitresses, bartenders etc. are common as it is widely known that they are paid a bare minimum wage and depend on tips for their income. Many people have worked in these occupations at one time in their life and so are sympathetic.<BR>
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*Musical content 'Pennies from Heaven' by Bing Crosby with verse,<BR>
<BR>
Jim Beebe</B></FONT></HTML>