Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 23, 2019

The biggest tips always go to the biggest ti—never mind.

“Wait a minute” what?

I’ve got to admit, she’s good!

Wait until the I.R.S. hears about this.

Notice the “if” in Tiff’s last statement. But yeah, she definitely has a future in the business world.

Servers are asked to give up a good portion of their tips, but the tips are pooled and go to the entire support staff.

And for her next venture, she’ll buy eggs in Malta for seven cents and sell them to The Fuze for five cents at a profit.

Dont be an idiot Les, better to make your own guaranteed money than some hypothetical amount shared with an untrustworthy shallow girl like Tiff

She’s smarter than she acts.

Ah. And now We come to the moment of TRUTH. Tiffany’s offer to Les: Half of the tips she would collect “jiggling” her bountiful assets to the male customers, would go to Mr. Knox “IF” he STUPIDLY takes the dishwasher job. Forgive Me. But somehow, the term “pimp” comes to mind here. You know, now would be a REAL good time for somebody to inform Tiffany just how much Les makes in salary. And the Concept of “minimum age.” And Federal, State, and local tax deductions, that come out of EVERY pay check. And come April 15 the Feds and Governor are ALWAYS looking for MORE taxes. Oh yeah, I forgot. Those tips? The IRS wants taxes taken out of THAT too. And while taxes are taken out of your hard earned measly tips Tiffany, there are Multi-Millionaires and Billionaires THAT PAY NO TAXES. I doubt very seriously that Tiff would make enough in the first couple of paychecks to pay off her credit card bill.

So, now the Ball is in Leslie’s court. Is he gonna FALL for Tiffany’s “plan?” Or will he up the ante and make a counter offer asking in addition to (or instead of) tips, he gets get exclusive “BENEFITS” from Tiffany?

Or will he make us ALL proud, get mad, and walk out in a HUFF sticking Tiffany with the check?

Oh yes she very good.

How is it that Tiff can figure this out but not understand how her credit card works?

Les, if you are considering this, get that in writing. Have her write, “I, Tiffany Farrell, agree to give Leslie Knox 50% of my server tips at The Fuse for as long as I am employed as a server and Leslie Knox as the dishwasher.” That way, she couldn’t get out of her binding agreement.

The problem here is that how will he enforce it if she ever simply decides to stop giving him half her tips? He has no leverage here.

Everyone is jumping ahead of the game. Tiffany first needs to submit an application. I also believe that both Les and Tiffany would need to explain the job swap situation to the owners.

Les is so not getting half of Tiffany’s tips…

Well, it’s a plan. Is there a “Plan B”?

Framed!!

Whoa! Wait a minute! Why are most of the customers at the Fuze men? What kind of place is this?

Ya-but would she do it?

Les was right – the stupid dish washer. Meaning himself.

I would be hilarious if Tiffany had no intention of working at The Fuse at all, she just wanted to convince Les to buy into the idea. As she is driving home she thinks, “Wow…since I can get Les Knox to do something as silly as that, I have a real future in sales!”

Tiffany wouldn’t last a day as a server.

Tiff seems to know exactly what she´s doing.

Assuming Frank and Nancy hire her, if I were Les, I wouldn’t want to be washing dishes. Ugh. It’s not like Tiffany is asking Les to be a greeter or host. Dishwasher? It’s a sweat shop category of job. Say NO, Les! (Not to mention being under Tiffany’s thumb and trusting what she gives you).

gottcha!!!!

Stay strong Les! Don’t fall in the trap!

So she would get more tips? This sounds sexist.

I guess you can con a Con.

Now she’s starting to talk sense.

Click…

Whoops. She forgot the base pay for servers is basically zilch.

Bet G&K did too.

Kudos to Tiffany for coming up with a good plan.

Tiffany still finds it a mystery as to how credit cards work, but she seems to understand math.

This strip has more loose threads than a bargain-basement sweater…

Looks like Tiffany’s brain cells are starting to awaken. She’s already gotten Les into a corner he didn’t see coming.

Considering Tiffany has never been a server, how does she figure she is going to make good tips? She’s going to have to adapt to waiting on people instead of them waiting on her!! That ought to be a wake-up call!

For all you billionaire gripers and for all you “earned income” redistributionist gripers. The government (your representatives) write the rules and “rich” or “poor” each of us plays by them. There are those at each end of the spectrum that game the system.

But then she will have to hire someone to do the actual work. That’s really going to cut into profits.

Getting back to the story! It looks like Tiff has more “business” sense than she’s shown in the past. However, her association with Ann seems to be affecting her personality. She has shown deviousness in the past, but this seems somehow a bit too manipulative for the Tiff we’ve experienced thus far. If Les is the player that he and others (Gunther, Bets) have expressed he is going to want more than monetary remuneration for this deal.

What webs we weave…

Way to go, Tiff! Fantastic Offer! And he just might take it!

BTW, is Les drinking “Black Milk” or was the animation off a bit, today???

Reminds me of old time sit coms, like Sanford & Son, or the Honeymooners. Each week another implausible scheme to make money which always turns out badly.

Careful, Les. Tiff isn’t noted for her honesty.

It’ll be interesting to see how each of the characters will react to and play off of the idea of Tiff as a waitress at the Fuse.

And then there’s the issue of uniform!! Hmmmm. I think her power business suit will stay in the closet for this gig.

I’m a bit surprised no one has suggested “eye candy” TV jobs for Tiff. Letter turner or “prize presenter” on game shows. Plus size modelling on the sales channels. A whole world opens up in the diet meal arena! Blah and etc.

When Tiffany was using daddy’s credit card to eat at restaurants….I’m sure she always left a “nice” tip. Soooooo she is very much aware of how much money she can make!!

Too often commenters (myself included) expect reality to be operative in The Luanniverse. :o\

Tiffany IS a good business woman!

This is a crazy but potentially plausible plan, but I still fail to see the point, unless the craziness, hilarity ensuing part, is the point. Is it going to pay for Tiffany’s “empire” or at least pay her credit card bill, releasing her from the tyranny of Ann? And other than potentially getting a bonus of top of his below minimum wage salary (I believe federally restaurant workers aren’t required to be paid the federal minimum wage, but this is Luannverse) what is in it for him? Other than all the silly pleas that maybe “friends with benefits” is a goal, I don’t see a deliverable here that makes her “business” proposition make sense.

So Tiffany wants to work at one of the lowest paying jobs in existence and give up half of her tips? If I were her I would seriously consider checking out other jobs on or near campus, but then of course hilarity would not ensue…

That’s “if”. She didn’t say she’d actually DO it…

Tiff is showing more business acumen than I thought she had available.

So much negativity, hee! The flip side is ‘what if it works out perfectly?’ Not a sure thing of course, but Tiff and Les might end up making a good team.

While tip-outs are potentially a thing, they don’t happen nearly enough for the staff in the back.

Who cares? I want t o know what happened with Brad’s remodeling nightmare. Is he in jail yet for not getting his building permits?

WHAT kind of restaurant is the Fuse? I thought it was a family type dining place, not a Hooters. We always tip the male and female servers the same if the service is good. But we don’t eat at Hooters.

Good thinking, my beloved Tiffany. Win-win-win.

(Customers also win… assuming you can do the job.)

Why can’t Tiffany just go apply for a server job at any of the dozens of restaurants in the area…or a manicurist job, for that matter? Wouldn’t that be a better deal than giving Les a cruddy job and half her tips?

If I were Les I’d hold out for 50% ! ;-)

Tiffany could make a lot more money being a server at Hooters than the Fuse. The Fuse never seems very busy and students are often shown there.

Told you she would play him like a fiddle,

actually it’s quite common, Most the better resturants I know the waitresses kick back some of their tips to bus boys, kitchen etc – because if the food is accurate, fast, and good and the tables are quickly cleared and cleaned well, they get more customers in and out and therefore make more in tips.

Don’t eateries these days pool the servers’ tips?

Does Tiffany know servers often make less than minimum wage? The employers and law makers expect servers to receive tips, so the law has a different, lower, hourly minimum wage.

7

An interesting, but wholly confusing story arc for me thus far. Robust and ample caffeine this morning did not help me find clarity in what the hell is going on…. but the coffee was still wonderful.

So…. thoughts I have been “percolating” include:

1. Why does Tiffany so want to be a server ? I do not think it can really be about earning money to pay her credit card debt. There is some sort of ulterior motive afoot…. but what it is is unclear. I mean…. yeah, somehow she either wants to bring Ann down a peg or two, or somehow get her resources back from Tom Cat…. but how will being a server at The Fuse aid in that?

2. Is it the start of a “Paper Moon” style deception?

3. Is it to evoke sympathy from “dear old” Tom Cat? Or might he be “embarrassed” about Tiffany serving?

4. Is this going to be a “sting” to catch Ann at something even more dastardly than she has already done?

* * * *

Or could Les becoming a dishwasher somehow be the real impetus for this arc? But, if so…. why?!?!? I cannot imagine any likely scenario where it would matter one bit in terms of Les’ “story” if he is progressing as a server or a dishwasher. So… it seems unlikely this is the root cause of this strange arc.

* * * *

Other “half-baked” likely “red herring” ideas & thoughts:

1. Ox is a server…. Tiffany wants to be a server…. is there some bigger role for Ox coming up in all of this?

2. I am kind of presuming that Ann has not had any more “Souffle Lingerie” parties since the “list” was into play…. so I do not see a whole lot of a role for her to even be at The Fuse to tie Tiffany’s actions with a plan against her at The Fuse.

Part one: For those who complain about (what we think about) taxes, remember that much of the so-called tax reform of the last half century has been to make the income tax little more than a wage tax – income earned from non-wages has so many “strings attached” and loopholes that even some billionaires have complained about how light their tax burden is. Enough of that.

Part two: I called it yesterday, and I’ll say it again today:

G&K appear to be swapping more than jobs here: I really believe that Tiffany is returning to her high school role as villain while Les is being turned into a victim!

I can’t believe it – but apparently we are, and many of you have already done so, feeling sorry for Les and wanting him to push back!

Not just dishwasher / server here, it’s a total flip-flop: Les is now a victim while Tiffany is the new (old) villain!

Clever Tiffany, very clever.

Okay, so we know that Les does a bad job of getting tips, but why are these two assuming that Tiffany will do a good enough job to get a lot of them? (Just thinking of her two sequential failures at the school program.)

Wait just a darn minute. For all these years Tiffany has been attuned to how attractive she is. She had it all, and she knew how to work it. But, now Ann with her short skirts and industrial vise legs has taken over the seduction mojo and Greg has given Tiffany 20 extra pounds and a ton of rejection. Excuse me, Mr. President, but its time to make my favorite bimbo great again……MTGA. This has been a public service announcement, and I approve it.

So… in Tiffany’s mind, credit cards magically fill up every month with a new balance for one to freely spend! And employment (as in employment contract) is like a will. The employee may, at any time upon death, incapacity, tired/frustrated with the job, or just feeling generous, may designate a beneficiary who will inherit the job. ROTFL! New concept! I wonder how employers would take it. Joe: Boss, I’ve decided to retire. Take this job and shove it. But my friend Steve asked for my job, so I’ll just hand my job and job duties over to Steve, since I made a deal and promised it to him over lunch. You (my soon-to-be-ex-boss) are good with that, right?

So, the hundreds of comments posted really show how screwed up our tipping system has become. A local paper just ran a series on WHO to tip and how MUCH. The list of service people ran to nearly fifty … more than half of them are seen weekly.

Other countries actually have employers paying their staff and putting the expense on your bill. Service is no different than having an extra charge for condiments, floor sanitizer, building maintenance, etc.

In many countries, servers are insulted if you leave any more than the loose change.

Don’t do it Les! She’s a con artist just like Ann!

She does have a future in business – Dad’s genes I guess.

Too late, Leslie. You’ve already blown any valid objection to the Tiffster’s mutually beneficial plan. Get ready to wash!

And just watch “Sheridan St. Louis” turn on the charm and rake in the tips!

She just Bought herself a Job.

nicely played

Okay it’s late in the day, but let Me throw this out there:

1) If Les agrees to this “Job Swap,” Tiffany getting hired is NO PROBLEM. All Les has to do is talk to Pru, who is an assistant manager, who would happily do a favor for her friend Les. Or Les put in a good word for Tiffany with Uncle Al. Remember Al was quite impressed with Tiffany back in 2017 when he met her at the Berger Family Dinner. So her getting hired WON’T be an “issue.”

2) There are those who say Tiffany will “fail” at being a server. Look, I sure a LOT of servers “failed” the first few times with on the job. But You learn and get better. But the Key here is what Les implied. That Tiff will get MORE tips from Guys. Remember Tiffany had guys wrapped around her finger in high school, and had the football team move her into her dorm on campus.

And Remember this? https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2018/08/21

Chances are, that if Tiff gets the job, the first bit of “hilarity” will be if Tiffany serves tables wearing that “French Maid” outfit shown in her photo in panel one of the 2018/08/21. If she comes “bouncing” about and jiggling in THAT outfit, guys aren’t going to care whether gets their order right or not. And if Tiffany is allowed to continue to wear that outfit, the Fuse will get an increase in business just from young males. Tiffany is liable to wind up putting the Fuse the map just being there.

3) If Tiffany fails to convince Les on her plan, she’ll hit Ox with it next. And as I’ve been saying all week (SACTO Echoed today) Ox will probably “buy into it.”

4) I personally believe that one way or another, Tiffany WILL be working at the Fuse for the short term. Sure, she may start out washing dishes, but sooner or later she’ll end up on the serving floor.

LES = weasel?

Tiffany has a brain. It’s just that she rarely needed to use it.