There’s a cool article on Gormet.com about tipping the maître d’ at booked out restaurants to jump the cue (or get a table when they are “fully booked”).

. . .[the maître d’] suggests it will be closer to an hour. We retreat to the bar.

Seconds later the woman departs and the man is left alone. This is my moment, I decide. I reach for the twenty and positively bolt toward the podium. I crane my left arm around the side. “I hope you can fit us in,” I mumble, and slip the bill into his hand. I am sweating; my heart is racing. “Oh. Thank you,” he says. “Don’t worry.”

Two minutes pass—two minutes!—and the woman approaches. “We can seat you now,” she says, and leads us to a corner booth. “This is one of our best tables,” she adds. Suddenly I’m Frank Sinatra. I’m King of the Strip.

I’ve been doing this for years. Who wants to wait in a 45 minute cue to get a table? My time is worth considerably more than $100 per hour, and I wouldn’t be at a restaurant like that if I were alone. So if my party and I can avoid a wait for $50 or $100 – it’s well worth it.

The two more tips I’d like to add are that this works at Every Club/disco I’ve ever been to in the World (and i’ve been to clubs in 33 countries and most of the US). There’s no need to wait in line if you have the cash.

Another example comes to us from SEOktoberfest. Joey had missed our caravan of shuttles from Oktoberfest to P1. Trying to get a cab at closing time at Oktoberfest turns out to be rather difficult. He asked the first cabbie who was there for a ride. The cabbie said “I’m busy”. Two more cabbies both replied “I’m busy.”

So finally Joey says “What If I give you 100 Euros, are you still busy then?”

“No Sir! My schedule just cleared up and I’m no longer busy for you.”

What’s your take? Is tipping to jump the cue “fair”? Is it right? Is it . . . . black hat?