Survey: Waitresses With Bigger Breasts Get Better Tips

(May 7) -- Restaurant patrons might be using their tips to reward cup size more than stellar service, according to a new survey that links a waitress's gratuities to the amplitude of her breasts.

Michael Lynn, a Cornell University professor of marketing and tourism, surveyed 374 waitresses and asked them to assess their physical characteristics, including their breast size, and evaluate whether they perceived themselves as attractive.

Those with bigger breasts, slender waists and blond hair reported receiving the best tips. High-quality service, Lynn's analysis concluded, had less than a 2 percent effect on tip.

"This study uses a broader array of stimuli as they appear three-dimensionally ... to themselves and their customers," Lynn told the Cornell Sun, adding that his research could help a woman evaluate her "prospects in the industry."

Lynn also suggested that restaurant managers might be wise to keep his research in mind during the hiring process, because servers who make better tips are more likely to stay at a given job.

"Ugly people are not a protected class, legally," he said. "It is not in fact illegal to hire only attractive waitresses."

And Lynn didn't stop there. The professor thinks his study also indicates an evolutionary tendency whereby waitresses with "large, non-droopy breasts" would attract male patrons because that physique indicates greater "reproductive potential."

Not surprisingly, at least one of Lynn's colleagues isn't happy about his research.

"I am disappointed but not surprised to learn that female servers with larger breasts receive more generous tips," Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb told the Sun. She suggested that restaurants institute a uniform gratuity rather than "utilizing a pay structure that turns unenlightened customers into the 'boss' in charge of determining a server's take-home pay."

This isn't the first time Lynn has raised eyebrows with tip-related research. In fact, he's published dozens of studies on the subject.

"Tipping is an interesting behavior because tips are voluntary payments given after services have been rendered," Lynn told the Cornell News in 2000. "Consumers rarely pay more than necessary for goods and services. Tipping represents a multibillion-dollar exception to this general rule."

At the time, Lynn noted that he hoped his work would help managers "develop training programs and ... policies that increase servers' tip incomes."

And based on his latest research, the gratuity guru might need to expand his list of 12 ways servers can boost tips, which already includes a few suggestions that might go well with his theory on cleavage: "kneel down next to tables" and "touch customers."