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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5B ♦ Thursday, October 3, 2002
Purebred does not mean perfect
Students should vote on next Reveille from among animals at local shelter
COLLINS EZEANYIM
T exas A&M is so steeped in
tradition that Aggies will
form groups such as the
Unity Project to bring back
Bonfire, wear T-shirts that make
their opposition to cheerleaders
known and work themselves into a frenzy over rumors about
the possible loss of a cannon. Yet there is one A&M tradition
that has deviated from its origins with nary a protest. It is the
University’s mascot tradition - Reveille. A 1940 issue of The
Battalion described Reveille I as a “black and white non-pedi-
greed dog.” But in 2001, in another Battalion article, collie
breeders Dr. Cyndi Bossart, Jim Etron and Nancy McDonald
were said to have engineered a “perfect” collie that would
serve as the current Reveille VII.
The Reveille mascot tradition has strayed too far from its
modest beginnings. It has evolved from an injured stray nursed
back to health by a group of cadets to a “perfection” that was
literally made by scientists. It’s time to alter the mascot tradi
tion so it better matches its roots.
This is the best way to accomplish this task: whenever
A&M needs a new Reveille, the University should consider
dogs from a local animal shelter. A few homeless canines could
be selected as finalists and the entire student body could vote
on which animal it wants as its mascot.
A&M students voting for a mascot may seem odd, but there
is precedence for such an action. According to a 1951 issue of
The Texas Aggie, A&M students “voted to acquire a german
shepherd for the Aggies’ new mascot.” The Texas Aggie report
ed that this was the first action to be taken on the A&M mascot
issue after Reveille I died in 1944. According to The Eagle,
members from the Mascot Company E-2 select which animal
will be the new Reveille, but this decision should belong to all
the students of A&M.
Some members of the Aggie faithful may see no reason to
replace the pure-bred collies they're used to seeing at football
games with what they see as a mangy mutt from the pound.
But critics should be reminded that Reveille I was an adopted
mutt - described by George D. Comnas at the 1980 Muster as a
“non-descript dog ... with some other mongrel blood.”
In a letter to J. Wayne Stark dated July 2, 1980, Comnas,
class of 1935, details how he found Reveille I and, despite a
strict prohibition on cadets owning pets, brought her to Legett
hall and nursed her to health with the help of other cadets.
Reading the letter, the reader gets a sense of the love and loyal
ty the cadets had for this “mongrel.” This is what the Reveille
tradition should be about — not how many stuffed collies the
University can sell.
Of course, there are some issues with adopting
an animal to become Reveille — such as health.
For example, according to The Eagle, E-2 con
sidered taking a dog from an animal shelter
to become Reveille V, but instead chose “a
dog whose history and parentage were
known” due to health concerns.
Craig Serold, who helped
choose Reveille VII, told The
Battalion, “Health is important
because of the large amount of traveling that
Reveille must do each year.” This is true, but
the most important aspect of any new Reveille
— one that should be considered above all
others — is personality. For example, in a
letter to B.W. Robertson, Charles R. Schultz,
a University archivist, described the school’s
official mascot in 1946 as “noise-shy, music-
shy and Aggie-shy — certainly not the desired
qualities in the Aggie official mascot.”
Meanwhile, an unofficial mascot. Spot, who, accord
ing to The Battalion, was a stray dog adopted by the
Corps, showed much enthusiasm for Aggie football. In
fact, according to The Battalion, during one football prac
tice Spot “became so engrossed ... he fell out of the stands
on Kyle Field.” Despite the fact that Rusty was an official
mascot and Spot was just a stray adopted by the Corps, the
latter was a better mascot. Indeed, Spot proves that person
ality is more important than pedigree.
Besides, with regard to the health issue, it’s not as if A&M
hasn’t had health problems with the Reveilles that were collies.
For example, according to The Battalion, Reveille VI suffered
from epilepsy and had to be put on seizure medication. A&M’s
former mascot once suffered from epileptic seizures so violent
that she had to miss a Midnight Yell Practice.
According to The Battalion, all Reveilles since Reveille III
have been registered collies. Of these five mascots, only two
have come from Texas. According to various reports in The
Eagle and The Battalion, Reveille III came from Anchorage,
Ala. Reveille VII was engineered in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and
Reveille IV was born in Kansas. A mascot representing A&M
should come from Texas. Adopting a lonely pup from
the local animal shelter would ensure this. It would
also be the best way to rectify the misguided
Reveille tradition and return it to its roots.
Collins Ezeanyim is a senior
computer engineering major.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
Waiters deserve tips based on performance
Study shows that tipping at restaurants has little to do with quality of service
MICA LA PROESCH
W aiting tables is one of
the most physically
demanding and emo
tionally draining jobs an unskilled
laborer can hold. Dealing with
demanding customers, messy
children, long hours and frustrated people can be harrowing,
especially when these servers are usually being paid a paltry
$2.13 an hour. Customers need to realize that these people
work hard to serve them and deserve to be tipped well when
giving good service.
Michael Lynn, an associate professor of consumer behavior
and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel
Administration, conducted a comprehensive study on tipping in
U.S. restaurants. In the article “Restaurant Tipping and Service
Quality" from a 2001 edition of the Cornell Hotel and
Administration Quarterly, he finds that the correlation between
the size of the tip and the quality of service is very low. “This
study confirmed that tips are positively related to service, as
most people believe, but that the relationship is so weak as to
he meaningless.”
Often, customers don’t base the size of their tips on any
thing. In his study, “Tipping: An Incentive/Reward for
Service?” Lynn found that the size of a tip is influenced more
by the size of the bill and the fear of disappointing the server
than by the quality of the service.
Lynn’s study showed that customer satisfaction or dissatis
faction cannot accurately measure the size of the tip they leave.
Similarly, a server’s performance cannot be assessed by their
tip percentage, as some below-par waiters make more money
than some of the best servers simply because they get lucky.
While waiters are plagued by the occasional customer who
leaves no tip, the 2001 Zagat Survey reports that the tipping
standard has risen from 15 to 18 percent. However, this 18 per
cent is not distributed equally among servers, and it is not fair
for those who work hardest to give the best service and not be
making the most money.
Thomas Mason, the founder ofTip20.com, gives many rea
sons for tipping on the introductory page of his Web site,
which is dedicated to achieving better tipping practices and
service industry standards. Many people do not realize that a
server never actually takes home $2.13 an hour plus all the tips
he receives in a shift. Most servers end up with void pay-
checks, because they are taxed on both their hourly wage and
their tips, which makes the deductions greater than the earn
ings. Most restaurants require servers to tip out their support
staff of hostesses, bartenders and busboys. So, if you leave a
waiter no tip, he will actually be losing money, in essence pay
ing out of his pocket for you to eat there, not to mention losing
a table where tipping customers might have sat.
One tipping problem that is centered in the heart of
Aggieland occurs when students pay for their meals with Aggie
Bucks. Lindsey Vyoral, who works at Rockfish and has been
waiting tables for three years, says that dealing with Aggie
Bucks is one of the most frustrating aspects of working in
College Station.
“When students pay with Aggie Bucks, they often don’t
realize that they have to tell you to include the tip when you
swipe their card because we cannot go back in and add a tip,”
Vyoral said. “It can be awkward asking a customer if they want
to include a tip in the total, and it would be much more con
venient for them to just include it themselves.”
Tipping etiquette is often murky, as there is much social
pressure to tip well, but personal desire to tip differently. While
customers do not feel obligated to tip a server if they have
received poor service, they need to take into consideration that
many elements of the dining experience are out of the server’s
control. When food is prepared wrong or comes out late, it is
often the fault of the cook, not the server. Customers tend to
take out their frustrations with the food, the wait, the atmos
phere, the price and everything on the server, who may have
given excellent service, but just couldn’t please them due to
circumstances beyond their control.
Waiters and waitresses are human. They make mistakes,
they cannot be in ten places at once and every once in a while
they may spill some water on you. But unless you have a hor
rific restaurant experience, remember how hard your server is
working to please you.
Micala Proesch is a junior
journalism and economics major.
MAIL CALL
Gates requests sportsmanlike
behavior while Tech fans visit
Nothing fills an Aggie with greater pride than to
open the newspaper following a home football game
and to find a letter from an out-of-town fan praising
the Texas A&M family for their hospitality during the
preceding game weekend. Many write that, of the
dozens of road games they have attended in support
of their team, no experience has equaled or even
approached that of their time in Aggieland.
As the Aggies prepare to open Big 12 Conference
play this weekend against the Texas Tech Red Raiders
at Kyle Field, we encourage all members of the cam
pus community to make an extra effort to treat our
guests as we ourselves wish to be treated - with
courtesy and, most of all, respect.
Together, let us set an example of sportsmanship
and graciousness, and further contribute to Texas
A&M's already sterling reputation as the nation's
friendliest university.
Coaches should pay attention to
the game instead of 'uncovering'
In response to an Oct. 2 mail call:
There is no doubt that every game at Kyle Field is
full of festivity and tradition. It is these traditions that
make Kyle Field one of the top places in the nation
to play football. As Aggies, we must remember that
it is a football game we are attending, not a presen
tation by Traditions Council. I find it disturbing that
an Aggie fan is disgruntled about the fact that coach
es do not "uncover" for the War Hymn in the middle
of a football game that they are busy coaching. We
all want our team to be successful, and that usually
requires the attention of the coaches.
As Aggies we should be less eager to be tradition
legalists and use some common sense. I hope we
all realize that it is perfectly acceptable to let our
coaches keep their hats on between quarters as the
War Hymn plays.
Robert M. Gates
Texas A&M President
Taylor Shepard
Class of 2003