The Big Tipper
My Granddaddy Ed was the first elevator repairman in North Carolina. He worked for the Otis Elevator Company back in the early 1900s when there were only seven elevators in all of North Carolina, the majority of which were located in hotels. Every month, the wiry 6-foot-2 repairman traveled all over the state to service each elevator. With him he carried two suitcases: one held his clothing, the other held his tools, which weighed about 100 pounds.
When the hotels had a new bellhop, they would break him in on my Granddaddy Ed. My grandfather was in on the joke, so whenever the doormen saw him coming they would say to their newest bellhop, “Look! Here comes Mr. Taylor. He’s a big tipper!”
The bright-faced bellhop would run to my granddaddy and say, “Let me help you with those bags, Mr. Taylor!”
Granddaddy Ed handed over his suitcases with a smile: first his clothes, then his tools. When the bellhop lifted the second suitcase, it tipped him over amidst gales of laughter from the doormen. Huffing and puffing under the weight, the red-faced bellhop would drag that suitcase into the lobby. To doormen and bellhops all across North Carolina, “Mr. Taylor, the big tipper!” was an inexhaustible source of jokes and laughter.
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