How to infuriate/impress your waitress

This is actually the work of artist Kevin Van Aelst, who assembles images from the detritus of everyday life. It's part of a series of fingerprints made with everything from macaroni to pie crust.

(Via My Food Looks Funny)

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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Anonymous

Groovy. sure beats walking the streets at night and a stick in the eye
rautiocination

wooo! went to grad school with this kid. he also recently scored the cover of Time magazine. Really talented photographer with a brain to match. I love his series of donuts, the sprinkles of which document the process of cellular mitosis :D
ackpht

Feynman may have been mischievous, but I’ve never read anything that suggested he was malicious. Certainly he didn’t have anything to prove.
Anonymous

Who says he didn’t leave a tip? And this wouldn’t be hard to clean up. Not really sure why everyone is freaking out.
Danny

I served for 3 years and I wouldn’t care one iota about the finger print. I’d probably be impressed. Servers that would get upset about that are in the wrong business. I loved serving; it’s a fun atmosphere in the right restaurant. However, it got old for me at the 3 year mark and so I moved on.
Heartfruit

The salt one above is actually quite beautiful, but the kitty litter one, turned my tummy.
jeligula

My guess is that the waitress would be pissed at a talented asshole leaving a mess and no tip.
- dbarak
  
  Until she realized that she could sell the original artwork for big bucks… never mind.
Anonymous

When I worked at a pizza restaurant as a teen, I would occasionally get the “salt shaker emptied into a nearly-empty pitcher of beer” volcano to clean up. I think this would be equally annoying.
Felton

I’m guessing this was the first time a fingerprint ever disappeared after dusting.
Felton

Whoops! Only meant to italicize “disappeared.” I think my html-fu is a bit rusty.
Mitch

That reminds me of the time I went for breakfast with my friends and their 3 year old who smashed pancakes and syrup all over the window by our booth. The waitress smiled and handed them a wet rag and a dry rag to clean up the mess at the end of the meal.
Antinous / Moderator

Given that diners blow their noses on their napkins and leave used diapers on the table, I doubt that the waitress would be fazed by this.
The Chemist

I remember reading Richard Feynman’s tale of server harassment. He was a regular at diner and left his tip (two dimes- back when it was probably sufficient) under a full glass of water face down on the table. When he got back the next day, his waitress refused to talk to him. The other one began chiding him for his cruel trick since the waitress ended up with no choice but to pick up the glass and get water everywhere. Feynman pointed out that the mess wasn’t his fault, as the solution was as simple as how he turned up the full glass in the first place- a piece of card over the top of the glass. I’m still trying to decide whether that was mean, hilarious, or both.
- adamnvillani
  
  I went to Caltech, so I’m familiar with a lot of Feynman stories. That one’s always presented as “Look how clever Feynman was,” (as all Feynman stories are) whereas I’ve always interpreted it to be “Look at what an ass Feynman was.”
Anonymous

I once got in trouble with a waitress for just trying to outline some streets in spilled Saccharine — there was no convincing her that I wasn’t about to snort coke, until I blew it all off the table…
travelerlauren

Cleaning this up would be easy. What would be more annoying is the artist taking up the table for the time it took to make this…

Rad nonetheless.
Anonymous

It’s brilliant. Wish I had that talent. As it was photographed surely the waitress simply swept it up. Not as big a deal as some are making….
Anonymous

Leave the goddarn servers alone unless you plan to NEVER RETURN or act like a civil human being to begin with.

Just remember, it doesn’t pay to mess with those who serve food. Payback is a *itch.
lewis stoole

mashed potatoes and devil’s tower, this guy has caught the bug
artaxerxes

@ The Chemist, Feynman’s story reminds me of an interview with Ralph Nader in an old issue of LIFE, from the late 60s, I believe. At least, Nader was described as a policy wunderkind and much emphasis was placed on his youth.

At any rate, in the course of a day or two, Nader and the LIFE correspondent stopped for lunch at a busy diner in a depressed working-class area in the Appalachians. Their server was a very young woman. Before ordering, Nader inquired about the ingredients of every item on the menu. He was trying to avoid white sugar and white flour at the time.

As he came to the end of the question session, Nader gave her a long, detailed lecture on the evils of white sugar and the seemingly innocuous products in which it could be found (White Bread, Mandrake! White Bread!). Then he encouraged her at length to avoid it in any form. He ended up ordering a glass of water, finding no suitable items on the menu.

The article did not venture to record the tip left by the two gentlemen. But I certainly think the young, harassed waitress deserved at least $50. I believe the minimum wage at the time was $1.30. I’m sure she would have far preferred to pick up a 100 shit-filled diapers than to be hectored about unavailable health food while her other customers were trying to get her attention or waiting for their order.

Though I take LIFE’s articles with a grain of salt, nay, a salt lick, I’ve never quite managed to forget that article when Nader runs as a man of and for the people.
- dr
  
  interview with Ralph Nader in an old issue of LIFE, from the late 60s, I believe.
  
  Jan 21, 1972.
  
  At any rate, in the course of a day or two, Nader and the LIFE correspondent stopped for lunch at a busy diner in a depressed working-class area in the Appalachians.
  
  Princeton, NJ.
  
  Their server was a very young woman.
  
  Waitress age not mentioned in article.
  
  Before ordering, Nader inquired about the ingredients of every item on the menu.
  
  Actually, he only enquired about the ingredients in the ham-and-cheese sandwich he ordered.
  
  He was trying to avoid white sugar and white flour at the time.
  
  Not mentioned.
  
  He ended up ordering a glass of water, finding no suitable items on the menu.
  
  Actually, he ate the ham-and-cheese sandwich.
  
  Your version of the story is more colorful, but is not the story in the Life article. Is it really so reprehensible to ask a waitress if the cheese on the sandwiches they serve is processed vs. cheddar?
bklynchris

cool and beautiful.
artaxerxes-Feynman also like to hang out at strip clubs, presumably for the lunch buffet, regardless, I wonder where he left his tips there….yeah, it was mean, but probably not malicious.