c&p

Chickie’s & Pete’s, while widely regarded as one of the best sports bars in the nation, has apparently never made the list of “Best Sports Bars Where Your Tips Aren’t Taken From You.” As part of the settlement from a long-running lawsuit that claimed (and found) owner Pete Ciarrocchi was improperly skimming tips, a lawyer recently went door-to-door to 90 current and former stiffed employees, where “the amounts [on the settlement checks] range from about $1,200 to $45,000-plus.” You can do a lot with that kind of money. In fact, just ask this one woman, as the Daily News did, who learned literally nothing from Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation:

Anyway, cashing a check sure is a pretty excellent way for the workers to kick off the summer – or to pay off a swimming-pool heater. That’s what one former waitress will do with part of the $11,771 she’s pocketing in the settlement.’ “I already bought the heater, which I probably shouldn’t have done, except I knew the check was coming,” says the woman, who also will start a savings account for her new baby. Like other former and current Chickie’s & Pete’s employees interviewed for this column, she asked not to be identified, because it’s probably not smart to go public about coming into money. Lord knows the weirdos who’d emerge from the weeds for a handout. [Editor’s note: I literally hate this woman.]

Meanwhile, another bartender used the more rational outlook of “I don’t really see this as money I can go out and throw around. This is money I should’ve had all along. I’ve needed it.” That makes more sense.