Atlanta cab driver Alemu Wossen's workday has stretched to 16 hours, six days a week as he tries to recoup his losses from fewer fares and even fewer tips.

Parking attendants at AAA Parking in downtown Atlanta face a similar problem. Many now work two jobs and take public transit to work.

Allen Sullivan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Yakup Ulutas (right), general manager of Cafe Intermezzo, runs dishes with server Burak Guvensoylar at the Dunwoody location.

Allen Sullivan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Yakup Ulutas, Cafe Intermezzo general manager, favors adding 20 percent to the bill.

Your Turn Which of these best describes you?   I tip as much as ever   I am giving a smaller tip   I am passing on niceties that require tips: valets, skycap, etc.   I don't tip much at all Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

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"They used to have their own cars that they'd drive to work. But nowadays they use public transportation because they can't afford cars of their own," said Mike Mengistu, AAA's operations manager.

By now, it's pretty clear the economic good times have fizzled. Just ask any of the estimated 96,360 workers in Georgia who relied on the generosity of high-rolling customers when the money was flowing and the economy was flourishing.

The national cash crunch has put the kibosh on tipping, forcing many of these workers to put in longer hours, take multiple jobs and make cutbacks of their own.

Belt-tightening helps waitress Ebony Thomas pay for groceries and other essentials. She used to earn $300 to $500 a week in tips working at the Depeaux restaurant in Decatur. Not anymore.

"When I tell you it's been dead, it's been dead," said the 24-year-old mother of two. She also works at a day care center and is finishing her last year at Atlanta Metropolitan College.

While economists crunch numbers and talk of downturns, people like Wossen and Thomas live it.

"They're an interesting barometer. They're the first to feel the squeeze," said demographer Doug Bachtel, a professor in the College of Family and Consumer Science at the University of Georgia.

"The money you were going to spend for tips is going instead for gas, increased food [prices]. If you're paying more for gas to drive to the airport, and the price of gas has upped your airline ticket, and the hotdog you buy when you get there is more expensive, you're going to be less inclined to tip. You've got to pay the bill. But you don't have to pay the tips. It baseballs through the economy."

Last summer, Yakub Ulutas, an Atlanta restaurant manager, started a Web site called fairtip.org, to educate people about the importance of tipping, especially now with the sluggish economy.

"Most restaurants are either even with last year or bringing in less sales," said Ulutas, who manages the two Cafe Intermezzo restaurants in metro Atlanta. "I talk to a lot of servers online and locally. When the check gets higher, the tips go down. In a healthy economy, the tips range from 15 to 20 percent. A lot of folks are tipping 10 percent or 5 percent now."

Not only are people tipping less, they're cutting back on indulgences. They're giving up the little niceties — enjoying a nice meal in a restaurant, letting a skycap handle their luggage, turning the car over to a valet.

And with those small cutbacks, they're dramatically stanching the lifeblood of those whose base pay is slightly more than $2 an hour.

For Thomas, the tippers are fine, there's just not enough of them.

"It's the volume," she said. "People aren't coming out to eat. If they have money, they're spending it on their children. They're doing the same thing I'm doing, except my job depends on their tips."

Like Thomas, bartender Sarah Kusmerz is experiencing her own version of tip drought.

"Tips are definitely off," said Kusmerz, who works at the Cafe Intermezzo in Dunwoody. "I thought about [getting a] second job but in lieu of that I work more hours around here."

On a good night, she makes about $150 in tips. She used to take home no less than $200. Her last good tip was about a week ago, when a couple left a $13 tip on a $20 tab.

Last week, skycap Brian Thomas and a colleague called out to airline passengers rushing by. Thomas says he earns between $40 and $75 in tips on a good day. This was not a good day.

"There's all these rumors that skycaps make so much money," said Thomas, who works for a company that contracts with Northwest Airlines. "It's not true."

His way of earning a living is tough for a man who is expecting his first child any day. A recent controversial decision by several airlines to charge $2 a bag is likely to make it even tougher.

"I appreciate my job, Thomas said. "The freedom of it. I like the airport environment. It's what you make of it."

Philosophically, that sounds nice.

Realistically, it's "affecting a lot of people on the periphery," Bachtel said. "You look at minority groups and those living at or below poverty level. It disproportionately affects more women than men."

The bad economy hasn't affected investment banker Matt Olney's generosity. Olney was in Atlanta recently for a conference. At Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he stopped to get his shoes shined while waiting for his return flight to Arkansas. The bill came to $5, and he gave "Shoe-dini" a $3 tip.

Olney, who travels two to three times a month, can afford to be a generous tipper because his expenses, including tips, are covered by his employer.

"If the economy gets really bad, the company may rein in the expense accounts," he said.

Until then, it's business — and tipping — as usual.

HEAD COUNT

Tip workers account for about 2.2 percent of all workers in Georgia.

• 7,800: Bartenders

• 8,090: Counter attendants (cafeteria, food concession, coffee shop)

• 68,010: Waiters and waitresses

• 9,870: Hosts and hostesses (restaurant, lounge and coffee shop)

• 570: Attendants (locker room, coatroom and dressing room)

• 1,170: Baggage porters and bellhops

• 520: Concierges

• 330: Transportation attendants (except flight attendants and baggage porters)

• 96,360: Total tip workers in Georgia

• 4.35 million: Total Georgia civilian work force

Source: Occupational Estimates, 2nd quarter 2006, Georgia Department of Labor