Times where you can tell the good guys from the bad based on whether or not they're Nice to the Waiter in Anime and Manga.
- In a nice pay off, the Conductor (actually Claire Stanfield) in Baccano! saves Miria and Isaac because they were good customers on board his train..
- Black Butler's Ciel Phantomhive treats his house staff well, despite the fact the majority of them appear to be useless (at least at first). Alois from the anime's second season however... couldn't be further from this trope.
- In Bokurano, the second pilot reminisces how his father would routinely harass waiters and send the food back for imaginary faults just to see them squirm. The kid actually considers this manner of power play admirable and wants to emulate it. Tellingly, the kid is a utter sociopath who delights in the death and destruction caused by him taking the fight to a heavily populated area, since the destruction will mean more business for his father's construction company. He does not take it well when he ends up crushing his father underfoot.
- Code Geass has Sayoko Shinozaki, who was Milly Ashford's maid until Lelouch and Nunnally entered the picture, at which point she was assigned to help take care of the blind, paraplegic Nunnally. Everybody treats Sayoko very nicely, especially Nunnally, and thus she's very loyal to them even though she ends up helping Zero and La Résistance (though she does try to protect the kids when all hell breaks loose in the season finale). In the second season, when Zero unmasks for Sayoko and reveals himself as Lelouch, her reaction is brief surprise followed by a satisfied smile, and after that she becomes his personal Battle Butler.
- Daltanious: Prince Harlin treats people with respect no matter what their social status and origin is. He tells Toragoro that there's no need for formalities between them once he finds out Toragoro took care of Kento, his son, and is also eternally grateful to Earl for his aid. When Harlin learns that anti-clone racism is a widespread issue, he disavows it and becomes a Politically-Active Princess, establishing a nation where everyone is equal.
- Greed's philosophy in Fullmetal Alchemist is that he should always treat those who work for him with extreme kindness and respect. Since he's, well, Greed, he wants everyone to want to work for him, and he reasons that the smartest way to accomplish this is to make the working conditions great—if his subordinates think well of him, they'll tell other people how good they have it so they want to get in on the action.
- In Girls und Panzer, both Miho and Maho Nishizumi are friendly and courteous to the Nishizumi family maids. They are in turn more than willing to talk with Miho about her troubles. When Miho and her friends are troubled over Maho suddenly acting quite aloof and cold after their mother's return, Kikuyo begs them not to blame Maho, saying that Maho is burdened with many things as Nishizumi heiress, indicating a considerable amount of personal respect and sympathy for Maho, as well as possibly knowing that Maho strives to be a good heiress so that Miho can live the way she wishes.
- In the anime/manga version of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, this is one of Arslan's defining traits. He is kind, friendly and polite to everyone around him, whether it's another prince from a foreign country or when interacting with the lowest soldier. This attitude takes many people back when they first meet Arslan and some people don't believe he is a prince at first.
- While Kaguya from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War can occasionally be needy and ungrateful, she values her bond with her maid Hayasaka above all others (even her relationship with Shirogane) and views her as a sister in all but name.
- In Nana, when Sachiko learns that Shouji's girlfriend Nana (nicknamed Hachi) is at the restaurant they both work at, she drops the plate she was carrying. Hachi, who wasn't even at the table Sachiko was serving, gives her a handkerchief since she cut herself. Sachiko is heartbroken because Shouji is cheating on Hachi with her and nearly breaks up with him because of how guilty she feels. Instead, Shouji breaks up with Hachi.
- Kaibara from Oishinbo needs to learn this.
- Sanji from One Piece effectively demonstrates to Lieutenant Fullbody exactly why one should be polite to waiters.
- One chapter of the Ouran High School Host Club manga has Tamaki scandalized when he sees a patron of a restaurant demand that a waiter be fired for dropping food on her. He is about to complain when his father stops him, telling him it's not his place. Being the kind of guy he is, though, Tamaki's father personally sees to it later that the waiter doesn't lose his job.
- In Pumpkin Scissors, Alice is kind to the working class and common man despite being born into high nobility. When one of her peers threatens to fire a chef for using cheap nuts in his dish due to shortages, Alice steps in and offers to hire the poor chef.
- Both Kail and Yuri from Red River (1995). On one hand, Kail handpicks servants who prove themselves to be loyal, and more or less considers them his closest friends. On the other, Yuri views her maids as her best friends and trusts them with everything; in fact, while on a visit to Egypt, the other maids are shocked that she doesn't demand one of them be whipped or starved for spilling water on her dress.
- The Secret Garden: Lilias Craven was Spoiled Sweet and treated all her servants with respect. Even though most of the village was racist to Camila for being a Romani, Lilias offered her a job as her lady-in-waiting. Mary Lennox also befriends Camila and introduces her as her friend to others.
- ViVid Strike! has the series Dark Magical Girl, Rinne Berlinetta, who treats most people coldly, but among the people she's nice to at the start of the series are her family's servants.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Seto Kaiba is an interesting variant in that he treats the people who work at his company with cold, polite professionalism. By his standards, this is being downright civil, as he's a complete and total Jerkass to everyone else except his little brother Mokuba. (Though it is only true in the Japanese dub. In the English dub, he's just as rude to them as he is to everyone else.)
