Times where you can tell the good guys from the bad based on whether or not they're Nice to the Waiter in Comic Books.
DC
- In the first issue of Aquaman in the New 52 series, Aquaman stops by a seafood restaurant to have a meal and is attended by a waitress who apologizes to him after rambling for a second about her hectic life, including putting her two kids through college, though mainly she apologizes for looking a bit ragged instead of presentable for a customer. Of course, this being Aquaman ordering a meal at a seafood restaurant, he attracts a lot of attention from other customers, who bug him about several things. Eventually he gets annoyed and leaves without eating his meal, giving the waitress two golden doubloons rather than actual money. When she asks what she's supposed to do with those, his reply is a casual, "Put your kids through college." The first issue of his Rebirth comic has him stopping by the same restaurant to eat and is tended to by the same waitress, their dialogue showcasing how well they get along.
- Batman Bruce Wayne is usually depicted as treating Wayne Enterprises employees fairly and acting as a kind, if absent-minded boss, as well as spearheading a great deal of charity work out of a genuine interest in the welfare of Gotham City. Being raised by his butler likely influenced him in this manner.
- This is especially obvious in one issue towards the end of the Murderer/Fugitive arc which covers Bruce reintegrating himself with his day-to-day life after an extended period away. He knows the names of every employee (even the mail boy who he reminds about Wayne Enterprises college programs) and every employee treats him as a genuinely well-liked, if eccentric and slightly dim, employer.
- Most of the Bat Family are also like this, except for Damian, towards Alfred. Everyone tends to treat him like a friend doing them a favor whereas Damian keeps their relationship to master and servant, calling him Pennyworth and giving orders rather than making requests. He's not mean (well, he kind of was to start with, but he's mellowed since then), he's just not got much in the way of social skills and keeps the relationship professional. A key point in Damian's relationship actually has him saying "thank you" to Alfred. He eventually does start being nice to Alfred, although he's playful enough for some teasing, like using Alfred's head to jump off.
- Harley Quinn: The post New 52 version of Harley tends to be remarkably nice towards the service people she meets, as long as they treat her with respect (a trait shared by her DC Extended Universe incarnation). Anyone who insults, threatens, or tries to talk advantage of her, however...
- Superman: Depending on the writer, Lex Luthor goes out of his way to be a friendly, personable boss to the help; in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, he's polite to everyone from his janitor to the guy who owns the newsstand near his building to Alfred Pennyworth when he meets Bruce Wayne. Of course, this doesn't stop him from being a complete bastard in other respects.
Marvel
- All The Avengers have great respect for their butler Jarvis (another Stark employee, by the way), naming him an honorary Avenger. We most often see this with Captain America.
- Another Cap example: there is a story told bit by bit to some accountants trying to tally up the damages after a superhero fight by the various Avengers involved in said fight. Some Avengers are rude, some of them annoyed, some cavalier, Thor just hands over a bag of gold, and Cap… Cap hands over filled-out paperwork for the ticketed Quinjet (including the badge number of the officer who wrote the ticket) and the voucher for removing property from a prison. The accountants love him.
- Another Cap one, from the beginning of the Civil War arc: Cap breaks out of SHIELD's helicarrier by commandeering a jet fighter (including pilot) through the simple expedient of clinging on to the cockpit. Being Cap, he orders the pilot to set down in a not-in-use football stadium and takes them out for a burger, after admonishing one for taking the Lord's name in vain.
- In Marvel's New York City, restaurant and hotel owners and staff know that Hercules is a loud, demanding, and at times, overly flamboyant customer, but they don't care; he's also a huge tipper.
- Iron Man:
- Tony Stark has usually been written as a near-perfect boss who inspires tremendous personal loyalty. When Obadiah Stane stole Stark's company out from under him, most of his employees lined up and quit. (Stark had once used a similar threat to thwart Nick Fury's hostile takeover.) This one goes back and forth Depending on the Writer, the era, and whether Tony is in one of his periodic Jerkass phases.
- When Tony blows his top and yells at an employee, he usually has a very good reason. Tony once regretted berating the head of his legal department and resolved to apologize, but that was because the guy was doing such a crappy job as the head of Stark Enterprises' legal team. He was fired a couple of issues later after Tony became fed up with his incompetence.
- In The Movie, he's an honestly thickheaded doofus of a boss. But if Pepper is any example, he at least knows the value of a good employee; she does practically everything for him, so he lets her write her own bonus checks!
- Played straight in The Punisher. Frank doesn't cook so he always eats out, and it's easier to maintain a balanced diet if he orders from a menu. However, when he is shown eating out he is always very low-key and tips precisely 15%. Being a high or a low tipper would call attention to himself and make him someone people remember, and his crime fighting activities demand a low profile.
Other
- Diabolik provides a number of examples:
- The title character may be a murderous thief, but as long as he's not furious or disguised as a Jerkass he's unfailingly polite and respectful to everyone (even if sometimes a bit forceful on people who work for one of his identities), especially his victims (he even complimented the courage of an old woman he had kidnapped to steal her jewels when she openly challenged him to torture her to get the combination to the safe, and didn't harm her in the slightest). This actually bit him back in the ass at least once: he was disguised as a Grumpy Old Man but didn't know the man he replaced was a jerk, so he was recognized by some children because he wasn't rude enough;
- Eva is genuinely nice with everyone, as long as she's not disguised as a jerkass or you didn't gain her wrath (if that happens, just kill yourself). It helps her mother was working class herself and she had to work for a living for a long time;
- Ginko being Ginko, he's genuinely nice and respectful with his subordinates and people in general, but also knows the advantages of acting like that (on one occasion a mob boss managed to get him pissed, and Ginko first shoved him in his own pool and then told him to spare himself from pressing charges, as he had twenty cops who would swear he was somewhere else). His subordinates would do anything for him, including breaking the law (when they're all By-the-Book Cops), killing, and dying;
- Altea may be a member of the obnoxious nobility of Benglait and a member (by her first marriage) of the much hated royal family of Benglait, but she was always nice to everyone, even working as a volunteer nurse during a terrorism crisis and risking her own life to save her butler (actually Diabolik in disguise to steal some of her jewels) when the revolution erupted and a mob tried to lynch her (when she found it was Diabolik, she offered him the jewels he planned to steal as a thank you for saving her. He refused, but she still covered his tracks). That's why, after the violence of the revolution calmed down, she can now return home when she wants and is literally worshipped by the people;
- King was unfailingly polite to his subordinates... But only if they lived up to his expectations of them being the best criminals in the world in their chosen field, or at least did a serious effort. But if they failed... Well, at least he gave them a quick death. He was Diabolik's father figure.
- Late kingpin of crime in Clerville Natasha Morgan was polite and nice to her men, if a bit forceful and with no exhitation in putting them in danger. This pays off when, after she retires, her bodyguards die to give her a chance to escape King's men (who, being King's men, kill the last one and kidnap her before she can escape);
- One-shot characters can be easily recognized as jerks when they aren't nice to subordinates and inferiors. This applies to criminals too, and those criminals who are nice have a better survival rate (that is, Diabolik won't go out of his way to kill them, so they have a small chance of surviving).
- Eat the Rich (2021): Crestfall Bluff residents seem to really like their staff. They put large paintings of them in their homes and throw them lavish retirement parties...where they're killed and eaten at said parties. Petal explains that this is customary in the town; people sign up to work til their deaths because the wealthy residents otherwise assure them and their families are taken care of. The whole thing is a metaphor for the exploitation of the working class, no matter how much people swan about claiming they're "like family".
- In #26 of My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Prince Blueblood is shown to follow this kind of thinking, with his diplomatic arsenal including tricks like "befriend the little people around the guy you want to impress, so you'll look good and they'll say good things about you when you're not around." This goes contrary to his fandom perception, which is that of an entitled jerk (based on how he treated Rarity in the show). Of course, whether he's nice to waiters because he's genuinely nicer to them or just because he wants to look good... is a matter of speculation.
- Richie Rich and his parents are the world's richest people and are nice to the people working for them.
