To tip, or not to tip, and how much, this is the question.

I have been in the service industry for all my life, in one form of it or another. I have worked as a waitress for some of that and at times my wage was as low as $2.15 an hour. This of course was years ago, and the “tip percent” was at 10% of the ticket. Now of course, if I get a 10% of the ticket tip I am put off. But should I be? In my new position I’ve had to take the order, prepare the meal, serve the meal, clear the table, and wash the dishes. So yes, when I receive 10%, I get upset, and yes, even offended! I have just spent almost an hour running around for “$6.00”.
My friend asked me “when did the minimum tip percent go from 10 to 18%”? I’m not sure when that happened, or if it ever really did, maybe since cost of living has increased? But I do know that good etiquette dictates, if your meal was good, your service was good, and you were treated good, 15 to 20% is the area of which you should tip. There are exceptions of course.
Jade and I were on our honeymoon, in a 5 star restaurant, and our server took our order, then we never saw her again, literally! The scandinavian bus girl who we caught on her way to the kitchen with an arm load of dishes, and who could speak almost no english, “took care” of us for the remainder of our meal. When we were ready to leave, we found her, gave her $30 and told her to keep it to herself and not share, that was 20%. The food was great, and she did our bidding, even though it certainly wasn’t her job to do so. We left no money on the table for our server!
With all that being said, statistics show that it is single moms, those working their way through school, or people like me, with little or no schooling, working as servers. I know I work very hard at my job, and want everyones experience with me to be the very best I can offer them. Not all people have the same work ethic I do, but in the end we are all just trying to survive. I tip according to my service usually, as the servers really have no control over the food. I will tip 20% and go up or down from there.
I am blogging today, because of an experience I recently had, where I apparently offended someone by saying that $10 on a $85 ticket was too cheap. Of course, those are the words that came out, but I had meant to say, that it wasn’t enough. I was in total shock, and disbelief. My answer to this, is, to never go out to eat with this person again.
I tip the way I do, because I’ve been in the industry my whole life, and I know how it feels to run your butt off for a measly pittance, and am not going to be known as one of “those” kinds of people. And because some servers are a cut above, and deserve the respect of 10% more. Think about it, the next time your eating out. Is 10% really good enough? And if you can’t afford to tip right, then maybe you should learn how to cook and stay home!

The views in this article are mine alone, and I mean no offense to anyone!