“The Federal minimum tipped wage is $2.13/hr. The next time you don’t tip your server, remember that they live off their tips! Most get paychecks that are $0.00 since that $2.13/hr goes to pay taxes on tips.” (Unknown)
My partner Chris and I dined in a very nice restaurant in Columbus, Ohio recently. During our meal there we asked our waitress how her Thanksgiving went. She told us she had worked the entire day and when I asked if she had experienced any difficulties during it, she told us a very disheartening story.
She was getting ready to go home to be with her family at the end of Thanksgiving Day when a group of six came in at the last minute for a holiday meal. She took the table because no one else would. When all was said and done, two hours later their bill came to $263. While she had hoped for a nice tip to end a long day, where a 20% tip on that bill would have been around $50, what she got instead was nothing. Yes, nothing! No tip. Nada. The reason? The group of six felt the cost of the food was too expensive for what they got so they made the waitress suffer for it.
It’s hearing stories like this that truly make me sad, especially when I know the people have the money to give a nice tip or even worse, call themselves a Christian. While I can’t confirm the nature of this group’s story, I can say it honestly doesn’t matter. Why? Because doing such an action to any waiter or waitress in this country is outright selfish and self-centered knowing they rely upon our tips for their livelihood.
I often wish servers in this country were paid salaries so things like this would never happen. In Europe, servers are paid far higher wages to do their job and many times restaurants already include the cost of tip in the bill, where extra tipping is only for extraordinary service, but never counted on or expected. Yet here in America, where tipping is a server’s livelihood, I hear stories like this of people who find every reason under the sun to short change their server by either not tipping or leave something negligible.
While there have been countless times over the past bunch of years where I’ve had either poor service or poor-quality food, I’ve still left 20% to my server. Why should a server work for my benefit and get nothing for it? Are they my slave? Of course not. But that’s precisely what people insinuate when they don’t tip or tip at such a low amount, it’s not really a tip at all. The fact is, I give all of my servers the benefit of the doubt for any problems that may arise with my meal because I don’t know the full story, especially from their perspective.
Regardless, if you have a job and work for a wage, imagine what it might feel like for you to do your job for an hour or two and get nothing for it? Also, know that many of the problems that happen in restaurants often do so because of poor management and not because of the wait staff. And lastly, and maybe most importantly, if you truly have the money to go out to eat in the first place, then you probably have the money to leave a nice tip for your server who waits upon you and relies upon you for their living. It’s precisely why I left a 30 percent tip to this waitress that night, as she genuinely deserved that and more, like so many other servers do as well!
Dear God, please help me to always remember that those who wait upon me in all the places I dine at rely upon me for their livelihood with the tips I leave them. And help me to always be generous in my tips, even when my ego isn’t satisfied with my dining experience.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
