Saturday, 20 August 2011
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Love Jesus? Then Tip Well
You know what I'm talking about. There's nothing like working your butt off, dealing with grumpy customers, and having achy, sore feet at the end of your shift. What makes that ten times worse is when you do a good job serving someone, only to have them leave little or no tip. It's a big slap in the face. Do they not realize that you're working for tips? The average waitress salary given by the restaurant itself is only around $3 or so. It's one thing if we don't check on refills, are less-than-friendly to our customers, or are just lousy in general. But it's another thing when we really do try hard, only to clean off a table and find no money left for us.I think the biggest slap in the face for me during my three years of waitressing was when a table would be rude and demanding to me (even though I really, really was doing a good job), and then leave a $1 tip and A Christian tract telling me to come to Jesus. Really? Did you seriously just treat me like I didn't matter at all to you, leave practically nothing for a tip, then try to win me to Christ? If I weren't already a Christian, I probably would've thought, "Keep your tip and your Christ."
It is so important that, as Christians, we look at everything as an opportunity to witness to and serve others. When you go out to eat, you seek to serve your waitress/waiter. Serve them by being kind, understanding, and by tipping well. If they mess up on your order, it's no big deal. You think they did that on purpose? Probably not. And by the way, if your food is taking too long, there's usually nothing the server can do about it. It's usually an issue within the kitchen. Never ever be rude to them. They're humans too and they're not your slave. They are an image bearer of God and they deserve to be treated kindly.
You don't always know what your waiter/waitress is going through. Maybe they've had a bad day already and you just made it worse. Maybe it's a single mom working 2 jobs to support her child(ren). Whoever they are, one thing is true. They are working there because they need income. Don't ever leave a Christian tract explaining the gospel but not leave a tip. You've not shown that person any love or any care whatsoever. If that's how a Christian treats them, then they're not going to want to become one. I have seen so many "born again Christians" come to the restaurant I used to work at, and they were so rude to me. Now, they may truly be believers, but it definitely made me question the sincerity of their faith. You can't be a mean Christian.
When my husband and I go out and we get out food, we always tell the server we're about to say the blessing, and we ask how we can pray for them. They always have such a look of shock, followed by such appreciation. We've had them tear up before, because they were so incredibly appreciative of our asking. Then when we left, we'd leave a good tip and a note about the Gospel. I had one waitress facebook me and tell me how much that meant to her.
We should always seek to share the gospel with people. Whether it's Wal Mart, a park, or your favorite restaurant, always pray before you go, for an opportunity to share the love of Christ with someone. So often we run our weekly errands and don't give employees a second thought. But what if we did? What a difference that would make.
What are your tipping habits? Do you think about the gospel when you are tipping?
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About the Author
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- From: apb102088@xanga
- Name: apb102088
- About Me: Been married to my best friend for 2 years and we have a beautiful son. We are trying to finish school so that we can go to the mission field in 5-10 years so we can share the Gospel to those who have never heard.
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Comments (62)
AGREED. i worked at a coffee shop near campus making minimum wage plus tips. i lived off of tips. but we would always get these bible study groups of girls who would come in and NEVER TIP A DIME. i thought it was sooo hypocritical that they were all wearing cross necklaces and discussing scripture but they weren't living those values on a day to day basis.
15% for nonexistent service
20% for poor service
25% for average service
30% for good service
35% for exceptional service (admittedly, this is extremely rare)
@StatelessPilot - That is a good scale. However, if we are saved by grace, why not tip by grace? I wrote my thoughts on tipping here, but I'll give a short version. I don't reduce my tipping for poor service. Instead, I believe grace should determine the tip. I have a minimum tip, which is also $3 as you have, but rather than a scale that coincides with the quality of service, I tip generously regardless of the quality of service. That tends to be around 25-30% in most cases, sometimes more. And, on occasion I just like to be nice, and I'll leave $20.
Wow to the above. I am not sure how things will change once I become financially independent, but I generally tip 15% all around unless the person does really well, then it's 20-25% (but it's rare). I feel bad spending my parents' money knowing they never tip above 15%. It kind of goes the same way about tithes, but when I make my own money I'll give more generously (like, actually a percentage).
Amen! I (an ex-waitress) tip well on a regular basis, and even more if the waitress was rude, because I want her to know that for whatever reason that she didn't treat me well (i.e., she thought I would be a bad tipper, she didn't like how I look, she's just having a bad day,) she doesn't know me and I just want to be kind to her.
Also, on a regular basis, I order cheaper food so I can tip better.@vain_apathy@xanga - Well, to be fair...I don't even think about tipping at most coffee places. Since I"m walking up to a counter and ordering, I don't see it as the same as waiting on a table for 30 minutes.
@NightCometh@xanga - I was thinking the same thing! But I definitely will be more conscious of that in the future and tip anyway.@Itinvolvedwhippedcream@xanga - That's wonderful! Good for you. :)@vicdaily@xanga - Yeah I understand where you're coming from. It's different when it's not your money so you have to be more careful. As long as you're nice and leave more than a couple bucks, I think it's probably ok ;)
30% tip? So if you order a $10 dish... you end up paying $13? That's 3 spicy chickens! Which could be like 3 meals!
I'm in college and I use my parents money, so I try to be conservative. Maybe when I'm older and financially independent I won't mind tipping more. But right now, I feel as if everything counts because I gotta get a meal in and college isn't cheap. Not to mention grad school coming up and my sister wants to do grad school too.
@stanlee255@xanga - If you can't afford to tip you have no business eating out. Period. Grad school, etc. are not legitimate excuses either.
I agree with this post. I waited on a priest one time who ordered 2 beers and a $30 bucket of crab and a boy was with him and ordered a $20 bucket and a soda and I got less than 10% for good service. It made me think twice about Christianity.
And on my bad days when something is bothering me and I give not great service, those few tables that still left me a GOOD tip, really did brighten my day and feel like everything will be ok just keep trucking.
I generally tip minimum 20% no matter what, but for good service I will bump it up.
@NightCometh@xanga - yea, well now you know. most of us make minimum wage and not nearly as much as a server for comparable work. i've worked both serving and coffee shop jobs, and barista work is definitely worse simply because of the rude costumers and poor tipping.
basically, if you see a tip jar that means that YOU SHOULD TIP. (i.e. you are getting charged less for your latte because the owner of the coffee shop doesn't pay their workers shit, its only fair to tip ESPECIALLY for any order more complicated then a drip coffee)
@stanlee255@xanga - like the other guy said, if you can't afford to tip, then you can't afford to eat out. i'm poor too, that doesn't mean i'm stiff a server or delivery driver. i can guarantee that the person serving your food/drinks has it worse then you because they are actually working for a living, not just using mommy and daddy's credit cards and hey, NEWS FLASH most of them are likely students themselves. i'm a student, i work for my money, i am dirt poor, but i will never give a bad tip because that's just a shitty thing to do to another person.
oh yeah, hey. while on the topic of tipping, i would like to remind everyone that tipping your delivery driver is NOT optional. delivery drivers make minimum wage typically and are NOT reimbursed for gas or insurance costs, if you don't tip they are literally LOSING money by delivering you that pizza. my boyfriend worked as a delivery driver for a couple years and so many people would tell him that they "couldn't afford a tip"... ugh. but they could afford a pizza? bullshit. the delivery fee that you pay when you order a pizza? yeah, the drivers only see a small percent of that and it doesn't even begin to cover the cost of gas, let alone make up for their minimum wage salary.
when we go out to eat we usually have our kids with us, and we almost always tip.
Now there was one time we did not tip because we had the worlds worst waitress AND she was in management training. She took our drink order and we did not see her or our drinks for 15 min. Then she came back with the wrong order of food, not drinks, and rolled her eyes when my hubby said we hadn't ordered anything to eat yet. She walked away and then later the bartender brought us our drinks. A while later she came back to take our order, and when one of the other kitchen staff brought us the wrong food again almost 30 min later we were told "well this is what she said you ordered. Do ya want it or not?" We said not, paid for our drinks at the bar and left (we did tip the bartender because he was really great and helpful). We stopped at Wendy's for supper on the way home.
I tip 20% regularly unless the service is just actually really bad. In all honesty, though, I've known too many waiters/waitresses who would tell stories about patrons who didn't tip well, and I would often wonder, Maybe those people tipped you poorly because you didn't serve them as well as you think you did? So even though I might leave a low tip to try and get a point across, I actually just assume that the waiter/waitress probably just thinks I'm a jerk.
@LadyGwenivere@xanga - I can understand that.
I am a good tipper, unless the waitress ignores me, which happens. Also I hate when there is more than one person paying because I have been out with friends who are bad tippers and if I have a good waitress I try to keep what I am tipping secret. For example I left an $8 tip and my friend knew and she didnt leave one because she felt that 8 was enough. I have worked as a waitress and you are selling yourself, so if you are having a bad day ect. you have to forget about it to do what you need to do. Statistically and in my experience "christians" are the RUDEST, inconsiderate, poorest tippers there are. In fact I was working one night and had a party of 20, they were 18-35 and I knew some personally and some I just knew of, they were "christians". they treated me like crap, trashed my table, and didnt tip! and I made sure they all had drinks, and in addition pictures, they got all of their food really quick and I was very attentive to them as well as the 4 other lager parties I had at the time! really made me think about how people really are.
I love this!! It's soo true.. I work at a grocery store, and I know people like to get in and out, but still, they could at least be courteous, and not be disgustingly rude to employees. I don't get why in the world people act the way they act, I'm sure they wouldn't want to be treated that way!
I have delivery driven and if you don't get tipped you don't get $$ for gas or other expenses for your car. The money charged for delivery often goes back to the food joint that delivers, not the driver.
I learned to tip generously through this. I start out 30% and go down according to service, but never below 15%. On average I end up doing 20% most of the time.
Ironically, I'm a waitress at two different restaurants and am not exactly the greatest tipper. I guess growing up with middle eastern culture did it. I'm not horrible, I just tend to buy cheap food at expensive places, so the amount of the tip doesn't quite equal the amount of work my server might've done :/ Reading this post (as well as the comments) has made me realize I should be more appreciatory towards other servers.
@weightjourney2005@xanga - that sounds awful, 20 people and no one tipped? I work at a steak restaurant and servers are allowed to add 18% gratuity for any party larger than 9, unless they all request separate checks..
I tip 15% for lousy service, and then anywhere from 18-20% for good service. I live in New Orleans though, so good service is rare. Everybody seems to be grouchy and rude here. I never carry cash, so I always put the tip on the receipt and add it to the total.
I tip for delivery and service, but not for coffee. They are getting paid to make coffee and that's what they do. They don't bring it out to you, they don't come around for refills, they don't serve.
@weightjourney2005@xanga - I'm so sorry for your experience. I've had the same happen to me. "Christian" groups came in and treated me ,ore horribly than anyone. I wish I could just say that they're not Christians but that's being judgmental. They probably are, I think it's just that people don't realize that you have to love Jesus outside of church too, and love people besides on Sundays. I hope you have better experiences with Christians in the future. I'm sure Jesus would've tipped you very well :)
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