This summer, I took my first leap into the working world. I took a job at a restaurant in Clinton, Miss. While I learned many valuable things about the world of work, but what shocked me the most was my “guests.” It seems that tipping is a concept that somehow went to the wayside with poodle skirts and saddle oxfords. At first, I chalked it all up to my inexperience as a waitress. But then, I began to compare tips with my co-workers and discovered that no one was getting tipped properly, even when big groups came and the gratuity was added to the bill. According to today’s standards, tips for average-to-good service should run 15 percent of the total check amount. Better-than-average service should receive up to 20 percent of the total check. I think that many families think that 10 percent is the norm. No! Ten percent tips are reserved exclusively for those servers that need to try a little harder. However, please remember that these servers do not have only one table. They must give equal and adequate service to several tables, often up to five during the “rush hour” of dining. This may not sound like many, but when one considers that most restaurants are full service (i.e., drinks, food and dessert all brought out personally to every table, one by one), it gets a little hectic.
To help with this situation, tip cards are made that have 15 percent of many common totals already worked out. There is no need to carry a calculator. You can just pick up one of these cards for less than a dollar at a nearby bookstore or any of a dozen other places that carry them. Restaurants should even consider providing these at every table, especially at places like Applebee’s or Ruby Tuesday, which already have stand-up condiment holders with menus stacked in them. This would help retain the good workers that they are looking for in order to promote the friendly atmosphere of the restaurant.
But why don’t we forget about the fancy restaurants for a minute? The people I sympathize with the most are the servers at Waffle House. They stay up all night long and cater to our every collegiate whim for late night dining for almost nothing in tips. They put up with our rowdiness, our strange music choices from the old jukebox and our huge groups of friends that want to sit together despite the lack of tables that seat many people. They keep our coffee refilled as we cram for a test in the wee hours of the morning, and they’ll keep us company when we eat all alone. These people are my heroes, because where else would I go for a hot breakfast at four o’clock in the morning?
One last fact: Did you know that most servers only get paid $2.13 an hour for their labors? The management has already accounted for the 15% tips that the server is supposed to be receiving. It is true that the workers will get compensated so that they make at least minimum wage, but most restaurants average it by the week instead of by the day. These people are the ones that help make your dining-out experience as enjoyable as possible. So the next time you go out to eat, remember that your servers need to be appropriately tipped. After all, they also need to eat.