How much do you tip?

SheEagle,

I usually tend to agree with you. I do tip and always fairly. Sometimes it is more than 25% and then sometimes it might only be 20%. But that doesn't make you a better or worse witness for the Lord.

What I should have done is ordered some more of those Thank you cards with an invitation to church tip cards. Left one of those and a Brochure for my local Church. But then that doesn't make me a good witness either.

Being a good witness is living your life daily walking with God, telling everyone the Good News...That Jesus is Alive! Being a good witness is being and doing those things that are obedient to God.

But....A fair customer....who wants good service everytime he goes to a paticular restaurant....will tip good....when service is good. On Sunday or Saturday....or any day of the week. Now that is a witness of a good customer.

Sherrie

 

I agree, 20percent is good, but let me tell you, if the service is bad, why leave above and beyond? Im not easily guilted into the oh i have to leave 20-25 percent or Im a bad witness..especially when the service is bad or non existent. Once I actually got up and served coffee and water to my own table while the waitress was hanging out in the kitchen talking to some guy.
Service people like everyone has a bad day, recognizing that fact and attempting to connect with the person can usually resolve a bad or sullen attitude, but when someone is chatting it up in the kitchen in plain site, what does one do..stroll on back and take the apron, or maybe apply for employee benefits
Im done babbling
LB

 

Excellent post!

Yes, that's one of my pet peeves. Sometimes when I go to restaurant with fellow believers, I am ashamed of what they leave for tips. I often linger at the table and do a quick count of the cash left (I keep track of who uses credit cards) and drop some extra cash on the table if I don't think it is enough. I'd rather use money out of my own pocket than to have a server think that we were cheap and not generous with appreciation. Of course if the service is bad (not just that the kitchen is slow or I didn't enjoy my meal), then I leave a very small amount to give them notice that it is time to find a new career or a new zeal for their work. But they know by the tiny amount I leave that it is not a matter of being cheap.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Preach it sister! (Oops... ) Exhort it sister!

 

If the service is exceptional, sometimes as high as 60-70%.

If the service is good, at least 15%.

If the service is not that good, but not that bad (you know what I mean), 10%.

If the service is downright bad (and I have experienced this before), the only tip they get from me is given to their manager. It is usually something like get another job.

Joseph Botwinick

 

I ditto JoJo, but I don't think I have ever given a 60% tip. Maybe a 50.

 

Generally around 20%. I've given more, and I've given less.

Just a small rant - I've always hated when my friends who work in food service say that I "should" tip a lot becausae the wages are so low. Now, don't get me wrong, I know the wages are ridiculous, and I know these people live on tips (a $100 paycheck just ain't gonna do it!), but I get very annoyed that I, as a customer, am expected to make up the difference. I'd much rather pay $5 or $10 more for my meal than have to leave wages for the wait staff. I still do it, and I'd probably leave the same amount anyway, but that may be the thinking of some of the "Sunday Brunch Christians." You have to admit, it's a very conservative way of thinking.

It really isn't tipping anymore - it's paying the wages of the wait staff, disguised as a good will gesture.

20% across the board, more if service is great, less if it's bad. Rarely have I not left a tip at all, and those are the times I've left . . . comments . . . with management.

 

Well, I tip if the service is good. If it's not, then I don't tip. My dad will leave a very small tip if the service is bad. (Of course, sometimes I forget to tip because I'm in a hurry)

 

I think the only time I purposefully did not leave a tip was when I went to lunch one day. I was one of three people in the restaurant, and it took the server 30 minutes just to bring my check.

 

I will always leave a tip of at least 20%. But, getting back to the original reason that this post was set up. I believe that unbelievers are going to know us by the things that we do and don't do- there is a lot that they are going to see in our actions). If we leave a good tip, or if we give a friendly smile while walking through a store. They oughta see that difference(not a two-facedness). That should be the goal of all Christians (and when I say Christians, I mean people who have a want to be like Christ) Our fruit should show no matter where we are or when we are there. Charity

 

We had a waitress who waits on us at a particular restraunt all the time explain to us that all of the waiters/waitresses hate to wait on Christians because they are notoriously badd tippers and very high maintenance....she told us of a group fresh from church that had approx 16 people with a bill of over $100 that left a 5-dollar tip with a Gospel tract....not exactly a ringing endorsement for being a Christian...So to answer your question, we always leave at least 25% and a Bible Tract and when ever the Lord opens the door, we sometimes leave one of our CD'sor tapes.....remember your testimony is always more important than a few dollars because of your gospel be hid..it is hid to those that are lost...I am really encouraged that all of the posters here do believe in tipping above and beyond , now if we could just get the rest of the Christians on that bandwagon!

 

I agree that is a bad testimony when a group of obvious "church-goers" are stingy and do not leave a proper tip. But I don't think we should necessarily leave a good tip just as a matter of showing someone we have a good testimony - we should leave a good tip (when service is good) just because IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. In our area waiters and waitresses receive a straightforward wage (on their check) of about $2 or so. The rest they have to make up in tips. If they don't get the tips, they still have a responsibility to pay the taxes on what they should have gotten. If the service is bad, there should be something said or written that shows that we are not tipping because of unusually bad service rather than that we are just stingy. If the service is bad enough to not leave a tip, it is probably bad enough to report to the manager.

 

This may interest some of you; some thoughts on tipping by Daniel Rogov, taste-tester and food critic.

 

Misuse of tips in today's times of corporate greed:

There are restaurant chains such as Waffle House who misuse the tips from customers. Waffle House pays its employees a ridicuous $2 and something per hour. That is below minimum wage and outright exploitation. Even minimum wage is far from being a living wage. But here is what Waffle House does:

They pay their people so bad because they think they also make money by getting tips for their service. That, however, is foul play.
When I give a tip to an individual in a restaurant than I give it personally on my own behalf. I do not give it on behalf of Waffle House as a supplemental paycheck in order to meet the minimum wage standard. My tip is not part of their wages. Just because employees get tips does not mean an employer has the right to pay below minimum wage. So Waffle House better be fair and pay their employees for what they are really worth. Tip is a gratuity from the customer. Gratuity is not a wage. It is terrible how working people are taken advantage of by the big corporations while a few managers and CEOs are pocketing all the $$$s they can get, so they can buy more boats, SUVs, luxury and other toys.

[ September 07, 2002, 11:08 PM: Message edited by: Ingo Breuer ]

 

Ingo, I know exactly how you feel, but, unfortunately, the way the restaurant business and Internal Revenue Service are looking at this, it is a part of their wage. This is the standard practice of the restaurant industry, not just Waffle House. I also think it is wrong. They should charge enough to pay their employees a decent wage - certainly at least minimum wage - and whatever tip the wait staff receives should be considered a gift and not taxable. That's my opinion! Under the present system, a waiter or waitress can be paying taxes for money they have not even received. Well, I guess that is certainly an incentive to do a good job.

 

Ditto ... except that I WILL tip if the service is bad .... but only a few cents. That way, they don't think I "forgot".

Also, I do find it sometimes helps when you're getting bad service, to try to talk to the waiter/waitress, if time and opportunity allow. Enumerate the problems and depending on their attitude and answers, that's how I decide what I'll tip.

 

Just by the by - I don't know any waiter or waitress who makes more than $2.13 an hour (it may have gone up a few cents in recent years, to match the nmew $5.15 minimum wage). It's not just Waffle House. McD's order takers make more per hour in employer paid wages than any server I know, even if they work at Ruth's Chris or Clyde's or Morton's.

It irks me. And yes, I think often about not leaving anything as a protest to the system, but doing so doesn't affect anyone but the person who served me my meal. It certainly doesn't affect management, or the service industry as a whole. Just the person bringing home $2.13 an hour. That, and I like to tip, at least when I'm doing it because I'm really pleased with the service I've received.

But, since we do it, and until I can think up a better plan, I, at least, will continue to do it, It's true that it does speak badly for Christians when a few restaurant-goers tip poorly. I mean, the church-goers are hard to miss at most restaurants on Sunday afternoons, right? Although, at least in my hometown, most of the Baptists weren't exactly going to any swanky places after church - we're talking Red Lobster or Shoney's or some other such place, and I've got to say that I don't think the typical patron of either of those places is that big a tipper. Just an observation, both on typical patrons and on the typical Richmond, VA, church-goer. But, as has been asked here before, should we keep our standards typical, or should they be extraordinary?

[ September 12, 2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: stubbornkelly ]

 

I don't think that many waiters/waitresses and others realize that if their tips + hourly rate do not add up to minimum wage, their boss is obligated to make up the difference to them. Therefore, there's no way that any server can make below minimum wage. My boss years ago would do this for us on bad days (like Sunday lunches, lol)
I personally make sure that at low price places we leave a dollar per person. If the bill is higher I tip accordingly +, depending on the service. We don't go out often, so when I do I appreciate good service, so if I get it I have no problem leaving a $20 tip even if the bill is only $40, especially if I'm going to leave a tract on the table along with it. Not that I have money to waste, but I consider it a part of ministering to others, like everything we do should be considered. I used to throw away the tip AND the tract when Christians would leave them with one or two bucks inside, that's how bad it ticked me off.
Oddly enough, it was a Chrisian customer that got me started on wanting to learn more about God. He and his family tipped well, btw.
Gina