tipping

Hi Timothy1769. Good tipping says more about ME than it does about the waiter/waitress. For me, it hardly matters if the service is good or not so good. I feel that it's honorable to tip generously and dishonorable to be a cheapskate. Good tippers are "gentlemen" and being a poor tipper is emasculating.

As for Scripture, I can't think of anything off the top of my head relating directly to tipping. However, generosity is mentioned in many places (Mark 12: 42-44, Matt. 15: 32, etc). Christ was always giving and sharing and we should follow that example. latterrain77

 

HI,
Whether a christian should be a good tipper or not I'm not sure,however let me give an example of what a generous tip did to an undeserving waitress.
I pastor who has since passed on,was once in a resturant in a town he was passing through.The waitress was rude,slow and give just poor service.At the end of his meal he left a 50 dollar tip and started to leave.When the waitress saw this she ran to catch him to ask him why after such poor service.He said you must be having some real problems in your life to be giving such poor care to your customers.She broke down and told of her worries which he was able to help her with.He was also able to lead her to the LORD before he left.
So in this case a generous tip was what it took to help win this lady. ER

 

He had a heart of compassion. He understood.

 

I never tip based on the quality of service I receive.

In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I think it is a sacrifice of praise to give thanks for something that is less than expected or when we get less than our monies worth. It's the will of God. The World cannot comprehend this truth.

That doesn't mean I can't say something helpful, but it should be for their sakes and not to punish. That's what Love is all about, that's the kind of Grace I have received.

We gave bad service to a demanding God and we deserved death because of it. But thanks be to Jesus Christ... We were given eternal life instead. We did not deserve nor earn it. I want to treat my neighbors like that if I can.

Dave

 

I worked as a waitress through my first years in college. I worked hard and appreciated the tips I got. I expected that if my service was poor or unfriendly that my tips would be low. But I must say also that it was really hard to work so hard that I literally limped home at night and have someone who could have cared less get tipped as much or more than I did just because of someone's 'compassion.'

Anecdotes aside, tipping is basically, in America, payment for service given. No service, no payment. Good service, good payment. I don't know how it is for most waitresses now (it's been a long time!), but I worked for minimum wage (90 cents an hour then), one meal 'on the house', and any tips I earned. I was also expected to share a percentage of my tips with the bus boy if I was pleased with his work at my tables. We also shared part of our tips with the cook(s).

In return for sharing my tips, I got excellent service for my tables from both bussing and cooking staff.

I remember one Friday night going home with what we used to call 'shin splints' -- my legs so swollen and sore I couldn't walk until Monday.

Do NOT encourage poor waitressing by tipping well. What that is basically telling the person is "I don't care what kind of service I get, I just don't want you to think badly of me."

I was a good waitress. In those days I could take home (after sharing my tips) about fifty dollars a night. My rent was $90 a month for the apartment I was in, so that gives you a pretty good idea of how wealthy I felt! But I worked hard for that money, and really appreciated that I was appreciated.

The ox earns its keep. So does the waiter or waitress. Tipping well for good service keeps that waiter or waitress at that restaurant, and that insures your good service the next time around, too. Waitresses and waiters who cannot earn enough on tips will leave and seek other jobs. Most of the time that is exactly what should happen. People who don't work well with people shouldn't be serving people in a public capacity.

 

I've been a waiter too.

I remember flubbing up orders, or being so busy that I forgot well timed refils etc.

Sometimes I would get a good tip when I deserved no tip at all.

I must say that it was encouraging to know that there were such kinds of people in the World.

Dave.

 

I don't know...Being a Christian is so much a part of who I am, I don't know if I do things because I'm a Christian or because I was raised a certain way.

I always tip more than the "expected" or "standard" rate for service that is what I expect. I tip even more if the server is especially helpful and/or especially personable. I tip less if the service is bad, and I say something to them if the service is really awful.

I kind of have a practice of not punishing without explanation. I have never stiffed a server on a tip, but have been with someone who was paying who did. And I thought less of the person I was with for it. Especially when they don't say something. To me this is like backhanding a child without telling them what they did. It's abusive and wrong and solves nothing.

There is nothing worse than working really hard and not being appreciated for it. I can relate...I'm a wife and mother.

I've worked with the public before...and for every nice person, there are a handful of self centered mean spirited people that don't see you as human. So I will never under tip or stiff a food server. I already appreciate that they are serving me a warm meal that I didn't have to make myself or that I have to clean up after. And whether this has to do with my faith or not...I couldn't really tell you. I would hope that it was just common consideration.

 

This is what you pay for. The luxury of being fed and served. Restaurant meals cost more than home cooked meals for that reason. I enjoy the extra attention and service, so I'm willing to pay the higher cost of dining.

I find Helen's comments insightful. I really do want to reward the server for excellent service, and I try to tip accordingly. But what Helen said about not encouraging bad service by giving larger tips for such service makes a lot of sense.
If we all tipped the same percentage regardless of service, then what incentive would the wait staff have to provide that extra attention we desire?

 

None. I think rewards should be worth something.

At any other job if you didn't do the job well, you couldn't expect to keep the job. Why then should a food server be rewarded for doing a bad job? What indeed is the incentive to do a good job if you can do a bad job and get paid as well as someone who busts their behind trying to do a good job?

I think the problem lies within the practice of tipping to begin with. If restaurants would pay a person according to their work ethic and performance then maybe service would be better gages according to the quality of the restaurant than personal perception or mood of either the server or the patron (or both).

 

I can't beieve we're using the Bible to support why and how we tip. But hey, whatever works for the individual is fine with me.

I tip like Dr Bob: Good service, good tip. Bad service, bad tip.

 

I don't think that anyone truly knows anything about this topic unless they've actually waited tables. I was a waiter for 13 years on and off. And let me tell you about wittnessing by example. At the majority of places I worked Sunday was always the most dreaded day. This is because churchgoers were regarded as the worst tippers. I cannot remember how many times that I overheard my peers hurling profanity around because a church family had just left them a buck on a $75.00 tab. OR what is even more reviled - leaving no tip, just one of those phony $5.00 get saved tracts at the table. Good waiters have bad days and I agree that good service should equal a good tip. But I cannot count the number of times a well meaning church family member told me what a great job I did - even shook my hand. Then I would go back to the table to find that they'd stiffed me. One particular instance stands out in my mind. At a T.G.I Fridays I worked at there was a large family that came in to eat one sunday. The Father, who was in his 50's was dressed up in an expensive suit and carried a personalized Bible issued by one of the very prominent Assemblies of God churches in town. I was not serving his table but he approached me and requested that the television in his area be turned to a particular station so he could watch a football game. I went to the bar and asked the bartender to do so as they were the only ones who had access to the remotes. The bartender tried to change the station but the battery in the remote was dead and they could not find a replacement(they had to be changed by remote - no buttons). The man who requested this originally became visibly irritated and was very short with me. I calmly explained to him that we were working on it and that the batteries were dead and so on. As time passed and the manager had not come back with the batteries he had went to get the guy wigged out, cornered me and started going off. When he told me I was a poor excuse for a server I got right in his face and siad " Yeah and be sure, before you leave that you let me know what Church you all belong to because your behavior is not in any way representative of what Christ espoused in his word and I don't ever want to be lumped in with a bunch of hiipcrites like yourself." It was like I had plunged a dagger into his heart, he went colorless. He went back to his table and sat down and, amazingly didn't complain to anyone about what I said. When we are in public as Christians, especially if we are advertizing it we are scrutinized by those whom we seek to be examples to. Many Christians I have noticed tithe generously to the Church but will grossly undertip even the best waiter/waitress when out on the town. In the bible it says something to the effect that he who gives to the poor will have plenty/not he who tithes to the church will have plenty. Waiters are in that position because they are either in school or have no place else to go - they are poor, your generosity puts food on the table and your brief encounter may be the only chance a person has to see the love of God demonstrated in character before the innevitable.

 

You think that only waiters or waitresses can discuss tipping?

In today's society people don't even say please or thank you when you buy anything from where they work. Is that okay? Should you pay 90% more than what something would cost if you cooked and served it yourself and get a bad attitude for your hard earned money?!

Good grief...thanks for that post. It makes me look at food servers in a whole new light.

 

Because tipping is subjective. It's not a moral issue. Lest one is using the custom of tipping to be ill-mannered, it's not a biblical issue, imo.

 

I never said that. Re-read the post and quit putting words in my mouth. Restaurants do not and will not ever pay servers a living wage because thats what makes the restaurant lucrative - low overhead. And as for please and thank you - I don't want either - show me the money.

 

No. Tips aren't good or bad. They're typically high or low. A low tip is given for poor service, a medium tip is typically given for fair service, and a high tip is typically given for excellent service.