Tipping

Tipping amount depends on the service and the amount of the check. If the check is low, as in we just went to sit down for coffee, then the tip is going to be as much as if we had a full meal, since we still took the space and time.

I worked as a waitress and there were times when I made well under minimum wage, but still had to pay taxes on full wage. It's the law. Dumbest thing ever...our boss finally just started paying everyone minimum wage.
It's not a bad gig IF you get good shifts and know when to work. I had times when I made $100 an hour after I'd been there a while and had first choice of days, hours and sections. It would be nice to have that kind of energy now! :laugh:

Having been there and knowing that a waiter or waitress might make $100 one day and then less than $20 for the next four days, I have to tip, and do it well.

One moment I'll never forget is when I came up short on cash for the tip. It was HORRIBLE! I used to occasionally do stuff like go have coffee and leave a $20 tip, so I was NOT trying to be cheap, and I GOT CAUGHT! I felt really bad and just tried to leave asap after the check, and the owner actually came out into the parking lot and yelled at me that I wouldn't get service again if I wasn't going to tip her workers. I felt awful, but I was also very glad to know those workers had a boss who would stand up for them. I explained what happened and let her know her waitress would be tipped the next day after I stopped at the bank.

But of all the people to get yelled at for not tipping...I couldn't believe it was me. I've always detested the non-tippers, and then I was one of them.

Some of the worst were the Amish. They would come in and leave no tip, but be very needy. A few seemed to realize this wasn't getting them very good service, so they started tipping, and tipping well. Trust me...the servers remember you, and give service accordingly. Tipping poor and tipping well may make the difference in whether your drink is stirred with a finger or a spoon. :tonofbricks:

 

That reminds me of when I was a kid in the 60's that $1.25 seemed to be the standard haircut price around here. In the 70's it started moving up rapidly... $2...$2.50... and then I went 3 years without going to a barber shop, wearing hair long and only cutting it myself. So in the early 80's I started wearing it shorter, which necessitated better cutting, and the guy I settled on charged $3.75, the cheapest around then. I stayed with him for about 17 years until he retired, and he had gone up to $9 by then. Then about 2000, believe it or not, I discovered a shop where the man who ran it by himself charged $6. He had pictures on the walls of an aircraft carrier, but I didn't know until the local paper ran an article about him that he had been a gunner in WWII and started that shop after getting a loan in 1946. Apparently he continued to run that shop in his 80's because he didn't know what else he would do. But then there was another article about him being robbed by a teenage girl who came in and demanded money; he probably had little there, but he refused, she knocked him down and found a few dollars. She was convicted, the article said. But that seemed to be what finally persuaded him to close it up. So for the last 5 years I have tried others, all of which charged $12, and now $14, losing their $2 tip from me. I don't think everything has gone up 11-fold in 45 years. And I never knew anyone to tip a barber around here until about 25 years ago.

 

Wow.

I hope waiters/servers don't have too many of this type customer. They'll starve.

IMHO this isn't a good approach to this issue at all.

 

The "first" cut was $1.25, as I said, so 11-fold is correct. A little algebra seems to indicate you're saying costs have risen 14-fold in 45 years, so that a $1.50 haircut would be $21 to be comparable. Right? If so, I don't see that but in a few things. I remember 33 cents was the standard cost of a loaf of bread-- it is not now $4.62. On the other hand, things which have come up in trends in that time may have increased 14-fold... like a Box seat the Astrodome was $3.50; at Minute Maid Park, I don't know for sure, but most are probably more than $49. Nevertheless, I think my 11 is closer than your 14. Do you have the numbers to verify it?

 

I hate eating out with my brother in law. We went to a seafood buffet at Myrtle Beach once. It was about 25 dollars to eat there and he only left a dollar tip. I wanted to kick his uttbay.

 

usually 20% for restaurants.

10% for the gal that cuts my hair and a Christmas gift.

I have given the mailman a Christmas gift and/or tip in years when eBay has been busy for me. He is such a helpful guy!

 

When you have a group of 8 or more, many resturaunts add a "gratuity" to the bill. I have found that about 1/3 to 1/2 of the time, we get poor service because the waitstaff already knows that the tip will be.

 

I tip 15% at restaurants, unless the service is really bad. I've never not left a tip at all, altho I've had some really bad service. Once I ordered fish with mango salsa and it arrived RAW--there were ice crystals still in the fish!! Of course, I didn't have to pay for my meal, and they gave me coupons for a free meal for the next time. But I never went back. LOL

 

A friend of mine used to wait tables when he was in college. Even as a Christian, he didn't like to have Christian customers. Sad, eh?

 

I've heard that, too...worse than not leaving a tip at all is just leaving a Gospel Tract. So tacky.

 

If you leave a tract, you better leave a good tip, too.

 

Remember, tipping is for the table service you receive and not the cooking. Can't fault the delivery boy for the bad news is the news rag.

Cheers,

Jim