To Tip Or Not To Tip ©

This is going to be day one of probably a three to four day rant on tipping. I will start with the story that got me zeroing in on the waiter/waitress. I expect I will piss some people off but such is life, get used to it. You can’t always have it your way.
This is not an easy post to write because I have been fighting with myself over it since last Friday. So I asked around and got some information and now here I am to tell you what I have learned and by the end of this I will tell you MY conclusions. Everything I say here are my opinions but the facts I will present are what I have been told as they really are.

Last Friday a friend of mine “G”, went to our local bar. He is there everyday and his bill is never under $100. He leaves a $20 tip and then goes home only to repeat the process the next day. He is single and this has become part of his daily life as it has a few others.
He has been drinking here for the last 9 years and everyone knows him and that he is a good customer.
This night he had gotten there with a bunch of friends after a concert. He ordered a round of beers and some shooters. Within the next hour and a half he ordered 3 more rounds of shooters.
After the last batch of shooters he asked for his bill. The bill was $223. He gave her his VISA and told her to take $230 and he would tip her on the way out with his debit card. The waitress went in and run it in and came back and gave him his card back.
Now this is where it gets interesting. Another waitress who did not serve him saw his bill being run in and saw what the tip on the bill was. She went outside and in front of 50 people at the top of her voice called him a CHEAP FAT BASTARD!!!!!
She didn’t just say it but stood there pointing her finger at him and kept at it for 10 minutes.
My friend, embarrassed went to the bar and using his debit card extracted $80, gave it to the waitress that served him and told the bartender not to look for him because he wouldn’t be coming back again.
The next day the waitress was fired and the bar called him to tell him that they were sorry.
He hasn’t been back there and some of the staff are his friends.

Why do we tip?
Is it a law?
What is a tip?
Let me go check.
It’s a gratuity.
What is a gratuity?
Be right back.
A gratuity according to Webster’s: something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service;
Beyond obligation, so we don’t have to give it.
We do this out of OUR generosity.
The waitresses get paid by the hour so it’s not like they are not being paid.
Did they have to go to university for 4 years to get a degree to serve booze and food?
How hard is it?
Who decided it is supposed to be 15%?

Let’s look at a couple of facts, according to the 15% rule.
If I buy 4 Glasses of good scotch at $25 each, I have to give her a $15 tip.
If Fred at the next table buys 4 beers at $3.50 each, he has to give her a $2.10 tip.
Wait a second. It’s easier to carry my drinks to me because they are lighter and the beer is heavier.
Why do I have to pay more?
That doesn’t sound right.
Why should I pay more for the same service?
I talked to one of the waitresses “J” that I know that works there and she told me she makes $300 dollars a night in tips, and that’s on a 6 hour shift. Then she gets $7 an hour on top of that. She made $680 in tips on Super Bowl Sunday.
How much do you make a day?
How many years did you have to go to school to make what you do today?
She also only declares what she wants to the tax department and it’s not much from what she says.
What does she do for her money?
She gets the bartender to make her the drinks and she walks them over to the table. She also goes to a window and gets food to bring to the ones that order food. THAT’S IT!!!!!
The cook does all the cooking in a hot kitchen but he doesn’t get a tip.
The bartender is supposed to get 10% of the servers tips but that’s at the discretion of the server and what she said she made and “W” the bartender has never gotten 30 bucks from a server ever, but “J” just told us she makes 300 a day in tips. She must be confusing “W” for the tax man.
And the poor fucker of a dishwasher has to get the dirty dishes and wash everything that is used and he gets 7 an hour and wrinkled hands for his effort.
Let’s say you don’t tip or don’t give a tip that will satisfy the server, does this mean the next time you go there the service will suck?
I bet it does.

Now I’m going to leave it here and let you think of what I just posted.
I’ll give you another twist on this that had me defending servers, tomorrow.



Walker