Don't forget to tip your waitress

I am likely to piss a lot of people off with this post. However, I've never let that stop me before and I'm not about to start now.

There has been a lot going around lately about tipping your waiter/waitress. Some never tip, some always tip, some say it should be required. some say that it shouldn't be expected... On and on the debate seems to go. Well, get ready for my two cents worth in the discussion!

Hubby and I never go out or order in unless we can tip at LEAST 20%. That said, we don't always actually LEAVE the tip if it's not deserved. Another name for a tip is a gratuity. It shows our gratitude for the person doing their job. Sometimes, I honestly believe that the person would have been better served to enter a different line of work! People like that get a really low tip or no tip from me! If you're rude, obnoxious, forget that you have someone sitting in your section, etc.... You do not deserve a tip and you will not get one from me!

"Oh! You have to leave a tip! These people live off less than half of minimum wage! They need their tips!!" Yes, and it's that kind of attitude that makes them think they can treat their customers like turds and still get a tip! If they are truly living off their tips, their demeanor shows it! They go the extra mile to ensure they get good tips.

"You've never worked in the service industry, you don't know what it's like!!" Ya know, I may have never worked for tips, but I've worked in customer service my entire working career (that would be 17 years for those who are interested)! EVERY job, even babysitting, gives you customer service experience. I have worked for a specific fast food chain 8 times at 6 different locations (8 different locations if take into consideration that I was sent out on loan during one of my stints). While working at this chain, I learned how to be nice to people who piss me off. This skill has been VERY useful over the years!!! I learned that even if I wanted to treat a person like crap because they're rude to me or because I'm having a bad day or whatever, that I can't do that and expect to keep my job. I've also worked daycare & babysitting. While doing these jobs, I learned that just because I'm used to doing something one way, doesn't mean I should do it that way regardless of anything else. I raise my kids one way but when I'm watching someone else's kids, I have to do what that child's parents want whether I agree or not. This was an issue when I worked daycare. Daycare rules dictated one way of handling things and I felt it was the wrong way. Therefore my options were to find another job or follow their rules. I found another job.

Shocking, I digressed from my original intent to this blog. My point to all this is, you have to do your job and do it properly. If you don't, you won't have your job or you won't get good tips. No one feels gratitude towards someone who doesn't do their job properly and they aren't going to leave a gratuity for it. You have to learn to do your job in the manner in which it is intended to be done or no one will be happy with your work and it will show!

Want good tips? Smile, joke around, check on your customers, be courteous and personable. If you do those things and still get a bad tip, THEN the person's a jerk. However if you don't do those things, you should really EXPECT a bad tip!