Going out to a restaurant to eat a meal is a popular social event; it can be done as a date, as a get together with friends, or for a family day. However, when the bill comes, there are two questions that everyone dreads: 1. Who's going to pay the bill? and 2. How much are going to tip to server? Some believe that customers should always tip their servers at least 20%, while others don't necessarily believe in tipping at all. While I believe that one should always tip their server unless the service was absolutely awful (example of the worst restaurant experience I've had to come), I don't always tip 20%, and here's why.

The main argument towards tipping at least 20% every time is because servers are paid less than minimum wage; in fact, according to the U.S Department of Labor, the national average minimum wage for an employee who receives tips is $2.13. This is way lower than the national average minimum wage for all other employees, which is currently $7.25. While it's true that servers really do depend on tips to help make up for this gap (and don't even always receive the full amount of tips), I don't believe that you need to tip 20% every single time you go out to eat. Usually, I will tip 20% for good service, and may even go above 20% if the service was exceptional or it is around the holiday time. If the service was just okay, meaning the server did their job well but made a few errors, such as forgetting to refill water after asking a few times, I will give around a 15% tip. In my opinion,15% is still a decent amount to tip a server; if I believe a server didn't totally do their job to my satisfaction, I have the right to tip less than 20%. I tend to tip 20% for the most part, but if the service was just okay I have no problem docking the amount a little.

Just because I don't always tip 20% doesn't mean that I often don't tip the server at all; in fact, there are only a couple of instances that I can remember in which I was with family and we gave the server a very small tip. Both times were due to horrible service. The worst instance was when we ate a restaurant in Georgia while heading to Florida for a vacation. When we first sat down at our booth, the booth next to us was complaining to a manager about the server we had; this was the first warning side. The next was when the waiter neglected our table to just stand around or chat with other employees; my mom and I had ordered frozen lemonade drinks, which were finished and sitting on the bar counter for at least ten minutes until the server actually brought them over. He was also very slow on refilling water, even after we asked a couple of times. There was no reason we should've had an experience like that at all.

I know that servers are human and have bad days, or that the restaurant could be very busy. I know that some mistakes are not because of the server, but rather because of the kitchen. Because servers are the ones who interact with the customers, they often are the ones who get blamed for mistakes. However, I do not take into consideration factors that are not due to the server: the food being prepared incorrectly and the server not being able to attend to you right away during the busiest time at a restaurant, for example. But if the server ignores any requests you have, is blatantly rude or disrespectful, or neglects your table to goof off with coworkers, they do not deserve a 20% tip. Servers may be having a bad day, but that is no excuse; at any job you are expected to hide your bad feelings and put on a smiling face for the day, even when it's hard. No one gets a free pass to do a bad job just because they are in a bad mood. In jobs I have worked, I expect to get in trouble if I am having a bad day and let it heavily affect my work; servers should not be excused from this just because they have a lower wage and depend on tips.

I respect servers and all the work they do; customer service jobs and food industry jobs are very tough and demanding. I get that it's hard; personally, I don't know if I could ever be a server because of how tough the job is. But I still don't tip 20% every time and even know some people who are servers that feel the same. At any job, doing bad and making a lot of mistakes results in some sort of punishment, and for servers that happens to be a smaller tip. I try to tip 20% every time I go out to eat, but if the experience was that bad, I find no shame in tipping less than 20%, and neither should anyone else.