“That waitress, she’s real rude. She got real problems, but we do too, so we tip her anyway.”
-Jake Owen, Real Life
We’ve all had that waiter or waitress that is just absolutely horrible. He rarely smiles, talks monotone, and he makes it obvious that he hates his job. I had a waiter like that recently, but to make it worse, the kitchen was extremely slow, and when the food finally came out an hour later, two of our orders had been forgotten. When we all received our bills, many of my friends laughed when they saw the tip line and commented about how “there was no way in hell they were leaving a tip”. I tipped my usual amount (20%) and thanked the waiter instead.
I’m not looking for a round of applause from you as you read this. I’m not writing this to prove that I’m a better person than my friends. I’m writing this because I think that no matter how horrible your service is, you should always tip.
When you go out to eat, you are not just paying for food but also for service
The average wage for a waiter is $4.90. They work expecting that your tips will pay off the lack of money they receive. The minute you walk up to the desk and ask to be seated, you are paying for service. You are paying to be escorted to your seat, have your order taken, drinks poured for you, food made without you having to lift a finger, and for all of your dirty dishes to be picked up and cleaned by someone else. When your bill comes, the number on there is how much you owe for the food you’ve just consumed, not the service you’ve received. If you chose to be waited on, then you need to pay for it. And yes, I do believe that if the service is absolutely horrible, then you shouldn’t have to tip large, but you definitely still have to tip.
It isn’t always the waiter's fault
I believe that one of the things that makes us the most annoyed while in a restaurant is when our food takes forever to come out. We are hungry and impatient and all we want is some food. The waiters have to deal with us annoying customers who are complaining about something they don’t even have control of. Waiters don’t control the speed of the kitchen, they don’t control how long it took for you to get a seat or if your food is not good.
I’ve been in their shoes
People who don’t tip have most likely never worked in the food industry. They don’t know what it’s like to deal with picky customers, run around sweating during rush hour, and bust your butt only to get paid minimum wage. I’ve never been a waitress, but I did work at Burger King for two years. I’ve had people throw mayonnaise at me because their sandwich had too much of it (which I had absolutely no control of), but I’ve also had people who did nothing but smile and continuously thank me. Those people kept me from quitting every day.
You don’t know them
A lot of times it’s easy for us to forget that these waiters are real people with real problems. You have no clue what your server has gone through that day. You don’t know if his dad is sick and in the hospital, if he crashed his car on the way into work, or if he just got laid off at his real job but still has a family at home he needs to feed. Everyone has bad days, but that doesn’t mean that they should have their paycheck cut in half.
So next time you have a horrible waiter, just smile and complain about him when you get in the car. Tip them not because you have to, but because you understand. And if you still don’t want to tip, then you can stay home and make your own food.
