I am very sensitive to the treatment of anyone that works in the food and beverage industry. Waitressing is one hell of a tough job. Not only is it strenuous, it’s emotionally exhausting, especially when you deal with ass holes.
So why am I bringing this up?
A few weeks ago my son was invited out to breakfast with all of his teammates. That evening when I got home from work, he told me how good the food was as well as how fast it was.
“How much did you tip her?” I asked him.
“There wasn’t an option to tip,” he responded.
“Oh, the team paid for everything?”
“No, there wasn’t an option to tip her,” he repeated.
“No option to tip her? You take out 15%-20% of your money and lay it on the table based on quality of service,” I said, growing frustrated. “Oh my God, this is horrible,” I said.
“I shouldn’t of even told you,” he grumbled.
“Dude, this is how people make a living. I’m glad you told me.”
The more I thought about it the angrier I became. We’ve gone out to eat countless times and tipped every time. There’s been times we would ask them what 20% of the bill was just for practice. Like wiping your ass, we figured this was a no-brainer. I immediately text my friend who’s son is on my son’s team and told her about this. Five minutes, we come to find out he didn’t tip either.
This is when I called the restaurant and inquired about the waitress and their bill. And this is where it gets really good. Not only was there 19 of them but the bills totaled over $200 and their combined tip was $19. OH..MY…GOD! But it gets better…….
“So when can I come in and give her a proper tip?” I asked the manager on the phone.
“Um, Ali is pregnant so she’s picking up extra shifts so she’ll be here again on Tuesday.”
“Pregnant?” I asked, even more ashamed. “How far along is she?”
“Six months,” she said.
So not only did they tip a waitress short about $35 of what they needed to tip her but they shorted a pregnant waitress.
The Waitress
The next day my son had a game and while in the stands, I told another family what had happened. They were now worried their son stiffed the waitress too so they gave me $10 to give to her.
The next evening I headed straight to the restaurant. Cheap-ass me was planning on giving her just a $5. After all, my son’s meal was only $10 so that would be a 50% tip. When she began to walk up, I immediately added another $5. She couldn’t be more than 20 and was absolutely pregnant. She had long blonde hair and glasses. I felt sorry for her. It’s hard enough waitressing not pregnant. I can’t imagine waitressing while pregnant. In my mind, the extra $5 meant more to her than it would me.
Moral of the Story
So what’s the moral of the story? Just because you have a smart kid, it doesn’t mean they are smart when it comes to social graces/common sense. I thought they had seen me enough times lay down a tip and know. Now that he’s been warned, I swear to God if this happens again, heads will roll.
That was me as a teenager and in my early 20’s. Till I got to know people that did that for a living, my ways changed. But if the service sucks no tip for sure. Honestly though, if the service sucked and my waitress was young and pregnant I’d probably still give a tip 😉
Oh wow! I’m so glad you tip now! Yeah, I waitressed from about 13 to 19. Ironically the first person that stiffed me (and I know I gave them excellent service) was a prominent business man in the community with a thriving optical practice. I couldn’t believe it! I agree about the pregnant waitress thing. She’d pretty much have to call me an ass hole for me not to tip. LOL!!
Not me, I’d still tip her. Maybe not a whole lot.
Omg YES! Even when I have the worst service EVER I still tip! Like slow service and stuff not a super rude wait staff. But yeah.
It was so hard living in Korea because I couldn’t tip. Ever. It was so insulting to them. So I had to keep reminding myself not to.
Ok so wait…why don’t you tip in Korea? Are people paid decent hourly wages? Yeah, I think when I have someone super rude I leave around 10% but everything has to be their fault and they have to be super rude to have a tip like that!!
Yeah people are paid a decent amount and also they think of it as you thinking they are poor and need the extra mo way so they don’t want that insult.
OK, I understand! That makes more sense.
Yeah!
Extra money* lol
Good job momma!!
Thank you!!
I actually hate the tipping culture in the US. It makes far more sense to me to pay waiters and waitresses well, and then have tips as an optional extra *if* the service was really good. But as America does have this culture, I will always suck it up and tip. I guess it would take a looooong time to change that culture.
Just, (like gigglingfattie mentioned for Korea) don’t tip in Japan! You’ll make the waitress run out after you to give the extra money back. They do not have a tipping culture at all!
That’s really interesting b/c honestly I thought tipping was the same in England, Europe, etc. I’m sure you waste a ton of money when you visit over here!
We do tip in the UK, but it is normally lower than the US (like 10%-12.5%). Lots of older people didn’t grow up with it so they only tip if the service is excellent.
If the service is bad, it is totally normal to ask for the service charge to be removed. I personally never do that because it is so embarrassing (i’d just bitch online about the terrible service), but people do!
When you say service charge, do you mean the tip is automatically applied to the bill? We do that here but usually with parties of 8 or more.
Yeah, sometimes it is added automatically. That is a more recent thing, but happens quite a lot in London.
Huh! Well you learn something every day!!!
I nominated you for a sunshine blogger award because you deserve to be seen/read by a wider audience https://aprolificpotpourri.wordpress.com/2019/09/14/my-sunshine-blogger-award-nominations/
Not sure if my comment went thru so I’ll try again
I nominated you for a sunshine blogger award because you deserve to be seen/read by a wider audience https://aprolificpotpourri.wordpress.com/2019/09/14/my-sunshine-blogger-award-nominations/
OMG! I’m just now seeing this! Thank you soooo much! You’ve made my Sunday. I had so much going on that I’m just now reading all my messages. I’m honored and will head on over there shortly!!!! Thank you!!
No problem 🙂 I hope you participate and pay it forward as well