Sewiouswy

Hey there folks. I'm going to be a bit more serious right now. I have worked in the restaurant business for the past three or four years, and I would like to talk to you about tipping. Before I go any further, there are a few things that I feel I need to make clear before I proceed. First of all, this is not a guilt trip on my part. I am not trying to make you feel bad in any way, shape, or form. I don't know what anyone's philosiphy on tipping is, and I don't care. Frankly, it doesn't matter in this discussion (and I'll explain that later). Secondly, this isn't trying to change your opinion on whether or not tipping is 'right'. I have heard some people say that they don't agree with tipping, or complain that they feel it is unfair that they have to tip someone for doing their job when they don't get tipped for their own job. To be honest, I am still not completely sure I agree with tipping in general either, but again, that does not really apply to this discussion. Thirdly, I am going to try and overexplain everything in this little rant. Please don't think that I am trying to sound arrogant or better than anyone. I just want to be sure that everyone knows exactly where I am coming from and how I arrive at the numbers and conclusions that I do. I don't think that you are stupid or anything, I simply feel that it's better to be safe than sorry in a topic that has potential for contreversy such as this one. With that, let us proceed.
Now, why should you tip someone for simply doing their job? A question that, on the surface, seems valid. After all, you do your job, whatever that may be, and no one gives you a tip for it, except perhaps the ocassional bottle of wine. However, the world of the server is different. If you don't tip, you are punishing the server for doing their job. The entire industry is set up to account for the tip, and when it is not given, then it is the server that takes the hit.
Allow me to show you exactly what I mean. At the end of every shift, I am required to give a percentage of my sales as a tip out, and that money goes to our hostesses, cooks, dishwashers, and QAs (the people who check the food before it goes out to the table). In my case, that number is four percent. Now this percentage is calculated on, as I said, my sales. That means if I sold $100 worth of food that day, I have to give $4.00 in my tip out. That number is a fixed number and has nothing to do with how many tips I receive. Therefore, if I only receive three dollars in tips over the course of that shift, then I have to give out more money in my tip out than I made in tips. Therefore, I just lost money to work.
This tip out percentage is a standard practice among most restaurants. Some of the 'lower end' restaurants, such as Humpty's and Swiss Chalet, don't always have this feature, but they are the exceptions. In some restaurants, the percentage is even higher, upwards of ten percent.
The other reason why you should tip is, due to the fact that restaurants are designed around the concept of tipping, a server needs that money to survive. In the past four months of working at Chili's nearly full time, I have made around $2500 in wages. That's $7500 for the entire year. Without tips, I am barely covering car insurance and rent for the year. That doesn't take into account food, gas, phone, etc. Even with tips, I am only going to make around $15,000 this year, maybe even less. Frankly, that is barely enough to survive, given the debts that I have racked up to go to school. I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me or anything like that. I am simply using my own numbers, numbers that I know, as an example for a great number of people who work in the restaurant business. Many of the servers where I work are either students or single moms. These people are merely trying to survive, and yet they are working at jobs that give them minimum wage. In some places, because of the whole tipping idea, servers are given less than minimum wage. Government regulations allow servers to make a lower minimum wage than other jobs. Again, I'm not saying whether or not tipping is right. I am just saying why it is necessary.
Please do not take any of this the wrong way. I don't think that any of you are mean people who do not tip, and even if you don't agree with tipping, I'm not here to argue whether or not it is right. I am merely saying that, under the system that is currently in place, one imposed by societal values in the current North American context, not tipping is the same as punishing a server financially. I'm also not saying that I think all servers deserve to paid like baseball stars (I was going to say hockey stars, but given that they are not being paid at all right now, I would like to be paid better than them, at least for the time being), but I am saying that we do work hard at our jobs, and deserve to be paid enough to at least survive. It is a service that we are providing, and it isn't an easy job. I'm not going to assume that it is as hard as some jobs, or that it is as important (pay doctors more than me, that's fine. Police, fire fighter, etc, are all more important than I) as some jobs, but it isn't the easiest job in the world. Anyone who has ever had a job dealing with the dreaded 'customers' can certainly understand what I mean.
Well, I hope that made sense and didn't offend anyone terribly. I will talk to y'all later.