One penny. That’s what I made in tips one night; I thank the man who kindly tipped me that. Many people don’t understand or appreciate people who are working off of tips. If you have ever worked in the service industry, I’m sure you have had people you who are generous tippers and people who have no idea what a tip is, but they both expect the same level of service.
One time, I was absolutely astonished by one woman who wore a beautiful four-carat emerald cut diamond ring on one finger and eight-carat light pink diamond earrings. I did some research and found out that she was wearing approximately $70,000 dollars in jewelry and had a seven series BMW sitting outside. She didn’t tip a dollar, nothing, and stayed 30 minutes after closing. She had come in a few times, but what really hit me was when she came in and ordered with her husband, he paid at the end, and he tipped me well. So why would she not tip me when her husband did? Either he started off in the industry or understands how to tip his servers.
If more people worked in the service industry at least once in their lifetime, they would understand that tipping is a part of their server’s wages. In my experience of being a waitress, I have learned to tip 15 percent whenever I sit down and eat at a restaurant, the same tip I would want to receive.
Many restaurants have updated their systems and began to use tablets or squares, which are credit card readers. This causes problems where our elderly customers come in and don’t know how to use our system. I think the older generation is reluctant to the change of just handing them a pen and their check and don’t think we work as hard if we do it on an iPad. I began to wonder, is technology the cause of the lack of tipping, or do people not want to tip?
At the restaurant at which I work, Fig & Honey, customers walk in the door, and we take their order before they sit down instead of taking their order at their table. People see that in a way that makes us similar to McDonald’s; Fig & Honey used to be a Starbucks, and we still have that layout. We have a long counter where people can watch everything I’m doing and a big deli case where Starbucks used to keep all their fresh baked goods. Fig & Honey is a unique and quaint little restaurant that many locals enjoy. The only difference from Fig & Honey and many other restaurants is our unusual layout. That awkward layout affects our tips tremendously.
We still do all the same things as any other restaurant; we make their drinks and get all the food together. We clean tables and have mad rushes of people to where we can’t sit anybody else. Even after our big crowds and parties of eight people, we still only get about $15 in tips a night, even though we work off of tips.
We try to be as kind and helpful as possible to our customers even though we don’t always get a tip. Most of our tips range from 1 cent to $8; rarely do we make more than $3 off one customer.
Our manager thinks we make a lot of tips or at least enough to make minimum wage. One of my coworkers is trying to find an apartment, but the price of living in Chapel Hill is very high, and the idea of having enough saved to buy or rent an apartment is far fetched. After her nine hour shifts, rarely does she make over $25.
I enjoy working as a waitress, but it’s hard not to take it personally when people refuse to tip.
– By Tory Scott
