Tipping? Is it a city in China?

"Too Insure Prompt Service", at least that's what I thought "tipping" always meant. But the mystical "tip" is something that has taken on a life of its own. Now I'm all for rewarding effort in any arena, but a tip should be just that, "a reward". Animal trainers rarely "reward" their subject for sitting and playing dead rather than fetching the stick, Crimestoppers is not going to pay you a "reward" for giving them a tip that doesn't pan out, and unless you're a Canadian Ice Dancing team, you are not going to be "rewarded" with top marks at the Olympics for stumbling and falling down during your performance.

So why is it that merely placing an order in a restaurant requires me to "reward" the employee that brings that order to me? Am I not paying fair-market value for that order to start with? In any other sales environment, I am paying the proportionate amount of overhead to cover items such as salary for the particular item that I purchase. Now I fully expect that I may be inundated with responses from waitpersons telling me how hard they work for very little pay...granted, being paid less than minimum wage for serving food should not be allowed. But we have taken the reward system of tipping and bastardized it to the point where I am vilified for not laying down at least a couple of dollars on the table after my meal, regardless of the level of service I received.

As the customer, I should not be required to directly fund an employee's salary. That is why there is such a thing as overhead, which is figured in the actual price I pay. I should be free to offer a gratuity of my own choosing. A gratuity is a small amount of money given for services rendered. But services rendered requires you to go over and above simply taking my order and managing not to spill it on me when you bring it to me from the kitchen.

But let's step aside for a moment...why is there a waiting list for top wait jobs in many restaurants, clubs, casino's, etc.? Because a "good" waitperson can make a KILLING! It's not hard to do...be attentive, anticipate needs, and simply come back around every once in a while and ask; "can I get you anything else?" Being attentive means noticing that when you brought my food I didn't have anything to eat it with besides the utensils I was born with. Being attentive is not even bothering to check if I need more tea...assume that I do; I will tell you if I don't want any more. Anticipate the needs, like bringing ketchup when I order something with fries (or whatever condiment is appropriate wherever you are [which should be ketchup regardless, but that's a whole other blog]), or if I ask for extra lemon in my tea when I first place my order that I might expect some more when and if you come to fill my glass up again.

Being a waitperson is not hard...and I don't mean it's not hard work, obviously it is...but just having common sense and thinking of how you would like to be waited on if the roles were reversed should go a long way in letting you know how the job should be done.

I have gone as far as leaving a 2-cent tip before, rather than nothing at all, just so the waitperson gets the message. I've gone to the manager to give them my tip because they were the one that happened to smile as they walked past my table, not bothering to stop themselves if they noticed something was amiss...thinking maybe it would give them a hint about their establishment's service. I've left very generous tips as much as 30-40% at times when I received exceptional service, and I've obviously never gone back to a restaurant where the lack of service made that decision for me.

Tipping should be plain and simple, as a waitperson, bust your tail as many do, and you will have money falling out of your pockets at the end of the night...or continue to be a mediocre or failing waitperson and you will have only your own complaints to line your pockets with.

But then again, that's just my 4 cents worth.