To tip...or not to

For the past five years of my life I have worked for tips at either Ted's Montana Grill or Famous Daves BBQ. For these past five years I have made anywhere from $2.83 to $5.15 an hour and depended on my customers to make my time worth it, hopefully reaching an average of $10.00 an hour. As I look back I see that it has been anything but easy! Working in restaurants is not the ideal job. For one, it is very dirty and gross! Secondly, it is seen as a job for the uneducated and "poor choice makers" in our society, such as single parents, drug/alcohol abusers, law breakers, illegal immigrants, college students, etc. Let's just say that when I tell people that I work in a restaurant, I am often judged! Furthermore, it seems to me that my own customers stereotype me as being someone who could not get a better job so was forced to work in the food service industry. It is not my ideal to work at a job where I make money based mainly on my performance but what I hate the most is that even if my performance is superb, I can still get screwed...stiffed! It is quite frustrating and takes a lot of humility and patience to serve people for an entire meal and then have them stiff you, as if you did nothing for the past hour! Now I must say that stiffing doesn't happen too often but BAD tipping does! And after doing this for five years I have learned enough and have made my own stereotypes. The big question is: who tips the worst in general? This question is so easy to answer!

1. Christians...I don't know why but they (we) do! Here is my opinion as to why...Most Christians that come into Famous Daves are middle-upper class, white evangelicals who are quite judgemental. Instead of thinking that they should tip well as an evangelism tool and ministry opportunity (reaching the lost), they turn judgmental towards their server and come to conclusions such as, (as an example) "This server must be so lost. Look at his piercings. He must be a trouble maker who couldn't make it through school. He threw his life away and is now stuck working in a restaurant because he could not get a real job." Thus, the tip is bad! (I only use this example because I have actually heard accounts like this.) Other examples consist of Christians leaving tracts instead of a tip or with a 10 percent tip. This actually happens quite often!

2. Blacks, Hispanics, Mexicans, Native Americans...again I hate this stereotype, but in general these people are very very very bad tippers! If you have worked in a restaurant before you know this! There are definitely exceptions, as with the Christians, but not enough to remove the stereotype. I laughed when I saw this picture because I do not want to be a racist but I understand the feeling! It sucks getting screwed by the same people...it's no wonder we form stereotypes!