Thoughts on Tips

I've noticed lately, this abundance of little tip cups everywhere.  There is one at every coffee shop I've gone to.  There is one at the little convenience store/deli up the street from us.    I've even seen them at drive thru windows and I just don't get it!

Okay - here in Michigan, most servers make $2.65 and hour plus tips.  Now, I believe as a server, your minimum job is to bring me my food and my drinks.  Anything s/he does over and above that, makes the tip.  Checking on me, refilling my drink, getting extra napkins, being friendly yet not overly abounding.  All those things bring you up to a 15-20% - maybe more, tip.  I have left restaurants without leaving a tip.

Jeremy, as a restaurant manager, has a hard time making his servers understand that people are NOT required to tip.  It's not something that is required or deserved, it's something that is earned based on your commitment, your attention, your service.

I worked in food service for many years. It sucks. The pay is bad, I know it is. We got tips too then. A nice little grandma pressing a dollar into your hand. That always meant more to me than a few coins dropped into a cup that we ALL had to split.

My parents generation seems to think a $2 tip is sufficient everywhere, all the time, no matter the service or the size of the bill.  They leave $2 and that's it.  I always slip back after my mom and leave money for a server/bartender.

I do tip Sarah, my hairdresser.  My haircut is $12-$15 and I always give her $20.  She works in a shop and has to rent her space.  I'm sure if she cut hair at her home, she'd charge less and I would still tip her but more than likely not on the scale I currently tip.  Yes, I do give her a tip at Christmas time too.  Typically 1 haircuts worth.

I don't have a problem with tipping.

I do have a problem going to a coffee shop drive-thru where high school/college girls/guys get paid an hourly wage to stand at this little window and hand me coffee.  I mean really, I pull up, tell this little box what I want, drive around to the window where s/he hands it to me.  Their little box out there on the ledge, cleverly drawn on with a marker sits there just waiting for me to drop some thing in it - FOR WHAT!  You get paid $5-$8 an hour to do this. To hand me coffee? It's your job!  Same as the store up the street, this gal gets paid $8 and hour to broast chicken or make me a sandwich. Sure, she does a good job and she's nice. But - do you actually tip a cook in a restaurant for doing the same thing?  Does that cook ever see your money?

Should there be a tip cup at the Wal*Mart cashier?  Maybe my insurance agent should get one?  The nurse at my doctor's office?  How abouth the mail carrier?  The FedEx guy?  How about the plumber?  What's the difference?  The Wal*Mart cashier did a lot more than hand me coffee, s/he bagged all my groceries!  And the mail carrier, she's out walking in the snow just to bring me my mail and that's her job.  Where does it end?