Tips...What is the right amount? Is it earned or a given?

Tipping

Is anyone else bothered by the way tipping is handled in today's society? I think it's important to earn tips when working certain jobs and I don’t mind tipping when it's appropriate. I've been a waitress many times in my life and loved the job every time though it can be hard and often tiring while working late into the night. The tips were a great help to me, but I worked dang hard for them. I offered refills and acted like it was my pleasure to serve all customers even if I didn’t feel good or was incredibly tired from working a double.

Occasionally, I would be left a kind note or rarely, a hundred dollars on a twenty-dollar tab. People would tell me I was the highlight of their day because I was always kind, friendly, and smiled brightly. I knew that was my job and I valued the company and my customers. However, today it often feels like twenty percent or more is expected as a tip while servers seem inconvenienced by a request for a refill, smiling, or bringing the check.

Increasingly often, restaurants now have customers using a machine to order where no one talks to you; yet when it's time to pay, the button quickly pops up asking what percent of a tip you'd like to leave and even suggests what they feel it should be. I've even gone to massage places that request you to pay in full, including a tip, before your appointment even begins. In my days of serving work, tips were earned based on service and experience. Why is it we're now expected to tip like it's part of the full price rather than a choice?

In my opinion, everyone should wait tables for a minimum of a few months in their lifetime to gain the perspective of earning tips based on hard work rather than automatically feeling deserving. While I agree we should appreciate others who do hard work for us, I also feel tipping should be a choice customers make based on service and experience without pressure from society to pay out no matter the circumstance. This week, I encourage you to pay close attention to the service you receive and tip what you feel is right, not what society says is right.

What does living your exceptional life look like to you?

When and where do you tip? What's your average tipping percentage?

Do you tip based on service or what society tells you is appropriate?

Do you feel it's wrong to be asked for a tip before receiving service or when ordering from a machine?