Tipping Your Waiter/Waitress

I dine out alot and have been to my fair share of different restaurants in different cities. You notice the difference in the waiters/waitress attitudes as well as in the customers around you.

I know a few waitress/waiters personally and have spoken to them regarding their experiences.

The city they work in seems to make a huge difference in the tips they make, as well as the harassment they receive from customers. In Pittioch "Pittsburg & Antioch" they have more people complain about the service and demand discounts off there bill even when the food is prepared to order. They also have more people that walk out on their bills or don't tip at all.

In case you didn't know waiters/waitresses are required to declare all their tips. In California it is assumed there is always a tip no matter what for tax purposes of approximately 10% of the total sale. That means if you don't leave a tip the waiter/waitress has to pay 10% of your bill to the government that they never even earned. Plus out of there total gross sales for they day they have to tip out the bartenders, bus boys and sometimes the hostess.

Now what is an appropriate tip in this bad economy. Well in my opinion the tip amount hasn't changed. You should still be tipping between 15%-20%. In case you haven't noticed you tend to order less and not dine on the most expensive things on the menu as often. So right there the tip amount is going to be lower. Please keep that in mind.

So what can we do to improve the service we get, as well as take care of our waiter/waitress.

1. When you order drinks and the waitress comes back to take your appetizer order don't shake your glass and expect a refill. If they are getting refills non-stop they don't have time to enter your order into the computer.

2. Order for your children. When the children order they get shy, or can't order properly and it takes alot of time away from getting your order in and returning to other tables that are shaking their glasses for drinks.

3. Point to what you want on the menu, don't try to memorize the names of the dishes. Some items have very similar names but are completely different.

4. Tell the people on your cellphone you will call them back or better yet don't answer it while you are ordering.

5. If you see your children/young adults ordering or bossing a waitress around, remind them about respect. After all you don't know what happens to your food before it gets set in front of you. Payback is a bitch and happens more often than you think.

6. If you want to speak to the manager to compliment the waiter/waitress service. Do it as you are leaving. Don't ask your server to get the manager and them not know why. It stresses them out.

7. If you want to complain about the service. First look around. Was there an unexpected rush. Was the waiter/waitress handling way to many tables because of this. Was the table next to you waving there glasses or having there kids run up and down the isles. Was there no bartender available because a game was going in there and he was slammed as well. Have a little consideration. Compliment what they did well to the manager prior to anything going wrong like a missed salad. Typically the waiter/waitress can get this removed from the bill without manager coming to talk to you.

8. Last remember that most of these servers don't make a career of serving. They go to school, college, or they have children to feed and this may be a second job or a low paying first. If you don't have the money to eat and pay the tip at this restaurant, then go somewhere else that you can.

Lastly before I open this up for discussion rent the Movie "Waiting" That may give you a little insight on how waiters and waitress are treated, as well as how they pay you back.

King Mogey