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Always tip your server

I’m a server in St. Albert. I am very good at my job, but it’s not as easy as it looks. As a server, I make minimum wage — $8.80 an hour. Servers make the least amount of money in a restaurant in terms of wages.

I’m a server in St. Albert. I am very good at my job, but it’s not as easy as it looks.

As a server, I make minimum wage — $8.80 an hour. Servers make the least amount of money in a restaurant in terms of wages. We make minimum wage because it is assumed that we will be receiving tips. If we didn’t, they’d have to pay us more because no one would work that much for so little and it’s not nearly enough to get by. The obvious answer as to why I would choose to continue in this vocation is of course the tips.

Now, I understand that tipping is not mandatory, but in my opinion not tipping is extremely rude. When you work as a server in most commercial restaurants, you are required to tip-out. What this means is that at the end of the night, you are required to pay a portion of your total ring-out to the house. This is then distributed evenly out to other service staff such as the kitchen, bartenders, hostesses, porters, bussers and door personnel, all of whom usually make a lot more an hour than we do, plus tip-out. Mind you, working in a kitchen sucks and I give everyone who works in a kitchen praise. Now the portion that we tip-out is not based on how much we get in tips, but on how much revenue we produce in sales. The percentage in most restaurants and pubs is about four to five per cent. So if we ring out about $1,000 in sales, that’s a $40 to $50 tip-out. To further illustrate my point, let’s say you have a $300 tab and you fail to tip for whatever reason. This means your server will have to pay about $12 to $15 dollars out of his or her own to pocket just to have served you.

Now I understand there are different reasons why you may decide not to tip. Maybe you feel the service you received was poor or perhaps you don’t believe in it or maybe you just don’t have the money. For the latter, I suggest you go to McDonald’s. Frankly, if you can’t afford to tip, you shouldn’t be eating out. Many servers are also students. This means we eat Kraft Dinner most nights while we serve you grade AAA steak. And no, we don’t get free meals; at best we get 50 per cent off. As for the former, if you do receive poor quality service, at least provide a five per cent tip so they are not paying out of their own pocket.

Not tipping is equivalent to flipping someone off. Unless your server straight up does this to you, you ought to tip. On a final note, the average tip amount hasn’t been 10 per cent in more than five years. With the current cost of living, a decent tip is about 15 per cent. If you receive phenomenal service, tip at least 20 per cent, if not more. It tells a server that your guests are happy and that you’ve done your job well.

Name withheld by request, St. Albert

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