BeDeviant.com | Culture, Faith & Technology - Latest Comments in “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Frannie — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:33:09 -0000

In my opinion, it's not hard to give great service. The part about refilling drinks and cleaning off unwanted dishes and doing basically whatever the customer wants is part of the job description! If you can't handle that much, maybe a job in the service industry is not for you. As for the being friendly while doing it? I've never had a hard time being genuinely nice to people. Granted, many days I go into work I have to pray before and during the shift that God fills me with a patient and caring heart and that I would appear to be more like him than my natural self. It is tiring and we are human after all...but let me say, God answers my prayer EVERY SINGLE time! It's amazing how in a snap I go from grumpy to caring. It's awesome for the guests and myself. Everyone wins. My hourly wage has nothing to do with it.

One thing I've always said is I would rather have the nicest customer who doesn't tip than a jerk who does. At the end of the day, the nicer one will change me more than the other.

Keep tipping! Woot Woot! (preferably at Huhot in Ankeny...where I work, haha)

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Justin Wise — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:00:13 -0000

Preach it, girl! You NEVER know what a server is going through ... That's why you tip well. Always.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Frannie — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:57:25 -0000

The question of minimum wage is a little silly in my opinion. I get paid $3.40 an hour, but I easily make about $15-$25/hr because of tips. I also have to claim all credit/debit card tips for taxes, but not cash ones. So, it evens out to be pretty favorable to the server.

As far as why you should tip, well, other than the obvious (thanks Justin), there are tons of reasons...

-How long are you sitting at the table?
-How many refills did you get (whether or not you asked for it) or how many errands did you have them run for you to get things like extra napkins or to change the TV channel at the bar?
-Do you have kids, and are they messy?
-What is the cost of the bill?
-Is anyone sitting at the table that is NOT eating?
-Did you have to send anything back? (Chances are, it wasn't your server's fault anyway)
-Is there a bus boy? (if not, you can bet your server is the one cleaning up after you)
-Was your server friendly?
-Did you see your server doing other work?

I could go on for days. I've been a server for over two years, and it's clear that I'm a little biased. 'The point is, this is the system we have set up, that when you go out to eat, you tip. If you don't want to tip, order your meal to-go and save yourself and your server the trouble. And if you do get bad service, your server was probably having a bad day. (afterall, the back of the house usually isn't the most Christ-centered environment but full of sex-talk, drug-talk, and drunk-talk...mostly about each other. It's less than fun.) Have some compassion :)

Look, I've turned this into my own little soap box, I'm getting off of it now...one little piece of advise if you want better service. Always, always always remember your serve'rs name!

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Just Life — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:11:56 -0000

It seems pretty cheap for employers to put their servers salary onto the customers in that way. Give them at least minimum wage and then make sure your servers are happy, I wonder how customer satisfaction would change with happy servers?

Then once they provide great service they need to be tipped! I'm often amazed at servers making next to nothing and still providing great service.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

emeiji — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:48:59 -0000

Not only should we tip generously, we should fight for a decent living wage. An honest day's work deserves the dignity of a decent paycheck. The poor will always be with us, but we should always strive to lift people out of poverty.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Justin Wise — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:46:20 -0000

Those fake bills are the worst of all. They get your hopes up and then... SPLAT. No tip for you, just bad theology.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

miccah — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:30:09 -0000

Here's what gets my goat, as a Christian ex-server. have you SEEN those fake dollar bills which are actually tracts? I think they should be burnt. I have actually come across those intended to be tips. what are those folks thinking? do you want people to come to church or not? do you want people to take you seriously or not? i never want to see another of those, anywhere. cheapest, lousiest gimmick of all time, and waaaay below us, ok? ok.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Justin Wise — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:02:40 -0000

Post away! Glad you found it useful.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Jeffrey Soulliere — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:02:08 -0000

I worked as a server for a total of 8 months, and prior to that, I bussed tables for about 5 months. My Job prior to that was a barista at starbucks. Needless, to say, I've been in a lot of tip related positions. I have had several experiences that were similar to the content of the post, but I have also had experiences that are totally to the contrary.

One thing to consider, regardless of religious leanings, is that some states, like Missouri for example, do not pay minimum wage. They pay half minimum wage, and will supplement the amount of total compensation in the event that you didn't receive minimum wage, tips and hourly put together. When I worked as a server in MO I earned $3.54 an hour, plus tips. There would be several nights a week were I would work for three hours and make around 9 dollars in tips, so at best, with employer compensation, I would earn 21 dollars for 3 hours of hard work. Which is pretty much nothing. There were several times when I would have to borrow money to put gas in my car to get to work.

The real kicker here is that in addition to that fact that unless I had a lucky night I was paid very minimal amounts of money for a high stress job, I was taxed on 11% of my total sales for the night by the federal government regardless of weather I was actually tipped or not. In essence, if I wasn't tipped from a meal I was paying taxes on money I never made.

Keep that in mind the next time you lay down a tip.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Chris Mayers — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:54:41 -0000

I agree that tipping OUGHT to be only for exceptional service -- and I do think the concept started that way -- but unfortunately, the service industry reached a point where tipping became a part of a server's salary. I image that one time, some upper management folks thought, "Hey! Here's all our lowly customers, makin' it rain on our employees, and we ain't gotta do a thing! Let's just reduce their paychecks and let the customer foot the bill! Perfect."

A lot of restaurants pay their servers much, MUCH less than minimum wage. Where I worked, I think it was $2.15 an hour. So really, just to make minimum wage, a server has to earn at least $5 in tips per hour. And while $5 doesn't sound like much, when you only have 4 or 5 tables per hour (and when you think that, really, $7/hr is not nearly enough to actually live on if you've got kids to feed), stiffing a server (or even undertipping) is like a slap in the face.

My favorite was when a server would have to wait, holding drinks, while a table finished a long prayer, and then the party would have to gall to leave a tract and a couple of quarters.

Please, if you're going to be an awful tipper, don't pray before your meal. You're just mocking Christ.

Think of what a blessing you can be, though, if they DO hear you pray or talk about Christ during your meal, and then you leave an awesome tip at the end, just because God loves them. Awesome.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Justin Wise — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:51:06 -0000

Chalk one up for the good guys. You are single-handedly changing the opinion of servers everywhere!

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

revbt — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:26:45 -0000

I was raised by single mother who worked as a waitress to feed us and put herself through college to eventually get her master's. On more than one occasion I would find the garbage Bible tracts that were left as tips. "Tracts don't put food on the table" my mother would always say. Now as a pastor I work this into my sermons a lot because it really bothers me. And I was always a 20% tipper until my son was born and now we are forced to tip more because they work harder because he makes a mess.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Jacob — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:19:57 -0000

Tipping well should be something Christians should strongly consider.

I've been studying the sermon on the mount for a sermon, and in it, Jesus talked about not laying up treasures on earth.

Why is it so difficult for us (Christians) to get that this life is not about the abundance of what we possess?

Some say "Well, a server should earn their tip."

This may be cliche, but we have no ability to earn anything from God. He only gives us what we have out of His love and grace. I see nothing in the Bible that says we are to "earn" something from God. In fact, I see the complete opposite.

If we believers are supposed to understand that this life is not about possessions or money, and that God will provide for us, and that our true blessings are eternal because this life is fading fast, why are we so freaking stingy?

I honestly don't think we get it.

If we want to follow Jesus, we've got to sell all we have and give to the poor. Otherwise, we're not following Him.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

adammontecalvo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:08:57 -0000

Top of the mornin to ya Ray,

The reason why you are so negative about the tipping situation is because you are obviously angry about your current income situation. As stated above. You don't like the tipping rule because you don't have enough to tip that way. You need to understand something. When income is low and times are hard don't take out your frustration on someone else. Mainly a waiter or waitress. To expect everything to be perfect all the time in your dining experince is a bit much. Life is not fair sometimes and people aren't perfect. When God takes you through a season where money is tight he is testing your character. How will you react? Will you trust Him with your currently bleak situtation? God will never leave you in a negative position. You also don't want to keep going through the same test and failing. So Ray here is your word from the Lord "PASS THE TEST"

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

adammontecalvo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:41:28 -0000

WOW Julie!

I would love to wait on you. You embody Love, Joy, Peace, Paitience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Selfcontrol. I almost thought that Jesus himself wrote this comment. Here is the deal Julie. God has blessed you when you clearly don't deserve it. So be a Blessing to someone else who might not deserve it.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

ryanbruce — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:59:42 -0000

When i first started serving over a year ago I thought it would be interesting serving the 'after church' crowd. I was wrong. First week of serving I had a lady from a church group walk out and not pay.

If I have to work Sunday morning I am still going to give you great service. It's just that I know the odds of me having to put up with some really nasty stuff is greater.

I have had church people outright stiff me, yell at me, tell me I shouldn't work on Sunday, and steal from me. Very sad witness.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

sphericaltime — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:18:40 -0000

Hey, I'm that gay guy mentioned in one of those posts earlier. I do try to tip at least 20% always, but that's just because my first summer job was busing tables and I know how it feels to get few tips (although since I wasn't a server I never noticed the Sunday pattern).

I just wanted to make a comment on another group: bellmen at hotels. I did it for a couple of months back in the day and remember several encounters.

A lot of hotels don't have bellmen anymore, and so there are people that don't understand that like servers, their main source of income is tips. A dollar per bag is fine for a light load, two is better.

But I remember several large families that would require heavily laden carts filled up to the absolute top of the cart that would give me a dollar or two while asking me if I was a Christian or quoting the Bible to me. Between loading the cart, managing to get everything to the room and avoiding the kids, it seemed like a bit of an insult.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

ImDavidMiller — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:55:09 -0000

I worked in restaurants for years!
I knew as soon as I saw a table bow their heads to pray that my tip would suck.
Sometimes it was insult to injury when their would be a track that looked like a dollar. Like that's a enticing invite to faith.
I don't think most people realize how little servers make. $2.15 in some states! They are counting on the tips and it's frustrating that people don't understand that.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

ImDavidMiller — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:48:24 -0000

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Stacie — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:59:10 -0000

I'm a Christian, and I've worked as a server and in retail. When I began at both jobs, I kind of didn't want to work Sundays just so I could do church and stuff, but I was excited about working after church so I could maybe meet other Christians. I grew to loathe Sundays. Not only are the after-church crowds stingy, they're mean! They expect things that can't be given, and are very unforgiving. I made about half the amount I made on other days when I had to work Sunday.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Christy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:10:38 -0000

As a server who is also scraping my way through college, I know personally that it is more than true about christian tippers being the worst.

And I'm appalled by the people on here who support not tipping.

Most people on a wait staff make about $2 an hour, and that goes straight to taxes. A paycheck for 2 weeks worth of work for me might have $12 on it. Sometimes nothing.

Pretty much every week I have tables that will tip me a pathetic 5% and then leave a church bulletin or flier for me. As if that is going to make me want to visit their church.

We need, rely, and count on our 15% at LEAST

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Christy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:10:38 -0000

As a server who is also scraping my way through college, I know personally that it is more than true about christian tippers being the worst.

And I'm appalled by the people on here who support not tipping.

Most people on a wait staff make about $2 an hour, and that goes straight to taxes. A paycheck for 2 weeks worth of work for me might have $12 on it. Sometimes nothing.

Pretty much every week I have tables that will tip me a pathetic 5% and then leave a church bulletin or flier for me. As if that is going to make me want to visit their church.

We need, rely, and count on our 15% at LEAST

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Mikes — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:56:06 -0000

Hi Dave

I'm sorry for what had happened but here's one thing I'm so sure about. God has his plans and purposes. about the customers not being loyal. It's them not "christians" perse. I think it's wrong to brand Christians (all) as worst customers.

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Mikes — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:54:12 -0000

I think Dave it's not into the amount and for whom. it is for us to be generous. how you define that based on the Bible makes the difference

Re: “Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

Mikes — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:51:58 -0000

One comment out from the server's mouth! May we be examples of generosity as God had demonstrated it by giving His only begotten son Jesus Christ to us.