by L. M. Hosler

Created on: February 22, 2010   Last Updated: February 23, 2010

Basics of Tipping

Tipping originated in England and the theory was that it would "insure promptness." Tipping is thus defined as a gratuity or a small amount of money left in exchange for another person's services.

Today, tipping is very common and is expected and necessary for many people who are working in service type jobs. Many of these service related jobs pay only a minimum wage and in some cases less than minimum wage. Therefore, people working in jobs such as a taxi driver, housekeeping, hair stylists, manicurists and severs in restaurants, depend on the tips they earn because their paychecks are so small. In some cases, servers in restaurants often do not even receive a paycheck after all their deductions are taken from their paycheck. The proper amount to tip is between 15% and 20% and it is up to you to decide the amount of the tip based on your perception of the service you received.  You should also keep in mind that servers often have to share their tips with other employees.  Ruby Tuesday, for instance, requires their servers to share tips with the bartender, salad bar person, the hostess and the bus person.

It seems that this is wrong because every working person is entitled to a fair wage and this does not seem to apply to businesses that are allowed to employ people at such low wages. Some of these same businesses then require that these same low paid employees pay the company's other low paid employees out of their pocket (meaning out of their tips). These companies should be paying decent wages to all of their employees.

Restaurants today are generally understaffed and the employees are expected to do several different jobs. For instance, in many restaurants there is no longer a cashier to take your money. The server is now doing that job as well as seating customers, and doing chores in the back. Some friends of mine have also told me that at the end of their shift, they usually have an hour's worth of work to do which includes cleaning, restocking and even cleaning the bathrooms. For this hour or more of cleaning they are required to do, they are paid their regular low wages, not even minimum wage.

Tipping also creates a competition between servers for the best tipping customers. Customers that tip well will be given the best service and given as many freebies as a server can get away with. Other customers who do not tip as well may wait longer, be served cold food, or their drinks may not be refilled. Servers also

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