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Tipping has several debatable origins. Evidence suggests it originated in ancient Rome. Another explanation from www.straightdope.com, says it is from the eighteenth century. A Dr. Johnson that had a box marked "to insure prompt service", at his local coffee shop would put coins in there before leaving, if service was satisfactory. Even the acronym is argued as being correct. Tipping came to America from England, but after the Revolution was looked down on for a time because it was given to those of lower class.

I spoke to several wait staff and it seems that there are several things common to tipping. There doesn't seem to be much difference between male or female tippers, even though the old rule of thumb used to be 15% paid by women and 20% paid by men. Women are showing they can be equal after all. All agreed that tipping indicates the level of service shown the customer and waiters work hard to get the most from each table. It seems to be in agreement among all the wait staff that I spoke to, that seniors and some ethnic groups are the cheapest when it comes to tipping too.

Restaurants have difference policies when it comes to tips. In many European restaurants a gratuity is automatically added to the bill, regardless of the number of diners. Here in America, many restaurants automatically add a gratuity of 10%-15% for groups of 6 or more. Claiming tips for tax purposes is handled in several ways too, but most restaurants require the server to claim tips charged on credit cards. It is usually left up to the server to decide how much they claim in tips paid in cash. I think most decide a lot less than what they make and rule in their own favorduh! Most service type jobs that accept tips rely on tipping for most of their income and work hard to earn them.

Tips are usually shared among all the staff, in a restaurant. If a restaurant has an open table policy, meaning that all wait-staff help all tables, the tips are distributed among all the wait staff, bussers and cooks, in varying percentages. If tables are assigned to designated waiters, the tips are only split up between that wait person and their bussers and sometimes the cook, if they are smart. My own experience showed that the more you share the money, the faster and warmer your customer's food was when you served it and the more you get in tips!

What is a good rule as to how much to tip? I say use 20% as the rule and vary it more or less depending on quality of service. Sometimes a server will go the extra mile that deserves that extra recognition of a couple more dollars. Then there are the times where you wish you never walked in the door. I was once on a travel trip with a college swim team and we stopped at Denny's for breakfast. There was a group of about 10 of us and we were jovial, but well behaved. We had a server that was the meanest and grouchiest old woman that had obviously gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that day! As a result, we left her two pennies under an upside down glass of water. That was a perfect expression of the quality of service she gave!

Learn more about this author, SanDee Winn.
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