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the cost. We might as well use "TIPS" as part earnings; as people have some control in their treatment in an establishment using tipped employees.

The majority of 20 years I worked as a restaurant server. It happened to turn out that my start in the business hinged a bet. The supervisor of the restaurant chain bet the manger of the dining room $100.00 that she could not train me to do the job. I was not so happy to hear of it (after I passed training and had the job). If I may say so, I became quite good at the job, one of my fellow servers once said that I was "a born servant".

When I began to wait upon tables, the appropriate to tipping rates were to leave 10% for good service, 15% for very good service and 20% for excellent service. Then, as now, it is a bad idea to "stiff" (leave no tip) the server. If things were so bad, one best leave a tip of 5-cents. Sorry servers, in fairness it should be said. No tip could indicate the party or person does not know to tip. Small change other than a nickel could mean the party does not know tip percentages. One nickel shows the party knows to tip and the service was bad.

Today the tip rates are 15% for good service, 20% for very good service and 25% for excellent service. The tip figured on the total check including beverages and tax. When using a coupon or discounted, the tip should be figured on the gross total before the coupon/discount. After all, the serving person served the gross amount, not the amount after discounts.

One can figure tips without a calculator quite easily. Ten percent of a $56.31 check, move the decimal once to the left or $5.32. Five% equals of 10% or 2.16. Fifteen percent, being 10% plus 5% is 15%, therefore $5.32 plus $2.16 or $7.48. It is okay to round numbers as you go.

For the server, the "TIPS" work in a variety of ways. In most restaurants, the server must use the "Tips" received to tip the bus help and bartender, sometimes a "maitre d" (head waitperson) and more rarely the kitchen. A tip on a table does not necessarily go to only the server, the number of others the server must tip (called a "tip-out" and is usually from five to ten percent each) often increases with the "class" of the restaurant.

Servers develop surprising long and keen memories. Often, when a guest returns to a restaurant, they are already marked as a "good tip" or "bad tip". The serving staff also knows the people who come into a restaurant on a regular basis, and know how they tip.

I remember one regular who came in by

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