Yeah, I've got your damned tip right here!

[elSicomoro]

I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show on NPR Wednesday morning, and her guest in the second hour was author Alison Owings. Owings is the author of Hey, Waitress, a look at the lives of various waitresses from all walks of life. (For you old-school folks, think of the book Coffee, Tea, or Me?, only with waitresses replacing stewardesses.)

Naturally, the issue of tipping came up. You know, the whole 15% deal and all. If you go to Diane Rehm's site (link above), you can listen to the conversation. And of course, the following question came up: should tipping be done away with?

I speak on the matter with some experience. I worked in a restaurant for just over a year as a busboy. At the time (1991), the federal minimum wage had just been raised to $4.25 per hour. However, because I received tips, the minimum wage was $2.13 per hour. I actually got $3.50 per hour plus tips, and in the end, it came out to about $6 an hour. Which was pretty good at age 16.

The current federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour; however, the rate for tipped employees is still $2.13 per hour. In the grand scheme of things, it looks like tipped employees lost some money on that. However, if you figure that restaurants have raised their prices over the past 12 years, making it likely that a customer will tip more, their wages probably went up with everyone else's.

In the end, I do not think that tips should be ceased. However, I think it may be time to make some changes to the system. I think that restauranteurs use the tip system too heavily to subsidize wages.

My rationale is that a tip is a reward for a job well done. If I give you outstanding service, and you give me a tip, that's great! But I shouldn't expect that. And my livelihood shouldn't be based on that.

Oh, come on, Syc! These people choose to do this type of job. They should know what they're getting into.

True. Most of us choose what type of job we want. However, everyone in this country deserves to make a living wage. A server could be shit out of luck if the cook fucks something up, or a bartender makes a bad drink. Try as they might, the server may still not be able to recover from something beyond their control. And there are some people out there that absolutely refuse to tip, for whatever reasons. And of course, if there were no servers, there would be no restaurants, and a lot of people would be out of work, and the service sector would lose a huge chunk of money.

Now then, what I propose would be frowned upon by many, but hear me out. I believe that the 15% gratuity slapped on large parties (usually 6-8 or more) should be applied to every bill. Or rather, to every item on the menu.

What?! Have you been hitting that Penn Dutch Egg Nog again, Syc? You raise prices at restaurants, and people will stop going. Then you'll have a bunch of people out of jobs.

Malarkey. If every sit-down type restaurant did this, in the end, I don't think it would be that noticeable. Furthermore, with the gratuity already added in, you won't feel obliged to tip, because the server is already going to get their cut. Of course, if they do a bang-up job, why not tip them? But you don't HAVE to. No one will quit going to restaurants just because the Veal Piccata went up to $28.75 from $25. After all, the biggest reason for going to a restaurant is probably because you like the food, with ambience and service following closely behind.

What about the asshole waitress that treated us like shit? Why should she get my extra 15%?

More often than not, you'll probably get service that merits the 15%. In many cases, you'll get outstanding service. Remember, these people are working for a living. If they give you shitty service, tell the boss, who will reprimand her...and if she's that bad, she'll get canned. And as I mentioned before, I don't think that 15% would be that noticeable in the long run.

What do you folks think? If you have 45 minutes to kill, definitely check out that segment from the show.