Summer job drudgery & Life lessons

Life lesson 1: tip at least 15%


Let me preface this by saying that I think everyone should work in the service industry at some point in their lives. After being a waitress I've learned how to be a better customer and worked on my people/sucking up skills. As a part of my job with catering, I've learned etiquette (start with the outermost fork and work your way in), how to set a mean table, and the art of fancy napkin folding. It's generally shitty work but one that's humbling and character building, part of one's overall poor high school/college kid experience.

Did I mention that I also got to rock a kickass tux for catering?

However, all this talk about character building doesn't take away from the fact that the job generally sucks--the purpose of my rant today. Two nights ago I started back at Planet Pizza, the casual restaurant down at the oceanfront that I've been working at for the past 5 summers now. Because it's the oceanfront the people that eat at our place generally aren't the classiest individuals. It's a lot of beach bums, rednecks, and (surprisingly) French Canadians. As a result tips can regularly suck but because it gets so busy and turnover is fast you can generally make a decent haul during peak summer season.

Monday night was fairly busy but it continually amazes me how horrible people are at tipping. I was consistently getting less than 10%, and, not to toot my own horn, but I'm a good waitress. I'll admit it when I've been cranky or bitchy, but I was on my A game that night. Seriously I felt like I was running like a well oiled machine. I was super friendly and attentive despite being busy. Oh and did I mention that I got stiffed at least twice by young kids (you know it's going to be a bad table when 3 young kids ask for 1 water to share. I just winced and said, "you know water's free right?") So what's the deal?!

People suck. They don't know how to tip. They don't know basic politeness (lets talk about grown-ass adults essentially ignoring me as I was trying to take drink orders, and then not being helpful and passing drinks around to their friends--seriously?!). Waitresses work for tips. We generally have a low fixed hourly wage ~$2.17 an hour. It's not like Europe, or even Canada, where waitresses get a higher fixed wage and you don't need to tip. We NEED your tips, so give us at least 15% especially if you are geting great service from someone like me. And if you can't afford to tip, don't eat out! Get take out or go to McDonalds. This is how I'm earning (temporarily) my livelihood; I'm not waiting on you for kicks, and I certainly don't want to be abused by you for free.

Sorry for this but I had to rant. It's like a punch in the stomach, when you get such shitty tips after working your ass off. So be nice and tip well, your waitress might have massive student loans :)

Courtesy of the Chive