Looking for a tip on tipping?

Tonight on the way home, my wife and I were discussing how a lot of people are ungrateful for the things that they have. We both agreed that many people no longer feel the need to take care of themselves and expect someone else to clean up after them.

While thinking about our discussion I remembered an article that I found over at Yahoo! Finance that deals with how much you should tip for certain services. Most people do not realize that servers at a restaurant make very little money as a base salary. As a matter of fact, minimum wage for servers is only a little more than $2 per hour. The majority of their income comes from tips. If you are looking for a way to help someone financially, look no further than tipping. Providing a solid tip for a job well done is one way to make someone’s day…not to mention the blessing you will receive from it.

Let me be completely honest about my philosophy on tipping. You do a good job, you get a good tip. Being a Christian, I am always concerned that I not do something that would shine a bad light on Christians. My wife has a philosophy with regard to tipping. If the server sees us praying before our meal and we stiff him or her on the tip, they won’t remember us praying, but they will remember the bad tip. Needless to say I leave the tip amount up to her and when we get really good service the server gets a really good tip.

Below is the list of how much you should tip as provided in the article and to be honest I was more surprised by the explanation of why you should tip someone than I was the actual amount of the tip itself.

• Gas Attendants — Suggested Tip: None
• Shampoo Person — Suggested Tip: $2
• Doorman — Suggested Tip: $1 per Bag
• Skycaps (Airport Porter) — Suggested Tip: $1 Per Bag
• Food Retailers and Coffee Shops — Suggested Tip: None
• Bartenders — Suggested Tip: 15-20% of Tab
• Restaurant Servers — Suggested Tip: 15% of Pretax Bill
• Pizza Delivery — Suggested Tip: 10% of Pretax Bill

For the most part, the list is not very surprising. I guess the one thing that I have never thought about is tipping at a restaurant on the pretax amount. We always tip on the bottom line. I shampoo my own hair so I have never tipped the shampoo person, and I usually take care of my own luggage at the airport. I did think it was interesting that the article gave me a pass on tipping the guy at the coffee shop, even if there is a tip jar on the counter. Here is the thing that I thought was really strange in the article. Again, not how much I should tip for good service, but how much you should tip for bad service. From the article:

Contrary to popular belief, bad service is no excuse to completely skip the tip. Even when the level of service is poor, experts recommend leaving no less than 10%.

I am sorry, you shouldn’t expect a 10% tip for poor service. If you want me to reward you for a good experience then you need to meet me half way. If you are expecting me to tip, then I am looking for a reason. It doesn’t take much to be nice, be efficient and be professional. Those three things will always get you a good tip from my wife.

How do you feel about tipping? Should poor service get a 10% tip? Should they get any tip at all?

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