By ELIZABETH MEEKS
Rip staff writer

PRO

If you cannot afford to tip when you go out to a restaurant, I have two words for you: Stay home.
I understand economic times have forced people to cut costs wherever possible; however, cutting the gratuity of servers in restaurants is not the place to do it. You are taking away the bulk of their income.
So where did tipping originate? There is evidence it began in 16th century Europe. A UC Berkeley anthropology professor found it evolved from “drink money.” It was a message to the server that they should sit down and have a drink in order to avoid envy. Another explanation is that feudal lords threw “tips” of gold to the hostile peasants as a toll for safe passage. Today, it is an acronym meaning To Insure Prompt Service.
So, why tip some employees and not others? Restaurants could simply raise prices to compensate for their salary. You tip because service employees offer a highly professionalized service, and they should be thanked appropriately.
I have been in the restaurant service industry for 14 years, and within those years, I have been tipped well, not at all (stiffed) and everywhere in between. People can sit in my section, and I can predict with amazing accuracy whether or not the table will tip. Certain groups tip well, while some consistently do not. For example, the elderly usually tip poorly due to fixed incomes, and teenagers and college students usually don’t tip due to no income at all, as well as an ignorance of how to tip.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule; however, for an overall generalization, I am right on the money.
Some say they tip according to the level of service they received. Absolutely! I agree; however, you should never tip less than 10 percent, and I will explain why.
First, the server is taxed on their sales. The government assumes servers make at least seven percent of the total sales. Therefore, when you tip less than ten percent, you not only did not allow the server to make their valued income, you also just cost them money.
In addition, there are many aspects to service: friendliness, promptness, cleanliness and accuracy. The waiter is the one who bares all complaints. Consider for a moment when your order is delivered to your table and it has onions, even though you were very specific in saying no onions, your dish still has onions. Now I realize onions in an entrée is just shy of being as disastrous as the explosion of the space shuttle, but hold your horses, unwrinkle your panties, because many times, it is not the server’s fault. Perhaps the cooks in the kitchen got it completely wrong, or the people responsible for delivering the food to the table messed up, yet with all the variables, the waiter takes the heat from disgruntled patrons, even though it was out of the server’s control. Or how about this: It took forever to get your drinks. The waiter does not make the drinks; they only serve them. If the bartender is slow, lousy, or, wait – maybe just busy, it affects the promptness of the waiter.
Next, you are not the only guests needing service. Each server has on average five to seven tables, each being able to seat at least five guests per table. Do the math. That is upwards of waiting on 35 people at once, each wanting something every time you walk by because they can’t seem to have the ability to ask for everything at once.
Servers do not intentionally ignore you. We have all experienced service when the server seems to take care of everyone but you. Honestly, servers are just busy, so cut them some slack as they are only trying to earn an honest living, and your tips provide that living.
Even if you have to wait for your server to come to your table for what you feel is too long, be patient. You will not starve. Unless flies are swarming your tear ducts, sit back, relax and enjoy the company you are with. After all, it’s just food.

By JOHN ORNELAS
Rip staff photographer

CON

Let me preface this by saying I appreciate from personal experience how hard waiters and waitresses work.
The customers they have to deal with (shady types like you and me) give them a never-ending assault of demands and expectations, and restaurant service workers are among some of the hardest entry-level workers around.
That being said, they shouldn’t get tips. Let me explain.
Because the government takes taxes out of tips made from waiters and waitresses, it is technically part of their wage. As customers, we are therefore paying parts of the wage directly to the worker. It would make more sense for the employer to pay the worker more, and leave the middleman out of it. That way, the government would tax the worker for the exact amount instead of guessing how much they had made in tips.
Most waiters make minimum wage. By forcing customers to pay them tips and then taxing the tips, the only real winner is the company they work for. They get off paying their employees less and having a sleazy justification to work them harder. Do I think it’s wrong? Of course. Put a petition against it, and I’ll sign it, but I won’t join in helping the company take advantage of their employees.
I have even heard stories of places like Café Med here in Bakersfield that put an 18 percent tip into the bill automatically, and then give the worker only a fraction of that tip. This is a great example of the true nature behind the tip: exploitation.
Not only exploitation of the underpaid worker, but also exploitation of us as consumers who pay money to companies we did not intend on paying.
However, even if all the taxing issues would disappear, I still would be against tipping.
The fact is that waitresses and waiters are just doing their job. When they fill up my coffee or ask if I need anything, they’re doing what they signed up to do and are already getting paid for it.
There is no such thing as “going out of your way” when your job is to please the customer. I’m sure there are plenty of you who have worked retail jobs where you dealt with unruly customers and did things that weren’t in your job description to mend the issue only to receive no tip.
In fact, there are plenty of other jobs with very similar responsibilities to waiting tables that do not receive tips. I’ve worked at places like Target and Home Depot and would spend over half an hour on a single customer on a regular basis.
However, even when going beyond duties of my job description to please customers, the companies would actually forbid us from receiving tips.
Similarly, people who work at fast-food restaurants don’t receive tips, and many times not only do they serve you food, they have to cook it as well.
What entity decides what jobs are tip worthy? I don’t remember voting on it or getting any memos on the subject. So why should I have to pay for it? And furthermore, where does it end? Are we going to start tipping the mailman or our college professors?
The fact is that waiters and waitresses work hard and should be paid more than minimum wage. But that’s not my problem as a customer wanting a tuna melt.
It should be the responsibility of the worker to demand more than minimum wage for a job that is truly grueling.
If waiting staff workers want extra money, then they should ask for higher wages. Go on strike.
Garbage collectors in New York City did it and now make more money a year than most college graduates.
However, I don’t feel that customers should have to pick up the slack of a greedy employer who doesn’t want to pay a hard-working employee a respectable wage.