Future Planning ::

Some Tips on Tipping

by Catherine Plato

Like many a struggling Berkeley student, I scraped my way through college serving lattes and free-range chicken sandwiches at one of the area’s local cafés. By graduation, I had five (yes, five) solid years of service industry experience under my belt, and a hawk’s eye for a bad tipping customer the minute he or she walked through the door.

I didn’t need a full five years to expertly hone my bad-tip radar, though. We all hate stereotypes, but they serve you well when you’re serving cheapskates. The most predictable bad tippers were foreign tourists, people who, presumably, were visiting California from a country where tipping isn’t customary. College students came in a close second, though I notice students carrying Norton literary anthologies were generally better than those with calculators and chemistry textbooks. Maybe the humanity majors knew it was only a matter of time before they, too, would be foaming milk and wiping tables for a living.

And yes, in third place were the lesbians: short-haired, make-up-less women clad in Birkenstocks and a T-shirt featuring either a random folk singer or Green Party slogan — this was Berkeley, after all. And while I wanted to ignore stereotypes and be proud of my community, if one more woman in a Melissa Etheridge T-shirt left me a dollar and change after her three-course meal, I would have been just about ready to quit my job and renounce my own sexuality.

Of course, not every lesbian was cheap, and of course, we all hate stereotypes. But even more so, I hated doing my job for free. If you can afford to eat restaurant food, you can afford to pay for the service. Lesbian or not, here are a few things to keep in mind when paying tips:

1. Fifteen to eighteen percent is standard. I like to think of fifteen percent as a minimum tip for decent service. If the server was especially friendly and attentive, I’ll give more. And if things were especially bad, you can always leave less, or ask to speak with a supervisor. In California, where the standard sales tax is 7.25 percent (more in certain counties), it’s safe to leave twice the tax and round up. For exceptional service, it’s safe to pay three times the tax, and round down if you want.

2. It’s nice to leave a little extra when you split checks. Especially when things are busy, it can be a hassle to split the checks. If it’s absolutely necessary to do so, then it’s nice to leave a little extra.

3. Remember, the server didn’t make the food. The person whom you’re paying is the person who’s taking your order and bringing your plates. He or she is most likely not the one who made the food or upholstered the chairs, so if another aspect of your dining experience is unpleasant, don’t punish your waiter with a bad tip. However, do let them know if you’re unsatisfied or uncomfortable in any way, and they should make an effort to fix it.

4. When food is free, service still isn’t. If you have a gift certificate or some other reason for a free meal, make sure you still tip your server. This is especially true if they “hook you up,” or offer you something complementary for any reason.

5. Give them a chance to fix mistakes. When your server brings your latte with 2 percent rather than organic soy, is he really working as an agent for the animal-enslaving anti-feminist hate-mongering corporate American machine, or did he make an honest mistake? If you don’t like something, let your server know. Nothing would annoy me more than a customer who would complain of cold/undercooked/overcooked food after finishing the whole damn thing. Be polite, and they should be happy to fix the problem.

6. Tip for counter service. Though you don’t need to leave the standard 15-18 percent for a cup of coffee or a sandwich ordered at a counter, it’s nice to leave something. This is doubly true if you’re a regular. If you can afford to have someone else making your coffee, you can afford to give them something for their trouble, no matter how slight it seems.

7. Never tip badly on a first date. Enough of us out there have worked in the service industry for this to be a deal breaker. This applies doubly for the lesbian community. You know all those shorthaired spoken word artists, folk singers, yoga teachers and queer youth activists? How do you think they pay their bills? Even if their poetry or downward-facing dogs are winning the bread these days, I guarantee you all those women had to pay their bills, at one time or another, making cocktails or cappuccinos for someone, somewhere down the road. So treat the industry descendents well. Women will notice these things. If you just can’t find the legitimacy in tipping well out of compassion, respect, or general decency, I’m sure you’ll at least be motivated by sex. It’s also good to notice how your date is treating the wait staff, as it can be very telling of her future habits.

8. Smile and thank them. Be nice. Friendliness is free and makes everyone’s day easier, no matter what.