Busting the Myth That Christians Are More Generous Than Non-Believers

[Heddi]

89. My Mom & Grandmom (both non-church goers) are awful tippers

So much so that I won't go out to eat with them. Not a problem since we live 3,000 miles away but when we *did* live close it was embarassing.

We had gone to a chinese buffet place. Okay, I get it, the server isn't taking an order and bringing it and all that, but it's not like they get a better salary because they work in a buffet. THey still get the same $2.15 or whatever an hour and live on tips.

So it was me, Mr. Heddi, my mom & her boyfriend, and my grandmother. SO 5 people, and they're smoking and getting tea refills every 3 seconds and hey, we're a fat family (except for my husband), it was crab legs on the buffet so lots of dirty dishes.

Bill comes and granny pays for her & my mom & her boyfriend. Goes to leave a $3 on a $50 bill. I was SO LIVID. I said "you can't leave $3" and they're like "Well all she did was bring us tea" I said that it didn't matter, she still got less than $3 an hour and lived on tips. My grandmother said "Well if I had to pay more than a dollar I couldn't afford to go out to eat" I said WELL THEN DON'T GO OUT TO EAT.

They wouldn't budge, and then my mom tried to be all dramatic "here, let me write her a check for her monthly rent..." I told them not to bother and covered their portion of the tip, as well as ours.

It was so embarrassing and variations of this has happened in other non-buffet places. "Oh well she only gets a dollar because it took her 8 seconds to refill my iced tea"

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Last night my husband and I went out to a pub. Got some cole slaw and fries to go and had a few beers. 2 of the beers were on the server because we tip NEVER less than 30%, and we always round up. If 30% tip is say $8, and I don't have any 1's but a 10 or 2 5's, they'll get $10. It's just good manners. And we're treated nicely with good service and comp beers. SO when we got the bill, I knew she knocked 2 beers off and so the tip she got was on what the total bill WOULD have been, not what it was.

Another bar we used to go to, we would tip way good and get comped usually 1/2 of everythign we drank. But again, we tipped based on what the bill would have been without the comps. So every free beer I get, the waiter gets $2. It's good for him/her and it's good for me. My bill in the end is still cheaper but they're not getting less of a tip because of the comp. It's only fair

i used to be a server, and I got many $0.00 paychecks at the end of the week because everything was eaten in taxes. And I had to split my tips with the bussers (who got minimum wage) and the cooks (who got minimum wage) and the bartender (who got minimum wage PLUS his own tips he got to keep to himself and not split) and it's hard fucking living.

My husband and I are both nurses and we make a decent salary, and I can afford to be generous with tips with the waitstaff. It's only fair, I think. I'm not going to miss that extra $2 bringing an $8 to $10, but it can help them out. SO I do it. Maybe one day my income will not be what it is and I'll have to go back to regular old 20% but I'm happy to pay extra to make up for the people who pay nothing, or leave $1 or pennies or a Jack CHick tract.