Please always tip at least 15%, regardless of the service.

[LittleGirl]

81. When I was a waitress

the pay was 2.01 an hour + tips. I did this for nearly 5 yrs and some of the restaurants I worked at made us tip the bus boys out of those tips and they made minimum wage! That really hurt the bottom line for me. My weekly paychecks after tax deductions and medical was 0. Sometimes, it was in the minus column.

One couple I waited on, bolted and didn't pay for their meal and the manager nearly had my neck for it. I was so upset that I went to the hotel behind the restaurant and asked if this couple were staying there like they told me. They were not so the manager let me go on paying for their meal. It was a week night and would have cleaned me out and more to pay for their meal. I suggested that the manager not have the closing waitress have the station for their customers furthest away from the kitchen and also that maybe not give us so many clean up chores before we could punch out (also on 2.01 an hour). At the time, the minimum wage was 3.35 an hour and that was 30 yrs ago.

In fact, that's where I learned my team worker attitude and can-do service provider levels that I come to expect.