Renegade Blogger

We seem to be living in an age of tips. The new suggested tip for a waiter is twenty percent, your paper deliverer asks for a tip around the holidays, the concession stands at sporting events have a cup set out and other restaurants have tip jars placed prominently by the register. I wont knock these tip jars; I myself have walked home some nights with 15 plus dollars in cash just from my tip jar. However for myself and many of the other recipients of these tips its different than the traditional waiter tips. Waiters aren’t paid minimum wage. They rely on the tips to make up the difference (kinda shitty if you ask me); with wait staff I have no problem with tipping 20+ but for me, the guys behind the counter at Caribou and at Brugers Bagels, its different. Traditionally we get paid at least minimum wage, if not more and, well, yeah, those extra few bucks do make a big difference when the checks are distributed. Seeing a check for the hundreds as opposed to the tens would.

In my opinion two types of people have brought about this age of tips. Those that are greedy and want you, the customer to think that they aren’t paid minimum wage and just want your money. Then there are those that simply are looking for a little thanks and a little extra to take home at the end of the night. Like me, there have been times that I expect to hear the clink of money in the jar, and when I do I know its time to take a step back and say “hey, your getting paid a nice chunk of change, tips should be like the icing on those cupcakes over there, more than enough.” Like we were taught, you must not expect or want something and then it will come your way. Taoist? It’s when I find myself forgetting about that jar and just helping the customer that I end up hearing the clink of change in the glass jar. So if you ever do stop by a service place and see a tip jar and cant decide. Just take a step back and think: they help you out?