I did waitress work for a lot of years. It’s not always easy to be pleasant all the time, but if you depend on tips then it’s pretty obvious you have to be. I have had people walk out without paying their bills, Thank God I worked at places that don’t make you responsible for it, but if you make a mistake in pricing then look out there goes your tips for the night.

You may be surprised to know that people still do not know how to tip. Tip stands for To Insure Promptness by the way. I always liked it when people did tip me at the beginning, some do to make sure they get excellent service, but I always gave everyone good service even when I knew they were lousy tippers because I figured sooner or later they would come around to my way of thinking and leave a decent tip.

I feel sorry for waitresses because they are in the middle. If someone doesn’t like their food and sends it back the chef blames you and fusses and the customer is already ticked and blames you and you did nothing but serve the stupid horrible food. Believe me I learned to recommend certain foods after that happened to me several times and if they ordered something different than I suggested and didn’t like it then believe me I refused to take any blame. I would then tell them to hold on I would get the manager for them and I let the manager in the middle instead of me.

I was waiting on 2 couples one night and they were very well dressed and you could tell by the way they talked that they thought they had class. They ordered 2 bottles of wine, had expensive appetizers, then ate their Lobster and steak dinners , had dessert and coffee and after dinner drinks. I thought well this will be a nice gratuity, but guess what?

When he paid the bill he handed me a quarter and told me he couldn’t afford a tip because he had just bought a new car. I almost laughed in his face because it was hilarious, it pays to have a good sense of humor sometimes otherwise you might cry and I hate to cry. At any rate I usually just  chalk that kind of stuff up to stupidity. This night  I smiled at him kindly and told him it looked like he needed the quarter more than me and thanked him for his business and  turned and walked away.

You can never judge a book by it’s cover. I have had very poor looking people with no couth leave fantastic tips. To my way of thinking, If you can’t afford a tip go to a fast food place. However if your not going to tip please do not try to monopolize my time. I have to make a living by waiting on people that do leave that 20 percent. After all the Government says I make at least 8% gratuity on all food sold and taxes me. The nice people that do tip make up for the ones that don’t so things usually equal out.

I had a nice young man in Reno sit at my booth and he apologized for taking up my space for a grill cheese and a glass of water. We were pretty busy and the faster you can turn over the people the more money you make. I assured him it was perfectly okay. I really wasn’t expecting a tip, but there laid 2 nickels, a dime and five pennies and a picture drawn on a napkin of me with the words, I wish I had more money to leave for a tip because you are a very good waitress. That was one of the best tips I ever received. I still have that napkin tucked away.