If you can afford to Eat, you can afford to TIP

Picture this scene, you are out with your family for a great meal. There is great food, great atmosphere and your always satisfied with what you want and need. This is in part to your family, but more often than not the person that pulls this great evening together is your server. We are not just there for the money, rather those of us who are career servers are not just in it for the money. As I said yesterday the majority of server’s in this cities industry are in it for the money. But overall those of us who make your experience a night to remember are there for you, of course expecting the tip but we enjoy our jobs.

However I digress, as I usually do. So the magical scene above was brought to you by your server. We are the ones who suggest appetizers, help you with your entree selections and answer any questions anyone has, about the restaurant, menu and even the city. So after all is said and done when we bring that bill and you tell us that we made you night great. That is what we are there for. However if I go to the table to grab your payment and/or run your credit/debit cards I am also expecting a tip.

For those that are out of the loop, the old standard for tipping in Canada was 10% however due to the high cost of living in most major cities here in Canada and especially Calgary. The new standard of tipping is 15%. Also one of the reasons for this is that most restaurants have an automatic tip out to the kitchen and support team. Which is around 4%. Therefore if you leave me 10% I only make 6%. So if I make 500$ for the restaurant and my 10% should make me 50$. So if I am only making 6% after my tip out I make 30$, not really what I am there for eh.

So in the end if you tell me how great my service was and how much you enjoyed the food, if you come up and leave me 10% or for those of you assholes that leave nothing even after you tell me my service is great. I could almost care less, because my tips are my paycheque.

So for everyone that goes out, if you can afford to eat, you can afford to tip. So don’t screw your server and if you do screw you.

Explanation of the Blog

Ok so here it is my very first blog entry about my life as a server, and really to be honest about it my life here in Calgary. This city is a tepid sewer for those people who know from friends or family members that this is a great industry to make money in. However about 95% of the people are in this industry for the wrong reasons and quiet frankly the suck.

However I digress, so I was told by a couple of friends after they started to read the Waiter’s Rant (found here http://waiterrant.net/) that I read, that they thought my stories were better and that I should start to post my stories and insight into the industry. So after a couple of weeks of consideration and telling them that I was going to do it I found the media to do it with and here I am.

A little history or clearing up for those of you who are in different parts of the world than in this crazy job shorted city that we call Calgary. In the past few years this city has had a boom of people leaving it starving for people to staff all sectors of industry, from retail, business, drilling and restaurants. Therefore the people that do get the jobs in said industries are really just warm bodies to fill the position.

Let us take a look at the restaurant industry, seeing as how this is where I focus. As I was saying above 95% of the people that are in this industry, in this city, should not be in it. I have trained countless people over the last year and a half in this city and wanted to kill damn near everyone of them. The quality of people ranges from the people who ate paste in school, to those who are quiet frankly some of the best servers I have ever worked with and a few of them have taught me some things. Not to say that I am all knowing, but I am pretty good.

With the lackluster crew of real life winners that we have walking through the door every day, it is hard to still continuing working in the industry when every day the locations that I work at get a poorer and poorer reputation for service because some idiot doesn’t know he has a table because he is talking on the service line to the other staff, telling them how wasted he got last night or who is sticking it to who. Guests don’t care about that shit and neither do it, but here we are day in and day out…