A distressing part of people feeling the crunch of rising energy and food costs is that when they go out to eat they are not tipping as well as they were a couple of years ago. Servers are reporting a decline in tip income. This does not reflect the decline in traffic that many mid and upscale restaurants are experiencing but an actual decrease in per customer tips. This means people are getting stingy with the tip money. Of all the areas I encourage people to cut back this is not one of them.
The rules that I use are that if a person gives average service they get 15%, above average 20%. below average 10% (even though I am always tempted to leave 2 pennies). If someone give amazing service and goes well beyond the call of duty I will tip 25%. This rarely happens so I have to really be wowed to get to that point.
To some this method seems stingy and others it will seem excessive, but having been a server in the past and with a few friends still in the profession I find that these percentages are what is expected from the industry. The tips these individuals receive is their real income. Their hourly wage is very low and basically takes care of the taxes they have to pay and nothing more. So next time you go cheap on the tip remember you are hurting the person that has been working hard to keep you happy.
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