A strange topic for today, but it's been milling around in the back of my head. I went out to eat last night, and as I got ready to pay the bill, I had to make sure that I had enough cash to leave a tip. That got me to thinking about the tip. Y'know, it would be okay if the tip were a bonus that I am leaving for the waiter or waitress for a job well done. It occurs to me that the wait staff gets paid less than minimum wage, and that I'm expected to pick up the rest. That doesn't really seem fair does it?!? That's a lot of pressure for me! Now I have to decide just how good a job this person did, and how much I'm going to pay them. I understand the whole "incentive to be a good waiter or waitress" concept, but hey, shouldn't they get a bonus for doing great service?!? As it is they can get paid two or three bucks below minimum wage, and if I leave them a two or three dollar tip, I'm not really rewarding them for doing a great job, I'm just getting them up to minimum wage level! And how much to leave? Oh, this is a never ending debate in my brain. Fifteen percent? No, that doesn't look like enough, I'll leave another couple of dollars. DOH! Now that's too much, they weren't that good! I'll just take a dollar of that back. DOH! Now it doesn't look like enough, they weren't that bad! And no matter what I leave, I always feel guilty that I didn't leave enough.

So if you wait a table on me, I promise I have put way too much thought into how much tip I leave you. If you think it's too little, I'm sorry, I'm not too good with math. If you think it's too much, maybe it's finally a little bonus for you!  ¶ 4/17/2003