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This reminds me of the time a woman wrote to Dear Abby happy that by leaving Bible verses instead of tips, they saved enough to buy a nice RV...While I am a firm believer in God and all, I REFUSE to do this to a working person (As I am one also) and that this is a mean way to spread the message of love...
Um, no, the best way would have been to just leave a cash tip. No tracts of some silly "Word" with it. Would you like a pamphlet on Islam or Wicca or Buddhism as your "tip" if you were a server? Didn't think so.
I'd have kept the cash, tossed the note..really simple.....
Many centuries ago when I was in my twenties, I was a waitress. I would have found this insulting. I would rather be left no tip at all than someone leave me their religious dogma. That is the height of conceit, rudeness and bad manners.
People who are fulfilling the Great Commission are not playing practical jokes, they are trying to spread the Word. Unfortunately, this particular person did it in a way that would be off-putting, rather than encouraging, to a potential believer.
The best way would have been to leave a cash tip along with the tract.
Or, the server can work elsewhere. It's the price you pay for being a server. Sometimes you get a 30% tip. Sometimes you get stiffed. I doubt he goes on FB when he gets more than 20%, in an effort to return the tip that he feels is "too much". Right?
I don't know if you realize this, but the government assumes some made up minimal amount of tips when calculating taxes that people owe in a business where a large percentage of their income is tips.
So even if a waiter got no tips at all for a year, they would still be responsible for taxes on that minimal tip amount.
In other words, when people leave no tips, the waiter is actually paying out of his pocket.
Like it or not, the restaurant industry is set up in such a way that tips are not optional, they are expected.
As I said, in my time waiting tables, it worked out OK in the end. I wouldn't want to make a career out of this, but I could make relatively decent money while going to school full time and still getting a day off every week.
Usually the way I tip, I estimate 15% of the bill and round it up to the nearest dollar. Always up. It was considered fair in my day and I don't see why it's not fair now.
If the service is really good, it's 18-20%.
If the service is lackluster, 10%.
If the service is really bad, I would let the manager know. But more often, I'd just pay my 10% and leave a review on Yelp.
Leaving a tip of less than 15% for good service is stingy.
I do have a deeply religious Catholic friend who's normally a very nice, generous individual yet a terrible tipper. I don't know if that has anything to do with him being religious.
I don't know if you realize this, but the government assumes some made up minimal amount of tips when calculating taxes that people owe in a business where a large percentage of their income is tips.
So even if a waiter got no tips at all for a year, they would still be responsible for taxes on that minimal tip amount.
In other words, when people leave no tips, the waiter is actually paying out of his pocket.
Like it or not, the restaurant industry is set up in such a way that tips are not optional, they are expected.
The government can only assume the income reported to them by the employing establishment, the employing establishment reports income based on what the server tells them they make. There is no formula the government uses to screw tipped employees. If there is I would request that you paste a copy of that law so that I may correct my own understanding of how income taxes work.
As someone who has been a server in some form or another for almost two decades, I have never experienced a tax law like this when filing my taxes. This is a misconception by people who don't understand the law. The government only taxes servers on what they claim in tips plus their scant hourly wages. The hourly wages are designed to cover the income tax/fica amounts deducted from their incomes.
If they claim they make less than minimum wage the employing establishment must make up the difference. A servers income is basically on the honor system for them to report what they make. The less they make the less they have withheld from their hourly wages, the more they bring home on their pay check. There is clear incentive for people who work in tipped industries to underclaim their wages. It has been a widespread practice amongst tipped employees for as long as there have been income taxes. It has become less easy in the age of electronic payment as credit tips are trackable.
It probably made the news in that it's illegal to print fake bills that size. The government will go and shut down the printing company that did it.
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