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It's Friday night, and you've decided to go out to eat at the local diner with your spouse.
When you arrive, you are promptly seated and given menus. Within the first minute, you're greeted by your server.
When she returns to the table with your drinks, she asks if you have any questions about the menu, or are ready to order. She takes the order back to the kitchen, and within 15-20 minutes, your meal is served.
She checks back to make sure everything is correct with the order, and that you have everything you need. When she sees you are finished, she takes your dirty plates, offers dessert and brings the check.
All in all, it's a very pleasant evening.
After you leave, in some restaurants, the server cleans and resets the table as well. During a server shift, there are a variety of other jobs that have to be carried out.
Prepping little souffle cups of sauces and salad dressings, filling salt and pepper and sugar caddies, refilling ice, changing soda syrups out, vacuuming, polishing silverware and rolling it. Restocking everything from straws to printer paper.
In non-corporate restaurants, the servers even have to clean the bathrooms at the end of the night.
Studies have found that waitressing is one of the most stressful and unhealthy jobs in America.
Servers have a 22% higher chance of having a stroke. If you're a female, the risk goes up to 33%.
Servers experience much higher rates of back problems, muscle injury, slip and falls, varicose veins from constant standing, cuts from slicing fruit, burns, and many suffer poor digestive health due to poor diet. Servers also experience higher rates of alcoholism and smoking.
That all leads me to talk about tipping.
The recommended tip for "average" service is 15%, it is 18% or more for above average service, and 20% or more for excellent service and parties of six or more.
I consider myself to be an above average-excellent server. Sometimes I will have a table to thank me profusely for my excellent service, and then proceed to leave 14%.
Sometimes, I feel like my tip gets docked for every minute that the food takes longer to come out of the kitchen, even though I have zero control over the cooks.
In most cases, servers only get paid $2.13 per hour because they are expected to make most of their income in tips.
Most everyone has a cell phone these days with a calculator on it. If you are having trouble calculating how much you want to tip, you can use this formula.
They say that even if you've had poor service, you should leave at least 10%.
That reminds me of tipping on carry-out. The recommended tip for picking up to-go food is 10%.
The person taking the order, bagging it with all the extras, and then ringing you up is usually only making a tipped employee wage -- $2.13 an hour.
If you have poor service, do not be afraid to let your server know why they are receiving a low tip. They can't correct their mistakes if they don't know they're making them.
I hope everyone has great service when you next dine out, and that this helps you when calculating how much to tip and when.
(Cordy Jenkins resides in Altoona.)