'Sundays Are The Worst' Website Urges Christians To Tip Better

As it turns out, at least one formal study has actually been conducted regarding Christian tipping practices:

http://tippingresearch.com/uploads/ChristianTippersJASPaccepted.pdf

Some excerpts from the Conclusions section (starting on page 11):

“[T] he average Christian tips 17 percent of the bill when receiving good restaurant service and only 13 out of 100 Christians receiving good service leave a tip below 15 percent of the bill.”

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“From a practical perspective, the results of this study indicate that Christians and church goers are not particularly bad tippers.”

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“Sometimes, servers’ perceptions that Christians tip badly are undoubtedly biased and without strong foundation.”

Most of the restaurants that my family frequents have a tip-sharing pot policy (I always ask). Regardless of service, I’m much more likely to tip minimum standard in such a place if it is not going exclusively to the specific wait staff person I wish to reward.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/27/news/economy/obamacare-restaurants/

All Obamacare surcharges will reduce the tip by the amount of the surcharge

I pay for my health insurance insurance … .but not for the other guy’s (the tax bracket I’m in, I’m sure I am paying for several anyway)

[Wayne Wilson]

In our culture, it’s customary to leave a tip of 15-20% for adequate service at a sitdown restaurant where someone comes to you to bring food, fill drinks, and see if you need anything. People that don’t do this are considered tightwads, skinflint’s, and regarded as someone pretty close to Ebenezer Scrooge. The servers know what is customary and they do pay attention and they do talk about it.​

I drive an airport shuttle van, picking folks up at their homes or businesses and transporting them at least 90 miles to the intnl airport.

Surprised when folks don’t realize we are in essence a cab service.

Europeans and other intnl passengers do not tip as a rule, and students seldom tip (spring break this week so tips are down).

I refuse tips from folks I know are missionaries.

[Chip Van Emmerik]

FYI - the pizza delivery person is only making $4 or so, at least, Papa John’s paid me $4.30 an hour on the road. But the delivery person is usually spending 20-30 minutes per delivery while the waitress is waiting 6-8 tables that turn over every hour. Pizza guy is lucky to get 3 customers an hour while the waitress has twice that. Also, the pizza guy has to own and maintain a car, with proof of insurance, to even get hired after which he pays $3.30 a gallon (here in AZ) for gas while working in the elements. The waitress on the other hand works in a climate controlled environment where she can walk, bike, carpool or ride the bus to work. All I’m saying is, take care of your pizza guy too, or go get your own pizza.

Thanks for this. As someone who has worked off and on (currently on, part time) as a pizza delivery person for about 6 years, I can tell you from personal experience that not necessarily all Christians are bad tippers, but a lot of them are. Those that are more obvious about their Christianity (signs on the door, bumper stickers, etc.) are more likely not to tip. And churches are often terrible. There are exceptions, of course, but a delivery to a church is almost a guarantee for nothing or a couple of bucks if it is a big order. Baptist churches are worse than other evangelical/Protestant churches, but not as bad as Pentecostal/non-denoms.

Obviously it would be ideal if we were paid enough that we did not have to rely on tips for our living, but that is the world we live in. The main purpose of the tip arrangement is to keep menu prices artificially low. This is really true in the pizza business, where prices have gone down over the past 5 years. Tipping really has nothing to do with whether or not the server “earned” it. It has everything to do with grace.

Thanks for the reminder on shuttles, JohnBrian. I have taken those kind of services so rarely in my life that I really hadn’t realized that it is customary to tip the drivers. We made it a point to tip the people who picked us up and dropped us off at the airport to get our rental van we used while at Shepherds’ Conference. I would have felt bad if I didn’t know (one of the other pastors in my group told me).

Serious question- What are other people or settings where we should tip?

I usually give the garbage man a Christmas gift if that is considered tipping.

Assuming your meal comes to around $30, a 15% tip is $4.50. An 18+% tip is $5.50. It’s only a buck to you and I, but as someone who used to work as a waiter I can tell you it is much more encouraging to receive a tip of 18%. You feel appreciated, and appreciative of their kindness for only four quarters extra. Let me tell you, you are being a testimony when you talk about Christ and then show that little bit of additional kindness. It’s worth it,you’ll make someone’s day… and maybe we can reverse this image of being cheap…

have worked in the service industry – pizza driver, waiter, and bartender. And I too am of the opinion that those who wear their “Christianity” on their sleeves are less likely to tip (in fact, probably not at all). I could give anecdote after anecdote, but I’ll limit myself to one. I delivered a large quantity of pizzas to a church. I wasn’t expecting a tip, that’s par for the course. What made this delivery “special” was that after the pastor handed me a check for the exact amount, he said, “We gave your tip to God.” To which, and I was an unbeliever at this point, responded, “Will you send him my car note, too?” By the time I got back to the store, the pastor had called and complained about the rude and irreverent delivery driver.

It may be anecdotal, but every single service industry employee I’ve worked with or know say the same thing – Sundays are the worst days to work if you’re working for tips. And, it doesn’t matter what the cost of meal is. Or the type of restaurant. Or the region of the country. Church goers across the country have a well-earned reputation of being bad tippers. They do leave a lot of tracts, so that makes up for it. Right?

FYI – and this deserves more fleshing out than I’m going to attempt, there is more to tipping than simply “did I get good service or not?” A server would pretty much have to punch me in the face before I tip below 20%. There are things that you the customer have no idea about. What may look like bad service to you, may simply be a short-staffed kitchen, something the server can’t do anything about, and generally is not allowed to tell the customer. Or, the server may be a single mom who had stayed up the entire previous night with a sick child and is stressed about the well-being of her child and how she’s going to pay for the medicine. You don’t know what’s going on. Plus, the IRS taxes servers a percentage of their covers to begin with. If you tip under that % (I don’t know what it is anymore), you’re stealing from the server.

I was a waiter for almost five years.

• It’s absolutely true that Christians had the reputation of not tipping well. Normally the wait staff would prefer non-smoking to smoking sections, because they would get better tips…except on Sundays, because there was a higher chance your customer in the non-smoking section would be a Christian (not that Christians would be in the smoking section on other days, just that a higher percentage of them were in the restaurant on Sundays, in the non-smoking sections…I think you know what I mean :) ).
• When the GARBC conference came to town, there were a lot of complaints about how bad the tipping was.
• The worst, of course, is when a tract is left. If you don’t leave a very generous tip when you leave a tract, it will go immediately in the garbage, probably accompanied by an angry comment.
• I agree that the difference between a decent tip and a great tip is usually just around a dollar, so does it really hurt to skimp when instead of leaving a bad impression or no impression, you could leave a good impression, especially when accompanied by prayer before your meal, and a smile and kindness to the waiter/waitress?
• HSAT, because I was a waiter, I tend to be fairly picky about the performance of wait staff, especially in restaurants where the waiters don’t really do much except take your order and maybe refill your drink if that. (Where I worked, I had to bring drinks out, take the order, bring bread out, bring salads out, bring the main course out, refill drinks, clear finished tableware if customers were still sitting there, and periodically check to make sure everything was OK.) If you can’t do even the bare minimum well with a smile, why should I “reward” you? I guess because of grace, huh? :)

Working since 16 - almost 50 years

I’ve never received a tip (but I’ve never been a waiter)

As I recollect I’ve never asked for a raise. I have lobbied twice for a promotion … and in both cases received it in a matter of months.

This year I received the lowest raise I’ve ever received - 1.25%

And I thanked my manager and I thanked the Lord

“godliness with contentment is great gain”

––––- Update ––––—

I have changed jobs to make more $$ - a strategy that I have used multiple times over my career

[John E.]

have worked in the service industry – pizza driver, waiter, and bartender. And I too am of the opinion that those who wear their “Christianity” on their sleeves are less likely to tip (in fact, probably not at all). I could give anecdote after anecdote, but I’ll limit myself to one. I delivered a large quantity of pizzas to a church. I wasn’t expecting a tip, that’s par for the course. What made this delivery “special” was that after the pastor handed me a check for the exact amount, he said, “We gave your tip to God.” To which, and I was an unbeliever at this point, responded, “Will you send him my car note, too?” By the time I got back to the store, the pastor had called and complained about the rude and irreverent delivery driver.

It may be anecdotal, but every single service industry employee I’ve worked with or know say the same thing – Sundays are the worst days to work if you’re working for tips. And, it doesn’t matter what the cost of meal is. Or the type of restaurant. Or the region of the country. Church goers across the country have a well-earned reputation of being bad tippers. They do leave a lot of tracts, so that makes up for it. Right?

FYI – and this deserves more fleshing out than I’m going to attempt, there is more to tipping than simply “did I get good service or not?” A server would pretty much have to punch me in the face before I tip below 20%. There are things that you the customer have no idea about. What may look like bad service to you, may simply be a short-staffed kitchen, something the server can’t do anything about, and generally is not allowed to tell the customer. Or, the server may be a single mom who had stayed up the entire previous night with a sick child and is stressed about the well-being of her child and how she’s going to pay for the medicine. You don’t know what’s going on. Plus, the IRS taxes servers a percentage of their covers to begin with. If you tip under that % (I don’t know what it is anymore), you’re stealing from the server.

Anecdotes aside, the study posted above shows that the rap on Christians tipping is urban myth. I will take studies over anecdotes any day.

Generosity is a virtue but it should not just apply to servers and service people. And by the way, people besides servers have problems and bad days.

I consider it highly ironic that Christians get beat up on this issue in large part by people whose entire charitable giving for the year probably consists of a few hundred dollars in extra tips, etc. If you (like most of us) actually give away a substantial part of your income to your church, I would not lose sleep over your tipping percentage.

DLCreed,

I do normally tip above 15%. But more than that, we have had more than one food-worker who we have carried on lengthy friendships with, even giving a Christmas bonus, cards, baked cookies for, etc. But my point is, we do tip partially based on performance. Merit based pay is something that is found in most places of employment. If I am trying to choke down my meal and had to finally resort to sucking on my straw in an empty glass so loudly that other patrons hear it, but the table server still doesn’t, then why would I reward such terrible service with a generous tip? I recall once being seated at a Friendly’s (ironic) once, and after 25 minutes, we still had not been offered anything to drink and no one had taken our order. So we got up and left. Should we have left a tip? Well, I guess 15-18% of $0.00 would be $0, but you get my point.

Even though you took exception to my post, I do think there is a place for resisting the entitlement mentality that is out there. No one is entitled to receive pay for no work.

Keep in mind, servers make far below minimum wage in pay, so they depend on tips to make a livable wage. Whether that is the best way or even a valid way to do in your eyes is beside the point; that is just the way it is, right or wrong.