Thank you for your gratuity!

Man, has it been a while since I have posted or more like ranted about something at work. But once again something has come across my attention to discuss about in my blog. Today I want to take about included gratuity on checks, me personally even if I wasn't a server, see nothing wrong when this is added on big parties or even on any check, regardless how many guests there are.

Recently, my workplace has reinstated included 18% gratuity on parties of 6 or more. I am not gonna lie I wanted to celebrate when I heard this great news!!! It sucks working so hard and running around like crazy for big parties and sometimes getting less than 10% on their extremely high bill. That is not ok and for those that do do that deserve to have the tip included.

Some people get mad when they see it on there, but why get mad when that is one less thing that you have to worry about. One less thing you have to decide and have to add up, its easier and less of a burden. Well, that is how I see it! I have been out with a group of friends and when they add the gratuity I don't get mad, I sign my check, if they were great, I even add more to the tip. 

I am not one to b*tch, but us servers work hard for our money, and if you don't know we don't make minimum wage on our paychecks. FYI, as of today, servers get paid $4.65/hr. That is not enough to pay any bills if you don't tip correctly. So leaving nothing means I make nothing. Every two weeks I am lucky to make $100 on my paycheck, EVERY TWO WEEKS!!!!! For those of you that can't do that math that is $50/week. You can't pay anything with that, actually I would be living on the street with that kind of money! 

So including gratuity on big parties does help a bit for me, and I couldn't be happier to have it back. It would be nice to have it included on every check, like some big companies do, especially in Florida. That's the thing about living and working here, this is a tourist location, many people travel here on vacation from other countries and don't understand our tipping procedures, so why not help them out??? Instead of us getting mad because they don't do their research prior to visiting another country and don't know the correct tipping procedures, I believe we should just include it so we can avoid that problem, and avoid us not making the money we need to make. That is just my opinion, so please don't shoot me, everyone is entitled to one.

Another thing I would like to discuss is people that dispute the fact of double tipping. Double tipping is when a check has gratuity already added to it and the customer adds more tip on top. I am no ones mother, if you don't take the time to look thru your bill and see that the tip was already added, why is that my fault??? Some restaurants menus state that tip will be included and the bill/check itself shows that the tip is included. I am not responsible to have to tell you that it is on there. If you ask me, I will answer you truthfully and tell you it is, but I will not bring it up to you. Before we added the gratuity to big parties, we were not allowed to tell you that gratuity was not included but if you asked me I would say it wasn't. It was also printed on the bill/check that it wasn't. So if you were to read it and see it you would know, but I was not allowed to point it out to you, so why is it any different now that it is on there??? So check your bill when it arrives and if you're in a rush you can't get mad that you double tipped, that's on you! Just saying!

Lets be generous and show respect when it comes to tipping your servers. Some don't deserve much because some servers are lazy and suck!!!! But for those that are hardworking especially running around because you are so needy, leave a good tip (18%+).