Tipping Etiquette in Restaurants

Tipping etiquette in restaurants, plenty of articles have been written about it in travel magazines, newspapers, etc., but still many people do not know, or simply do not care, how to tip out at a restaurant. How do I know this? Because this mommy blogger is a waitress. I have been a waitress for over 10 years and love doing it. The shifts are relatively short, for the most part the customers are great, and, most importantly, the job goes around my children's schedules.

For some reason or other, the base pay for waiters and waitresses has not increased over a decade or more. The majority of us are only receiving $2.00+ an hour to serve you and your friends or family a meal of your liking. Surprisingly, when my husband goes to work and chats with some of his co-workers, they find this hard to believe, as they assume waiters and waitresses are making at least minimum wage; this may be the case in other countries but this is not so in the states.

So how should folks who are dining out tip their server? If you felt your waiter/waitress did a superb job, you will want to leave them 18% or more of your bill total. If you feel the service you received was less than superb but not a total disaster, you would consider leaving maybe 10%-15%, and if you feel the server totally sucked and you never want him or her to serve you again, consider leaving 5% for their effort in at least trying. The only way a waiter or waitress can know how they truly perform is by the gratuities received by their customers.