Saturday, February 16, 2013

A Tip With a Smile

Trey Smith

Worry about drones, about lawyers for the president arguing they can kill Americans anywhere and for basically any reason, worry about all of that and everything else besides...but real change comes in small doses, and actual kindness happens within reach of your arm.

Want to help the workers? The economy? The whole country?

Tip your server, don't be a jackass about it, and worry about the rest of the world after you do what is right within reach of your arm. Maybe, if you're really interested in helping your community, work towards establishing higher wages for the people who bring you food when you go out to eat; there are thousands of them right where you live. First things first; if you shaft the person making slave wages who feeds you and then go home to whine on Facebook about the poor, poor people from somewhere else, you're as much a part of the problem as the people in Washington dropping bombs and deploying drones.
~ from Tip Your Server and Save the World by William Rivers Pitt ~
Pitt makes a great point. We too often look toward all the big things that need changing. We grouse about Wall Street, drones, civil liberties and war. We complain about the federal government and Congress. We rail against our governor or mayor. Most of these aspects of life involve actions that singular individuals really can't do much about.

There are things we can do in our routine lives that can make a world of difference to the people we come in contact with. Being cheerful is one of these. Bringing a smile or a laugh to another person's face can make an otherwise bad day seem not so bad. Tipping hardworking food service workers is another way to show appreciation and that we care.

When Della and I go out to eat we almost always tip. About the only time we don't is when the service is atrocious. If the waitress/waiter does the bare minimum, we leave the customary 15% tip. If our severs do a good job, we sometimes tip as high as 25 - 30%.

We understand that most food service workers make little more than minimum wage. They bust their butts all day long and yet many of them can barely feed their own families. Without receiving a good number of tips, it's very hard for them to keep a positive attitude. Who can blame them!

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