Earn it don't ask for it

Photo: Contributed

Thanks again to all of you who keep sending me your personal beef and please keep them coming!  This week I want to go into detail on a topic I mentioned in my very first column.  I am noticing more and more that retail outlets and fast food chains are asking for TIPS and I can’t figure out why.  Sure you want to make a little more money while at work but what ever happened to earning a TIP and not asking for it?  I also don’t understand the sense of entitlement that employees have by putting out these TIP jars and expecting us to give them money for doing nothing more than the job they agreed a long time ago was worth x-amount of dollars per hour in the first place.  Should you not be doing something that goes above and beyond in order to earn extra money, not simply doing your job and expecting us to just give you our hard earned cash?

Let’s go back to where the word TIP came from and as far as I know it is actually an acronym meaning, To Insure Promptness (or To Insure Prompt Service).  A TIP is something we give to a server when they have made our experience at their establishment one to remember.  They earn this by taking our orders correctly, getting our orders out to the table promptly and making our overall experience an enjoyable one by doing pretty much anything we ask (within reason).  Servers and bartenders also have the added responsibility of making sure we are being responsible with our alcohol consumption and getting a safe ride home which again I feel is worthy of a TIP when done properly.  Please notice servers do not ever ask for a TIP and if you feel that they did not earn one you DO NOT have to give them one, although I think they more often than not earn one.  Back to my point, THEY EARN IT and DON’T ASK FOR IT!

Other services can also earn a TIP by doing more than expected, for example the company you pay to cut your grass each week might fix that dead bush in the corner of your yard you have been meaning to take care of but never get around to.  That is what I call going above and beyond and that is what it takes to EARN a TIP.  I don’t flick the Walmart greeter a loonie every time I walk into the store and he/she says “hello” to me, because they are simply doing their job.  Perhaps if I needed directions or assistance of some sort and they were incredibly helpful I might offer them a little something to show my appreciation.

My point is simple, you don’t get money for nothing and just because you are asking for it does not mean you will be getting if from me.  I still believe that you need to earn my TIP and simply by asking for money without doing anything more than the job you were hired to do is offensive and something I hope will change soon!  Have some class and if the job you have is not paying you enough then find one that will.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.