Haitian Beatz

Tipping…A reader wrote me last month asking my advice on tipping at restaurants. I thought that would make a great topic for this week’s article because there are so many different schools of thought on the subject.

Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, you will not have to hear them all. You get the pleasure of hearing (well, reading), my take on the matter. I remember going to Haitian restaurants in Brooklyn with my dad after he was done with work, and he would never leave a restaurant without tipping. Even if he ordered take out. And I would always ask him why he did that. He would look at me and say, “That lady has probably been standing there all day, li gen pitit poul bay manje, and she’s probably only making $150 a week, working 6 days and 12 hour shifts.”  I have always remembered that and later really understood that tips is the life blood of the server.

Tipping for a job done…Decent
I’ll occasionally hear someone say a customer should only tip for great service rendered. Well, that indeed is partially true, but not completely. Think about it.  When you think of the industries that we associate with tipping, are we necessarily tipping for GREAT service? Often time it is simply for service rendered in the most of basic manner. Think about this: When you tip a cab driver, are you really tipping the cab driver for his great speed? his great conversational skills? or his skillful way of avoiding killing you while in his cab? Probably not. You are most likely tipping him for a service rendered satisfactorily. And that is ok in my opinion.