Restaurant Etiquette

It should be law that before you're able to eat at a restaurant, you must work in one. A lot of folks knock servers and bartenders, but these are my people!

My mom supported our family and helped put my dad through art school by waiting tables. My sister started her own catering company and bartended several times a week to ensure her daughter never wanted for anything. Bartending afforded me the opportunity to make oodles of money without a degree, something that was not ideal, but necessary for a time.

Even though I no longer work in the industry, I hold a special affection for my tribe. These are people who work their tails off for rude, ungrateful strangers. Restaurant and Bar staff, both in the front and the back of the house work crazy-long hours for little return. Customers expect hand-over-feet service, but won't even look you in the eyes when they talk to you or say a simple "Please" or "Thank you".

Some will argue that servers and bartenders are entitled, expecting customers to tip them heavily regardless of the level of service they receive. While this may be true in one sense, the reality is that more often than not, servers get zero-dollar paychecks. Which means that that 2-dollar tip you left might as well have been nothing. I'm not implying it's your responsibility to pay their salary, but tipping is a part of going out to eat. You don't have to lift a finger to get food plopped in front of you, but you do need to consider tipping for that privilege.

For those of you who don't agree with me, try waiting tables for a month and then I'd love to hear you out...The late nights, the perverts and drunks, the swollen ankles and aching feet...the good ones deserve every penny of that 20% tip (and I've got the varicose veins to prove it!).