A Little Bit of Allison: Check, Please.

As many of you know, my husband and I are servers. I think I've mentioned this before, but the restaurant we work at is one of the busiest in our town. I love working there. I definitely owe it a big thanks for guiding me to my best friend/eternal companion. I love our restaurant because the people I've met there have been amazing co-workers and have taught me several life lessons in one way or another.

So, Lucas and I work at a restaurant full time. Big deal, right? A lot of people are in the serving industry. It is a great and ever growing workforce to be a part of. Some people have made it their career and are doing just fine. The money is nice for servers because you get to go home with cash every night. Sometimes you are there for short hours and make some serious cash, and sometimes you are there for long hours and make seriously-depressing cash. Either way, though, we've all seemed to have pulled through one way or another.

The purpose of this post is to educate, not offend.

It appears to be a trend that's slowly catching on to read and share articles that explain tipping. I've seen (and have even been a part of) comment threads where the debate thickened on what appropriate tipping is. The hard thing with this topic is it's so awkward! Money is always so awkward, especially when it comes to shelling it out based on your opinion of the service you received. After a great while of debating on writing this post, I finally decided it was ok to come out and explain why tipping is important, from a server's view.

I will say that this post is directly about servers/waiters/waitresses, so that is the only job code I am talking about. Anyway, depending on the state, an hourly wage for a server is anywhere from $2.00-$15.00. Let's be clear though, only a handful of states pay their servers over $5.00 an hour. In Idaho, the typical hourly pay for a server is $3.35 an hour. The assumption with giving that ridiculously low hourly wage is that you'll make up for it in tips. If you don't, however, the company won't make it up for you. Say you get 'stiffed' (def.-receiving $0.00 for a tip on a check) on every single table you serve for the entire week, you will only be getting the $3.35 for each hour you were clocked in. Period. That's it. Luckily, I have only been 'stiffed' a few select times in my two years of serving, so that hasn't happened to me. Even when we do get tips, we report all of them at the end of our shift to taxes. After taxes are taken out of these so called paychecks, we're lucky if we get more than $10.00 on payday. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but ask a server you know. It may surprise you how much money we aren't getting.

Now, with that being said, you usually can get pretty good tips if you become a good server. It takes some time, but it comes. Even when I was beginning my serving days, people would tip nicely because they took pity on the new girl. Now I've learned how to connect with my tables and they usually leave a tip between 15%-20% on their check. We servers don't try to give our guests a good time just to squeeze the last dime out of them. At least for me, I like to help my tables enjoy a dining out experience. If that means hanging around and answering their questions, or getting what they want and only showing back up when they're ready to pay, I'm fine with it. I will do the best I can to ensure guest satisfaction. (I'm starting to sound like the handbook. *yack*) Really though, your time is important to us servers. We know you've selected our restaurant and we do what we can to keep you coming back.

I can't tell you how excited I am to live in Nevada and not be confronted with the ever-looming issue of serving people I know who don't know how to tip. I once read a comment on a debate thread where the gentleman said: "You shouldn't complain because you chose to work there. If people don't want to tip you, it's probably because you did a bad job, and you chose to make that your income." He is correct in the fact that we did indeed choose to work there. My husband and I felt secure in making people's generosity our main source of surviving. We made that decision confidently, because as I said before, most of the time people tip well. If I could personally respond to said gentleman, I would tell him that yes, I did choose this job. Guess what, though? I went to school for a specified profession and came to find (after I finished it) that I make a lot more money as a server than I would have if I worked in that field. As frustrating as that was to find out, it was more frustrating to realize a job I walked into was going to be more supportive than one I worked to obtain. And while there are times that my service isn't excellent, that table chose to eat out. Here in Idaho, and even the whole country itself, it's expected to leave gratuity. The industry wouldn't function the way it does if tipping wasn't an expectation. So, yes sir, you are correct, but you may want to dine at McDonald's more often if that is how you feel about tipping. They don't expect you to tip at all! Try it out for size.

Sometimes we'll have a table where they do indeed leave a tip, but it's insulting with how low it is. A %15 tip is standard, and an average tip. That means that if your bill was $23.50, an average tip would be $3.52. You could even round down two cents and make your total bill an even $27.00. Let me emphasize that that is an average tip. That means that you weren't necessarily thrilled with the service, but it wasn't terrible and you're leaving feeling full and content with your evening. Anything above %15 is a nice tip for the server. Obviously we all enjoy the generous folk who witness our hard work and reward us for doing so.

I know that the response to posts like these are hit and miss. Some people love it and agree with it, and others strongly oppose it. I know that tipping is a touchy subject, and I know this post will not change anyone's tipping habits. My hope and goal is to open my reader's eyes when it comes to tipping. If you feel that you don't want to tip and eat out anyway, don't come in to a sit-down restaurant. Plain and simple. If you don't want to cook at home and eat a nice meal out, go for it. If you want someone to serve you by bringing you your choice of: beverage, appetizer, meal, and dessert but don't want to leave that "little extra" at the end of the evening, then chose Jack in the Box or Wendy's.

I realize that most who oppose posts like these are those who have never been a server/waiter/waitress themselves. I completely understand how you would be so confused as to why this is an issue. Instead of fighting it, try serving! It always helps an educated person broaden their horizons when they step on the other side of the fence. You never know what you may find.

Thank you for reading, and I hope this has left you with a better understanding of why tipping is important.

-Allison S. Dahl

A Little Bit of Allison: The Ones That Moved

To start off with some exciting news--Lucas got accepted to UNLV and we will be moving down there this July! Eep! I am excited and nervous and sad...all at the same time. This post will give you the inside on all of that. :)

So to add a little background to my emotions, I'll tell you about when I moved for the very first time...when I was six. We were going to be moving to my declared home of Seattle and I was more excited than anything. I got to be the girl that moved. It sounded so cool, and I knew that any new kids to my elementary school would know that I had once been there, but now I had moved. For some reason it was like a badge of honor or something to me. I'm sure that after we moved that summer a few kids might have asked, but the answer as to where I went was most likely not as glorious as I imagined it would be. But when I was six, being that person meant being important, and remembered.

With Lucas and I moving so far away from the place we've established as our own, there comes a sense of sadness that I didn't think would come. I've wanted to leave Idaho since the day we moved back. All of the friends we've made here (and even just the ones I have made) have made me come to enjoy Idaho, and I am now somewhat sad to leave. I must say it's a bittersweet feeling. The days are going by so quickly and I know our moving day will show up out of no where and I will be left wondering where the time went.

On the flip side, I am so excited to move to a big city! Las Vegas is definitely bigger than I used to think it was. We went and found our apartment last week and I was baffled that Las Vegas was more than a few blocks known as the "strip". It was really fun though, and made moving all the more real.

So after we move down to Nevada, Lucas and I will become the ones that moved at our work. There's a new class of servers right now, and I can't help but imagine future conversations. They might be talking with some of the servers we work with now, and perhaps Lucas and I will be brought up or mentioned. The newbies will want to be reminded who the servers are referring to, and that will be our identifier. "Oh you know, the ones that moved". Well, at least I hope it will be. ;)

Now as I'm older, the tagline doesn't seem so glamorous. In fact, it's almost a sad phrase. I know that there are great things in store for us down in Nevada, but I can't help but be a little sad as we leave the things we've built here in Idaho.

Thank you for reading! I have a new blog post coming soon! :)

-Allison S. Dahl