For students who do not know proper tiping etiquette for eating at places other than Sykes or the caf, here are some rules to go by. Yes, tipping is considered “helping” out the server or delivery person, the “Iʼm doing them a favor” act, but there is something you should know. In Pennsylvania, the average salary for restaurant servers and bartenders is $2.83 an hour. A serverʼs hourly wage is a big misconception, since most people assume that servers and bartenders are making minimum wage which is $5.15 per hour.
When tipping a server or bartender, a person should leave 15 to 20 percent. The average tip is 18 percent. Some servers and bartenders may surprise you and be excellent, attending to all of your needs and you might leave them a great tip, but letʼs face it: everyone has experienced a dining incident where you swear you had the worst server ever. If thatʼs the case, then leave what you believe they deserve. Many people tend to blame a server when a meal or drink isnʼt made right away or doesnʼt taste the way they expect it to taste.
Customers should remember that the servers only serves the food and the drinks; they donʼt make them. If you feel there is a problem with your meal, or with the service then you should get a manager and they will be able to handle the situation. Yelling at the server doesnʼt make the problem go away. When it comes to food deliveries, such as the pizza and Chinese food, it is polite to leave $2 to $5 for the service. Many of delivery people work long hours and weekends, travel far and sometimes go through extreme weather conditions to make sure you get your food.
So consider while you are at a restaurant enjoying a meal or waiting for your food to be delivered to your house on a Friday or Saturday night, that the person who is catering to you is away from their friends and family trying to support themselves. Not to mention there are a number of WCU students who work in the numerous restaurants found in the area.
The next time you go out to eat, you might want to give a few more dollars to a server or delivery person, because tipping is an important thing to deal with when dining in or out and servers and bartenders understand that it is a voluntary act.
If you are a person who isnʼt so keen on tipping for service, then maybe sticking to the cafeteria isnʼt such a bad idea after all.