By Joe Mavretic

Two months ago, I went to a bakery for muffins. They were prepackaged and sitting in a rack beside the checkout register. I picked out two packages and put them on the counter. The clerk scanned them and turned a computer screen to me that showed the total price and indicated several tip options. One of them was no tip. I selected that one, inserted my credit card, signed with my finger, got a receipt with my bag of muffins and left. Driving home, I started thinking about those “Tip Options.” What exactly had anyone in that store done that deserved a tip? The more I thought about it, the more it grated on my mind so I began to pay attention to tipping. 

When I pick up my dry cleaning, the cashier does not ask for a tip. No one at the grocery store has ever asked for a tip…not even in the produce section where I am a picky shopper. There is no screen for an added tip at the drug store. I’ve never seen a tip option at a gas station. The nice lady at Walgreens did not ask for a tip when she gave me a  flu shot, and my dental hygienist has never expected a tip. I’ve never tipped an auto mechanic or the chaps who service our HVAC system each year. I don’t tip at Popeyes drive through or Wendy’s. 

At eat-in hamburger, chicken and barbecue joints, I stand in line to order, get my own drink, find my own seat, take my trash and tray to the garbage can and yet, when I order, I am asked if I want to add 10 percent or 15 percent or 20 percent to my tab. Who did anything that deserved a tip? The most absurd suggestion for a tip so far has been on a pre-paid “take-out-order.” 

After a month of being subjected to tipping, I decided that dine-in, full service restaurants are the only food places where I should even consider tipping. Restaurants are specific locations where people pay to sit and eat meals that are cooked and served on the premises. In North Carolina, a restaurant employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the minimum wage ($7.25). Restaurant employers must pay more than the $2.13 hourly wage if the tipped employee earns less than the credit in tips per hour, as it is the employer’s responsibility to make sure that all tipped employees earn at least the minimum wage in cash wages and tips. Foolish me, I thought tips were just for good service but tips also enable restaurant owners to use them to make up the minimum wage!

That minimum wage is part of the “Tip Guilt Trip.” You think, “If I don’t tip, the server will go hungry, or not be able to pay the rent.” Wrong…if you don’t tip, the owner must ensure that the server earns at least the minimum wage. There are all kinds of regulations and records about tips which is why there is a separate line on the check for a tip. That tip, whether suggested or not, is another part of the guilt trip. How much should I tip?

To help me decide, I decided to time how many minutes a server spent on my order from the time he first appeared at my table until I got my check. I experimented with two entrées on two different occasions with the same server at the same restaurant. One entrée cost $16 and the other $42. Both orders took within two minutes of each other but the tip difference, at any percentage, was staggering. At 15 percent, the first order’s tip was $2.40 and the second order’s tip was $6.30. The tips had little to do with service and a lot to do with price. Next, I started to pay attention to appearance and service: was the server well groomed with a clean and neat uniform or clothes; did the server know the menu (what was on it and how it was  prepared); did the server know how to deliver and remove plates and bowls; was the server attentive but not intrusive; was the server a good representative of the restaurant? Later that month, I had a chance to visit Prince Edward Island in Canada, and to compare restaurant tipping there with Raleigh, NC.

In that part of Canada, restaurants and servers are about equal to those in Raleigh except the usual maximum tip is 10 percent. Nowhere did I see a flash screen with recommended tips. One one occasion, I tipped 20 percent to an extraordinary server and she asked me if I had intended to tip that much. The trip to Canada ended my tip experiment because I don’t know how tips are currently handled in Europe or Asia. Back home from PEI, I decided how to play the American tip guilt game. Below are my four recommended rules:

1. Always tip in cash.
2. Give cash directly to your server or leave cash on the table at your place. 
3. Tip only for appearance and service.
4. If you need to do any math, tip based only on the price of the lowest cost entrée and the number of  people included in the bill.

Note: Rule No. 3 — If the food is unsatisfactory, send it back to the kitchen after one bite!

Full disclosure. I always tip my barber because she works around my head and neck with sharp instruments.

Joe Mavretic is a former N.C. Speaker of the House.