I wrote this in 2010 for the editorial section of “Auburn Pulse”, a mobile phone app geared toward college kids at Auburn University.
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I suppose it’s fitting that I write an editorial on tipping while lounging in Las Vegas, the service capital of the world. I’m sitting at the Bacchus Oasis Pool Bar in the Garden of the Gods at Caesar’s Palace surrounded by beautiful people basking in the glow of the desert’s midday sun. They drink and dance without concern because they know how to spend within their limits. They wouldn’t be here if they couldn’t afford it. I’m drinking the special of the day: $5.25 Coronas.
They’re normally $7.
For those of you that think you’re ready for Vegas, you’re probably not – at least in the eyes of these servers and bartenders. You might think that $5.25 is a ridiculous price to pay for a Corona, and it might be. But there’s a simple concept here, and everywhere you go for that matter: that’s what it costs. No one is putting a gun to your head, making you stuff a lime in your bottle (originally a practice in Mexico to keep the flies out of your beer btw), and drink multiple Coronas. If you can’t afford the beer, then step down. And if you can’t afford the step down, then you’re in the wrong place and it’s as simple as that.
I wish I could end it here, but I feel compelled to go farther with this. I ask you this: what does $5.25 mean to you, other than too much to pay for a Corona? The answer: $5.25 actually means $7. There’s the tip. And that’s my tip to you. It means $7 to me. It might mean $8 to someone else, or even $6.25. But it’s not $5.25 and it’s not anything under $6.25.
Now, don’t sit there and think to yourself, “this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, because I certainly do. I’ve been in some part of the service industry for, well, a lot of years. I know the arguments, I’ve heard them all. “I’m a college student, I’m broke, etc.” Hell, I lived in a closet off the living room of one of the apartments you can see from the roof of Sky Bar. I once went on a five day spring break and only spent $29. I was broke, just like a lot of you. But I never bought something without tipping. If I didn’t have enough to tip, I didn’t have enough to buy. Listen closely…there’s nothing wrong with thinking that $5.25 is too much to pay for a Corona. No one is saying that. Just understand that by paying for it without tipping you’re asking someone to serve you for free.
Now, I am a believer that a tip is earned. But as long as you’re given courteous, reasonably fast service with a smile, you owe that person something. His or her pay isn’t coming from anywhere else.
The person on the other side of that bar and that other one heaving plates from table to table is paid next to nothing for their time. They work for tips. Most of you know me, or at least recognize me. You might see me lifting a box full of cash from behind the bar and taking it to the back to count. In your mind you’re probably thinking “these bartenders make tons of money”. 2 things to remember: 1) Without that simple tip, we wouldn’t take home a cent, and 2) My last 2-week paycheck was $9.89. So the next time you’re at the bar and lay down $3 for the $2.50 beer that would be $6 in Vegas, think twice before you slip the $0.50 they give you back into your pocket and walk off so you have the quarters to pay in exact change the next time you come for a beer. Maybe the right thing to do would be to leave that $0.50 for them to split between four other bartenders ($0.08 each), a credit card girl ($0.04) and a bar back ($0.06). That’s one more step closer to them paying their bills…(they have them too).
– Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas (August 30, 2010)