Gratuities

Do you remember who your waitress was last week when you took your family out to eat? Do you remember the taxi driver who kindly brought you home that night you had a few too many? Remember that bus driver that took you and a bunch of other fans down to the Vikings game? More importantly... Do they remember you? All of the jobs above are done by people who require some special skills, sometimes a special license, and a friendly personality. Minnesota’s minimum wage for service jobs such as the afore mentioned, is $6.15 an hour. Most people that use services like these, have a few bucks to spare and are not that hard off to leave a tip. Taxi drivers, bus drivers, waitresses, shuttle drivers, bellhops, door men and more are all positions that accept gratuities, or tips, unless specifically stated otherwise. Some people tip so well, that they are on a first name basis everywhere they go. Then there are some people who are remembered by their lack of recommended gratuity. A tip, is simply a token of your appreciation, for what they did to serve you. It is a gift, per se, of your gratitude (hence the term “gratuity,”) for their hard work, and service. If you went to a restaurant, and your service was excellent, and you paid your tab, without leaving a tip, your waitress, or waiter, would feel that you did not appreciate their service. If you took a cab in New York City, and the driver brought you from one side of the city to the other and was very friendly, didn’t drive erratically or make you afraid for your life, most people feel that a mere “Thank you,” is not enough. In that case, people use the green paper called money to show their appreciation of a job well done. These employees may or may not know who you are, but they spend their lives bending over backwards to serve the general population. You are no exception. If you use a service oriented business, the person or persons that helped you are in need of your appreciation. So do the right thing and tip appropriately. Some people in those kinds of businesses have spent their whole lives living paycheck to paycheck and your tips or gratuities can really help make a difference in their lives. You’d be surprised how far even a mere dollar can go and what it can bring them. For some people... it’s not the amount you give them that matters. It’s the thought and the courtesy behind it.