Put yourself in the shoes of the server

I agree with travel columnist Christopher Elliott’s view on undisclosed and unreasonable “automatic” tipping, such as on a beer or on cruise ships. It is ultimately the consumer’s decision whether a server earned a tip. However, the column fails to recognize that many servers are not paid a living wage. Encouraging readers not to tip in many circumstances will not change that.

Speaking from over four years of serving and customer service experience, we are very underpaid (often less than $3 per hour), and we rely heavily on tipping to account for the majority our income. A significant portion of guests are often highly disrespectful and highly critical with regards to minor issues or concerns. For example, a server may provide phenomenal service to a group of guests, but the kitchen may not deliver on its end, which ultimately is blamed on the server.

Sometimes people choose to forgo tipping because they simply don’t feel like it, even though excellent service was rendered. Automatic tipping is a necessity in these instances, because a server could easily spend two hours delivering excellent care to a large party and end up with an insignificant tip. This represents a high opportunity cost as the server could have had many smaller tables that produced a much larger income over that same time.

I would encourage Mr. Elliott to spend time with servers at a busy restaurant one evening to understand the level of stress they encounter. Remington Trick

North Manchester, Ind.