“Christians Are the Worst Tippers Ever.”

I told a story last week at Immersion that made people gasp. It spoke to the notorious stinginess of those who follow Jesus. I couldn’t tell if the gasps were “agreement gasps” (“Oh no you dih’int!”) or “horrified gasps” (In Sunday School, I once saw a little boy pick his nose and munch on his nasal treasure like it was a crisp, autumnal apple or a fistful of Cheetos. That was a horrified gasp moment). But they were gasps nonetheless.

I told the story of how when I used to work in the service industry, waiting tables, no one ever wanted to work Sunday morning brunch. I could never figure it out. Even the hardiest partier could drag themselves out of bed by 10am and paste on a “server smile”. Right?

“What gives?” I thought.

“It’s the Christians,” was the reply from my co-workers. “The Christians always come in on Sunday mornings for brunch after their church service and they don’t tip. At all. Christians are the worst tippers ever.”

When I heard that, it was like a kick in the gut.

Why?

  1. Mostly because it was true. We don’t tip very well. As a matter of fact, we’re pretty cheap. What makes this worse is that we paint “cheap” with a religious sounding veneer and call it “being a good steward.” Nothing like hiding behind the Bible to camouflage your stinginess.
  2. Because God is so generous. We are most like God when we are being generous; generous in all things, but especially with our dough!

Las Thursday I laid down the “Fat Tip Challenge.” The FTC asks you to lay down more than your normal tip next time you go out to eat. Usually put 10% down? Try 30%. Are you a 20% tipper? Bump it up to 50%. If you’re feeling really crazy, try a 80, 90, or 100% tip next time you dine out! Make up for all those lousy tips from other Christians throughout the years.

God says, “I own the cattle on a thousand hills.” As children of this great and generous God – the God who owns everything – can’t we afford to part with a few more of those tightly-pinched pennies? God can afford your generosity. So go on, be generous!

Are you a server with a tip (or non-tip) horror story? Let us hear you. C’mon … Let it out .

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Contributor: Justin Wise

I am a religious deviant who enjoys coffee, collared shirts, spending time with my wife and son, learning about quantum physics and creatively exploring the riches of the Spirit of Christ. Find more here: JustinWise.me
  • dkdslsdon
    Great post. So good in fact, with your permission, I'm running it front page on spiritnewsdaily.com
  • Post away! Glad you found it useful.
  • Jeffrey Soulliere
    I worked as a server for a total of 8 months, and prior to that, I bussed tables for about 5 months. My Job prior to that was a barista at starbucks. Needless, to say, I've been in a lot of tip related positions. I have had several experiences that were similar to the content of the post, but I have also had experiences that are totally to the contrary.

    One thing to consider, regardless of religious leanings, is that some states, like Missouri for example, do not pay minimum wage. They pay half minimum wage, and will supplement the amount of total compensation in the event that you didn't receive minimum wage, tips and hourly put together. When I worked as a server in MO I earned $3.54 an hour, plus tips. There would be several nights a week were I would work for three hours and make around 9 dollars in tips, so at best, with employer compensation, I would earn 21 dollars for 3 hours of hard work. Which is pretty much nothing. There were several times when I would have to borrow money to put gas in my car to get to work.

    The real kicker here is that in addition to that fact that unless I had a lucky night I was paid very minimal amounts of money for a high stress job, I was taxed on 11% of my total sales for the night by the federal government regardless of weather I was actually tipped or not. In essence, if I wasn't tipped from a meal I was paying taxes on money I never made.

    Keep that in mind the next time you lay down a tip.
  • I agree that tipping OUGHT to be only for exceptional service -- and I do think the concept started that way -- but unfortunately, the service industry reached a point where tipping became a part of a server's salary. I image that one time, some upper management folks thought, "Hey! Here's all our lowly customers, makin' it rain on our employees, and we ain't gotta do a thing! Let's just reduce their paychecks and let the customer foot the bill! Perfect."

    A lot of restaurants pay their servers much, MUCH less than minimum wage. Where I worked, I think it was $2.15 an hour. So really, just to make minimum wage, a server has to earn at least $5 in tips per hour. And while $5 doesn't sound like much, when you only have 4 or 5 tables per hour (and when you think that, really, $7/hr is not nearly enough to actually live on if you've got kids to feed), stiffing a server (or even undertipping) is like a slap in the face.

    My favorite was when a server would have to wait, holding drinks, while a table finished a long prayer, and then the party would have to gall to leave a tract and a couple of quarters.

    Please, if you're going to be an awful tipper, don't pray before your meal. You're just mocking Christ.

    Think of what a blessing you can be, though, if they DO hear you pray or talk about Christ during your meal, and then you leave an awesome tip at the end, just because God loves them. Awesome.
  • revbt
    I was raised by single mother who worked as a waitress to feed us and put herself through college to eventually get her master's. On more than one occasion I would find the garbage Bible tracts that were left as tips. "Tracts don't put food on the table" my mother would always say. Now as a pastor I work this into my sermons a lot because it really bothers me. And I was always a 20% tipper until my son was born and now we are forced to tip more because they work harder because he makes a mess.
  • Chalk one up for the good guys. You are single-handedly changing the opinion of servers everywhere!
  • Jacob
    Tipping well should be something Christians should strongly consider.

    I've been studying the sermon on the mount for a sermon, and in it, Jesus talked about not laying up treasures on earth.

    Why is it so difficult for us (Christians) to get that this life is not about the abundance of what we possess?

    Some say "Well, a server should earn their tip."

    This may be cliche, but we have no ability to earn anything from God. He only gives us what we have out of His love and grace. I see nothing in the Bible that says we are to "earn" something from God. In fact, I see the complete opposite.

    If we believers are supposed to understand that this life is not about possessions or money, and that God will provide for us, and that our true blessings are eternal because this life is fading fast, why are we so freaking stingy?

    I honestly don't think we get it.

    If we want to follow Jesus, we've got to sell all we have and give to the poor. Otherwise, we're not following Him.
  • Hey, I'm that gay guy mentioned in one of those posts earlier. I do try to tip at least 20% always, but that's just because my first summer job was busing tables and I know how it feels to get few tips (although since I wasn't a server I never noticed the Sunday pattern).

    I just wanted to make a comment on another group: bellmen at hotels. I did it for a couple of months back in the day and remember several encounters.

    A lot of hotels don't have bellmen anymore, and so there are people that don't understand that like servers, their main source of income is tips. A dollar per bag is fine for a light load, two is better.

    But I remember several large families that would require heavily laden carts filled up to the absolute top of the cart that would give me a dollar or two while asking me if I was a Christian or quoting the Bible to me. Between loading the cart, managing to get everything to the room and avoiding the kids, it seemed like a bit of an insult.
  • ImDavidMiller
    I worked in restaurants for years!
    I knew as soon as I saw a table bow their heads to pray that my tip would suck.
    Sometimes it was insult to injury when their would be a track that looked like a dollar. Like that's a enticing invite to faith.
    I don't think most people realize how little servers make. $2.15 in some states! They are counting on the tips and it's frustrating that people don't understand that.
  • ImDavidMiller
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