Tipping
So one of my favorite things about comedy is how versatile it can be. Once you start doing comedy, you can translate that to standup, sketch, writing, and videos. I don’t really do any sketch work, but I did recently start a youtube bartending series, and for the past year I’ve been writing for the website Drinking With Paul. I write a monthly column with rules for how to conduct yourself when you’re drinking either at home or in public. So for this week’s blog I decided to bring a little piece of that over here.
Eventually we’re all going to be allowed to go outside again, and I assume many of us will be spending some time in bars and restaurants, and when you do that you’re going to need to remember how to behave yourself. Every bar and restaurant has different menus, different themes, and different specialties. But what stays the same everywhere is that you need to tip the staff, and you need to tip them well. Hopefully if you’ve been getting takeout food from your favorite restaurants you’ve been tipping well during this pandemic. So when you go back you need to continue that. And if you haven’t been, shame on you. You still have time to fix that, and then when we get to go back inside, keep fixing your mistake.
Tipping is important for a lot of reasons. First off, it’s the right thing to do. Second, you will get much better service if you’re known for tipping well. If you’re like me, you have a few places you really enjoy going to. Sure, we might deviate and check out a new place, or swing through someplace we haven’t been to in a while, but there’s always those one or two places you end up at more often than not. So why wouldn’t you want the staff in those places to like you? I have a few bartender friends, and part of the reason we became friends is because they learned very quickly that I’m not a shitty customer. I’m polite, respectful, can hold a fun conversation, and I tip them well because I understand they’re working.
“But I could make this food and these drinks at home!” Then do that. If you choose to go to a bar or restaurant, you aren’t just paying for the goods, you’re also paying for the service. And until this country stops allowing some states to pay tipped employees less, you need to tip. In Indiana servers make $2.35 per hour because it is expected that they’ll get tips. So when you don’t tip, you’re directly harming that employee’s ability to eat and pay rent. Don’t do that.
To finish up, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has purchased or streamed my album so far, and to everyone who watched the album release show we ran on Facebook Live through The Drop Comedy Club. We hit about 2,000 views, and my album hit the top 10 on the iTunes comedy charts in addition to the copies that I sold through my website. This is a really weird time for everyone, and I can’t thank you enough for helping me get through it with such a great response. Have a wonderful week, see you soon!