How much you tip your server has been something debated for years, and that probably won't change any time soon. If you haven't already been tipping your servers 20% (or more), now's the time to change that.

At the start of quarantine, people were debating if it was okay to tip less than 20% for your delivery drivers. Then, when people were ordering from restaurants, it was to support them and keep business "normal" when it wasn't normal at all. Now, states across the country are starting to reopen, which means that more businesses are opening up for in-person dining.

As restaurants start to reopen, especially if you're choosing to dine in, you HAVE to be tipping your servers more than normal, and at least 20%. It's not only important that you help the businesses out financially, but also that you make sure to help your servers get paid.

In the state of Ohio, tipped employees only make $4.30 per hour, and most of that is lost to taxes. Tipped employees earn almost all of their paychecks based on tips. If their restaurant has been closed since March 17th, they haven't earned a normal paycheck for months, and if you don't tip, they still aren't getting paid, but now have to risk their lives for you.

Even if you don't believe in tipping servers 20% normally, you need to be doing it now.

If you've never worked in food service, you can't understand what these people are going through. For people who work full time in restaurants, there has been instability in the job, even though some restaurants have remained open, those too have taken huge hits to their normal income. Now, they're being asked to come back to work with no guarantees that they'll be making enough in tips to be making ends meet.

During a pandemic, some jobs give out hazard pay. In the food industry, your tips are the hazard pay.

You going out to eat automatically supports the business you go to, which is super important to small, local businesses. But you can support those businesses if you order food for carryout or delivery. If you're eating in person, you also have to be supporting your server.

Businesses have been given the option to reopen, and many of them are reopening their dining area because that's what the public wants. Most servers and bartenders don't want to be working and serving people in person yet, it doesn't feel safe to them.

No one ever forces you to eat out, but when you go out to eat, you force your server to go to work. If you're putting their lives in danger, the least you can do is tip them, not only for their service, but also because it's the right thing to do.