I will stand by the truth that one does not know what the life of a server is like until you are one at some point in your life. Before becoming a waitress, myself, I never thought twice about how much it meant to a server if I tipped him/her or not.

Then again, I was young enough to leave it up to my parents to take care of it when we went out to eat. At 17 I got my first serving job and all I can say is that not only have I come a long way developing the proper tactics to get the best tips out of people through great service, but it has taught me two very important things: to be grateful and have a whole lot of patience.

At times I and other girls at my current restaurant, Gordo’s in Tallahassee, FL, find ourselves complaining or celebrating the percentage of tips we get on a single tab. If one of us gets more than 20% on one table, we throw each other up in the air as if we're in a movie. If one of us gets none to a very small tip on a very high tab, we slap each other with a pat on the back for some moral support.

I will say that once you have gotten no tip on a table, you learn to be grateful for even the small tips. I try to not ever get discouraged by small tips because I don’t know someone’s circumstances to be judging how much they tip me, and I’ll take what I can get and appreciate their efforts. However, if you are not going to tip at all when you eat out, then maybe you should not eat out.

As a server, most of our income comes from our tippers. Our hourly wage is $5 an hour but according to how much we make in tips, that wage gets deducted as well. On top of that, there’s a percentage of our money at the end of the night that goes towards the kitchen staff and bartender.

Think about it.

If we had a decent number of tables that didn’t tip, we wouldn’t be making much on an average shift. A lot more people than you think make a living off serving and it’s a physically demanding job. The fact we rely on others to make that earning puts even more pressure on the quality of service we provide, even if it means putting a smile on for those who really go out of their way to make your day terrible. Trust me, those people do exist and there is a special place in hell for them.

It seems as if the only people who know the importance of tipping have some link to the server life, whether it be through friends, family, or you were/still are a server. I want people to understand how crucial even a single to three dollars is for a server. If you can afford to order whole meals for your entire family, I think you can afford to spare your server, who spent the shift bending backward to serve you, a few bucks.