Tipping on a budget.

For one summer in high school, I worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts / Baskin Robbins (affectionately referred to as “Dunkin’ Robbins” by anyone who has ever worked at such a place). It may not be as long as some folks have worked in food, but I still learned something that summer: tips are amazing, and those who don’t give them are assholes. I also learned that if your Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t have a bakery in it, you’re probably getting day-old (at least!) donuts and bagels. Oh! And, never ever have them spread the cream cheese on your bagel for you – do it yourself. Trust me.

Uh… anyway… back to tipping!

A friend and I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on my way home from our knitting meetup last night because I was really hungry and cold. One latte order later, and I was rang up: $3 and change. I’d ordered the latte becauase it was on sale for 99 cents if you order one after 2pm. I corrected her, she apologized, and I got it for 99 cents… plus 7 cents tax. Being on a budget, I wanted all of my coins – all 94 cents of it – in my own pocket. I need it! I only have so much! But, realizing it’s after 10pm on a federal holiday and this woman is working alone in a Dunkin Donuts made me stop and think.

Summer of 2003, there was a huge freaking black-out in the northeastern United States, including my hometown. I was working at “Dunkin’ Robbins” that day and the witch-like wife of my boss was supervising us. The power went out, yet she still forced us to work. There was a carnival across the street at the time, and once the power ran out and the generators ran out of gas, everyone from the carnival bombarded us with demands of iced coffee and ice cream. (Mind you, this was way before Dunkin’ Donuts got fancy. It was simple: coffee, bagels, donuts, breakfast sandwiches. On my last day of work, actually, they were installing our first latte machine. I sure got out just in time!)

A line of pissed off, heat exhausted families with equally pissed off, heat-exhausted kids took over our dark store. Our witch of a supervisor was yelling at us, “DON’T YOU DARE OPEN A REFRIGERATOR OR FREEZER OR THE ICE CREAM WILL MELT! TURN EVERYONE AROUND WHO NEEDS ICE CREAM! JUST SERVE COFFEE!” The biggest problem, however, wasn’t that the ice for the iced coffee was melting, or that the coffee itself was disappearing with every purchase – it was that our registers ran on electricity and couldn’t be opened with the power being out. We had to use our tips to make change for people. After we ran out of coffee, we sent everyone away and put a “Sorry, we’re closed” sign on our door. Instead of sending us home (since my shift was over in an hour and a half anyway) she made us clean on our hands and knees in the dark – the floor, the counters, the sinks, the bathroom, the back room – everything.

And, at the end of all of this, I didn’t get a single tip.

So, last night I gave the girl a 17% tip – 19 cents. In hindsight, I should’ve given more. But, at least I did it. I could’ve been pissy about her not giving me my discount until I had to ask her. I could’ve been upset that it took her 3 minutes to make a tiny espresso beverage. I could’ve been like all the unnecessarily angry people who get their triple-grande-soy-caramel-macchiato and barely give a smile, surely not a tip.

Regardless of your budget, tip your server after your meal, your barista when you get your espresso, your bartender when you get your whiskey, and your cashier when they spread your cream cheese on your bagel for you. If not, be prepared for your next bagel to have expired cream cheese spread all over it… not that I’ve ever done such a thing…

Weekly Allowance: $60.00
Weekly Allowance Remaining: $50.34

J