As a hospitality professional I see all sides of the coin, literally. I work in a 4 star hotel in Atlanta. For us, some of the issue with room service is all the additional work that goes into delivering the order to the room. You would be surprised to see how many people steal things off of the tables. Certain times a year I have to purchase 150 salt and pepper shakers every two weeks due to people stealing them.This is where the service charge comes into play. I need that small portion, that the server does not see, to take care of my costs. Customers can get very upset at not having salt and pepper shakers with their meals. But I understand that they also get upset at paying for this.

I was dining out the other night. Told the server that I was allergic to nuts at the begining of the meal. Brought me a complimentary dessert for my birthday, but it was full of nuts. Did I tip? Yes, at 23%. However, it would have been 25% had he remembered. But his service was still good.

As for when to tip and not when to tip. If we increased the wage scale of service professionals, then the cost of your burger at 9.95 would go up to at least 15 to 20 dollars. Please remember that the next time you are dining.

Thank you.
Received on Sat Jun 17 12:33:27 2006