It's Christmas Time
In the few weeks before Christmas I am always reminded just how generous and greedy people can really be. I'm pretty sure you've heard it all before. Your pastor probably has a catalog of sermons about Christmas being a time of giving or a time to remember Jesus instead of freaking out over presents or how American consumerism is the devil. I'm not going to tell you that. The truth is, there are varying extremes of those principles and if a person doesn't understand the common "meaning" of Christmas, I can't change their mind.
In pondering exactly what it means to celebrate any holiday I constantly come back to common human decency as the easy answer, which I imagine is a mentality that we could profit from year-round. As a server I could tell a million stories that have happened to both my friends and me. The point is that everyone has bills to pay, a family to feed, and feelings. We'd all rather be somewhere else not being treated like a dog for a substandard tip. I don't know anyone who would still wait tables if they won the lotto. While I use serving as an example, it extends to anyone you come in contact with. The Wal-Mart greeter (please folks, don't run the poor guy over), Starbucks Bistro, Macy's cashier, or McDonald's drive-thru operator (they can't understand a word you say either). All of these people are humans and deserve respect.
As we grow closer the holidays I hope you will consider that giving goes beyond our families. We are to give to the strangers around us. I'm not asking anyone to tip their server $100. It's pretty simple: 20% (after tax) for good service. When a server is tipped what they deserve it cost the customer a couple of bucks (on a $40 bill it's a $2 difference between 15% and 20%), but that is not only the money a good server has earned but it is how that server makes a living. All I'm asking is that we give good servers what we owe them for the services they render.
I expect any human to treat their fellow man or woman with respect, but I particularly expect it out of Christians. Christians are the most feared customers in the restaurant business as they tend to be degrading and poor tippers. I've heard stories about Christians who had the audacity to tell their server they shouldn't be working on Sunday all while sitting at the server's table on Sunday after church. No wonder no one wants to be a Christian: We aren't doing what we're supposed to be doing. On a side note: Tracts are not tips. I can't pay my power bill in tracts.
In short: The holidays aren't just about giving stuff to our family. It's about giving to everyone in our lives. Also, giving isn't just about stuff, but it's about respect and love. For Christians, it's about being Christ-like.
I won't lie, these days restaurants get desperate for help during the busy winter season and hire some real idiots. I can't tell you what to tip them, and while you should respect them, it's no sin to expect mistakes to be fixed. There are a few principles I find really help any server. I dread some of the tables that I get, but I try to put that aside. If you treat a table like they aren't going to tip you, then they aren't going to tip you. If you give a table great service and they don't tip you (or simply tip poorly) then it shows they have no moral fiber and are one of those people who should simply stay home. The server is no longer the bad guy.
Because I'm a Christian and my job requires a lot of human interaction, I think it's really important that I show that I am Christ-like to my tables. I can't proselytize to my tables and I would think it would do more harm than good. Instead, I try to implement "feet-washing" in my every day life. Please know how much I fail at it. Please know I'm not good at it. But when I asked myself as a Christian "How should I treat my tables?" or "How should I treat my coworkers?" I kept coming back to the word "love." Then I asked myself "What does that love look like?" I think that love is really exemplified in the passage where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. In John 13 Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, which was a practice normally reserved for the lowest of the servants or slaves. I think great leaders and great people alike know what it means to serve.
I know this isn't the most expository or deep thing I've written, nor is it well organized, but I think it makes the case. You would think after 2000 years of "do unto others" we would have figured it out, but we are doomed to be slow to perseverance. Though controversial and possibly overrated, Che Guevara has many great quotes he may or may not have said. Even still, this quote—which is attributed to Che—really struck me: "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, you are a comrade of mine." Fight injustice with righteousness even if it hurts, because Christ suffered to stop the greatest injustice of all.
In pondering exactly what it means to celebrate any holiday I constantly come back to common human decency as the easy answer, which I imagine is a mentality that we could profit from year-round. As a server I could tell a million stories that have happened to both my friends and me. The point is that everyone has bills to pay, a family to feed, and feelings. We'd all rather be somewhere else not being treated like a dog for a substandard tip. I don't know anyone who would still wait tables if they won the lotto. While I use serving as an example, it extends to anyone you come in contact with. The Wal-Mart greeter (please folks, don't run the poor guy over), Starbucks Bistro, Macy's cashier, or McDonald's drive-thru operator (they can't understand a word you say either). All of these people are humans and deserve respect.
As we grow closer the holidays I hope you will consider that giving goes beyond our families. We are to give to the strangers around us. I'm not asking anyone to tip their server $100. It's pretty simple: 20% (after tax) for good service. When a server is tipped what they deserve it cost the customer a couple of bucks (on a $40 bill it's a $2 difference between 15% and 20%), but that is not only the money a good server has earned but it is how that server makes a living. All I'm asking is that we give good servers what we owe them for the services they render.
I expect any human to treat their fellow man or woman with respect, but I particularly expect it out of Christians. Christians are the most feared customers in the restaurant business as they tend to be degrading and poor tippers. I've heard stories about Christians who had the audacity to tell their server they shouldn't be working on Sunday all while sitting at the server's table on Sunday after church. No wonder no one wants to be a Christian: We aren't doing what we're supposed to be doing. On a side note: Tracts are not tips. I can't pay my power bill in tracts.
In short: The holidays aren't just about giving stuff to our family. It's about giving to everyone in our lives. Also, giving isn't just about stuff, but it's about respect and love. For Christians, it's about being Christ-like.
I won't lie, these days restaurants get desperate for help during the busy winter season and hire some real idiots. I can't tell you what to tip them, and while you should respect them, it's no sin to expect mistakes to be fixed. There are a few principles I find really help any server. I dread some of the tables that I get, but I try to put that aside. If you treat a table like they aren't going to tip you, then they aren't going to tip you. If you give a table great service and they don't tip you (or simply tip poorly) then it shows they have no moral fiber and are one of those people who should simply stay home. The server is no longer the bad guy.
Because I'm a Christian and my job requires a lot of human interaction, I think it's really important that I show that I am Christ-like to my tables. I can't proselytize to my tables and I would think it would do more harm than good. Instead, I try to implement "feet-washing" in my every day life. Please know how much I fail at it. Please know I'm not good at it. But when I asked myself as a Christian "How should I treat my tables?" or "How should I treat my coworkers?" I kept coming back to the word "love." Then I asked myself "What does that love look like?" I think that love is really exemplified in the passage where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. In John 13 Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, which was a practice normally reserved for the lowest of the servants or slaves. I think great leaders and great people alike know what it means to serve.
I know this isn't the most expository or deep thing I've written, nor is it well organized, but I think it makes the case. You would think after 2000 years of "do unto others" we would have figured it out, but we are doomed to be slow to perseverance. Though controversial and possibly overrated, Che Guevara has many great quotes he may or may not have said. Even still, this quote—which is attributed to Che—really struck me: "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, you are a comrade of mine." Fight injustice with righteousness even if it hurts, because Christ suffered to stop the greatest injustice of all.
