The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

Tipping a waiter or waitress in is different in Europe. It's a little hard to articulate because, at this moment, I can't really remember how tipping is typically done in the U.S. At most places, I think you just leave the tip on the table. In Vienna, you give the tip directly to your server. When you're done eating, you call the server over to your table and they add up the bill. If it's €15 and you only have a €20 bill, you'll give them the bill and say, for example, "17." The server will give you €3 in change because you paid €15 for the meal and gave a €2 tip: a total of €17.

The first time I paid for a meal upon returning to the U.S. was at Sonic. My bill was something like $10. When the carhop delivered my food, I have her a $20 bill and said, "Just make it twelve." She looked at me confusedly and then gave me $12 in change. I knew something strange had happened, something incorrect, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me where the confusion lay. She'd had a long day and instead of making my bill an even $12 (giving me $8 change out of my $20), she took my $20 bill and gave me $12 change. I yelled out my car window to get the carhop's attention and rectify the situation.

Phew! That's too much math for an unemployed poet.

Last night and the night before last, we ate at Sonic. Gretchen and I have always enjoyed Sonic--before moving to Vienna, we loved to make midnight runs to Sonic with our miniature beagle, Sharkdog, to get vanilla cokes and then take the long way home so we could listen to music on the radio...Sharkdog doesn't drink Coke; he was just along for the ride--and the Queen Bee loves Sonic tots, so it has generally worked out well for us. (We've been out house hunting the last two evenings, during dinner time.) I used to always tip the carhop, but then Sonic installed credit card readers at each car stall and this was a lot more convenient for me because I don't normally carry cash with me. I'd have to go to the ATM to get cash before stopping by Sonic. I quit tipping the carhop when I started using my check card.

Last night we paid with cash. It was more expensive than I think fast food should be--something like $15.75 (I did get a 44 ounce vanilla coke, I must admit). I gave the carhop a twenty dollar bill and told her to just give me $2 in change. I was really surprised with how pleased she was with the tip. I'm not an immensely wealthy person, but I almost always have the money to give a decent tip. I like to give a good tip. The waitstaff at my my favorite OKC restaurant, Belle Isle Brewery, always receive more than 10% from me. Honestly, unless you just have a bad experience at a place, what's another $5? $10? OK, so I've never tipped $10. Anyway, this carhop was genuinely grateful for a tip of about $2. I wonder how many people have stopped tipping the carhops at Sonic in the last few years? If I'm going to pay nearly $16 for the meal, why shouldn't I have $2 for the person who can take my order and then deliver it to me on roller skates? Roller skates, people! I can't hardly move from point to point in normal shoes and here are people carrying bags of food with wheels on their feet!

Psychologist Richard Beck maintain's a very popular blog titled Experimental Theology (I've linked to it in my "Found in Translation" section of my own blog, and since, when blogging on the iPad, I have to type in the html, I'm not going to link to it from here) and one of the most popular posts on his blog in 2009 is titled "The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity." (Yes, I will type in the link to this particular post of his blog). It's a long post, but he concludes it with a discussion of Christian tipping habits in the U.S. Richard Beck worked his way through college as a waiter, so this is something about which he's pretty passionate. Waitstaff tend to hate the Sunday-after-church-crowd because they tend to be notoriously bad tippers. The whole post is worth reading.

Anyway, this tipping situation last night just got me to thinking about how easy it is help someone out, make their day, and how easy it is to not help out, ruin someone's day. Here's to you, Sonic Carhops!