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Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 2, 2024 

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

 [Nyerges is an educator and the author of over two dozen books including “Urban Survival 
Guide,” “Extreme Simplicity,” “Foraging Californai,” and other books. More information at 
www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]


ANGEL: A BEAUTIFUL SWEETHEART

This dear girl was 
found as a stray 
kitten by the foster's 
neighbor. She was 
soooo sweet that 
they thought she 
must have belonged 
to someone, but no 
one ever came to 
claim her. It's beyond us how someone could have 
neglected such a good natured kitten. She loves 
human attention, and will be your lap cat, purr-
fectly content and loving to snuggle next to you 
in bed or while you're 
watching the telly or 
texting. She also gets along fine with other cats--unless they try to take 
her spot next to you, lol. How sweet is that? Will someone please give her 
a heavenly home, where she can be pam-purred and loved always? Born 
about 2020. 

See more pictures of Angel and apply to adopt at www.lifelineforpets.org/
angel.html, or use the qr code.


SO HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU TIP?

Some time ago at a restaurant, my family experienced an unpleasant interaction 
when it came time to pay the bill. My father picked up the check, and wrote 
a certain amount for the tip onto the receipt. My brother, who has worked in 
restaurants, asked if he could see the bill. My brother looked at it and told my 
father that the tip was too small. This led to a semi-heated discussion about what 
is the appropriate amount to give as a tip.

My brother pointed out that too many restaurant workers get low pay with the assumption that they 
make it up in tips, and that my father should give a higher percentage as the tip. By the way, this 
restaurant was not following the practice of putting an actual suggested dollar amount for the tip on 
the check, which my father always found offensive. Anyway, my brother said the tip was too small 
and that my father should pay more.

My father then explained how he didn’t find it fair that any business should underpay employees 
with the expectation of tip money making up the difference. He asked my brother, “Do you even 
know what a tip is?” 

“Sure,” said Thomas, “it’s a way to thank the restaurant worker for good service.”

“Yes,” said my father, “the word TIPS originally meant To Insure Prompt Service.” We all scratched 
our heads over that one. Maybe he was right, maybe he wasn’t.

But my father felt that he was paying the bill for the family, and no one should tell him what to pay 
for a tip. That was a typical type of response for my father. My brother was disappointed, but we left 
what had been an otherwise pleasant meal with perhaps a bit of unresolved indigestion.

So, what should you give for a tip? Is it all about the correct percentage? Ten percent? Fifteen 
percent? More? Are tips simply optional fees that we give if we felt the service was great?

I talked with many people about tipping, including some who told me that they never, or rarely tip, 
because they believe that the cost they are quoted for a job or meal should be an accurate and fair 
cost.

Dolores Miller of Temple City, California, told me “In my seasoned career as a waitress, I experienced 
and learned many things which are relevant to your question about tipping. Between 1970 and 1975, 
I received wages as low as 35 cents an hour, and as ‘high’ as $1.65 an hour. Minimum wage laws were 
different for tipped employees. [Miller had been working in Colorado]. People who received good 
services but who tipped less than 20 percent ‘on principle,’ hurt only people like me. Remember, 
the management received full pay from the check, plus they siphoned a bit more from me via ‘tip 
splitting,’ where every working in the restaurant gets a bit of the tip.”

Miller continues, “The IRS once audited me for two previous years, taking an arbitrary percentage 
of my gross sales. Because the management of one hotel where I worked (and was audited) had been 
so inept, and because I worked in the coffee shop area, the tips that I actually received did not cover 
what the IRS said I must have made.

“If one is moved to correct an abominable situation that a waiter and waitress must contend with, 
then ‘stiffing’ the waiter or waitress is a poor way to protest. Talk to the restaurant owners, or even 
boycott or picket the greedy restauranteurs instead. Demand changes in the minimum wage laws. 
Insist that the IRS change their policies. “

Miller added that one should write to their lawmakers to seek some change in this situation, which 
has slowly been occurring in some states. She felt that a blanket policy of “low tipping on principle” 
is both ineffective and ignorant.

Most of the people I spoke to practiced tipping, but there was a wide range of confusion over how 
much to tip. Most did not like the growing trend of “mandatory gratuity” on the check, since the tip 
is regarded as voluntary. However, some say that tipping is actually not voluntary in today’s world.

I often had uncertainties about tipping, not knowing if I should tip high or low, or at all when I got 
poor service.

Once I was eating at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant with a teacher of mine and a few other 
students. When we were done, the teacher paid the exact amount of the bill. No tip? I wondered. 
Then, he called the waitress over to the table, and he put cash into her hand and thanked her for the 
service. I was dumbfounded but found that to be freshly uplifting. I was used to leaving a tip on the 
table or writing it into the receipt, very anonymously.

My teacher said that such an action allowed him a greater degree of interaction with the server, and 
allowed him to express appreciation in a way that mattered. When asked if that tip would be diluted 
because of the rules of the establishment, my teacher only shrugged.

When I checked IRS policy, they do require tips to be recorded as part of your income, and because 
so much of it can be cash, the amount one reports is largely based on the honor system, and subject 
to auditing, such as Dolores Miller described.

The current situation is that the patrons to restaurants can be made out to be the bad-guys if their 
tips are below someone’s idea of the “correct percentage.” But the real culprits are the laws, and 
restaurant management which can get away with paying low wages to its workers.

For myself personally, I accepted that 
I am not going to change the world. 
But I began to follow my teacher’s 
example, and I have learned to enjoy 
the tipping process with restaurant, 
taxis, and the guy who the auto club 
sends to give my battery a charge. I 
have found that a growing sense of 
appreciation has developed within 
me towards all the service workers 
who make my life flow smoothly and 
pleasantly, and I experience the joy 
in seeing their smiles when I over-tip 
and tell them why.


Pet of the Week

 


 Sadie is just over a year old, so she’s likely about full 
grown at 60 pounds. Despite her young age, she has 
a very calm energy and demeanor. 

 Sadie is very smart and seems to truly enjoy 
learning new things. She is a master at “sit”, “down”, 
“touch”, and is even working on “play dead”. New 
things come very easily to her, and she is a people-
pleaser, which will make it very easy for her adopters 
to get her used to her forever home and continue her 
training. 

 One of the cutest things she does is to collect all 
her toys on her blanket. She happily chases any toy 
that’s available, then prances back to her blanket to 
lay down and give it a chew. 

Sadie will probably prefer a quieter home with not 
a whole lot of activity. She bonds very quickly with 
people, so she is likely to get attached to her new 
family and be the most loyal companion!

 The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and 
age-appropriate vaccines. 

 All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and age-appropriate vaccines. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet. 

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Daily adoption appointments can be scheduled online. New adoption appointments are 
available every Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Walk-in appointments are available 
every day from 2:00 – 5:00

 Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adopters by phone 
calls or email.