Acts of Generosity or Mathematical Economics?

My latest thought has been going on for sometime now. I have been in the middle of a "confrontation" and thought it best not to talk about it until I was certain it was over. My position is fairly simple, but my "opponent's" side is complex and misguided. "Come on," you say, "Everyone thinks their position is right, and the other is wrong." I would agree, but on this topic, I cannot say I would catch too much flak from 90% of the people I know.

So what are we talking about? Tipping at restaurants. Nothing profound. Nothing life or death. Nothing of gravity or spiritual weight. Yet, this topic has fired me up in the last few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I was working at Red Robin and a group of six came in one Sunday evening for some dinner. My fellow Team Member (coworker) was unable to take their table because he was extremely busy. He passed off the table to someone else, who in turn, passed them off to me. I really didn't care because I wasn't busy and needed something to do. I got their drink orders and after I was putting in their food requests into the computer, 4 different Team Members told me not to expect a tip. They felt sorry for me that I was dumped on with this table. I found out that my table consisted of a head Pastor at a local church, his wife, kids, and the associate pastor and his wife. I was told by my team members and managers that this group comes in often, are demanding at the table, and tip horribly for great service. Quotes I heard were, "Just look at them! They are stuck up in their pretty church outfits, their perfect Christian hair, their perfect Christian attitude. They think they are better than the rest of us!" - That was from my manager. "I've had them before. I got a $3 tip for a $70 ticket. They were my only table, and I didn't even make 10%." - a fellow Team Member.

After hearing this, I just tucked away all this information in my pocket and treated them like every other family that comes in. I made sure all their food came out on time, their drinks were full, and they enjoyed their stay. I heard a few snide comments from the wife, but over all, they were fine. At the end, my tip was given with a "knowing God personally" tract - their way of converting the heathen. I asked my team members if they received one of these, and they all said yes, and hated it.

Now, every single person that works at Red Robin knows that I am a Christian. They know my faith and know I am strong in it. Yet at the same time, they despise Christians, because of this family that comes in. On one hand, it is good for me because I can stand out. On the other hand, they just lump me in with every other loud mouth, untactful, radical Christian you see on the TV.

So here is what I did. On the back of the spiritual tract was the name and address of the pastor. I decided to write him a letter. If you want to read the letter I wrote, please email me and I'll send it to you. His reply even stated how much he appreciated my kind letter. So, I did do my job in being nice and thoughtful - my letter was not out of rage or anger. I simply told him that giving a poor tip with that tract makes non-Christians go farther away from Christ, rather than closer. I commended him on his efforts and on his church (I read their website) and told him I think he would have a better response if he increased his tips.

Now I am going to pause here. I am going to state my position on this and in my next post, I will discuss his reaction.

The latest sermon topic at the church I attend has been on "The Way We Worship." One of the sermons was on our money - talking about we worship with our money. Now, if you tell the typical Christian that we worship God with our money, he will likely think about the 10% tithe. He would be correct. However, we can do MUCH more.

The average server at any restaurant detests working Sunday afternoons. They get real busy with church goers who are snappy, demanding, and tip poorly. So, what image do Sunday afternoons give to non-Christian servers - take a guess. I believe, Christians should be the MOST generous with their money. On Sundays, they have just gathered with 100's of others to worship the Creator of All, met with Him face to face, and then flood the doors of eating establishments and make the lives of those serving them a nightmare. Why? Maybe Christians aren't meeting with God? That's a topic for a different day. But I believe throwing down a few extra dollars, going above and beyond especially on Sundays could really help change people's views of us. They would want to work on Sundays, because they want to be around the generous people. Sure they are in it for the money - ALL servers are in it for the tips. They make around $3.50 an hour. But wouldn't questions begin to arise about why Christians are the most generous?

To Be Continued....