Reflection on Social Media Case 8: Pastor's 10% to God

I work in the service industry as a nail tech so part of my income, comes from tips. When a client tips me, it’s their way of telling me how much my service was worth to them. I have had clients who don’t tip me at all or will tip 5% or less and some that always tip me 20% and up. I understand there are many people who genuinely don’t know how much to tip so here is an article that breaks it down. I always tell my clients that if they take care of me, I’ll take care of them. Tipping is a way for them to take care of me. My clients that tip me well, get priority when I have openings, I move their appointments if they need, and I’m more willing to stay late or come in early if that works best for them. Working in this industry has really helped me to be a better tipper. I agree that your tip should be included in your budget when you eat out or receive any type of service.

I don’t think the situation with Pastor Bell would have been as bad if they hadn’t added the 18% tip on themselves. If Pastor Bell was able to do the 10% tip from the beginning, the server would have just looked and thought, “Well, that was a cheap tipper”. But the fact that Pastor Bell went out of her way to cross out the initial tip and write a demeaning message to the server, it made the situation so much worse. I have never claimed to be a perfect Christian because I make a lot of mistakes, however, we are taught to love our neighbors and this act went against those teachings. Pastor Bell has since apologized but I can’t help but think how she would have felt if she hadn’t received public backlash on the internet.

I have seen pictures of receipts on the internet with stories ranging from a $100 tip to $.25 tip for different reasons. People want to share their experiences on the internet and I think they should have the freedom to do that. The issue I have with this situation is that by sharing this picture, someone’s personal information was leaked. In other photos that I have seen, the signature and other private information are often blurred out. I think the person that shared the photo wanted to take advantage of the fact that the person involved was a Christian leader but that still doesn’t justify sharing private information. For future reference, always leave a good tip.