The Saratoga Sun receives a lot of emails; one of which, during this time of year, is an update on what is happening during the budget session of the Wyoming State Legislature.

One of the first to cross my path this year was the minimum wage for restaurant workers to be raised from $2.13 per hour to $5 per hour.

It didn’t even make it to the floor.

At first I thought, well that is kind of a slap in the face for waitresses and waiters, and then I thought how that raise would affect every restaurant and how the price of our meals would go up to cover that cost.

So whose responsibility is it to make sure that people who work in the service industry, whether it is a waitress in a restaurant or the barber, get paid what they are worth?

As a consumer you are probably thinking, well it’s ours, but should it be?

Imagine, if you will, what your paycheck would look like if it depended on your performance on the job every single day, as well as, the performance of everyone you work with from the hostess to the bartender to the cook.

Among my many past jobs, I have worked in a restaurant as a fast food cook, a prep cook, a hostess, a waitress, and as a manager. Working in a restaurant, on my feet all day long, is one of the hardest jobs I have ever had. I have dealt with customers who were drunk, rude, and obnoxious, and just down right mean.

With that said, I have also met kind, considerate people, and ended up developing friendships with them.

When I was 17 years old and working at the Des Moines Register as a Saturday night inserter, the kids who lived on the east side would gather at our favorite diner for breakfast after we got off work.

Normally, we had this robust waitress who was wonderful. She was familiar with our routine and was friendly and easy to talk to. Usually there were six to eight of us; all teenagers who needed to unwind from work before we went home to sleep after being up all night inserting papers, since the job started at around 8 p.m. and ended at 5 a.m. We always tipped her very well.

One morning, our waitress was gone, and replaced by a young waiter who was tired and treated us very rudely.

To say the least, the service was not what we were used to and we sat and discussed how to reward him accordingly. My sister, Debbie, worked as a waitress and suggested we leave a penny. We decided that was too good for that waiter, so in the bottom of a juice glass we put a nickel, then proceeded to put water, ketchup and mustard in the glass.

The following week, when we returned to the diner the waiter was still there and we were assigned one of his tables. We were sure we would see a repeat of his performance from the week before, but much to our surprise, he joked with us and was friendly and from that time on became one of our regular waiters. We tipped him well.

Now the way we treated the waiter is not something I am really proud of, but it did make me a better waitress when I worked as one, because I never wanted to be treated like that by one of my customers.

The first day I had to work the floor as a waitress, I was on my own, as the owner had left for a meeting. I was a little apprehensive, but he told me not to worry, no one would probably come in so I would be okay. Well, we got busy right after he left, and my first customers came in, a table of 10!

Somehow, I managed to screw up every order, and what I didn’t screw up the cook did.

It was a very stressful day, and I was ready to quit, but my husband was in college and I needed the job.

As my skills as a waitress developed I became more confident and earned more money in tips. This came in handy when my oldest son, Josh, was two years old, as I made enough in tips, on his second birthday, to buy gifts for him. A two year old doesn’t really notice, but parents do, and it was breaking our hearts that we couldn’t afford to buy anything for his birthday. My husband was thrilled when he came home from school and saw the gifts on the coffee table that I had wrapped for our son.

That is what I remember when I tip today, that I could be making that difference in someone’s life.

Over the years, I have learned who there are more than waitresses that need to be tipped.

There is a website called www.tipping.org which describes who should be tipped and how much. While it is a little outdated, it will give you a pretty good idea of what is acceptable. The website helped me to realize I over tip in some cases, and under tip in others. I would much rather be accused of over tipping than under tipping.

On the website I noticed one occupation missing – the person who delivers the newspaper that is delivered door to door. They too, are paid less than minimum wage and should be tipped for making sure your newspaper is delivered on time in dry condition. Of course, the Saratoga Sun is not delivered to your door, but dropped in the mail box, but the er…um…competition is, so tip your paper delivery person accordingly as well.

So the next time you are getting your hair cut, or getting a meal at the local restaurant, or enjoying a massage or manicure – before you go, do a little research and find out how much you should be tipping and why.