Monday, November 06, 2006

Tips

In the 15 years that I have been a part of the work force I have had a number of different jobs both in and outside of ministry (in no particular order); babysitter, carpool driver, office assistant, 911 dispatcher, waitress, bartender, hostess, telephone operator, companion, check processor, box office agent, campus ministry intern, office manager, house sitter, cook, and last but not least technology minister.

In the three years that I spent working in the food industry I met my fair share of interesting people from all walks of life. As a general rule, restaurants can legally pay waiters and waitresses less than half of minimum wage with the expectation that patrons will make up the difference in the amount of tip they provide their server. For the most part, that concept was fulfilled every day with occasional surprises like the $20, $50 or $100 tip but more often than not there was the penny, stick of gum, or religious tract tip. In my experience, those types of tips usually came from one of two types of people: a group of teens on a Friday night or a group of Christians fresh out of church on a Sunday afternoon. The first time I received the religious tract tip after working a 16-top table for two hours on a Sunday, my only table by the way, I was shocked. But Sunday after Sunday I was increasingly surprised at how demanding many Christians were and then how unwilling they were to compensate me for my service. Even as recently as a few Sundays ago I went out to eat with a group of people from church and overheard a man at my table say to his wife, “Ten percent? No way, she only refilled my drink three times.”

Many times ministry is a lot like the service industry because church members often feel ownership towards the staff members because they “pay their salary”. But the concept is not unique to members; often fellow Christians or even co-workers treat church workers differently than they would a co-worker in the corporate world because 1) they are constantly in the spotlight and likely under a tremendous amount of pressure 2) they can get away with behaving badly because churches don’t operate under the same laws that ensure appropriate behavior in the corporate world and 3) because stakes are eternal and therefore allowances are made for the greater good. The whole thing bothers me tremendously because as Christians I believe we are called to a higher standard of consideration and care, regardless of the pressures or stakes.

I am by no means perfect; I can think of many times when I’ve had to put myself or my attitude in check because of bad behavior. Likewise I have to remind myself that people who fall into the above category most likely do not intend to do harm or cause discord and may even be completely unaware of the way they are behaving. That person is my brother/sister and needs to be loved with the love of Christ just as much as the rest of us.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:9-10

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