I love a good deal. Who doesn’t?  I would totally use Groupon and Living Social more if I could remember to actually USE my dang coupons. The last two offers that I claimed sat on my virtual shelf for so long that they expired. What a waste of money! I decided that I am no longer allowed to buy any unless I am positive that I will use them in a timely manner. 

In the past year, the restaurant I work for has run deals for both Groupon and Living Social. Our current Living Social coupons expire tomorrow, so you can only imagine how packed this week has been. People have been coming out of the woodwork to get $50 off of their meal. Good for them, actually remembering to use their coupons. Bad for us, the servers. 

Sure, the restaurant is SLAMMED and each server will be running sometimes 6 tables at a time, but it’s hardly worth it. Many people feel that if they buy a $100 dinner, use a coupon for $50, then a $10 tip is sufficient. It’s not. Although you may feel that you should only tip based on the post-discounted rate, it’s not polite or right to do. You have just given your server a 10% tip and penalized him or her for your use of a coupon. It has gotten so bad at our restaurant that our manager has sworn he will never run another Groupon or Living Social deal again. His staff is miserable every night when tables come in and spend $60, use a $50 coupon, and tip the server $5. 

So in this day and age of Groupon and Living Social, please remember to tip your server, hair stylist, massage therapist, eye brow waxer, or other laborer on the amount before the discount was applied. When I use a coupon, I like to tip between 25% and 30% of the total bill before discount. You are saving money with your coupon, so why not? Of course this is totally above and beyond, but if you feel like unexpectedly making the night of a service worker, think about doing it. 

Plus it’s good karma.