As college students, most of us know what it is like to live on a budget. While in school, many of us hold jobs that don’t make a ton of money but have flexible hours that can accommodate school. Jobs like retail, food service, internships and so forth.

So why is it that college-aged people don’t know how, or just choose not, to tip servers?

For whatever reason, the customers least likely to tip a server appropriately are those older than 75 and college kids. As a server at a local restaurant, I know this firsthand.

I get that most college kids don’t have a lot of money, and you go out to have a good meal and have fun with your friends. But, do you know how you accomplish that fun? By college kids who are servers, who are sacrificing their Friday night to try and make money that they can also spend on fun things or bills that they need to pay. They are at your every whim to make sure you have a good experience, and the way to repay them is to tip according to your bill price. The way to thank them is not to take up their tables for four hours, have them running around like crazy getting you more drinks and food, leaving the table a mess that they later will have to clean up, and then tipping them $1 on a $30 tab.

Furthermore, by the way, most servers are required to share tips with other sections of the restaurant, such as hosts, food runners, bussers and bartenders. So, your $1 doesn’t even go toward the person who did everything for you; they see maybe 10 cents of that $1.

Servers have a hard job. They have to make sure all of their customers are having a good experience, and when you leave them little to no tip it is not only disheartening but is very frustrating. I’m sure everyone who has had a job can relate to the feeling of knowing you are doing a good job, but not receiving recognition for it.

If you want to go out and have a good time with your friends, by all means go ahead. But don’t go out and spend $50 on drinks and food if you can’t afford to give your server what they’ve worked so hard for.