Monday, April 1, 2013

Why I'm ashamed to be a Christian on Sundays

Before I worked in the service industry I had heard the rumors - Christians were notoriously known in the restaurant world as pushy, unforgiving, impatient, rude, and worst of all...terrible tippers. And at first I couldn't possibly buy it. Christians weren't like that! Christians were kind, caring, loving people who extended grace and forgiveness.

Then I worked my first Sunday lunch shift. A fluke, I thought. A coincidence. An unusual Sunday. A gloomy day, maybe? I had to give Christians the benefit of the doubt. They were my people. They carried the name of Christ, the same title I had so proudly carried myself. And who's to say that the guests that come in on Sunday afternoons were Christians anyways? Some people get dressed up on Sundays just to dress up, right? Those large hats? We've all been warned about the risks of skin cancer. But the usher name tags...the volunteer shirts...the Sunday service pamphlets with the church name adorned in bold letters...those were the things I had a harder time dismissing. I didn't want to believe it.

Sunday after Sunday only proved the rumors to be true and it wasn't long before I found myself dreading those Sunday shifts just as much my co-workers. I quickly came to realize exactly why no one was allowed to request off on Sundays. But it wasn't until this Sunday, Easter Sunday, that I found myself almost ashamed to call myself a Christian. To associate myself with the people who treated my co-workers so poorly only to reward their hard work and service with a tract and a tip less than 10%? I couldn't.

Any Christian in the service industry knows what a different world it is. To minister to my co-workers 6 days a week by loving them, encouraging them, and helping them was being completely destroyed on Sunday afternoons when the church crowd came in and showed them a different picture of Christianity.

Not to cast stones, (because I too struggle with the pressure of living a life that honors Christ) but we have got to step it up as Christians. Tipping generously (20%) and being kind, forgiving, and understanding to the people that are serving us is just one practical way we can prove the rumors to be exactly what they should be - rumors.

Can I get an amen?