The Cost of a Tip is a raw, unfiltered memoir about the life happening behind the person serving your table.
Through years in the service industry, Ash Rae explores the realities that rarely make it onto the menu: unpredictable income, impossible schedules, motherhood, survival, judgment, and the emotional labor required to smile through circumstances customers may never see.
But this isn't simply a book about restaurants.
It's about what happens when your livelihood depends on the generosity-and sometimes the assumptions-of strangers. It's about navigating motherhood while trying to build a future, finding value in yourself when the world has repeatedly assigned you a price, and recognizing that the skills developed in the service industry extend far beyond carrying a tray.
Honest, vulnerable, and unapologetic, The Cost of a Tip challenges readers to reconsider what they know about the people who serve them-and what a tip can really represent.
Because sometimes, what's left on the table costs far more than a few dollars.
