Honesty: the best policy.

Because the PCC is a non-profit organization, we have to enforce a no-tipping policy at the center. That means that as tour guides, we're not supposed to accept tips. If the guests insist, we can take it to the customer service desk and it will be put as a donation to a scholarship fund.

Many tour guides have given up on surrendering the money that they are offered because it is so heart-wrenching (college students are poor and need money!) and have decided to keep the tips. To some, honesty is admitting that they do put the tips into their own pockets.

Not much has been done to enforce the policy. It's an open secret that some guides keep the tips. I guess our supervisors are empathetic or something so they close one eye. We can lose our jobs if we are caught. And according to Lofi, my supervisor, people HAVE been fired for keeping tips. But it's not like she will personally test our integrity or anything. She doesn't look to catch us accepting the money - goodness knows how many tourguides she'd be left with after this. She'd only take action if someone else filed a complaint.

To me, that's just sad. I guess I see it simply as passing up money in my pocket now for far greater reward later.

What's really sad is how the BEST tour guides are the ones who keep the money. Mostly because they get tipped the most.

When I first heard about the policy, it was in training - before I got offered the job. It made sense to me. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that many employees pocketed their tips. I don't know. I'm still really naive. And I'd like to stay that way. I tend to trust in the good in people therefore, I am often let down.

It's comforting to know that my sister and many of my other friends uphold the policy. We even get together and sort of "bear our testimony" about this policy. It's nice when you don't feel like the outcast or idiot for trying to do what's right.

Sure it's a sacrifice. But I owe being able to be working in this job to pay for school to Heavenly Father anyway.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep all the receipts for the tips I get so at the end of the day I can count my blessings. Literally.