Tipping

Tipping Experiences

Tips are generally a small amount of money given to a person as gratitude for a service that has been provided. There are many times throughout our everyday lives in which we are put in a position to leave a gratuity. Whether it be dining at a restaurant, getting your hair cut at the salon, or having a few drinks with friends at a bar. In each case there was a service provided to you, now you have a decision to make, how much of a tip is considered acceptable and should you tip everyone that provides a service to you? There are many guidelines for consumers to follow. With modern technology there are convenient tip calculators available as features on most new cellular phones. When deciding on the tip amount the service is one of the major determining factors along with whether or not you plan on visiting the establishment again , and how the tip will play a role in your further dealings with said business. Michael Lewis explores a few interesting reasons why tipping is getting out of hand in a recent essay. I strongly agree with many points and examples he provides.

One of the most common reasons for tipping is out of guilt more than gratitude. According to tipping guidelines you should leave atleast 15 percent of the bill as a tip at a restaurant. However, many times people leave more than the acceptable minimum when they know that the servers use this money to make ends meet. Working all day at the office making very little money yourself will leave you with feelings of sympathy towards that person who is struggling to make ends meet by serving people all day long which will lead to feelings of guilt if you do not leave the server a decent tip.

"Tips are accepted not expected" not always the case. In certain restaurants management will automatically generate a 18% gratuity when there are larger parties being served. In a recent article on the 1010 wins.com website ( "tip dispute leads to arrests at soprano's" )the reporter tells of a story where people actually

...