Tipping

Today’s blog is written mostly out of curiosity.  I would be interested in hearing other opinions on this.  It is not something that I have not thought about or discussed before, but I just thought I would “put it out there.”

This evening, Dave and I decided to have “take-out” food for dinner, so I called up, ordered it and then picked it up.   As I stood there paying, I noticed, (as I always do), a line for “tip”.  What would  you do?  Do you tip for take out?

In general, Dave and I are rather generous tippers.  Even for poor service, we give the 15-18% expected because we understand that most wait staff really does rely on tips.  It irks me to leave that amount when we are not treated appropriately, or if service is terrible, but in the end, we still do it.

We always tip for delivery.  We always throw money in the tip jars at ice cream shops – yet is it is necessary to tip at self serve yogurt places even when tip jars are on the counters?

As I am writing this, I realize that this conversation can lead into so much more about tipping, not just if you do or not, but how much; for cabs, delivery people, tipping at the hair salon, the postal delivery person, service/repair workers?

If someone is doing their job, a job that they are being paid to do, am I expected to give them a tip for doing it?  I honestly don’t know what the correct answer is.

I have had many conversations on this topic and talked to numerous people about what they do, and in return,  I get just as many answers.  I assume this is because there are really no written rules for tipping.   So I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  What do you do?  Who do you tip? How much do you feel is appropriate?