Tipping stories (cont):

I traded in my wife's car for a new one. The guy took it to detail it while we did the paperwork. He came back about an hour later and shook my hand and complimented us on the purchase and congrats. The guy was sweating from working hard on getting it cleaned up and was so friendly I tracked him down before we left the dealer ship and tipped him $10 for doing a great job and let him know that we really appreciated what he does. He did not want the money but I made him take it. I think he appreciated the gesture.

I went to the gym today and the woman cleaning the locker room was not as rude as she was last time, so I slipped her a Jackson.

Way back when Pete and I first started dating, I went with her extended family on a vacation in Lake Placid. We had a big table of maybe 15 people running from late teens to late 50's. I was in college and Pete was in her first decent job. Her cousin was in her yuppie stage, high powered job world travel etc.. So the cousin sends back her plate twice with new instructions for the cook even though it arrived first as described on the menu and second as described by her.

I had never witnessed someone returning food before. When the check arrived, cousin's Dad, who was also pretty prosperous figured the tip at like 8% despite us being a pain-in-the-ass early morning crowd. Everybody threw their cash in as we left as a group.

Pete and turned around at the door as if we'd forgotten something and dug out our remaining cash to leave a decent tip. We were pretty embarrassed by the group at that point but it was the beginning of a pattern we've identified over the years. In part, it is how people get and keep money, but there is also a level of disrespect for people whose lives are ordered differently. The uncle actually didn't want to encourage people to stay in service jobs by tipping well...

I tipped the pizza delivery guy $5 for a $30 order, and he was astonished. Said it was the best tip he's gotten in awhile and thank me profusely. Surprised me since that's 15%-ish and seemed normal to me.

always tip your piercer and tattooer if you live in the US! Not customary in UK/Europe, though

Nah, people usually figure on a flat rate for delivery drivers, since they're not coming back to the table repeatedly and "waiting" on you. My last experience with it (which was many years ago, granted) was that you usually got $1-$2 per delivery. Most people would round up the change, plus a dollar.