How much tip should you give? It’s not a question we lose sleep over, but it stumps most of us each and every time we go out to dinner, have a massage, or even have pizza delivered to our doorstep.
Here are some tips on, uh, giving tips. It can help you quickly and easily decide how much to give in any situation, without having to revert to high school algebra.
Why should you tip?
The practice of tipping dates back to the 16th century. The word says it all: it is actually an acronym of ‘to insure promptitude’ or in other words, to get (or reward) good service. In those early days people would actually give the tips before they sat down to dinner—placing coins in urns strategically positioned at the doors of restaurants.
Today, tips are not required, but they are a way to thank service personnel for particularly good service or product, especially since most of them are horribly underpaid to begin with. Tipping can also help you get a better deal the next time you return to the establishment.
Tipping at restaurants
As a general rule, you should leave a minimum of 10% of your total bill as a tip to your waiter. Yes, even if you’ve had bad service! For average, ‘good enough’ service you may leave 15% of your total bill. If the service crew went out of their way to help you—squeezing you into a good table, or accommodating your complicated dietary requests–do leave about 20%.
Tipping at the barber shop
Even for a very simple haircut it’s customary to leave 15% of your total salon services fee as a tip to your barber or hairstylist. This is particularly important if you liked the service and wish to return—the service personnel will always be more careful and meticulous when dealing with a favorite customer, and you don’t want to be stuck with a bad haircut!
Tipping food delivery staff
Think about it: you had food delivered for your comfort and convenience, which meant that somebody else braved the rain or the long trek to your home just so you wouldn’t have to leave the couch. Given that, a 15% tip is more than fair.
Even though getting a pizza delivered tacks on an extra few bucks to the overall price, it does save you some gas money and more importantly, energy. 15 percent of the bill is the going rate to tip your delivery person.
Tipping taxi drivers
Again, 15% is a reasonable tip to give a taxi driver who has shown exceptional courtesy and careful driving. But if you feel you were cheated (driven around the side streets just to get higher fare, or duped by a rigged taxi meter) then skip the tip.
Tipping hotel bellhops
You may have tried your best to pack light, but your hotel bellhop still had to lug those bags to your room. So, it’s only right to leave a tip of $1.
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