All I had to throw down was a tenner, so that's what I did. I am not saying "give 50% tips as a rule." It's what I could do.

I was SO SICK of watching these people be so freakin' cheap when they have a huge house and three cars and take luxury vacations for frivolous reasons, but just didn't understand the concept that the money they left on the table actually makes a difference to this person's life. They've been living in the US for 12 years, so they should have figured this stuff out by now.

They are very cheap.

You are very generous.

Their $4 barely covered the potato chips they ate.

(And the part about them splitting the bill while you can't drink and they ordered bottles of wine.....rude, rude, rude. Next time, point out to them that you aren't drinking.)

This is how the 'rich' get richer. Trust me, they aren't rich in what matters.

Best of luck with the baby!

Were these people your friends, or?

They are friends; my husband works with the other guy. They're lovely people, but clueless about many things - I don't know if they just don't THINK, or if they are super cheap.

The wife is Scottish, so I'm thinking it's just ingrained frugality

Perhaps they have "a huge house and three cars and take luxury vacations...." because they dont tip like you do.

BTW do you have "a huge house and three cars and take luxury vacations...." after all giving all those $10+ tips to the luncheon waitresses?

MisterNice

Ha! Actually, we're in basically the same financial shape; we have different priorities and spend our money in different ways. I would wager that my husband and I actually have (probably quite) a bit more in savings and investments, whereas they have more stuff. The wife doesn't work (I do), and spends her time working out and playing tennis at their club, and is a bit more susceptible to the "keeping up with the Joneses" syndrome than we are.

I love them to bits, really, they're our best friends, but they're just cheap

I think you're a generous person who has also worked in the industry so if you feel good about leaving that tip that's all that matters.

I probably would have pulled two of those dollar bills off the table (shaking the moths off first), to retrieve a little bit of what you were chipping in for your friends' alcohol, and also to have some tipping money handy, since you'll need it while traveling in that group.

Let's see: 5 lunches a week, 52 weeks a year, $10 tip per lunch = $2,600 per year.

Mister Nice: are you suggesting that somehow $2,600 a year is going to make the difference between having a huge house, three cars, and taking luxury vacation; or renting a studio, driving a Yugo, and spending two weeks a year in the park feeding pigeons?

My observations are the big tippers tip big all day long..........not just at a beer and potato chip luncheon. Lets see, $10 tip for the chambermaid, $10 tip for the breakfast server, $10 tip for the FD clerk, $10 tip for the hotel shuttle guy, $10 tip for the AM coffee server, .......lunch tip already mentioned...., $10 tip for the PM coffee guy etc etc ad nauseum (and the day is only half over). Now do you get the picture?

MisterNice

I do have at least two brothers-in-law who fall into that category. They're generous guys all around and they still manage to do quite well for themselves.

Not really. Anyone who tips like that is obviously loaded: a $10 tip to them is like a $1 tip to me; and I can sure afford to tip $1 in all the situations you refer to above all day long. People tip what they can afford....end of story.

Soooo....I respectfully disagree with your cheap-tipping ways, and your repetitive assertions that big tippers "suffer from excessive guilt."

I guess that is why we each live on a different island <hee hee>. Furthermore I contend the pigeon feeders you previously mentioned also fall into the arena of possessing excessive guilt etc. I believe those driving Yugos have much more serious problems as do the motorists directly in back of them on the traffic laden Honopiialani highway in the afternoon rush hour <cough> <cough>.

MisterNice

I love these tipping threads! They have alot more pizazz to them than the threads on capital punishment or abortion that end up in OMNI. ^

Not true. Had we eaten lunch, the tip would have been roughly the same. It wasn't that I'm a "big tipper," it was the fact that I felt it was unfair to sit at a table that, had we not sat there, would most likely have been occupied by others who would have ordered / paid more, and would have resulted in a larger tip for her. Did I feel "guilt?" Yes, I did. Do I normally? No way!

I tip in proportion to the bill unless there is an overwhelming reason why I should tip more - or less. I tip a couple of dollars to store my bag, a couple of dollars when I park and a couple when I retrieve my car.

On a slight tangent, having worked as a valet parking manager at a large hotel I learned that people rarely tip when parking their cars, but usually tip when they take the car out, and it's harder to get the valets to work the evening shift because of it. Why should they run their butts off to park your car when the morning guy is gonna get the tip? Therefore, I tip in and out - try it and see how happy the valet is, and he might just park your car in a better place so it's more quickly retrieved later.

Sp.

Honoapiilani

If you want the kama'aina discount, ya gotta know how to spell it.