Tips. Always a bone of contention for me.
Growing up I was told - you tip well if the service is good, you tip less if the service is bad.
My wife grew up in Japan where it was considered an insult to leave a tip.
She’s always looking to see how much I leave and hates - hates- if I overtip.
That being said I once tipped $100 to a cab driver for an especially fast ride when I really needed it.
I’ve also had a server chase me down and complain about a standard 15% tip....for standard service.... that one really torqued me.
And I’ve left a penny tip on purpose because of particularly poor and rude service.
Ah Tips.....
Every time I left a tip, my mother would want to pull some of it back.
I miss her.
I do tip generously the ladies who come in once a month to do housework. That's just common sense. They have access to my stuff, and I'd prefer they treat it respectfully and honestly. Another thing I've started doing. If I stay at a hotel multiple nights, I leave a tip each day. It gets to the folks actually doing the cleaning that way, and they reward me with good service.
Tipping...it's an art AND a science!
I over tip. I appreciate good service and reward it. I also have found that I tend to get into my hairdresser faster, for a manicure faster and a better table at my local restaurants. I receive prompt service from waiters/waitresses; they remember who tips well. And, sometimes, I get little extras, although, I do not expect them. It is well worth those few extra dollars. But, I do it because I understand where they are and how hard they work. I also tip in cash, never on the card. The IRS doesn’t need to know they got a 30 or 40% tip rather than 15%. If they have tip sharing, I divide the tip so the server gets the majority.
Solomon at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis intentionally “lost” my credit because he thought I stiffed him on the tip, when in fact I tipped him 20% on a $142 meal bill. The prick. I had to hurry up and cancel my credit card,
But the bill and his tip got rung up.