Tip O' the Day

I am always looking for ways to save a few dollars. I was recently introduced to the most fabulous industry of re-sale and consignment shops. I knew that they existed, but I never shopped at one until recently. WOW…big $$$$$ savings to be found in these stores.

Has anyone else noticed how expensive it is to eat carry out food these days? We started doing the carryout thing instead of dining in at the restaurants just to save a few extra dollars. I’m not cheap or anything, but if I can save $5 or $10 dollars by cutting out the tip, then that is $5 or $10 extra dollars I have in my wallet.

However, I have recently had some disturbing experiences with the whole carry out thing. It seems like everyone wants a tip for everything these days. We placed a “curbside” to-go order the other night, and I went to pick it up. When I got there, I handed the girl my debit card. When I looked at the receipt I noticed there was a “tip” line. I, of course, put $0.00. I didn’t think the girl deserved a tip for handing me a bag of food. Besides, it wasn’t like they actually even brought it out to my car; I went in and picked it up. Plus, that was the whole point of carry out, was saving money on the tip.

I handed the receipt back to her, and she looked at me with intense disgust. How dare I not tip her 15%? I looked at her and said, “Is something wrong?”

I understand everyone wants to make a few extra dollars here and there, but normally, people WORK for tips, they are not EXPECTED. Trust me, I use to be a waitress, I know the pain of working your ass off to please your customer and they leave you a crappy tip. And, I am not one of those calculating customers. If someone does a really good job, I give them a really good tip. The calculating customers were the best. I loved it when they busted out the calculator. Heaven forbid they give me 1-penny over 15% or 20%. And, even as a RN, I have had many patients want to give me tips; which is really funny, because it’s my job to take care of them. I’m not going to take any better or worse care of them if they “tip”me. They could never understand why I wouldn’t take the tip. I tried to explain the whole “…because it’s my job to take care of you” concept, but it ultimately came down to me telling them it was illegal just to get them off my back. I did appreciate the gesture though.


I just have a really hard time tipping someone who doesn’t do anything to earn it. I think the coffee tenders are the worse. I mean if they make me a Grande Café Mocha Slim Jim Double with whipped cream, then yes, I will gladly give them $1 for putting the steamer in the cup and stirring it after they added all the necessary ingredients, even though my 6-year-old daughter could probably do the same thing. BUT, I am not going to give them an extra penny for pouring me a cup of coffee out of a pot, and handing it to me.

Is anyone else annoyed by this, or is it just my hormones raging out of control again?