Well, I tried . . . .

[Sapphire Silk]

Was in the hospital today with my nursing students. One of the staff nurses (a former student of mine, a very good nurse) came in with a couple of other nurses from her BSN class to do an inservice for the staff.

They did a great job in the first go round with my students. Then they did another go round for the regular staff. To encourage them to come in to the inservice, they ordered pizza for the staff.

As they're getting their money together for the tip, one of them says, "How much should we tip? 10%?"

Me: 20%

Cue surprised looks.

Nurse: I might give 15% but only if they get there in 30 minutes.

Me: I'd only go 10% if I got really bad service. If I get good service, 20% because most of these guys don't make minimum wage, they use their own cars, and they don't get the delivery charge.

It was a $30 order. The tip would have been around 2 bucks per. They discussed how much they'd need, though I don't know how much the tip actually was. It did get there in less than 30 minutes though.

I tried to explain it. But they just didn't get it, I don't think

[MadMike]

Well, at least you tried. That could have been me 20 or so years ago. I wasn't a very good tipper back then myself, and back when I was still with my ex, she kept trying to tell me I wasn't tipping enough. I ignored her, because she couldn't hold down a job, and I got stuck paying for everything 99.9% of the time.

I don't think I really saw the light until I found CS way back in... I think it was 2000. I found out how most servers don't even make minimum wage, and they depend on the generosity of their customers. A lot of people were saying you should tip at least 15%, so I started tipping around 20%. Well, except for that time the waitress spilled a drink on my wife and then didn't come back to see if we needed anything else or even clean up the mess, but no one on here -- even those who waited tables -- blamed me for that one.

Ever since I started tipping better, I noticed that the delivery places get my orders to me in a hurry, my food arrives quickly at restaurants, and when I go to my favorite bar, they grab a nice cold Budweiser for me as soon as they see me walk in the door, and sometimes they have it ready for me before I even make my way to the bar.

[Captain Trips]

It's true: tippers go to heaven.

[Air_Stewardess]

Here in the UK tipping isn't like the USA as we have a minimum wage. I normally tip the pizza delivery person £1 or £2 if I have change and in restaurants with table service around 10% if it's good service. I need to add that when I go to the USA I make sure to tip as I know that's what the culture is!

[Captain Trips]

That's just it - know the customs of the culture you are visiting. My daughter works as a waitress at a nice restaurant in a tourist-area of Sandy Eggo, and says that the visitors to this country tip poorly - the worst being those "from the Middle East." I guess tipping doesn't exist in their culture at all.