TIPPING: GOOD OR BAD?

I just heard a report on NPR about tipping. I am always listening to NPR, when I'm not writing or working or sleeping.

I think tipping is great.

When I worked at Knight's Parking Garage, in downtown Wichita, I was in high school, a teenager. There was one guy who came in every day and tipped a dime to whomever brought his car.

The guys scrambled to get that ticket and bring that car down easy, in one piece. When they parked that car, they put it in a prime spot, where it wouldn't get dinged, and they didn't race it.

Yes, we raced cars up and down the two ramps, usually late at night, when there was no one around. Tires squealing, maybe a little smoke from burning rubber. Eee-haw! Great fun.

But we never raced that tipper's car and we treated him like a king. All for a dime.

Later, I worked in a hotel, and the bellhops called anyone who seemed to have money but who didn't tip a "phony," meaning a fake, a pretender. They had no respect for phonies. Now I always tip in hotels.

When my then-wife and I went to NYC IN 1964, we ate dinner at a Greek restaurant. Wine, food, belly dancers, longshoremen who danced with the ends of handkerchiefs in their mouths and hissed loudly. It was a blast.

When we left, after three or four hours of great wine and food and entertainment, I didn't tip enough. The waiter followed us outside and berated me, saying he had a family to support, and he couldn't support them like that. He said I was a cheapskate. I asked him how much was appropriate. I tipped him what he asked for. He was worth it. And I felt ashamed.

Years later, when I lived in NYC, in 1969, three mailmen came to the door at Christmas time, seeking tips. I said, "I don't really live here. I'm just visiting." One said, "You get your mail here, don't you?"

I asked him how much was appropriate. About three bucks apiece. They were not trying to soak me, just help their families at the holidays. I anted up and felt bad for resisting earlier.

In NYC, money made the world go round. Nothing wrong with that.

I've found that everyone appreciates a little extra spending money. Some people object to tipping. I don't. I've seen it work. It doesn't cost much to make people happy to see you. A dollar here, a dollar there.

Spread those dollars around, folks. Spread the cheer.

Remember, money makes the world go round. Tipping should make you happy, too.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle