Last christmas the newspaper came and with it a blank christmas card in an envelope addressed to Jaime Caranza. Now I am going to go out on a limb here and assume Jaime is the person who delivers our newspaper here at Art House. I am also gonna assume Jaime wants me to send him a christmas card presumably that one…filled with cash.
So what exactly was Jaime asking for? A tip. Yes, Jaime wanted me to tip him.
No one is really sure about the history of tipping or what the word means. I like this version- ‘tip’ is an acronym for To Insure Proper Service. Since I am a little grumpy today and since I am typing and you are reading we are going with that. (I do welcome your comments and opinions below though.)
Jaime assumed I was pleased with his services…no, not just pleased, very pleased. I guess he thought I was so happy with the fact my paper was somewhere on the sidewalk each morning when I went out to get it. No, it was not in front of Art House door. It was not with a thermos of coffee. It was just there at the end of the driveway as if he just dropped it out the car window…as it had been every day since Art House opened…with the exception of two days when the paper was MIA.
Here in Las Vegas tipping is the norm and I guess Jaime thinks he is no exception. I used to tip the bartender to make sure I got served quickly and my drinks were strong. I tip the waitress to make sure my coffee cup is full. I tip the valet to make sure my car arrives quickly and safely. I tipped the movers who carried all my heavy equipment from my penthouse over here to Art House to thank them for not losing or breaking anything.
Paul Kyriazi, in his “21 Rules of the James Bond Lifestyle” has “I tip freely like Bond” as Rule #18. Paul doesn’t say it in so many words but I interpret that to mean tipping is a way of circulating cash in the Universe. Those who hold onto it are less apt to receive more. I think he is also talking about Karma Points.
I don’t mind tipping. If you did a really good job a will give you a little tip in appreciation. I gave the DJ a fiver the other night at BarBistro just because I was feeling his groove. But when you do it in a creepy way like this
or this
then I am less apt to care as much.
When I moved to Las Vegas I met a girl at my bar and she explained it to me. “This town is run on comps and compliments. You compliment people for a job well done. You compliment them with cash.”
Yet tipping is weird. When I used to live in Europe I discovered some countries add a tip to the bill automatically. Here is America it is usually done after the service is completed and at the discretion of the person to whom the service is being provided.
I used to have an uncle who would estimate what his meal bill was going to be and what a 20% tip of that would be. He would wave that amount in single dollar bills to the waitress and explain it was her tip and each time she ‘messed up’ he would remove a dollar. Sure it was sort of a douche move but it got her attention.
I also offer you this- What if your life depended on tips? What if you got tipped for holding the door for the little old lady or for letting that car ‘cut in front of you’? Would it change the way you acted? How about trying that this week? Act as if you are getting tipped for your actions.
Thank you. Good night…and remember to tip your waitress.
So I ask you- How do you tip? Do you tip everyone? Why one person and not the other? Do you get tipped? Do you tip at the beginning or at the end? Share your experiences in the comments with us friends.