The Act Of Tipping – Do You Give It Much Thought?

There is an unwritten rule of thumb (does that make sense?) that when the whole family gets together, uncles, aunts, cousins - never talk about religion and politics. Let Thanksgiving be merry and please pass the gravy. I have found another subject that almost everybody with a pulse has an opinion on - To Tip or NOT to Tip, that is the question. Now, let's put yourself in a non-pandemic era, I often have gone to a sandwich shop here in Bismarck that has their own policy - they don't have a tip jar out on the counter. The manager I spoke to thinks it looks tacky - SO every time I go in to place my order, I always lean over and say "Hey someone must have dropped some money over by that table, I'm going to leave it right here, in case they come in looking for it" ( Wink-Wink). I do that because I feel they deserve a little extra for taking the time to make my sandwich, the way I want it - I want them to feel appreciated.

The act of a gratuity should be something given voluntarily. The discussion of tipping can go a million directions - If you are at a bar, and you just scored $500 in BINGO, do you tip the person yelling out all the letters? When you call a restaurant for a take-out order, do you throw a couple of bucks to the cashier? Some people say "Why would I?" - all they did was take the order, and take my money. My point is that my food was still prepared, packaged, and kept warm for me - I appreciate that. I have learned this from experience, NEVER judge someone poorly for not tipping - after all, that is their right. Some people can't afford to leave a tip. I feel better for myself when I treat someone right. I also have been to places here in town that have awful service, I still left a tip when I left, BUT I will probably never go back, and I may tell my friends about it.  Negative "Word of mouth" is a death knell to a business.

We hopefully are on our way to normalcy (after a disastrous COVID-19 year), I am still impressed for Bismarck/Mandan residents rallying around people who were in the restaurant businesses that were shut-down, or subjected to curb-side dining. People who gave of themselves to help others in need. My own personal feeling on tipping is to take care of someone who takes care of YOU. That simple.