I almost always tip 20%.
Even with mediocre or average service, you still get 20% from me. There have only been a few moments in my life where I haven't tipped at all, but those events were justified by the level of terrible service. Even I have my limits! Why always 20%? Because it's easy math.
This may come as a big surprise to my mother, but I had a few beers before my 21st birthday! What!? Yes, I am a terrible person! When finding and keeping an over the age person to buy you beer, it's necessary to tip that person. If he buys you a 12 pack, you throw in enough extra money so that he can buy a 6 pack for himself. It's the right thing to do. When I was of age, girls would offer to make out with me for my beer purchasing services. I'd pass because no amount of emotionless make out sessions made it worth having to buy 6 different flavors of fruity girl drinks. I was never that hard up for female attention. What if my friends saw me? If I was going to risk my street cred, I was going to need to be compensated financially or at least be able to add a 6 pack of beer to the shopping cart filled with names like "passion fruit" and "mango pineapple". Besides, the girl you wanted to make out with in the group was never the one that was willing to smooch you for making the purchase. If there are girls that are reading this and have never heard if these practices, you went to a lame college or you never did anything "cool" in high school.
Ok, I got off subject a little, but it was fun!
People don't tip or give back like they used to. Yes, tipping is still very customary in the financial transactional world, but "tipping" in life is a lost art. Sending thank you cards is a form of tipping. Returning the favor is tipping. Giving your time is tipping. Being there for someone even when they say they don't need you is tipping. Being there when you said you would and going beyond the expectation is tipping. People don't "life tip" like they used to. The phrase "forever in your debt" doesn't hold the same amount of meaning as it used to. How often do you really mean it when you offer your support? Is it just lip service? Are you tipping or just going through the motions.
I bet if you weighed your offerings to people against the amount of times you followed though or meant it, you would be surprised to see how much of it was meant and how much of it was said for the sake of saying. Look, we all do it to some extent. In the past year, I have actually only offered my time, services or money when I truly meant it. I wanted my offerings to matter and be real. Not keeping score in life, but I saw and heard a lot of false or lip service offerings from people after my brother passed away. If you are reading this and feeling guilty, know that I am not keeping score or harboring anger or hate in my heart because of it. People say what they feel they need to say because they don't always know what else to say. I never want to feel indebted to anyone, so as far as our relationship goes, we are square. No worries.
Not everyone is like me. Trust me, it's often a challenge for me to think this way and stay true to my beliefs. If you are able to offer, give back or pay it forward in life without hesitation, then continue to be that person. Keep tipping. Be as selfless as you can be! Say the right thing as you do the right thing. Stay golden Ponyboy! (Who caught that?) If you are saying things, knowing you will back out and not "life tip", then don't. If you are a selfish person, it's pretty liberating. Telling the server at the restaurant that you will come back and tip them sometime in the future, instead of today, and never showing up to their place of business again is the equivalent to offering up your time or services and doing so knowing you have no intentions to pay up.
Don't life tip out of obligation, but rather from a place of passion and love. Be human. Be real. Pay your "bill" to others and give the extra 20% knowing that it's the right thing to do.
