At some kinds of businesses, customers are expected to give a little extra money to the person who deals with them. This money is called a tip, and the custom is called tipping.
(Nobody knows why. Some say the letters TIPS stand for “to insure proper service”. But then, we would tip people before they helped us.)
In North America, it is the custom to tip servers in restaurants, takeout food delivery people, taxi drivers, and sometimes barbers or hairdressers.
Restaurant workers are often paid very little. They rely on tips to make enough money. You should usually leave them a tip that is about 15% of your total bill. If they do a very good job or a lot of extra things, you can make it 20%. (Fast food workers do not expect tips.)
If your bill says “Please pay your server”, you can give the server enough cash for the bill and the tip, and tell them to keep the change. Or you can leave the tip on the table.
If you pay by credit card, you will have to sign a receipt. There will be a space for you to write an amount for a tip. (It may say “Gratuity”.) This will be on your credit card bill.
Tipping someone who cuts your hair is good, unless they are the owner of the business.
15% is a good amount to tip other workers, too. 10% was once enough, but of course the workers prefer 15%.
Copyright Manna Computer Services, Inc. Reproducible for personal or classroom use. Images by Clipartisland.com, used with permission.
