When To Tip

As someone who has worked in a position where a service had to be rendered and the position involved close contact with the customers, I support the motion that it is a good thing to tip every now and then.

It is really crazy out there in the field and many people are really juggling several jobs just to make ends meet and a tip would really go a long way in making a stressed out worker happy.

I know that no one is entitled to the other's money which means that the act of giving a worker a tip untop of the initial payment should come from a good and genuine place in the heart. You should give tips because you want to, because you understand that the worker is probably working very hard and therefore would value the money that you'll give them properly.

Everyone has their various reasons for giving a tip now and then, personally, I give tips according to my heart's discretion. I do not have a specific criteria that workers that offer me services must adhere to before I tip them. I give tips for so many reasons and sometimes, just because.

---

---

I remember a certain time when I was in a dilemma about who I was going to let braid my hair. I was in a dilemma because the previous hair stylist that I patronized was not gentle with my hair and she was also dishonest on top of that. Whenever she was done braiding my hair, the braids would only last for a short amount of time and when it was time to take them off, my hair would fall out, which wasn't supposed to be so. This went on for a while mainly because I wasn't able to find someone else that I'd trust enough to handle my hair properly.

Then I was introduced to my current hairdresser. I was skeptical at first because of the traumatic experience I had with the previous one but I decided to give her a try. Her hands on my head felt different and so soft and soothing that immediately, I knew that it was going to be her from that moment on. After braiding my hair, I was so impressed with the finished look that I gave her a tip.

I paid in cash, so she counted the notes and offered to return my ‘change’, thinking that I overpaid her for her service. She smiled beautifully when I told her that I didn't make a mistake when counting the money to give her and she should keep the change and immediately, she was very excited. I haven't gone to braid my hair elsewhere since then.

---

IS TIPPING OPTIONAL?

---

Yes!

Tipping is absolutely optional. It is a choice that we make and no one is under any obligation to tip anybody when they don't want to. It's not about having enough money to tip at all, you might have the money to tip and yet not feel like tipping due to personal reasons.

Tipping is not an obligation.

Unfortunately, there are a group of workers who believe that it is our job as customers to come to their establishment, spend the money we came to spend and spend extra on them in the form of tips as if there's an unwritten rule somewhere that we do not know about.

---

"Have you ever been harassed before because of a tip?"

---

Yes, I have.

My sister and I went to a mall sometime ago to have brunch and see a movie. After having brunch, I felt the urge to use the toilet and the plan was to ease myself before heading into the cinema to spend two hours sitting in one place.

When I got to the female section, there was a woman sitting on a chair at the entrance like some sort of guard, only that she was dressed in native attire. She greeted me as I walked past her and I returned the greeting. After doing what I went in there to do, I made to leave but the woman stood in my way and demanded that I ‘drop something’ for her.

I didn't even understand the slang initially so I was genuinely confused but it only seemed to make the woman angry. She stopped three of us at once and demanded the same thing and I am very sure that the management of the mall did not approve of such illegal extortion.

A lady who immediately understood what she meant began to fish in her purse for a loose change when one girl tried to escape, drawing the woman's attention to her and it was then that I was able to escape. The woman called after me but I ignored her and kept on walking.

That was a very terrible way to treat customers.

She literally told me that if I wanted to leave I had to ‘drop something’.

It is situations like this that people experience that makes them to not feel generous enough to tip even those that deserve it.

I don't think it was tips the woman was demanding, she was demanding that we give her money for using the facilities provided by the mall. She was not in uniform, no name tag, nothing to show that she at least worked there.

It was a learning experience for me and now I know what to do when faced with such people.

---

---

Image used is mine..