I have a tip for you. It’s around 15 – 20%.
Your mind races. Your palms are starting to sweat. Time is short, and indecision holds you fast.
When we rely upon laws to enforce decent behavior, we end up spending our hard-earned money on attorneys. Rather than legal recourse, I’m on a mission to amp up my personal charm and collaborative kindness. Good manners are contagious.
Let’s get viral together.
I have a tip for you. It’s around 15 – 20%.
Your mind races. Your palms are starting to sweat. Time is short, and indecision holds you fast.
There’s a joke about a little boy who gets put to bed early. The next morning he asks his parents …
One of the most important things within a family is respect for one another. I’ve been the object of embarrassing remarks about me by my mate, and have also witnessed him speaking kindly to others but snapping and talking down to me. I don’t even know how to make him understand that it cuts like a knife. He’s a truly good person except for this flaw that has caused me to cry without tears many times. I’ve asked him to please talk with me the way he does with others, but it hasn’t changed – he just doesn’t get it. Sometimes I wish I could give him a taste of his own medicine, but it just isn’t in me. Everyone should think about the damage that’s done once unkind, disrespectful words are said – they can never be taken back! They may be forgiven, but never forgotten.
Thank you for this, Ruth. It was a reminder of my not-so-stellar at times attitude towards my Mom who has moved in with me. It’s sad that we often don’t give the same respect to our own family that we do to our friends.
“You are always so kind and respectful whenever you speak to others”. “Why would you then want to embarrass me in front of others”. “It really hurts me”.
Did you know that every year, March 21 is National Common Courtesy Day? Yup—a full day devoted to reviving those little niceties that Mom drilled into your head. But, uh, just a teensy problem here…
Well, my uncommon courtesy for the day was — I held the door for an elderly woman at the post office and then let her go ahead of me in line, and also told the woman who was putting her mail in the slot that she was there before me and let her go ahead of me as well. Does that count???
I sew. I sew aprons and sell them at our local Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. One Saturday morning a gentleman came by and asked me if I could help him with a sewing job on some chair cushions. He went home, got them and brought them by our vendor booth. I could hardly believe that anyone would actually would leave something in such deplorable condition! I took them home, took out those awful mistakes and fixed them like they should be. I decided not to charge anything for my time and work. Told the gentleman there was no charge and would he pass the favor on to someone else.
What a wonderful story. Keep up the good work and thanks for reminding us that manners do count.
Have a wonderful day.
Every day at work I clean the break room and do the dishes other seem to think will wash themselves. I hate walking into a cluttered and dirty break room so when I leave it’s at least clean for the next person who comes in 🙂
Until Recently I worked in a hometown convenience store. Since we opened at 5:30 in the morning, we got all the laborers and the kids going to school. I tried to always say “good morning with a smile and a heartfelt ” Have a good day”. It may sound hokie, but one day a young man on his way to a menial job looked at me and said, “That’s probably the only time I’ll hear that today.”
Today we were in a clothing store. A lady walked by with her hands full and the handle of her bag caught on some clothing/hangers on a rack. I immediately helped unhook her and re-hung the clothes on the rack. She was amazed that I helped her and thanked me several times. I like to help when I see the need. It feels good and makes the world a better place. I always remember a line from the song Hands by Jewel:
“In the end, only kindness matters” . I believe that.
As a server myself, I appreciate this post. Thanks Mary Jane for setting the record straight. And I realize that alot of people may not know that there are unsaid rules to tipping.
Sometimes, places will also put how much the tip should be. For example at the restaurant where I work, if the customer pays for their bill using a debit or credit card there will be hints at the bottom for 10%, 15% and 20%.
Plus, if you tip the server nicely and go back to that restaurant, chances are that they will remember. That server may also have told the other severs she worked with how nice of a tip she got. So then the other servers will also give you excellent service. Its the old saying of what goes around comes around.
While never having worked in the industry that receives tips, it just plain makes me happy to do a little something more for someone else. I don’t expect the waiter/waitress to “serve” me. I like to think of them as helping me enjoy a meal that I don’t have to cook or clean up. It’s a form of appreciation for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I work fast food and tipping is not thought of by people for that line of work, but I can tell you when customers tip me I really appreciate it. I am a single mom trying to go to school and raise my kids and my job does not pay enough. Those tips when I do get them really help out. When I have some extra money and I get the rare chance to eat out, I always tip.
Great comment Ginger. Next time I am in a Deli, I’m a ‘tippin’!
I live in Oregon. In Oregon servers are paid minimum wage. I know this is different in other states but, in Oregon the tip is just that a tip. As someone who has worked for many years with young children making minimum wage, I always question our American value systems where restaurant servers make more because they are tipped than those who look after our children.