Company Blog

Just the Tip

by Adam Zack — December 5, 2018

Son of Cheapass

As I’ve written before, pretty much everything we do revolves around money. How much did you save? What kind of deal can I get? That place is too expensive. There’s a big sale this Wednesday. Sales are up. Sales are down. I hate to think it. I hate to say it. But it’s true and no matter how much I wish I didn’t have to think about balancing budgets, being fair, spending or not spending and investing back, what to buy who and how much to spend for Christmas, it’s just a fact.

One of my early memories about money was when I was about 10. We were with my biological father in San Francisco at a very nice restaurant called Scoma’s for lunch. There were 6 of us total, I think. When the bill came my dad was going to leave a $4 tip. Yes, four bucks. Mind you, this was about 44 years ago, but even then a $4 tip was cheapskate/insulting territory. I begged with to leave more and wondered if he didn’t, how I would be able to get out of the restaurant without being permanently branded as Son of Cheapass. I think he did leave more – grudgingly – but his reasoning that it’s the same service he’d get at Denny’s always stuck with me.

Anytime I find myself even remotely leaning cheapass when it comes to tipping I remind myself “It’s only a couple bucks more, don’t be such a cheapass.” You want to make someone’s day? Give them a great tip. Yes, it’s all about money, but it can also be about how much of yours you share.