Company Blog

Money

by Adam Zack — September 27, 2023

Make someone’s day. Today!

As I’ve written before, pretty much everything we do, see, watch and read 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 about it, I hate to say it, but it’s true. No matter how much I wish I didn’t have to think about balancing budgets, being fair, who owes who how much and when are they going to start paying it back, are we even, spending or not spending and investing back, what to buy, who and how much to spend for birthdays or Christmas, it’s just a fact of today’s life.

One of my early memories about money was when I was about 10. We were with my dad in San Francisco at a very nice restaurant called Scoma’s, for lunch. There were 6 of us in total, I think. When the bill came my dad was going to leave a $4 tip. Yes, four bucks. Mind you, this was about 49 years ago, but even then a $4 tip was cheapskate/insulting territory. I begged him to leave more and wondered if he didn’t, how would I be able to get out of the restaurant without being permanently branded as Son of Cheap-ass. 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 as inaccurate.

Anytime I find myself even remotely leaning cheap-ass when it comes to tipping I remind myself “It’s only a couple bucks more, don’t be such a cheap-ass.” When you see that suggested tip come up on the payment screen, just do it. You want to make someone’s day after they have given you exceptional service? Give them a great tip, something memorable if you can afford it. Yes, it’s all about money, but it can also be about how much of yours you share.