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Health & Fitness

Tipping is not a city in China (or Hollywood apparently)

Millionaires not tipping

Celebrities are known for dropping big bucks on homes, cars and their Hollywood lifestyles. Yet some of them have earned reputations as cheapskates when it comes to leaving gratuities at restaurants. According to a list that came out this month, Rachel Ray and Bill Cosby are a couple of the worst celebrity tippers.

As someone who used to make a living and pay bills on tips, it never ceases to amaze me when I see lists like these come out. Now, I’m not sure how accurate this list is, but it is still fun to comment on, so I going to put in my 2 cents—or in this case less than 5%—on this matter.

OK, let’s face it, everyone has eaten out at some point in their lives, and I’m sure everyone has run into bad service in a restaurant before—the graveyard shift at The Waffle House, free grand slam day at Denny’s, all-you-can-eat rib night at Golden Corral, or any Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo, just to name a few. With that being said, I’d be willing to bet that more often than not, you’ve had decent to halfway decent service most of the time dining out. So what if they didn’t re-fill your tap water a 10th time? Get over it!! Giving a bad tip sends a message, and if the server is serious about getting better at their profession (and more importantly making money), then that message better ring home fast or they will be cruising those want ads sooner than later. Anyone who has served people knows that it can be an incredibly difficult and trying job, but that should be no excuse for poor service.

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I don’t believe that these millionaire celebs/athletes are eating at the likes of the previously mentioned establishments. Furthermore, I can’t imagine that the manager of whatever overpriced restaurant they are eating at is sending the “new” guy to the table. I doubt the server who can’t pour anything without spilling it and never gets the order right is assigned to Rachel Rays’ section. The smelly, unshaven, hung over waiter is not getting assigned over to Mr. Cosby’s party. I would like to think these celebs are getting the best of the best. That’s just good business.

Tipping is a fairly easy process that, for some reason, gets some people really flummoxed. In some cases, I’ve personally witnessed and have been a part of arguments breaking out between friends and family. There is no handbook on how to tip, no golden rule. It just comes down to some basic math and how valuable and tip-worthy you feel the experience was. 18-20% of your final bill is a healthy tip. 15% is good, and less than 10% not so good. No need for the tip calculator and please turn off the tip app on your smart phone. I usually just take the tax of the bill and double it. Or for extraordinary service (water re-filled 11 times), I take the total of the final bill, move the decimal point over, which gives you 10%, and then multiply that number by 2 to get 20%.

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Finally, everyone will always have different thoughts and opinions about gratuities, which is fine. Unfortunately, I doubt anything of what I talked about will help or benefit the celebs featured on the list because they are just plain cheap or severely out of touch.

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