Raised in a Barn?

Last night I waited on a party of 5 - a mom, her three kids, and the man she was dating. The man went to great lengths to sound extremely generous: "Order whatever you want", "Let him have another root beer", "It's all on me tonight, get anything you like" etc.

What a class act, right?

Wrong.

He stiffed me. An hour and twenty minutes of running back and forth for them and he didn't leave me a dime.

Here's the deal. You can pay lip service to being generous and decent. You can say anything you want to the people you try to impress. But how you treat the person you think you'll never see again is the true measure of your integrity.

This man was a jackass in a nice suit. Perhaps he should dine in a barn with the other farm animals and stop pretending.

He thinks I won't remember him? I could spot him at the mall.

Here's a quick tipping guide for the clueless out there:

1. Tipping 10 percent is a sure indicator that you are either a) old enough to be captivated by commercials lauding denture cream and diabetes tests or b) too cheap to part with one more dollar to reward good service.

2. The standard for basic, acceptable service is 20%. Your waiter/waitress makes a measly $2.13 an hour and runs his/her feet off all night doing every little thing you need so you don't have to do anything but sit there and eat. The least you can do is meet the basic standard in tipping.

3. Excellent service, the kind that wows you with friendliness, accuracy, and prompt meeting of your needs deserves 25-30%. Shake off your inner Scrooge and try generosity on for size. You'll feel good about it, I promise.

Reasons Why You Should Tip Well:

1. Your waiter/waitress works hard and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. If you don't think so, the barn has stalls available.

2. We remember faces. We really do. Don't you think it's wise to treat well the one person with the power to wipe your steak on the bathroom floor before serving it to you? Think that kind of thing doesn't happen? I hope you've had your shots.

It all comes down to this: What kind of person are you really? A generous person treating others with respect? Or a card-carrying member of the barn?