This morning I grabbed my paper which was hermetically sealed in a plastic bag because it has been snowing here the past few days. When I opened the paper I found a card inside. Not an advertising card but a greeting card or Christmas card from my carrier.

I’ve never gotten a Christmas card from my carrier before so I thought it was pretty kind of her (turns out my carrier is a woman). Then I opened it and noticed another envelope tucked inside with her name and address on it. She wants a tip and was kind enough to do most of the work for me.

Dear Abby says we should tip our paper carriers, hairdressers, the people who carry our groceries to the car for us (I’m not sure there are any of those left but who knows I shop at the place where you have to not only bag your own groceries but you have to scan them too), our butcher (same as the previous) and other people who perform services for us but otherwise don’t get tipped.

Seems you can’t go anywhere these days without seeing a tip jar. I actually saw one at my bank the other day! I don’t throw money into these coffers mainly because I am broke but also because the service is usually not very good and I figure they probably make more than I do. I have never worked at a company where we were allowed to accept tips.

I do tip the woman who cuts my hair. I do this because she does a great job, I went to high school with her, she is a single mom like me, and mainly because she only charges $10 per cut and she usually trims my daughters hair when she cuts mine at no charge. I tip her a minimum of $30. I also don’t get my hair cut but twice a year so it doesn’t break me.

The dog groomer is another one that Abby says should be tipped. If the groomer were bathing my cat I would tip but the groomer is bathing Stanley. It’s not that hard. The last time I brought Stanley in to be groomed he came back with a black eye because the groomer put him in the backyard with one of her dogs and they became rambunctious. Stanley doesn’t get rambunctious, the other dog beat him up. The groomer didn’t give me a discount for maiming my dog so I feel no need to rush down and leave a tip.

Do you tip? If so to whom? How much?