When you travel from place to place, customs change. Some customs that have been entrenched in America since I can remember but [thank God] haven’t made it to other parts of the world, or not yet anyway, and that is a good thing. This short story serves as one reminder. Not everything we ask for someone else to fetch should require that we tip them. They’re at work, working for us sometimes to get us from point “A” to point “B”. One can surmise that individuals [service workers] we come into contact with who are on the clock are actually getting paid by those that employ them. Imagine that, which should not require us to always throw money at them, watch how this works…

This is probably my last post regarding my recent trip into England and Scotland and one thing I learned is that tipping over there is not customary. Let me repeat that, tipping is not all that customary in other parts of the world. In fact, you’ll confuse some workers by tipping them. Over here, we’re so accustomed to being taxed-to-frigging-death that we’ve grown to believe that everyone needs a tip just so we’re not shamed by asking them to do something? Some thing like those things that are part of the job they hold and from the very beginning, these are tasks they should be getting paid for, as employees.

Upon waking my last morning in Edinburgh, I decided I must do one more thing before I could leave for home, I must climb the local mountain that rises above the city and overlooks the harbor and really the entire area. “Arthur’s Seat” as it’s known is almost 1,000 ft. high. I thought to myself, well that’s nothing for a stepper. Turns out that this particular “stepper” was a bit out of shape to take on the journey. And after successfully reaching the top gasping for air [while simultaneously keeping a smile on my face], Woo! Now I believe they should actually restrict access [to the public] from reaching the top because the last 100 feet or so is downright dangerous as it becomes nothing but a smooth and steep rock surface up there. One bad ankle move or mis-step and it wouldn’t have been pretty for this man. In several places around the top any drop off accident could critically harm an individual. Anyway, with me and myself panting all the way up I morphed into a “too scared” of descending too quickly kind of a climber? Again, one bad move and down the jagged cliff she blows! That’s when I made a promise to myself, if I were found still intact & alive at the bottom, the street level, I would find a nice lobster lunch in the immediate area as my personal reward. I accomplished both, a sufficiently successful decent as well as a local Edinburgh lobster lunch. 🙂

I found this kind of trendy seafood place which had a “Lobster Tempura” on their menu. Personally, I would have never connected those two words together, but they do in Scotland. The waitress came around, a bright smiling young lady from London who was attending classes at the prestigious University of Edinburgh. We struck up a conversation about life in general [between the two continents] and the lobster was sure tasty. Once I signaled that I must move on she presented me with a bill. I paid in pound notes but remembered those heavy local coins still in my pocket and since I was going to be boarding a plane in the morning I wanted that extra weight gone and she presented my first opportunity to do so as I gave her a healthy tip in local coins, cleaning out my pockets. [There is no such thing as a single pound paper note in Great Britain – nor even a 2 pound note, only coins exist for those smaller denominations. The British 5 pound note is the smallest currency found in paper form. She looked at my tip and kind of rolled her eyes saying, “Americans always do this, they tip us”. I responded with, “it’s not customary?” She explained to me that it’s really not. I could see in her eyes as she reluctantly accepted my tip not certain of what she would even do with it? Tips actually confuse people over there [in many cases]. It’s basically equivalent to having someone “over-pay” the tab. I remember when I was in Europe once before, a cab driver in France did not understand why I gave him a tip, not-at-all. He didn’t speak much English and I knew no French so that became an interesting exchange between the two of us as he actually tried giving it back to me, twice!

Let me leave you with a “notion”. Thanking people for their time is something I made a habit of doing some years ago. Whether I’m in a retail store or someone is helping me over the phone it matters not, I always thank a worker for their time. Simply acknowledging to someone that you appreciate their assistance, [their time], goes a long way toward them feeling that they are being respected for what they do and what they bring to the table. Reflecting back over here in America on the act of tipping in general – our bartenders and restaurant workers basically survive only on the tips they receive. So what would happen if we, the public-at-large, stops tipping very often or even not at all? What effect would this have on our American service industries? Let me tell you what would happen, restauranteurs and bar owners would be forced to actually pay their employees a real living wage and for the very first time! Can you say Amen to that?! 😉