What in the world is cow tipping? 

It was a proposed activity when I was a teen where you would sneak up on an unsuspecting cow at night and push it over. Something to be done by bored teens who had nothing else to do. I have never met anyone who actually tried to do it. Bored teenagers in our town just mostly drove around and around the mall. Cow tipping became such an urban legend that studies have been done to try and prove/disprove whether it could be done. The truth is it is impossible, which makes the cows extremely happy.

Tipping is still a good practice though.

Tipping people, that is. In the United States, it can be kind of complicated who and when you should tip because it is expected in many service industries. Many of those jobs pay very low wages so the employees rely on tips to help them survive. The places that would be most frequently visited by teenagers are restaurants and hair salons so that is what this challenge is focused on.

How much to tip?

The accepted range for wait staff is 15% – 20%. Of course, the easiest way to calculate the tip would be to use your handy dandy calculator on your phone. A simple way to figure it without a calculator would be to take the bill ($12.00), move the decimal one place to the left ($1.20), and double it ($2.40).  Or use good old fashioned pen and paper and some multiplication skills. Make sure you tip off the total before any coupons or discounts.

Other Places…

Tipping is also customary for other service workers such as hotel housekeepers, delivery drivers, taxi drivers, and valets. If in doubt whether you should tip, do what I do and research (google). If you are planning on a visit to another country, make sure that you research their tipping etiquette before you go.

Your turn.

Fill out this printable for some tipping practice. Don’t forget to take pics and post on social media so you can be entered into the gift card drawing! See FAQs for details.

Have you missed any of the previous challenges? If so, you can find them here.