Tipping Ain't a Town In China

I'm not complaining, OK? Really.

OK, maybe a little. But if I come get you and get you to your destination, particularly if we've had a good conversation on the way, you really should give me a tip. It doesn't have to be large, but it does have to be more than rounding to the next dollar.

That's not tipping; it's avoiding having to screw around with change.

When you take a bus, the driver is doing her job by getting you to the bus stop nearest your destination. But she's not taking you right to the door. Also, she's not making a special trip for you. She's just going along the route and stopping when someone lets her know they need a stop. She's doing her job for which the bus company pays her a salary.

If you don't believe in tipping, you could argue that I'm just doing my job, too, but you're wrong.

I may open the door for you. I'm going to have a conversation with you during which I'll be asking you about your life and maybe sharing some of mine with you. It's not designed to elicit a tip, but because I really am interested and like engaging with my passengers. They seem to like it, too - at least most of them do.

You should provide a tip just as you do to a server in a restaurant. The server is only doing his job too, but both they and I rely on tips to make our living. The restaurant pays very little to the server (below minimum wage) and the cab company pays me nothing.

And if you can't afford to tip the driver who gives you service, you really should take a bus, because while I'm not criticizing you and I really do understand (I've been at least as poor as you are now), you can't afford to take a cab, any more than you can afford to eat in a restaurant if you can't afford to tip the server.

As a side note (addendum?), I recently picked up a passenger at a behavioral health center. She got in the cab and said, "Before I ask you not to talk, did you know that blue is the Lord's favorite color?"

"You don't want me to talk?" I asked.

"That's right."

"OK, just let me confirm your address." She said that would be okay and I did.

"But did you know that blue is the Lord's favorite color?" I was wearing a blue shirt.

I told her that if she didn't want me to talk, we could hold off on all communication until we reached the destination.

This, of course, was unusual. Normally, it takes someone much longer to realize I talk too much.

Also, let me invite you to a couple of my other blogs and my radio show. Please visit http://bushmanbooks.blogspot.com and http://JeffOnRadio.blogspot.com and http://GoingBeyondRadio.com/JeffBushman The last of those sites is where you can hear our archived shows which we do live on Wednesday evenings. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you on the radio.