Where's my tip?

(稍微修改以前的一篇舊文)

     A group of Mafia gangsters dined at a fine restaurant. After they finished their dinner, on their way out, two of them were approached by their waiter. “Didn’t you like my service?” the waiter politely asked. As it turned out, the gangster who paid the dinner didn’t leave enough tip, so the waiter was hoping he could get more. To make the story short, they got into a fight and the mobster pulled out a gun and killed this unfortunate waiter.

     This is a scene from HBO’s hit series “The Sopranos.” A similar scenario happened to a good friend of mine, not the killing part of course. His 70-year-old uncle and some other relatives came for a visit from Taiwan, so he took them out to a Chinese buffet restaurant. His uncle was pleased with everything and insisted on paying. My friend didn’t want to ruin his fun, so he let him. His uncle gladly put the money on the table but he missed one thing — THE TIP. My friend didn’t want to pay the tip in front of him, worrying it might embarrass him, so he decided he’d put the money on the table after he helped his uncle exit the restaurant. While he was holding his 70-year-old uncle’s arms and walking towards the front door, their waitress came over and yelled at him, “Where's my tip? Is my service bad or something?”

     Last night, I told my gf a story of my other friend. He was at a Chinese restaurant. After he was done eating and paid the bill, his waiter confronted him because he didn't leave a tip. The manager was there too, so he said to both of them that he didn’t like the waiter's service. After hearing the story, my gf said “He can at least pay a reduced tip!”

     One thing about tipping that I didn’t know until later is that you should tip more if you are paying for a group of people. This is nice to know. As for how much and when one should tip, well, I guess I’ll write another blog for that.