So in certain countries, the United States for one, tipping is more than a thank-you for extra service rendered. It is the principal part of a person’s income.

Oscar, a waiter at a famous New York City restaurant, has a wife and three children to feed, clothe, and shelter. Why are tips important to him? “If I didn’t get enough money in tips, I would have to get an additional job,” he answers. Oscar, like most waiters and waitresses in the United States, is paid the minimum wage​—hardly enough to support one person, let alone five. In addition, the waiter does not keep the whole tip. “We have to divide it between the busboy, the bartender, and the maître d’,” he explains. Oscar realizes that the rising cost of restaurant meals cuts into the amount of money customers leave as tips, yet “my own bills keep going up too,” he says.

Interestingly, the U.S. government assumes that customers will leave a certain percentage of the bill as a tip in restaurants and in certain other places. Waiters and others who perform personal services must pay the government taxes on that estimated tip whether they get it or not!