# Am I being a jerk by leaving a pile of small change along with my tip at a restaurant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2010, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620 "2010-04-10T08:17:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/41 "2010-04-15T00:41:18Z")
A complete dick leaves the tip in all pennies, in a water glass that has been flipped upside down. It’s a good way to demonstrate inertia and air pressure, but a bad way to leave a tip. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/42 "2010-04-15T01:22:13Z")
I just went through my change pouch and discovered $14.50 in silver and gold\*, plus an unkown number of pennies, which I separated and placed in another bag. Coins\*\* are not an unwanted extra to us; a few loonies and toonies ($1 and $2 coins) can provide a complete if modest meal. So tipping with them isn’t a problem. I generally reserve some quarters and loonies for laundry change, and tip from what’s left over plus a fiver if necessary. The cost of my typical restaurant meal means that tips are seldom over $10, so there will certainly be coins there. [sub]\* “Gold” includes loonies and toonies. May not contain actual gold. \*\* Except for pennies.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/43 "2010-04-16T21:40:46Z")
Back in the day I remember using subway tokens as part of what I was leaving as my tip. Eventually, everyone rides the subway in New York City… ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/44 "2010-04-16T22:51:12Z")
What about a bagful of pennies for a hundred dollar meal? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/45 "2010-04-17T00:08:24Z")
Most servers have to carry their own change, so I usually appreciated the coins (a lot of people would just leave the coins I left when I brought their change, which is fine too). Unless they gave the entire tip in change - that’s kind of crappy. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/46 "2010-04-17T05:15:01Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > My mother-in-law loves to tip entirely with the quarters from the washing machines at her apartment building. Even though it’s a normal sized tip, that many quarters has to be a little annoying, although I assume the servers can swap it out at the register. Though if the servers have coin-op laundry, those quarters may prove to be the best tips of the night! > [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > At the bar I work at, my register doesn’t carry anything smaller than quarters; my boss won’t even accept it when I turn in my checkout at the end of my shift, so I have to buy any small change I receive. Say what? You mean that if I buy a beer that costs $3.50, and I pay you with 3 dollar bills and 5 dimes, you can’t put that into the register? You have to put the 5 dimes in your pocket, take out two of your own quarters, and put them in the register? Do I have that right? 'Cause that’s all kinds of weird. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/47 "2010-04-17T21:15:03Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Though if the servers have coin-op laundry, those quarters may prove to be the best tips of the night! Bingo…I was a server for a few years and always loved getting quarters so that I could do laundry. I also worked in DC and Metrobus will take pennies, so I just kept a big jar at home of all the coins I received. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620/48 "2010-04-17T23:19:52Z")
It’s high time that the end consumer no longer be obliged to swallow the cost or inconvenience of piles and pocketfuls of shrapnel coin. I say give it back to merchants, waiters, and anyone else you owe. The fact that the OP still leaves a reasonable tip in currency makes this more than reasonable. Not enough people mind a monetary system skewed toward funneling this nearly worthless money into our pockets, but a lot of people whose job it is to receive money or sell things sure don’t want anything but nice convenient denominations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-being-a-jerk-by-leaving-a-pile-of-small-change-along-with-my-tip-at-a-restaurant/535620.md?page=2)