A good friend of mine is an experienced waitress. She recently made a claim that she loves it when her customers go out for a cigarette during their meal, as smokers always seem to tip higher than average.
We pondered this for a time but couldn’t think of what the relationship could be other than a vague theory that since smokers don’t seem to care about wasting money on cigarettes, they are more relaxed in their spending habits in general and therefore more likely to tip high.
Wondering if any in the industry have noticed such a pattern or could offer insight.
Well, I’m a smoker, and I tip reasonably well, 20% being the default. But I’ve also been a server that depended on tips, so not sure there’s much to go on there.
I think it might actually be in the other direction- not that smokers are particularly relaxed about spending and tip more than average but that a certain type of person is both more likely to tip less and less likely to smoke.
When I think of the people I know who cause financial problems when we are out or traveling :
The one who wants to sit there and add up what he ordered and pay for only that without taking into account things like appetizers ordered for the table , tax or tip,
The one who doesn’t mind splitting the check, but when the bill comes to 10.75 per person wants to get couple of dollars in coins so everyone gets their quarter back when the rest of us just leave the quarter to be added to the tip.
3)The one who gets a free room for one reason or another, shares the room and asks the roommate for half of the published price (that he didn’t pay, thereby making a profit off a “friend”.
the one other thing they all have in common besides being cheap is that they don’t smoke. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of non-smokers who aren’t cheap but I have never known a smoker (or a drinker) who was cheap/tipped poorly. I assume the reluctance to spend money unnecessarily keeps them from picking up those habits.
All reason for a just and effective death penalty. What is even worse is when #1 happens, and you are tired of it and finally call out your friend pointing out that he ate an entire Bloomin Onion and should damn well fucking pay his share for it, some other asshole at your table starts throwing money down telling everyone “not to argue” giving the implicit assumption that you are just as petty as the cheapskate.
