# What's the Biggest Tip You've Ever Given? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389 "2004-06-09T02:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/41 "2004-06-10T23:21:27Z")
Heh. I treat my bartenders well. I don’t think I’ve ever tipped below 35%, and typically I do 50%… I remember dropping $100 on a $60 tab… Jesus fuckin’ shit, was a tossed that night. Every dollar spent was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/42 "2004-06-11T03:18:20Z")
I’ve frequently given tips in the 135% - 150% range, but I the best was $100 on a $45 check. The waitress had a bruised face (poorly covered with makeup) and defensive wounds on her arms and hands and I feared that she was being battered, and could use some money to help her get out of her situation. (I also left her a card with the number of the local domestic abuse hotline. Hopefully I wasn’t being presumptuous, but I’ve seen a lot of beaten women and she looked just like one.) A few years ago, I was forced by my boss to spend a week at a boring and ridiculous conference that I did not wish to attend. I was given a $50 per diem for meals and incidentals and I was bound and determined to use every penny I could wring out of the company. I’d get $50 out of the ATM at my hotel every morning, dispensed as five $10 bills. I had the same breakfast every day in the hotel restaurant, it was $2 and some change, and I’d leave $5. Lunches were typically $6-8, but I’d leave $15. Dinners were usually $11-13, I’d leave $25. I’d use the other $5 to get a decadent coffee drink and leave a healthy tip for the barista. It was fun being generous with money that would be coming back to me. ---
**Author:** ![EnginNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@EnginNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnginNerd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/43 "2004-06-11T03:33:57Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > 3/0 is infinity! Kind of nitpicky here, but 3/0 is not infinity; it’s undefined. ---
**Author:** ![bytheway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@bytheway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bytheway)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/44 "2004-06-11T04:05:36Z")
At the bar my wife and I used to go to several times a week, I heard the new waitress (Dana) and the manager talking about how someone had just walked out on Dana without paying the bill. Dana was quite upset about it because she was worried she would be responsible for covering the bill for the jerk who walked out. So, when we left, I added an extra $60 on top of our typically generous tip. Must have ended up leaving about $140 for a $60 tab. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/45 "2004-06-11T04:55:13Z")
Buy Microsoft, back in 1987. Tiddy boom, crash! Enjoy the buffet, we’ll be here all week. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389/46 "2004-06-11T05:51:12Z")
> [@EnginNerd](#): > > Kind of nitpicky here, but 3/0 is not infinity; it’s undefined. bigger nitpick: The limit of 3/x as x approaches 0 from the positive is infinity. So I suppose if somehow you got a bill for a finite amount which they halved in 8 minutes, and then halved again in 4 minutes and so on, you would have an infinite tip if you payed on the 16 minute mark. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-biggest-tip-youve-ever-given/249389.md?page=2)