> So, I agree with much of what you have said about tipping, though it is nice to provide a tangible kindness to people, when you can.
>

This part in particular kind of jumped out at me, and made me wince a bit. When I was young(er) and stupid, my friends and I would exact revenge upon the waitpeople if we were served slowly, with an order mixup, or whatever. I remember one particularly weird escapade was at a Denny's restaurant. The server took forever and mixed up two orders, so in our minds (this was... hm. When we were about 16, I'd say, and who can account for the strangeness of the 16-year-old mind? ;)) we had a right for... revenge.

Kim had her change bag. We gave the guy the full tip, but it was all in coins, which we dropped into a full glass of ice water and, using the stiff-placemat-on-top method, we overturned it on the table.

I can't imagine the guy had fun getting his tip out of that. Nowadays, I try to atone for such misdeeds by always thanking and giving smiles and acknowledgement even to the lunch ladies in the college mess hall. They take a lot of crud from people as it is, so I try to add at least one smile and thanks to the day...

And this rambled rather off the topic, so I will stop here.

Sosi"I won't mention the butter incident..."qui

PS: Glad you decided to de-lurk, Frum. ;) I know who you are, even if you might not know off-hand exactly who I am. (And if you do, good for you!)