Annual tradition: Gifting a coin along with a tip
Weiss
Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
My wife and I had our first date at a Mexican joint here in town 25 years ago. We still go, pretty much every Friday, and the kid has grown up there. In healthier times we meet up with 2 or 3 other families and make a night of it.
Many years ago I began the tradition of gifting a classic silver Mexican coin with the tip on the night we eat there closest to Christmas. And as it's always somewhat controversial, we always tip at least 20% IN ADDITION TO the coin. Non-collectors can be burdened with numismatics at a time when they most need cash.
In the past it's been Libertads, Onzas, or whatever is a substantial nicer AU/BU classic coin. I scaled back a little this year with the high silver prices, but I still managed to leave something nice. 1944 Peso in brilliant BU condition.
You?
--Severian the Lame
Comments
That is pretty cool!
A great idea.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Nice, if I ever return to a restaurant often enough to get to know the staff, I may do this!
Not likely, my wife cooks better than any restaurant chef that I can afford.
Merry Christmas Eve!
bob
The historical purpose of tipping was to give something extra to slave laborers. Our "over the top" service culture in the USA is due to its origins in human bondage, where there was no choice but to give perfect service. Imperfect service was met with the whip.
The argument over whether to give 20% or 15% is rather microscopic in the larger context. The answer to "do I tip this person" is whether or not you want to. How much do I tip? Well, however much you want to, of course. To my knowledge there is no law that requires someone to tip so a heated debate over percentages is just minutia.
All that said I love the idea of giving a chunk of silver as a tip. Whether or not to add extra cash? Well, that is also up to you. It would be awesome if employers paid there employees enough that a customer doesn't need to cover the difference. I love eating at places where that happens, often advertised, "please don't tip, we are paid quite well." In Europe servers will look at you with disdain if you try to tip, they consider it offensive...because they are paid quite well by their bosses and don't need the pittance. If you can't afford to pay your servers enough to survive without the pittance, perhaps the business model is flawed?
Merry Christmas to all!
@CopperWire said:
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In America, there is no justification for not tipping servers unless service and food are exceptionally bad or if you are eating at a location that specifically requests you not tip servers. If you're not going to tip, don't eat at the restaurant.
I forgot to mention that the crew who works at the restaurant are not surprisingly Mexican. The owner is a gringo, and we've known him for almost as long as we've been eating there.
--Severian the Lame
I’m a decent tipper, but I’m not giving out silver. I wonder if it’s something the staff knows about and looks forward to during the holidays. I hope so.
Also, I hate our tipping system. I wish the cost for the food was enough to cover paying the employees And everyone knew the costs without having to do math.
I like your idea tipping Mexican silver at a Mexican eatery.
I tried to give the delivery guy a dollar in silver quarters in addition to the tip, but he said he didn’t want coins.
I told him “but they are silver” to which he replied “no thanks”
Oh well
It's all about what the people want...
Yep. These guys are 1500 miles away from "home" on Christmas. I tried to put myself in their shoes. As a non-collector, if I was working at a pub in England or Spain and a regular tipped me a Franklin or a Morgan, It'd be like having a little piece of home in my pocket.
--Severian the Lame
I think that's a great and creative thing that you do! I especially appreciate that you account for the likelihood that the server could use the cash tip, and that the extra numismatic tip is just an added bonus It also adds a bit of personality to the whole thing. Merry Christmas!
As it gets close to X-Mas when I go out to eat I make sure every server in the place gets a $5.
Wow. Very cool. I’ll occasionally leave an AG Seated or Barber Quarter (in a flip) as part of a tip if the service was great. I tend to only do it at restaurants where they don’t know me, and when I pay in cash. I’m trying to seed the collectors of the future!
Dave
"What is this? I know it's not money. Maybe a religious piece? Anyway, I'll just throw it away."
That is a great tradition - both the restaurant visit and the coin. Tipping is a controversial topic... and because of tips, establishments (mostly) use it as justification to pay low wages. That is a sad situation. I always tip in cash, and I give it directly to the server. I do not care for establishments that 'tip share' - where the tips are pooled and shared among all employees..... Good servers practice their profession and add character to make the dining a more pleasant experience - they deserve consideration. Cheers, RickO
You have a generous heart.
I second what ricko said. Tip pooling pays the slackers the same as the ones who go over and above.
What;s the saying? "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"
Mark
Some guys are afraid of change. That's what his girlfriend told him anyway... 😀
I always tip in cash, and I give it directly to the server.
I like what you do. Do you put - 0 - on the credit card card tip line? It can look "suspicious" when it's a significant bill.
It probably would not be worth their trouble to get the true cash value out of the silver.
The only problem I see is the server may not understand the value of the coin and/or how to get a fair cash equivalent for it. I'd hate to see them take something like an onza to a pawn shop and only get a dollar for it.
@DisneyFan.... I usually pay the bill in cash.... I have, on occasion, used a credit card.. but yes, I put zero on the tip line, and give the server the cash tip. Cheers, RickO
The wonderful thing about classic Mexican coinage is that it usually says the weight and purity of the silver contained right on the coin.
Imagine if US silver dollars said "24 GRAMS PURE SILVER" on them?
--Severian the Lame
The tip culture in the US has become toxic. A couple of weeks ago we were waiting to be seated at a chain sit-down restaurant. A gal came in to fill out a job application and the manager told her the job was $2.35/hr plus tips. I’m a free-market, libertarian kind of guy but that’s insulting. Beyond insulting. The European system is preferable by far.
However, that aside, leaving a cool coin on top of a regular tip is fun. I have a big bag of circulated Ikes for this purpose.
My father was in the dairy promotion business ("Got milk?") for about 25 years. When he first started out in the late 50's he used to give out a silver dollar to any waitress who mentioned milk when reciting the drink menu. If they didn't mention milk, they received a normal tip plus a wooden nickel telling them what they could have had for a tip if they'd mentioned milk.
I ended up with a handful of his leftover silver dollars from that promotion when I was a kid. I still have them.
Those circulated Ikes are great for dropping in a tip jar that holds a bunch of $1 bills. The ike smashes them down and is obtrusive.. 😜