English, baby!

Here's a Tip

Date: Oct 12 2007

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In the United States, a lot of people make a good portion of their money from tips. When you give a tip at a restaurant or bar, it’s usually split between the waiters and waitresses as well as the bussers and cooks.

It’s also customary to tip taxi drivers, bellhops, and even hair dressers. With so many people to tip, it can get confusing how much you’re supposed to give in a given situation. Listen to Marni and Mason talk about tipping at a pizza parlor.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Mason

Marni: So, did you tip for the pizza?

Mason: For the pizza? Like a little bit. Like a quarter or something. I mean it’s not…wasn’t as much as it should be.

Marni: It’s true. Mine was $2.50, I gave him $3, I put in the 50 cents for a tip.

Mason: Yeah. well that was a good tip. That’s like a what…a 20%?

Marni: I don’t know, is it a good tip? What do you think about tipping? Do you have a customary standard?

Mason: Well I’ve worked in the service industry, right, so I feel very entitled to tips and I feel that it’s good to give tips. But, so my pizza was like $2.75, a quarter doesn’t really cut it, but I also don’t want to have give them a dollar which I’d have to do because I never carry change around. It’s kind of a circumstantial thing.

Marni: So now, you’ve worked in the service industry, have you ever encountered people from other countries coming in and not knowing the custom, or when you travel, going to a country where tipping isn’t customary…

Mason: That’s one…It’s always weird for me not to tip. It’s very weird.

Marni: It is weird. I know some countries it’s kind of a grey area and you tip and they’re really excited. And I’ve heard, I’ve never been to Japan but it’s my understanding that they will literally chase you down the street and give you back your money if you try and tip ‘em so…

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Discussion

As they eat pizza together, Marni asks Mason if he tipped at the counter. He says he gave a quarter, which he knows is a little less than he should have given. Marni tipped 50 cents. Mason notes that a 50 cent tip for a piece of pizza that cost $2.50 is a good tip. It’s 20% of the price of the food, and 15-20% is the customary amount to tip in a restaurant where the waiter comes to your table, so it’s a really generous amount at a place where you order at the bar.

Marni asks Mason if he has a system for figuring out how much he’s going to tip. Mason used to work in the service industry so he takes tipping seriously. But on something like a slice of pizza, he just tips whatever change he has left.

Marni asks Mason if he’s ever traveled to a place with different tipping customs. He says he has and that it’s weird for him not to tip. Marni says that in Japan, people will absolutely not let you tip them.

Do people tip where you live? How much is an appropriate amount?

Comments

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naddito

Saudi Arabia

its not a must in saudi arabia ,its optional. when u tip there ,its gonna be a charity rewarded by Allah
thats y some tip there

superpoint

Comoros

well tip isnot a custoomry in comoros ;but you give some body who is working in a restorant or toyrst place they take and thank you alot. but they can't ask you . donot have to give taxi driver tip or some one who work in chop

in the contrary i live in egypt and here in some place it waiter who ask you the tip or the chopassistant . Also they it is not enought for tip.and asking more. i cannot imagin

doungta

Thailand

hello, In my country also they gave money for waiter and waitress at restaurant

demet caha

Turkey

fuck offf!!!

demet caha

Turkey

I wrote inside this body! and press the save and get none!

demet caha

Turkey

Gosh! I cannot log in!

demet caha

Turkey

Well! ıf ı have to say something as a Turkish guy! I pay %10 or %15 percent from the total amount of any kind of sevice ı take from the firms that activates in the service ındustry. If ı like or dislike ı might lover or lessen the price ıt depends! But some places you dont have to because the service coast has allready been added to the real price.

VANDA

Bosnia and Herzegovina

In my country you can give tips. If you have not money, you do not have to do it. But, when you have a big dinner with your friends, you celebrate something, than you can give 10% of the amount. Also, when you are out with some friends, you can give a waiter or a watress 0,50 or 2 marks. I know that most of my friends usually do not do it.

Someone's life

United Arab Emirates

Helooo Everybody..

this seems to be an interesting subject to express our ideas about…!!

in my point of view, the tipping might be acceptable for the law salaries' jobs. it is kind of appreciation of the received service..so it can motivate 'whoever recieves the tip' to give better service. it is right that's their work to o so but the tip can be nothing for US whereas it can be so precious thing for THEM…

KotPirat

Germany

Well ,one can say that I live in two countries – Germany and Poland and it's different in the one land and in the other.

A few weeks ago my sister gave a waiter in Germany a tip of maybe 20 cents and her friends were so shocked and said something like : Why did you give him a tip ?

In Poland it's normal to give a waiter or a hair stylist a tip (That's what I know from my parents..) and I think it depends on the person who gives tips – A person with a good heart would give a tip even if the service was abysmal , a person with a less good heart wouldn't give a tip if the service was abysmal.

airish7

Somalia

2 me tip is kind of gud favor 4 the server. and it can make es him 2 do the job well.

roadrider

Brazil

Hi, I live in Brasil and here the customary tip is 10%. In a lot of places they call the tip " service tax " and it´s included in your bill. In some places is the only money that the waiters earn.

smart2022

Saudi Arabia

if tips like that ..

i can work in a restaurant in my free time

then i will get third salary and more money…. nice job

Maxxtro

United Arab Emirates

in my country a tip is the main way of earning money for waiters. sometimes their wage (for the whole month)is less than a tip in a day.

patricia_divina_velasquez

Philippines

i just notice something from the quiz. i got number 3 wrong because my answer is English teacher. is it really appropriate to tip a teacher? or i just misunderstood the question? because here in the philippines, if you gave a tip on teacher it seems that it isn't a righteous thing to do. it would imply that you are giving a tip just to pass on the subject.

randyding

China

What you said is all right !!!

buaherb

Ghana

hello Liliya i liked your comment about this story.

buaherb

Ghana

in my country Ghana the tips are very clear to any customer in the country.

DreamGirl

China

Tipping is something that's weird here in China. We just don't have this custom. Maybe because the service industry is not as developed as those Western countries. I'm not sure…Anyway I don't think people will refuse the tips.