> > And now, a very important question about tipping that has been bugging me for the last decade:
> >
> > When you get your car filled up with gas at a full-serve gas station, are you supposed to tip the attendant?!? Are they really making wages off the tips, that is?
> >
> > I know that tipping the cashiers and baggers in grocery stores in Quebec is not encouraged. Occasionally around Christmastime, the baggers are replaced by Cadets or Scouts who collect tips as funds for charitable functions. I don't know whether we're actually supposed to tip the gas atttendants, though.
> >
> > Wolf "?" spirit
>
> Do you mean you really go to full-service stations?
>
> I can remember back in the 50's when I used to drive into a service station (self-service hadn't been invented yet)in my '46 Ford. For a dollar, I got three gallons of gas, a clean windshield, my oil checked and sometimes air in the tires. A really good station would wipe off the head lights and tail lights, then say thank you, as I drove out.
> How"good old days"ard

Wow. Oh, to live in the days when the customer was always right -- and *appreciated*!

I have a tip-related question of my own, which has bugged me for untold years. Why is it customary to tip barbers and hairdressers? At the place where I currently get my hair cut, a basic cut is $10, which I think is pretty good. I tip another $2 on top of that, and $12 is still pretty reasonable.

What I wonder is whether people in the hair cutting & styling industry *depend* on tips to make a sufficient income, the way waitstaff do. Has anyone out there had experience as a hairdresser, or known someone who was in the business and explained it all?

Iss "greetings from sunny San Jose" achar