Working in the service industry is no walk in the park. It’s exhausting, often thankless work. Long nights, annoying customers, and lower back pain from standing all day– service workers are no strangers to these. But it can all feel worth it when you have a particularly meaningful interaction with a customer that results in a particularly meaningful tip. The bad thing about tipping culture is that it puts the burden of salary on the customer, who cannot always be trusted. The good thing about tipping culture is that sometimes people get to feeling generous and you have the potential to earn a life-changing tip. 

If you work in the industry, you’ve definitely heard stories (if not witnessed yourself) of thousand-dollar tips from unassuming customers. I once served a customer at a coffee shop who wanted to pay with a $100 bill, and when we informed him we didn’t have enough change and asked him if he had a different payment method, just told us to keep the change. On like a $5 coffee!