Let's talk about tipping, shall we?  I am apparently a horrible person because I only ever knew about tipping at restaurants.  A few months back, there was a discussion on Facebook about how much to tip your hair stylist.  I'm sorry, I'm supposed to tip the hair stylist?!?

In my defense, for most of my life, my mother's aunt Helen would cut our hair.  I don't think Mom ever tipped Aunt Helen.  Once I went to a cheap hair cut place (maybe SuperCuts? I don't remember) and since then, my step-mom or step-sister have done my hair - and they are nice and do it for free :D

But back to this discussion of tipping.  I know in the States that servers make like $2.13 an hour (I feel like that shouldn't be legal), and therefore, it is customary to tip 10 to 20 percent regardless.  However, I have always felt like tips should be earned still.

Today, I came across a meme about weird things in America that Americans don't realize are weird, and one was tipping.  So I did a quick internet search about tipping outside of the U.S.  Apparently most other countries actually pay their service employees a living wage, so tipping really is for exceptional service.  Can someone please explain why the U.S. doesn't do this?  Also, since tips aren't requisite, the amount to tip when you do is often only 5 to 10 percent, or just rounding up to the nearest whole number.  

Granted, there are still some places where tipping is necessary for the workers to survive, like in Mexico.  But in others, tipping is considered rude (Japan).  I feel like the U.S. system of wages and tips is quite broken.  Although, I guess if there were a broken system to get on board about fixing, our health care would take precedence.

So what do you think about tipping?  Who do you tip and how much?