Many of my friends work based on tips. These friends always remind me about this whenever we go out for food. They check my receipt to ensure that I’m tipping properly. They give me lectures about tipping. I personally have never worked for tips, nor do I know how it feels to be compensated for this.

However, I do enjoy tipping for exceptional service. I also enjoy receiving exceptional service. I’m not one of those cheap folks that complain about tips. I just don’t like to be ripped off.

Anyway, long story short, I performed some research on tipping.

What are the top jobs that tip well?

CNN Money released a list of jobs that get the biggest tips. I shared some of the interesting results below:

Exotic Dancer, $19.70 an hour on average, 44% of income comes from tips.

Bartender, $8.30 an hour on average, 60% of income from tips.

The last entrant on this list was the Hotel Floor Manager, $5.20 an hour in tips, 31% of income from tips.

I’ll assume most of you don’t want to work as exotic dancers. The hours suck, and such.

I think that bartending could easily earn you more money, depending on the night and location. If you work at a trendy nightclub on a Friday night, you can easily boost the amount you earn from sales. I was surprised that their income is 60% tip-based. This means that if you work in this field, you better do your best to work in a busy location.

I’ve had friends tell me that they can easily earn a few hundred dollars from working in a busy spot on a weekend night. The only caveat here is that I imagine it’s not easy to get your foot in the door at an expensive place.

How can you make good tips?

If you work for tips, you likely want to find ways to make more money, especially if more than 30% of your salary is based on tips.

These are tips from the perspective of someone who likes to tip for great service, so don’t get offended because I haven’t worked for tips.

• Always be friendly
• Don’t make them wait
• Keep the customers informed
• Bring water
• Ask questions
• Take the time to listen

There’s nothing worse than a rude person or slow service with no explanation. Most customers will understand that things happen. However, being rude is difficult to ignore.

How much do you tip?

What are your thoughts on tipping? I have no qualms about tipping well for receiving exceptional service at a bar. This includes friendliness, being fun, and being prompt.

I’m just always confused when it comes to tipping a random service.

For example, I once had to take an expensive cab ride across town. I was stranded. It cost me around $50 to get home. The cab driver had the nerve to ask me for a tip when he dropped me off. I was surprised because I didn’t know you had to tip a cab driver.

Also, on a similar front, I recently ordered food for pickup because I didn’t want to wait for my food. I called, ordered the food, and arrived to pick it up. When I went to pay with my debit card, it asked me how much I wanted to tip. I was shocked by this because I didn’t think I had to tip when I picked the food up.

I would love to hear from you guys now — how much do you normally tip? Do you believe in tipping?