a resistance to tipping is a sign of scarcity mindset
With prompts to tip showing up pretty much everywhere, I’ve noticed an increase in people publicly complaining about being asked if they want to tip.
I’ve always enjoyed tipping, even if the service didn’t warrant it, and I never understood why.
Part of the reason is hearing stories from Ang’s days as a waitress during high school and college, and how there would be nights she’d leave in tears because people didn’t tip well or tip at all—and I can assure you that her service was always deserving of a tip. And on the other side, I remember her sharing how it made her feel when someone was nice and tipped a little extra.
I also remember noticing my dad leaving cash every day we’d stay in a hotel, which wasn’t often, for the staff who cleaned our rooms.
Growing up watching my dad make sure he did what he could to help others, and hearing firsthand stories of both sides of tipping from Ang, led me to develop the behavior of a good tipper.
I’ve always explained to the boys how I feel fortunate to be able to tip well. The additional money given in the tip isn’t going to impact our lives, but hopefully, it will for the recipient, either in a financial form or in feeling appreciated, maybe even both.
So when I hear, or read posts on social media, complaining about being asked to tip, I find my Self slightly annoyed.
First off, those complaints and posts don’t do anything to make the world better. There is no value in sharing the disgust of a prompt to tip someone providing a service, and it only results in more negative comments to follow. Just don’t tip and go on with your day.
Secondly, if you are in a position to be waited on, then I assume you are in the position to give an extra dollar or two in the form of a tip, even if you feel the individual did nothing to deserve it. If you aren’t in a position to share some extra dollars, then maybe there’s a conversation to be had as to whether or not you should be there in the first place.
Yes, corporations should probably pay their employees more and not rely on their patrons to contribute to their payroll, but that’s not the world we currently live in. Blaming corporations and not wanting to give a little extra in defiance of the way the system is set up is more of an excuse to hide a minor (or possibly severe) case of scarcity mindset.
If you felt abundant, you may not like how the system is, but you wouldn’t use that as justification for not tipping. Because you understand more will come back in the long run than you give, you won’t feel the need to hold onto your money to show the corporations who is really in charge.
It’s a shift in mindset.
Tipping is not about being burdened with the responsibility of picking up the corporation’s shortcomings, but it’s about being a good steward of your money.
This mindset requires you to shift how you view money—a shift away from dollar bills and coins to a currency of energy.
Energy flows.
Energy circulates.
And it finds its way to paths of least resistance.
Another excuse masking scarcity is that the service wasn’t good.
On the surface level, that’s a fair assessment. But if you dig deeper, maybe there is a reason that the service wasn’t what you expected.
You never know what someone is going through.
Your generosity might just be the bright spot in a crappy day that they needed to get back on track–I’ve witnessed it happen personally numerous times.
Being able to shift how you view money takes work. One of the first and easiest steps to take is to make sure you have your personal finances in order. A feeling of scarcity is hard to overcome when you don’t have the foundations for your finances established—an emergency fund, intentional usage of debt, positive cash flow, and a financial plan; having these often establishes peace of mind knowing that when the unexpected happens, you are prepared.
After the foundation is set, it becomes easier to allow money to flow to other places, including other people.
There are other things to work on to allow money to flow to and through you without fear of not having enough or losing it all–the familiar feelings of scarcity.
Understanding and possibly rewriting your money scripts.
Aligning your finances with your values and authentic life.
Observing how money has flowed to you in the past, you’ve experienced this mindset before, but it may not have registered as such.
When you can see money as a currency of energy, you can see how being a good steward of it only brings more to you. It almost feel like for every dollar you distribute for good comes back double in the future—I can’t prove to you that this is the case, but I’ve not only experienced it but witnessed it with my most charitable clients.
The next time you find your Self perturbed at an ask for a tip take a little time to reflect on WHY you feel that way.
I’m willing to bet that behind those feelings is something much bigger than the annoyance of tipping—there’s a money script waiting to be rewritten.
Having a feeling of scarcity around money is normal. We’ve been conditioned to fear not having enough. We’ve been conditioned to want more. We’ve been conditioned to oversave and hoard. But staying in those conditions will only keep you beholden to the grasp of scarcity.
If you can break free from scarcity’s grasp and see the abundance of the currency of energy that happens to be money, it will be better not just for the recipients of your generosity, but it will be better for you.
It feels great to give.
And the more you give, the more you receive to give again, and the better you feel.
I know this is not a message that everyone is ready to receive, but the seed still needs to be planted.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
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