As you've probably noticed, I've been pretty busy lately and have been traveling a lot. I took a taxi home from the airport. The driver was nice, a French man with white hair, and we chatted a bit. As usual, when paying I rounded up the amount by a couple of euros. He looked at the coins in his hand and said, "This is the first tip I've received in three days."
"Really?" I said. "Don't most people leave something?"
"In the old days most people did, but not any more. La crise. I understand them, everyone has less money."
I didn't understand the non-tippers-- to me the tip is just part of the cost, and a taxi is a luxury. But maybe that's silly of me. Of course in America you have to tip a lot. It used to be 15% and now I've heard it's 20%!
I even once saw a taxi driver in New York throw coins after a cheapskate and yell, "You must need this worse than I do!"
