Sometimes I wonder if tipping was ever really alive here in Finland. I really enjoy tipping everybody, for everything and anything related to good service. It's just part of the culture I come from, I suppose . . . and to tell the truth, it just makes me feel good. But I've always had to be quite sneaky about tipping here in Finland because the Hacker Dude has a total hissy fit about my tipping . . . something about the Finnish people on the receiving end will take my tip as some sort of offense, or some such. Of course this does little to dissuade me of the practice. I just tell myself what does he really know about the matter anyway, he left these parts for Sweden when he was 12; of course everyone enjoys receiving a tip.

In the states waiters and waitresses don't get a living wage so they depend on tips to make up the difference.