$37 tip for a $15 haircut: a mistake or an investment?
I went to get a haircut today. The girl who gave me the haircut was a student who did haircuts to earn extra money. She was very nice and told me a lot about her personal life. In the end, the bill was $15 and I gave her what I thought were $23. She started thanking me aggressively, saying “You’re so nice! Thank you!” She wrote down the days she worked on her business card and handed it to me. She also told me that since I was new to the neighborhood, we could hang out sometime and she could show me around. I thought she really liked me, and was thus overjoyed at having me as a customer. I would soon find out something that would cast doubt into my theory of why she was so happy.
I got on the BART and went to San Francisco to do different things. I paid for different things with my card. At one store I decided to pay with cash. I reached in my pocket and found nothing. I was surprised until I realized I had given the haircutter a $37 tip for a $15 haircut, paying a total of $52. Since it was my mistake and she had innocently enjoyed from it, I decided to let her enjoy the money.
I viewed this loss of money as an investment
It is sometimes all right to ask for some money back if you accidentally overtip someone. In this situation, since several hours had passed already and because of the fact that I would be going to the same place in the future, going back and claiming the money which now belonged to her would have actually upset her. I was the one who had made a mistake. I will tell her next time about it while making sure she does not feel uncomfortable about the situation. I can then look at it as an investment, making a new friend along the way and increasing my list of connections. In Orange County, even the smallest gestures and actions helped me in different ways in the long run. I hope I can share those stories with you one day. I hope I can make such investments result in skyrocketed returns like never before in this new place.
Being nice to people and not taking the joy away from them, when you can afford it even a bit, does wonders in the long run. I would want the same joy to come to me, so I would love to give such joy to others when I can, or at least not take it away from them if I had the power to. Invest in good people by giving them happiness and by not taking away their happiness, and you will get the same returns in larger proportions and different forms.
What would you do in a similar situation? As for me, I do have to be careful the next time I decide to tip someone. Also, I think having shorter hair after having long unmanageable hair for a while seems like a fresh change that goes along with the recent move.
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( February 5th, 2007 at 5:49 pm )
Hehe, if this was the post you’re talking about, then oops, I meant the last post that I didn’t know what to say… Hehe…
But WOAH! That’s crazy about the tip!!!!!!
Hehe, true that it is an investment, though…
HEY! That’s what you meant about how I’d think this entry’s interesting!! YOU CUT YOUR HAIR!! Heheh. Yay, that means no more long hair for Bes! Hahhaha. So yeah, forget what I wrote in that e-mail… Hahah…
Anyways, hmm, if I was in this same situation, yeah, I wouldn’t go back to get my money anyways… I’m not that type of person to… =/ LOL, I don’t know if I’d think it’s an investment or anything, though… LOL, hmm, now I wonder what the girl would say to her friends, etc about this. Hahah.
( February 6th, 2007 at 9:17 am )
I will open up a barbershop next to your house soon! lol
( February 6th, 2007 at 3:58 pm )
Chau, heh, yes, I remember you meant the other post.
Yes, hair is short. :p Hmm.
Also, interesting to know you would not go back either. About investment, it seems interesting to think it both ways, don’t you think? I also wonder what she will say to her friends, if she mentions it at all.
TAZ — > lol. I should have never moved then, unless you open it here. :p Free haircuts forever.
( February 6th, 2007 at 6:41 pm )
I agree that sometimes it’s good to just let things go and leave them as they are. Giving a large tip like that may change her whole day, her whole week, her whole month — maybe even be the highlight of that job for her. That extra $32 meant so much more to her than it may have to you.
( February 6th, 2007 at 8:23 pm )
I just noticed this, but I find it humorous that you have as a heading, “I view this loss of money as an investment.” If it is an investment, it isn’t necessarily a loss.
Seriously though, this is an admirable act. You could have easily have stormed back and asked for your money back, but you didn’t. The next time you go in, you should hand her a fifty as a joke.
( February 7th, 2007 at 3:57 pm )
Jonathan, thanks for your comment.
You have a good point. It probably meant a lot more to her than what it did to me at that very moment, or that day.
Ronalfy, heh, you have a very good point! Maybe it is like turning a loss into an investment? Also, about handing her fifty as a joke, I should try something like that. :p
( February 12th, 2007 at 7:03 pm )
I agree with Jonathan comment. Maybe you got yourselves a good friend. You will know when you meet her next.
( February 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pm )
You are right Sawai. I will find out the next time I meet her.
( February 24th, 2007 at 10:43 pm )
[...] helping others is a good thing because one feels happy afterwards. I recently considered a mistake an investment by making someone happy, which involved helping a girl who gave me a haircut. I felt good being nice to that haircut girl. [...]
( February 25th, 2007 at 11:17 am )
Hm. Looks like I missed this entry when you first published it.
Here’s a story for you:
About a year ago, I was a fews steps from the entrance of a BART station (on Market Street in SF where there are lots of people and a decent number of bums asking for money) when I saw a guy give a peddler what he thought was a dollar bill. He smiled at the bum’s joyus reaction, and then realized that it wasn’t a one; he had given him a twenty. You could seriously pinpoint the moment he realized it, when the expression on his face kinda froze, then fell apart. I wish I had a picture. Anyway, the guy tries to get it back, and the other guy argues with him over it. I forget what happened in the end, but thought I’d share anyway.
( February 25th, 2007 at 2:47 pm )
Stacee, thanks for sharing. That is indeed strange. It is also interesting how he tried arguing to get the money back and probably didn’t get it. I guess for that “bum” there was nothing the guy could do to get the money back, since getting a $20 was equivalent to getting a dollar from twenty people.
I have noticed a lot of such people on Market Street also. I guess I will have to make sure I look at the cash before I hand it out, heh.
( February 25th, 2007 at 7:40 pm )
How did I miss this post? Is it bad that I still think this is funny?
However… when you originally told me this, you didn’t say that she noticed the funds before she left - I assumed she didn’t notice either because, hey everyone should be like me, lmao. When people pay me for computer work, or like when I used to be babysitting, it became protocol for me not to look at the money in their presence. I always looked after, out of respect - let them know I enjoyed the work and it wasn’t all about the money - especially since I never had or have set prices for anything. However, again, she did look and so she should have asked you if you meant to give her that much.
( February 26th, 2007 at 10:33 am )
Hi Valerie.
Not sure how you missed it.
Yes, I didn’t mention, not sure why. She was really happy and always waves to me now when I pass by the shop. lol @ everyone being like you.
It is a nice protocol, yes, to not count money when it is handed over. I am assuming you always got the amount of money you expected so far? However, she was getting a tip and thus tips are voluntary, so it is done out of niceness. I would find it interesting if I tip someone and they start counting the notes one by one and say “Thank you for giving me so and so”, heh. I am guessing the haircut girl simply saw the big note in there and became happy.