It was meant to be a romantic evening out at the restaurant with the wife to appease her for all my slip-ups of the week and try and get a smile on her face. Of course, the choice of food was hers which after two years of marriage is diagonally opposite of mine. That was fine with me as I would end up nibbling while she would be gobbling and hopefully get into a good mood.

From the look on her face, I could see that things were going well. The food was good though the service could have been better. When it was time to pay the bill the same old problem was back to haunt me – How much do I tip?. Yes, I know that there is a 20% rule which I sometimes think is unfair on the customer. Shouldn’t it be proportional in some way to the service rendered?.

In the short span of our married life my wife had mastered the art of reading my mind and sternly asked me not to be a penny-pinching fool. I would feel good about leaving a generous tip because I want to and not because I have to I retorted. That was my undoing – I could feel the food that she had eaten churning in her stomach and it would certainly blow up in my face once we got home.

Nevertheless, I believe the best tip for good service is when a customer keeps coming back time and time again and not just the denomination of the currency left behind. I tried impressing my wife by telling her that tipping is banned in Singapore and if you did leave a tip the chances are that they might call in the cops. While on the other hand, in America they will also call in the cops but if you do not leave a tip. God save the frequent traveller.

By then my wife was at her wits end and hoping my miserliness would warrant an arrest or at least a “you are not welcome here anymore“ look from the Manager. As we walked away even the Chef came out to see what a beggar looked like, this despite the fact that I left a 10% tip.

After having eaten tummy full my wife turned on me and gave me a mouthful and has now condemned me to eat only at McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried chicken – all because of this culture of Tipping that has totally eluded me.