How to Calculate a 15% Tip

I remember the day I learned how to calculate a fifteen percent tip. I was having lunch at the 15th Street Diner in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with my mom, when I overheard a woman at another table explaining it to her teenage daughter. First calculate ten percent, she said. Ten percent is easy. It sounds complicated when I say that all you have to do is move the decimal point back a space, but you can probably make that calculation without hardly trying. Then you divide the ten percent in half to get five percent, and add the two together. However she explained it was very clear and simple, and I'm afraid my explanation isn't nearly so.

Here's an example: Say you spent $32.82 on your meal, and you're on a tight budget so you only want to leave a fifteen percent tip. 10% of $32.82 is $3.28. Half of that 10% is $1.64. Add the two together ($3.28+$1.64) and you wind up with $4.92. $4.92 equals 15% of your total food bill. If you're dining with my husband you're going to tip more than that. To quote My Blue Heaven, "I don't believe in tipping; I believe in over-tipping," though what we do can hardly be referred to as over-tipping. My brother, who has worked in food service for a time, suggests a $3.00 minimum tip.

Once you know how to calculate 15%, 20% becomes easy.