....and $5 more for me please.

what is up with tipping these days? i just picked tatum up from the paw spa. she got an oatmeal bath and hair cut. she looks so fluffy when she goes to the spa although i hardly recognize her when i pick her up. but i went to pay and they said "let's see...did she have a hot oil treatment today?....nope, looks like just an oatmeal bath. so it's only gonna be $48 today." oh...ONLY $48. so she hands me the receipt to sign and there it is. right under the amount like it's an obligation "Tip: ________ ". so i start thinking, it's not like when you carry out your pizza so you can save yourself a couple bucks, so you don't tip there. but it is sort of like starbucks where you know what everyone came in here for. it's not like there's a waitress or anyone that had to go the extra mile for me today. all they did was their job. the one i paid them for. i am already giving them $48 for this service, do i really have to give you more? then i think-so what if i DON'T fill in that little line? what if i leave it blank staring back at you as if you have any right to expect more from me. i don't expect anymore from you than what i asked. sort of like going to the post office. you pay them 42 cents to send your card or letter. but then they say it will get there in 3-5 business days, but if you want us to PROMISE you that it will get there in 3-5 business days you'll have to give us a little something EXTRA. then if you want to be sure we made good on our promise, you could always send it certified, it's just a little more than extra but then you KNOW our promise was good. i'm ranting. so what did i do with that blank little tip line? dammit, i put $5 on it. and the whole time i'm thinking she better be able to pay the bills, or wash the dishes, or scrub the toilets with this new hair cut. but instead she came out cute as a blonde cotton ball and once again i forgive them for putting me in that crux. that place between a rock and a hard place. that place of having to decide which is worse, paying them $5 or getting the looks and whispers for not giving them another red cent? doesn't she look cute? although the flash on my camera keeps making her squint now that she doesn't have all that hair in her eyes. she's not really chinese. give her a couple days to let her eyes adjust to the light. maybe next time for $5 extra bucks i can get them to stop calling her a he.