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Johnny The Tipper

My father’s friends called him Johnny the Tipper. He was never a wealthy man and more often than not he worked two jobs to feed his family of six.

However, when it came to tipping, my dad was as generous as Santa Claus. At restaurants, he would order a one-liter bottle of pop to be shared among the four of us children just so there would be enough money left for a generous tip.

"Don’t order, if you can’t tip 15%" Dad taught us.

Not only did my father leave gratuities at every restaurant, he also tipped his shoemaker and his hairdresser (perhaps as an apology for only having half a head of hair). He probably even tipped the policeman who gave min a ticket, just because that is the man that he was.

To the ridicule of my family and friends, I try hard to do my father proud....

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