To tip or not to tip, that is the question

I wish money was not an issue, then I'd tip freely. Well, to the hard workers who've earned it and could use some extra cash. However, since my budget is tight, I constantly find myself wondering if I should tip this person or that person.

Here's a perfect example of the stressful tipping dilemma. Today, at the grocery store, a teenage boy helped me carry out my groceries. Should I tip him? Well, since I didn't know, I waited to see if there was an awkward moment after he finished loading the bags into my car. There wasn't, so I didn't tip! And now I feel awful and cheap.

Over in Australia, tipping is entirely different. Since servers in restaurants make a decent wage, they don't expect nor depend on tips. Now, if you receive top-notch service, then it's fine to tip. But it's not expected. We actually had several waiters refuse gratuity. They encouraged us to spend our money on us not them.

Since we are tippers here in the States, I found the following article quite interesting and a tad helpful: "Ten workers to tip this season". It explains when and how to say thanks.