The Tipping Point

I've spent enough time in Manchester now that I'm comfortable taking the trains and the buses around, and the good thing about (most) English people is that they not only will tell you how to get somewhere, but take you by the hand and drop you off right on the steps.

And you don't even have to tip them!

This is maybe one of my favourite things about this country: tipping is considered rude. Thank God. I think tipping, along with the economy and Miller Lite, is one of the biggest problems we have in the States. I don't think I've ever been out to eat and tipped in the correct way; it's either too much, or too little, or too obvious, or too brazen, or too insincere. I have certain friend who will not eat out with me for fear of suffering through a bad tipping incident. One friend even called me a "genuinely bad person" after one particularly nasty outing, and he was dead serious.

Anyways, you're not supposed to tip here because it is seen as an implication that the tipper is better off financially, and that he or she feels bad for the waiter. Given the different living environment, one which there is never any doubt that a waiter or waitress needs any extra money to cover any health-related problems that strike themselves or anybody in their family, that assumption is actually quite reasonable. There is no reason to assume that the person serving you is worse off in any way.

Anything to save money turns me on at this point. Everything costs roughly twice as much here, except the beer, which I don't even pay for anyways, as everybody wants to be the one who buys the American a beer. I paid the equivalent of 2 US dollars for a newspaper today, and I paid $7.50 to take a 20 minute bus ride to the Trafford Centre, a place where I've managed to avoid until today. Somebody at the Steel Club told me I really, really should finally go, and today I gave in. It was everything I had expected. It was crap.

Okay, not totally: the Trafford Centre is a giant shopping mall that the Mancunians are very proud of. I doubt there is a bigger mall north of London. There are - no joke - 10,000 parking spaces, and over 250 stores. It's big. There are over 60 restaurants. There is a bowling alley. There is a cinema. There is laser tag. There is a casino.

One more thing: the Trafford Centre has its own Chinatown.

Again, I am not making this up.

And I thought the trip was going to turn out to be a complete waste of time, until I started to make my way through the Debenhams towards the bus station. And I froze, at the largest Ben Sherman collection I had ever seen, which had seemingly popped up right in front of me out of nowhere. Of course, I couldn't afford anything, and I went out to sit by the station. But I thought about it for a while, and I realised... this place isn't half bad...

TJH