MY wife and I recently treated ourselves to a small breakfast at a restaurant attached to a supermarket chain. We had a nice breakfast and I left a few coins on the table for the waitresses. However as we were leaving, a passing waitress told me not to forget my coins. I indicated that this was for her, to which she replied that she was not permitted to accept tips.

That got me thinking about the practice of tipping. (I was also full of admiration for her honesty. She could've just pocketed the coins without anybody seeing.) When should we tip, and how much? When we add tips to the credit card bill, are we certain that these tips are going to the waitresses and waiters? Also, are our tips going to the people who we see or are they pooled and spread among all of the restaurant staff?

Firstly, whether adding a tip to a credit card automatically results in staff getting extra, is actually a very interesting question. I understand that there have been cases of restaurant owners not distributing all the tips gathered in this way. Several restaurants deduct an admin fee of 5-10 per cent. I sometimes now ask at a restaurant to make sure tips go 100 per cent to the staff.

The second interesting question is whether tips go directly to the people who serve you or are spread amongst all the workers. My understanding from asking around is that the general practice is for tips to be pooled and divided up at the end of the day. So if you want a tip to go specifically to a waiter or waitress then you may have to hand them the money directly - or it just may not be possible.

Finally, I do wonder how much tip I should leave. I remember many years ago taking a taxi in London and having only a small amount of change for the tip. Clearly it was not enough because as I walked away from the taxi, the driver threw my coins back at me. Clearly he was not happy at the tip. I understand incidentally that the normal tip expected by black London taxi cabs is 10 to 15 per cent.

But what should we tip in cafes and restaurants in South Lakeland? I took a recent informal poll of my friends and found that actually they are tipping around 10 per cent.

And then there is the pub. Does anyone regularly tip the bar tender? It seems not very often. However, good and attentive service at the bar seems to me to be as important as at table.

Of course all of this changes when you move country. I don't do much travelling but I understand that the practice in Germany is to tip a lot less and in Japan, not at all. Whereas in the United States 15 to 20 per cent seems to be in common.

Finally there is the question of who else should we tip. A lot of people tip the dustbin men and postmen at Christmas. A nice way of saying thank you for all that hard work during the year. But the practice is not universal. Indeed it may not be done by the majority.

Now, this is all very confusing and potentially stressful. What was simple concept of rewarding someone for good service seems to have become quite complicated.