Tiger Woods is worth an estimated $800 million. Yet he is known to be one of the cheapest tippers around. Former reporter Rick Reilly once stated, “you need a court order to get Tiger’s wallet open.”
Woods has addressed his poor tipping, saying he doesn’t carry cash. The stories have gotten so bad, that Sean Foley, Woods’ former coach, told critics
to focus on his charitable giving instead of making up stories about poor tipping. Foley also told stories of how he has seen Woods tip generously.
One of Woods’ most notorious examples of his cheapness comes from Vegas. Woods was playing at a $100,000 a hand blackjack table. Woods tipped one waitress five dollars, then took it back when he realized he had tipped her earlier in the evening. For a celebrity who received tons of bad press for his cheating scandals, these stories hurt his attempts to rehabilitate his image.
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LeBron James
LeBron James has made millions from salary, endorsement, and savvy investments with Beats by Dre and Blaze Pizza. He has also received tons of press for his charitable giving. However, James’ charity doesn’t often extend to servers.
In 2008, James went to an expensive steakhouse, kept the waitstaff at the business until 4 a.m. in the morning, and racked up an $800 bill. For all their efforts, James left the servers with a $10 bill.
While James
said this was a mistake, it seems like he makes this “mistake” all the time. One server who regularly served James avoided the problem by always
adding gratuity to the check. One time, James tried to get out paying that gratuity by saying that he wasn’t with the people included on the bill.
James’ poor tipping is part of a trend of him being cheap in certain ways. James won’t pay for data roaming on his phone or pay for commercial-free Pandora. Despite making tons of money, James still tries to save money wherever he can.