Tipping: the eternal quandary.

A better day here in Chicagoland (Actually, I'm in Oakbrook Terrace - or maybe it's just Oak Brook - I'm not sure. It's a suburb.). I attended some neat workshops, got to work out in the gym, met some nice people, and this evening I went to the mall across the street to check out the local shopping.

Turns out, it's pretty much all the same stores we have in Austin, so no local flavor happening there. One neat thing, though. Just outside Nordstrom, in one of the planters, a pair of geese have decided to raise a family. The mall put out a sign telling people that there's "nesting in progress" and asking people not to approach the geese or interfere with them. Cool beans, man. I love nature, and I love animals, and I love when the big, bad people world makes an accommodation for a pair of God's creatures trying to bring a little one into the world. Papa Goose was actually standing guard on the sidewalk when I went in.

In fact, at first, I saw the sign and thought it said "meeting in progress," and as I read more, I couldn't figure out why I shouldn't approach and where the meeting was. Then I saw the goose (a big dude, I must say), jerked my eyes back to the sign, which I then read correctly, and searched (eyes only - I didn't approach since I'd been asked not to) and saw Mama Goose inside the planter. Healthy wishes go out to the proud parents.

I didn't buy anything at the mall, considering I could get all the same stuff at home, but I do have one question. I did buy dinner there - takeout from California Pizza Kitchen (they didn't have any "Chicago style" eateries - no sausage or Chicago pizza, etc.). I walked in, ordered at a walk-up window, then they handed my food to me in a bag and I brought it back to my hotel room. My question is this: are you supposed to tip when you do takeout?

I don't know about you, but tipping on any occasion other than when I'm sitting at a table in a restaurant trips me up on a regular basis. I know you're supposed to tip people who work in hair salons, but I don't know which ones and how much. I don't tip people making my sandwich in a sandwich shop. That's their job. I *do* know to tip bellboys and airport shuttle drivers $1 per bag that they handle for me, but how much do you tip taxis (except the one who screwed me over yesterday...he should be fined instead of tipped)? I know to tip the girl who does my bikini waxes, but I do that happily because I think it's important to keep her happy. She could do bodily injury.

But this brings me back to my question above. I didn't tip on this meal because I figured they didn't deliver it to me, and I didn't take a table and have a waitperson serving me, but was that right? If you pick it up yourself, do you still have to tip?