I'll start with caveat that I know there's a reasonable chance I'm going to come off as some sort of holier than thou twat here, but I'm honestly just trying to be a nice person and want opinions on whether I'll come across as a weirdo!
I've been incredibly fortunate during covid that I've been able to work from home throughout so have had no impact on my income - in fact I've saved about 200 quid a month on commuting costs. I'm very mindful of what a fortunate position this puts me in and have been trying to actively spread the joy around a bit, so to speak, by increasing my charity donations, spamming the food bank with stuff every week, supporting local businesses instead of amazon etc. This is where I'm conscious I might sound like a patronising wanker, but I'm just being honest really, I earn a decent amount, have few outgoings (single and child free, small cheap house!) so I'd rather direct my spare cash somewhere useful than buy unnecessary shit that I don't need or just watch my bank balance increase. It helps me sleep at night, ok.
So here's my AIBU... I'm getting my hair cut next week for the first time since early 2020. I absolutely bloody love my hair dresser - I'm shit at getting round to going and get really pointlessly anxious about it, and she's just utterly wonderful and doesn't judge or make me feel bad about it etc. I know this sounds mad, but it makes a big difference to me.
I know she's had a shit year, she's self employed and hasn't been able to work for 12 months, including when they were open over the summer because she was really ill. I don't know her financial circumstances inside out, but I have to assume she's seen an absolutely massive impact on her income throughout 2020.
Because I love her so much and as part of my pay it forward agenda, I'm considering giving her a card next week with a note and a potentially obnoxiously massive tip in it - I usually tip about 10 quid and I'm thinking something like 100 to 200 quid.
My rationale is that if I'd had my hair cut every 6 weeks since march 2020 I'd have spent 100 quid in tips anyway, plus I can afford it, I bloody love her and it might just be a small help and token of appreciation after a shit year.
However, I'm also anxious that she might just think I'm a patronising creep and this might just be a really fucking weird thing to do. For context I'm prob about 5/6 years older than her, so for some reason I feel like this would be easier if I was nice 60 year old lady and she was 22!
What do you wise people think?