Dear Amy: I recently went shopping for a wedding dress with my daughter. Upon her excited exclamation of “yes, to the dress,” we made our way to the purchase part of the day’s exciting shopping excursion.

Upon the swiping of the credit card, the machine prompted me to enter a 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent, or custom tip.

Had I been in a restaurant, this would not have given me pause.

But as we went through a similar process at a previous dress shop, upon which the same amount of time and service was extended to my daughter, we did not tip the previous consultant, as no purchase was made.

My question: Is tipping on a wedding dress purchase the thing to do these days?

It was not done when my parents purchased my dress.

– Confused Mother-of-the-Bride

Dear Confused: No, there is no need to tip a sales associate. Furthermore, you might have expressed your surprise to the store manager when this prompt appeared after you’d swiped your credit card.

Getting a customer to “say yes to the dress” is the sales person’s job. They do this job whether or not they make a sale, as you point out.

Presumably, sales people are either offered a commission on a sale, or are compensated well enough to incentivize them to provide good, helpful, and enthusiastic service.

All of these costs will already have been baked into the cost of the dress.

Some grateful brides-to-be send thank you notes to the salesperson who helped them to find their perfect dress. This would be a thoughtful gesture on your daughter’s part, which might also provide an additional professional boost to the person who made the sale.

You can email Amy Dickinson at [email protected] or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068.