Tips: Where Do You Draw The Line?

[Nihil Obstat]

I've never heard about tipping the hotel staff? I mean besides people who carry your bags. Obviously them. but the housekeepers? I asked my husband and he has never heard of this either and he traveled quite a bit growing up! Is it regional? If not I am very embarrassed. I always try to leave the hotel room and bathroom very neat for them but I didn't realize I should be tipping... urgh...

From what I hear now and again, it seems like housekeepers do not get tipped very often. I expect that has something to do with the fact that they are rarely face to face with guests. They are generally considered among the people etiquette says you are supposed to tip though. Not a huge amount, but some.

 

The concierge desk is the other big one, if you make use of their services. This one can pay off big time for you as well, for obvious reasons.

[Anastasia13]

Maybe that is how it "should" be, but that's not how it is.

 

Tipping less than 15% is insulting. Not tipping at least $2 per person at a table is also insulting, so when you go to a diner and everyone only gets water and toast, shell out $2 per person when tipping. It's not insulting to put 50 cents - $1 in a tip jar at a coffee shop or something, but that's also not an expected tip.

 

So stop complaining and start tipping like a decent human being.

 

I'm with Chestertonian and kind of Dust. Why should I pay enough tips to help the waiter/waitress make more money per hour than I do? I have barely worked a good paying job. I worked a food service job where we bussed tables and eventually delivered right to the tables. I hardly got any tips because we did not have "wait staff" but I went home grateful for what I had, which was a job that paid more per hour than the previous job. Is one table of five people really worth almost my hourly wage plus what the restaurant pays them? I think that people should tip something if they eat at a nice restaurant, but it should not be so arbitrary. If they judge someone who does not tip a lot because they tip all might want to consider the lesson of the widow's mite in Mark and Luke.  Sure that person might be a selfish jerk who only gives someone  a pittance to fulfill some social expectation, but that person could also be broke.

 

People should tip when they can, and not sweat it when they can't, and people should not get so uppity about this stuff. It's life. Life ain't always what it should be, but you sometimes you gotta shut up, do the best you can, and be grateful for what you get.

[ardillacid]

I tip between 0% - 50% depending on waiter/waitress performance. You have to be a genuine arse portal to get less than 15%.

[GeorgiiMichael]

If you can't afford a decent tip, you shouldn't even bother going out to eat. Wait staff barely make enough to pay bills with the regular 15% tips as it is. You don't have a right to go out to eat, but they do have a right to a fair wage, which they only get when tipped, because laws allow the restaurant to only pay them a little over $2 an hour. Don't want to tip? Then petition the government to change the law so wait staff get a normal minimum wage. But until you do that, and it actually changes, tip people who bring you your food, because it's the right thing to do. And then, when tipping DOES become optional for decent people, don't complain that your bill is now 15-20% higher than it was before the law passed.

 

Not giving a sufficient tip to waitstaff in order for them to be earning at least minimum wage is tantamount to theft.

[MissScripture]

I've never heard about tipping the hotel staff? I mean besides people who carry your bags. Obviously them. but the housekeepers? I asked my husband and he has never heard of this either and he traveled quite a bit growing up! Is it regional? If not I am very embarrassed. I always try to leave the hotel room and bathroom very neat for them but I didn't realize I should be tipping... urgh...

The only time I've ever tipped a housekeeper was when we were on a school trip to London and we were told it was expected that we do so (and really, they totally deserved it!). The numerous other times I stayed in hotels for school or church trips, we were never told to tip, and the friends I've had who worked at hotel housekeepers never mentioned tipping (though the wait staff people did) and I didn't even realize until recently that we were supposed to here, too. :idontknow:

[Anastasia13]

If you can't afford a decent tip, you shouldn't even bother going out to eat. Wait staff barely make enough to pay bills with the regular 15% tips as it is. You don't have a right to go out to eat, but they do have a right to a fair wage, which they only get when tipped, because laws allow the restaurant to only pay them a little over $2 an hour. Don't want to tip? Then petition the government to change the law so wait staff get a normal minimum wage. But until you do that, and it actually changes, tip people who bring you your food, because it's the right thing to do. And then, when tipping DOES become optional for decent people, don't complain that your bill is now 15-20% higher than it was before the law passed.

 

Not giving a sufficient tip to waitstaff in order for them to be earning at least minimum wage is tantamount to theft.

While it is commendable that you advocate a living wage for employees, without allowing for exceptions based on things like variations in different states minimum wage for tipped employees, you require that non-tipped employees earn more per hour than a non-tipped employee.

 

CA $8 - Same a minimum wage.

WA $9.19 - Same as minimum wage.

 

Tipped employee minimum wage source: http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm#California

General minimum wage source: http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm#California

 

Edited April 18, 2013 by Light and Truth

[GeorgiiMichael]

It depends on the state. In California, they make as much as some non-tipped employees. There is your exception.

 

Then feel free to not tip in California. But you said it yourself, it's an exception. And you can bet that the same meal in California is going to cost someone more than that same meal elsewhere in the country. It's simple, logical, economics. 

[MIKolbe]

The only issue I have with tipping is when on business.  It's all expensed, so I am not really tipping with my money.  I guess I could choose not to get reimbursed for it, but that seems stupid.  I've been told 15% max tip before, but I have tipped more...then felt bad...then got over it rather quickly.  I figure if they called me on it, I could pony up the $ then..  

 

There are some unwritten 'rules' on skycaps, concierge services, taxi, and other tipping situations.  I give them their due advisement, and then do what the situation warrants.  

 

A taxi got a co-worker and I to an appointment on time, after a co-worker was running late... He got 100% tip.  On the company.  It was worth it for twice the price.  (granted we nearly had heart attacks, but we got there on time)

 

 

[ploomf]

I generally only tip at restaurants and I tip the girl who cuts my hair. Sometimes I put a dollar or two in the tip jar at my favorite Chinese restaurant when I’m getting takeout. I don’t tip anyone else.

[Gabriela]

The Art of Manliness Gentleman's Guide to Tipping:

 

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/06/24/gentlemans-guide-how-much-should-tip/

 

Ladies: Sorry, outta luck! :-P

[Nihil Obstat]

The only issue I have with tipping is when on business.  It's all expensed, so I am not really tipping with my money.  I guess I could choose not to get reimbursed for it, but that seems stupid.  I've been told 15% max tip before, but I have tipped more...then felt bad...then got over it rather quickly.  I figure if they called me on it, I could pony up the $ then..  

 

There are some unwritten 'rules' on skycaps, concierge services, taxi, and other tipping situations.  I give them their due advisement, and then do what the situation warrants.  

 

A taxi got a co-worker and I to an appointment on time, after a co-worker was running late... He got 100% tip.  On the company.  It was worth it for twice the price.  (granted we nearly had heart attacks, but we got there on time)

I forgot taxis (because I avoid them whenever possible :smile3: ). That is definitely another big one.

[Basilisa Marie]

Then feel free to not tip in California. But you said it yourself, it's an exception. And you can bet that the same meal in California is going to cost someone more than that same meal elsewhere in the country. It's simple, logical, economics. 

 

As a Washington resident, this is completely true - going out to dinner is more expensive than in other places, even at chain restaurants.  Washington's minimum wage is tied to the cost of living, because my state actually understands that people making minimum wage should be able to live above the poverty line.

 

 

If you can't afford a decent tip, you shouldn't even bother going out to eat. Wait staff barely make enough to pay bills with the regular 15% tips as it is. You don't have a right to go out to eat, but they do have a right to a fair wage, which they only get when tipped, because laws allow the restaurant to only pay them a little over $2 an hour. Don't want to tip? Then petition the government to change the law so wait staff get a normal minimum wage. But until you do that, and it actually changes, tip people who bring you your food, because it's the right thing to do. And then, when tipping DOES become optional for decent people, don't complain that your bill is now 15-20% higher than it was before the law passed.

 

Not giving a sufficient tip to waitstaff in order for them to be earning at least minimum wage is tantamount to theft.

 

It's not just theft, it's defrauding laborers of their wages, which is a sin that cries out to heaven.  

 

WHAT WHAT?! 

Edited April 19, 2013 by Basilisa Marie

[Basilisa Marie]

Maybe people who don't tip should do the considerate thing and let their servers know ahead of time.  :|

[allis-challmers]

I personally hate tipping.  I worked at a job loading lumber and other building materials into peoples trucks for 3 years in and out of high school and never got anything more than what my employer agreed to pay me.  I also don't like hidden fees on stuff and want to pay what the menu states as the price of an idem.  I also don't go to fancy restaurants very often so this is not to big of a problem but I wish that the restaurant  would just pay there employees like every other business has to.

[Slappo]

 

It's not just theft, it's defrauding laborers of their wages, which is a sin that cries out to heaven.  

 

WHAT WHAT?! 

I'm not their employer and they don't work for me. The employer's decision not to pay their staff a just wage is what defrauds them of their wages. My choice to tip them compensates for their employer's injustice.

 

FWIW I have never not left a tip at a sit down waited restaraunt. The only time that I've left less than 10% at one is when I called ahead for takeout, but even then I tipped a little (5% maybe?). I do it, but I disagree with the entire concept. Tips should be in addition to wages earned, not a calculated part of wages earned. It really is just a way for restaraunts to lower their prices to something that looks nicer on the eyes when looking at a menu.