TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . ABOUT US . CONTACT . CHAT  
Bomis   Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
Archive through December 09, 2004

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Mar. ~ 2005 May: Who do YOU tip? How much, and why?: Archive through December 09, 2004 users admin

Author Message
Jagger
Member

08-07-2002

Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 6:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I went out to eat last night with a bunch of the family, we showed up at Perkins about 8pm, there were about 30 of us in our group. We caught them completely off guard, they did not have enough staff. We ended up with one waitress for the entire group, she did everything from seating us to taking our drink orders and food orders and refills and cleaning the tables.

She did an excellent job and her tip showed it. My meal was under 10 bucks, and I ended up leaving $20.00. Now some of the other relatives were leaving exactly what they owed, not a penny more, of course I made sure to let them know that, so a few of them dug back in there wallets and coughed up a few more bucks.

Our total bill was $220.00, we ended up leaving $300 bucks, so she got a pretty good tip, but she really deserved it.

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 10:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ok, well I've lived all over the east coast (but not further than VA) and this is how I tip - if it's a service then I think it's appropriate to tip.

Servers - at least 20% (unless they don't refill my drinks or just screw up SO bad that I can't understand even after having waited tables at just about every restaraunt for 8 years) - more if DS makes a bigger mess.

Any employee that carries stuff out to the car for me - when I was pregnant this happened all the time - $1-$5 depending on how much and how nice they are.

Full Service Gas Stations (that's all they have in NJ) - $1-$2.

Car Wash Attendants $1-$2 to the guys that dry or do special stuff in the beginning - not the ones just sitting there pressing buttons.

Food Delivery Guys - $2 up to 10% of my order (even if it's stuff for the YMCA or the church or whoever I'm ordering for)

Postal Workers - box of candy or something like that at Holidays and anytime I send out an annoucment/card (like a birth or big birthday). I use USPS exclusively for my eBay stuff and I send/receive at least 1 package every day so lately I've been thinking I should increase what I give.

Doctors Office - box of candy or something like that at Holidays and anytime I send out an annoucment/card (like a birth or big birthday) - at the larger offices one exclusively for my doctor and one exclusively for nurses that deal with me and on for the office in general. hint, this is good because my doctor's office is large so it gets in good with the nurses and then I'm always able to get appts when I need them later on - and they make me wait less and don't mind when I'm a little late once in a while.

I once read somewhere that you should also tip babysitters/daycare workers during the holidays and at the end of the school year - but I've never had that happen in the last 3.5 years. I only noticed that because it was my current vocation.

I found this website that has some tipping guidelines. . . don't know if I agree with them all, but it does say I should be getting some hefty tips. . .

Jkm
Member

07-10-2002

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 10:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Man, I'm cheap -- I'm stuck in the 10% era -- I feel for everyone working at restaurants and such - but as a consumer -- Raise the price on the menu and pay the staff more! -- If we go out as a family (not often) it's usually to one of the chain steak places -- If the bill is 50.00 I'll tip at least 5.00 and round up to whole dollars.

It's actually a sore point for me about paying the tip at a restaurant -- I think the law needs changed -- they should all make at least min. wage period - none of the this manditory tip amount included stuff. Tips should be extra money for a job well done -- not figured as part of the staff's base wages - not fair to the staff or the customers. Let the cost on the menu be what it needs to be to pay the staff decently - then if I want to pay more because the service or food or etc. I can and it truely is a tip.

I don't tip the hair dresser - I go to a walk in place and don't have a regular gal.



Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 10:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I always tip restaurant wait staff 20%. No arguments from me about it--except if service is bad. Then I will leave 10%.

I routinely tip my hairdresser a flat $10, except at Christmas, when, depending how long I've been with them, I may give from $40-$50 in an envelope. I also sent flowers and a note to my favorite hairdresser as a goodbye and thank you just before I moved out of state.

When I lived in a house, I used to tip the postman (as he was our regular for years) $20 in an envelope at Christmas only. Now that I am in an apartment complex, don't do anything.

I can't remember when I last had to tip anyone at a gas station, since I only use self-serve.

Car wash attendants--$2-$5, depending upon how I feel. Never more than that.

I have never tipped a flower delivery person! Never occurred to me to do that. And I have never given anything to my doctors, although I do think that is a nice idea.

Food delivery guys, approx $2-3, up to 10%, like Graceunderfyre.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 12:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Here's one I forgot:

COATCHECK - DOLLAR A COAT!! How could I forget this?

Max
Member

08-12-2000

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 6:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Tipping at the gas station? Gee, that would never occur to me. We don't have a choice here in Oregon -- we're not allowed, by law, to pump our own gas. Darned if I'll tip when I don't have an choice in the matter. :-)

Flower delivery always gets a couple bucks outta me, but then no one sends me flowers, so I don't have to worry about it. :-)

I wash my own car and can't remember the last time I went somewhere with a coat check.

I never see my postman (person?) because they deliver the mail to one of those locked "condo" things out on the street. So, no tip there.

I never see the newspaper delivery person, either, but I hear his/her noisy car sometimes in the wee hours of the morning when they gun into my driveway and toss the paper in the general direction of my porch. Wouldn't know who to tip there, either.

I'm beginning to see something of a trend here -- East coast folks are a lot more used to tipping for a multitude of things than West coasters. Or maybe the correlation is more towards size of the metropolitan area you live in. Certainly living in the suburbs there are a lot less services provided on a personal basis, so that cuts down on the tipping obligations/opportunities quite a bit.

Now, if I just could get more folks to tip when I'm dealing Blackjack at parties and fundraisers. . .

Seamonkey
Member

09-07-2000

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 7:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I tip 15-20% at restaurants but probably higher at less expensive places, since often the wait staff and bus people work just as hard or harder..

For takeout, I'll usually stuff at least a dollar into the cup and at Togo's where I tend to get several sandwiches made at once, I give them a dollar or two even though they don't even have a tip jar.

I tip $20 at the hairdresser (cut and color), and give her extra at Christmas, plus a gift of some sort.. I also give her books I've read now and then and other little things (uh, like she has a quackle) because she's been my hairdresser for about 20 years..

Pizza delivery.. well I tend to get a couple of pizzas at once and tend to tip $8-$10, and yes I take weather into consideration.. I've gotten some pretty heartfelt thanks ..

$20 to my regular mail carrier (she has a quackle too).

I don't tip my cat-sitter but she gets $20 a DAY to come in and care for the cat and bring in the paper and mail.. that seems sufficient to me.

The newspaper guy leaves a card, self addressed.. not sure what to send him.

I never accept help at the market.. take my own food to the car and return the cart to the store.

Self-serve gas all the way..

Shuttle/cab drivers.. usually a buck a bag assuming they touch a bag.. if they do even more for me then it would be more.

Coat check?

Coat?

LOL.. not a common think in my life..

Car wash.. well that is a rare thing.. $2-$3..

At hotels, I tend to not ask for service while I'm there.. mostly because I really don't want anyone rummaging in my room, especially with a computer and other stuff in there. I tend to take my own trash out and dispose of it.. like last weekend, two days, I left what trash I had from the last day in a bag, left $5 and three bottles of water and 7 Pepsis for the maid. Sometimes I'll leave magazines too.

If food and/or service is really good, I love to mention it to the manager.. and likewise if there is substandard food or surly service.

Gosh, tip a landlord? Well I haven't had one since 1986 and then I was renting a house through a real estate manager and they never failed to raise the rent each year.. and did nothing tip-worthy at all.. and before that, lived in various low rent places with landlords who got the rent but no reason to tip.

I'd assume that would be more for largish apartment buildings where you "call the super" when something goes wrong?



Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 9:12 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
OT - Where does one get a job as a CAT SITTER? I want that job because I love other people's animals!!

Oh wait, I just realized you are travelling, Seamonkey. Now it all comes clear to me!! hahaha. Usually, everyone I know that goes out of town just asks a friend to pop by their place to feed the cat and check the mail. Friends I know who have done that for other friends usually just get a gift like a bottle of wine, or gift certificate. Seamonkey, if I lived near you, I'd come by for free, purely to play with your cat!! No money necessary!!

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Monday, December 06, 2004 - 9:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I took this from the link to the tipping website above:

Restaurants report a percentage (around 12%) of the gross sales for food and beverage to the IRS for their staff. This means that if you have a $200 food bill and $200 wine bill, the restaurant will report 12% of $400 or $48 as income to the server. In other words, the server has to pay tax on it whether you tip it or not. If the restaurants do not report it accurately, the restaurant and the wait staff get audited by the IRS.

THIS is one MAJOR reason I think people need to tip, especially in the States. These poor minimum wage servers are paying taxes on money they AREN'T getting if they only get 10% per table. A tip isn't a guaranteed wage, yet it's a guaranteed TAX?!

My biggest beef is Australians, British people, and Germans because they do not tip. Yet at the end of the night I STILL have to tip out the kitchen/bussers. My worst experience was working in a restaurant that was next to a hotel. We would get parties of 25 Australians, the bill would be 690, and they would leave 700. So, not only do I have to give that 10 dollars to the kitchen, I also have to come up with more, to pay the entire amount owed to the kitchen.

Believe me, in tourist season here in Vancouver, this situation is VERY VERY common.

My solution to the problem? I picked a higher-end restaurant, that tourists don't go to, yet the locals find popular. Since then, I've never LOST money by working.

Beachcomber
Member

08-26-2003

Tuesday, December 07, 2004 - 5:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
When I worked as a waitress eons ago (in the States) I reported each week to the Manager what my tips were and that was the number used to calculate my income for tax purposes. Has this practice changed?

Max
Member

08-12-2000

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 1:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yes, Beachcomber. The IRS decided they weren't getting enough revenue from the tip jar, so they instituted rules that tax service people based on what they SHOULD be getting tipped. It's really a low blow, but only one of many the IRS has taken over the years.

Beachcomber
Member

08-26-2003

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 5:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Max, that stinks!

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 7:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
hey I should let you know a driving force behind my tipping habits is that I hate the image that all Asians are cheap (even though we pretty much are) so I try to go above and beyond. I also get a lot of flack from other people for doing it - though my brothers and DH have all adopted my philosophy.

Konamouse
Member

07-16-2001

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 7:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Las Vegas - people here live off tips. I've been well trained.

Nice restaurants almost expect that 20% tip (the wait staff has to split it with the bartender, the maitre'd, the kitchen folks, the buspeople, etc. Not so fancy places have the waitstaff doing it all themselves and I tip accordingly (fortunately I seem to get great service - even though I am picky about my food, I try to be very friendly and it seems to help).

We have valet's, bellhops, dancers, dealers, drinks ladies, etc that all split tips during their shifts at most casino/hotels.

Tipping has just become a fact of life for us in this town. I only wish I was in a service industry job that got tips. As a dietitian at a local well known spa I have only gotten tipped once (but it was pretty nice!).

'squeek'

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 9:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i got my hair cut tonight, my haircut is normally $18. i gave her my normal $4 tip. and then gave her an extra $20 for the holidays.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 10:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I heard somewhere that people in New York actually work for NO WAGES and only tips. Can anyone shed some light? I think it is at more high-end restaurants, where people would really WANT to work. If I could work for only tips, I'd move to New York without my greencard!!

Fabnsab
Member

08-07-2000

Wednesday, December 08, 2004 - 11:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I don't know about NO wages but servers make $2.13 an hour, a little more in some states. People are always shocked by that. As a server, I would always get a "this is not a check" on payday because the 2 bucks would pay taxes. And sometimes it wouldn't be enough so I always had to pay at tax time.

I have actually worked in restaurants that make us pay the credit card fees. It could be an extra $5 a night. I never thought that was right. I managed a restaurant and the owner wanted to start doing that and I told him I would quit first because I think that is cheating your staff. Could you imagine telling a commission paid sales person they had to pay for all the credit card transactions? Its just wrong. How do you build a trust with your staff if you're nickel and diming them all the time?

Spygirl
Moderator

04-23-2001

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 12:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
<Slinks quietly in>

Tip your therapists!

<Slinks quietly out>



Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 1:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Here's one I forgot to mention:

I would tip my therapist if I had one. And a gift at Xmas too.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 1:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Fabnsab - I feel so lucky that I make the same minimum wage as everyone else. I couldn't imagine being considered a "tipped" profession, only for people to not give me tips (like buffet people). Wow that's crazy. I think in other places in Canada, there is the dual wage system, but luckily not in BC.

It shocks me that people only make 2.13 an hour. I would hope those people are working at good enough restaurants to have the tips make up for the non-wage.

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 10:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Fab I always hated that the pay was so little when I waited on tables and then people don't leave you decent tips. There are a lot of people that don't realize there is an expectation you will make most of your money through tips so the govt. allows those types of jobs to have a much lower min. wage. What I really hated was places where I had to tip out the bus boy, host & bar out of my total sales. I don't mind tipping them, but not all of my sales are drinks, so I would prefer to tip the bar on drink sales only -- plus they get paid pretty good money to be a bartender. And I've known a lot of hosts/busboys that don't do their jobs so I always felt that it should be of my own volition on how much and when I tip them. I mean, if you are doing your job as a server, you should be clearing plates and dishes as the meal progresses, so that really leaves very little for the busboy to do in the end. But that's just me. . .

Max
Member

08-12-2000

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 10:21 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Well, maybe this should be in the vent thread, but since it is about tipping, I figured I'd put it here. :-)

Yesterday, I dealt blackjack at a party in the afternoon about 10 miles to the west of my home. No big deal, in fact it was a fun crowd. No tips, but then what do I expect from a bunch of accountants at their Christmas party?

A couple hours after I got home, just as I was contemplating what to fix for dinner, the phone rang and it was the company calling to say they had a client who had booked a party for Thursday and just discovered that they had screwed up the date -- the party was really Wednesday night (last night), starting in less than two hours. Could I help? I said sure and rushed to get dressed and drive approximately 25 miles east of my home to the party location.

It was a small party and ended up being a fun crowd of consultants -- again financial types. The gal who organized the event (and had mistakenly signed all the contracts that had the wrong date on them) came over a couple of times to the three of us who were dealing and apologized for the mix-up, thanking us for rushing over and making it work for them.

Think any of us got a tip? Think again!

Oh, well, such is life. Happy Holidays!


Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 10:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oh, Max. Someone should send them a wake-up call! That is awful. In both cases, the client who hired you should have included a tip, IMO, not the guests.

Do you do this thru a company or freelance? (I know nothing about this field of employment.) If with a company, maybe they should have something in the materials they state that tips are appropriate. If freelance, maybe your materials should say you appreciate tips when the service delivered exceeds expectations.

Graceunderfyre
Member

01-21-2004

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 10:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ok so doesn't it just make sense that if you hire/contract someone you need to tip them? esp when you screw things up? Max thanks for the reminder, I prob would have figured it out, but sometimes it helps to hear these stories so we remember to tip.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Thursday, December 09, 2004 - 11:30 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I should be studying, but I'll write here instead.

Max, Christmas parties are the WORST. I'm sorry, but almost everyone at a company staff party is thankless. I could tell you some horror stories from this weekend, where I worked 3 parties. Ugh.

I had a friend who was pretty tricky when it came to tips, and we worked at a blue-collar bar/restaurant, so she got away with a lot.

If her tip was bad, she would go to the person as the were leaving, and say something to the effect of, "Excuse me. I don't meant o bother you, or put you on the spot or anything, but I just wanted to know....was my service poor tonight? Because if it was, I REALLY REALLY apologize. Could you tell me how I failed you so I know how to improve?" At that point the person would be like "No everything was great!" and she would reply very nicely, "Oh, I just figured that when your tip was less than the standard X percent, it was a signal that I had given poor service."

At that point the people would feel humiliated, and sorry for my friend, and crack open the wallet again. She never ONCE had someone call her on her trick.

I could have NEVER done something like that, but I always envied her for having the cojones to say stuff like that.

Max - when I go to the casino, my friends and I have this weird karma-type rule to ALWAYS tip the dealers on a good hand. I can't believe you don't make ANYTHING!!! BRUTAL!!! Usually I play blackjack, and I think it pays 2.5 to 1, so I always give the .5 of my winnings back to the dealer. If I'm winning, but not with blackjacks, I'll tip a chip every five or six hands.