July 25th, 2007
My first job at fifteen was in a pizza place. Aside from working until 4am (yeah, can you even believe they let a 15 year old do that?) I really enjoyed that job. It was a great experience and I did well for myself there (responsibilities and experience - you know, all that jazz). Considering it was my first real job I never thought about gratuities or anything like that; afterall, I was 15 and lucky to even have a part time job. I don’t think gratuities would even be considered there since it was just a take-out restaurant, not sit in. But then, I could be wrong. Who really knows who to tip and how much?
A recent survey from the Bank of Montreal shows that many Canadians are very tight fisted when it comes to tipping service workers. I am not surprised in the least. Since I’ve never worked in the service industry where my tips were a hefty portion of my income I can’t say that I know for sure. But! from those I know that do work in service, I can attest to the fact that this survey sounds pretty legit.
Service workers in a restaurant selling alcohol make considerably less then minimum wage. Some places their wages would be about 5.90/hr when minimum wage is about 8.00/hr. Why so low? I don’t know the legal (if it’s even that) reason, but I know that since there is alcohol being served, the wages are less. Those people count on our tips to make a decent living, and depending on the location you work at you can clear about $200 a night in tips - tax free. On a good night. Bad nights? Far less.
I’d like to consider myself a good tipper. If the service is good, I tip more then the 15% “rule”. Mike too; we like to tip when the service warrants it. But bad service? I give them 15% or a little less. Still a tip though. But where I get completely confused is WHOM do we tip?
Food service? Given.
Hairstylist? Yes.
Bartender? Sometimes. Depending on the price of the drink.
Pizza Delivery person? Yes (which I am really bad at, I always forget).
How about your cab driver? I don’t.
Or what about your esthetician? I always do, because I like them.
They are all considered services that should receive gratuities. Did you know that? I sure didn’t. How are we supposed to?!
Where’s the friggin’ list to tell us who should receive a tip and for how much? And does that person get to keep their entire tip, or do they have to split it? I don’t wanna give a really good tip knowing that the server isn’t going to get it all, but instead have to share with some douche that hasn’t lifted a finger all night.
Oh! And don’t even get me started on the automatic gratuity that is calculated on a large table. I can totally understand why they do it, but it’s just a cop out if you ask me. Because they have a large table they don’t have to work as hard as a server with a table of two because their tip is a given. Not fair.
Are you a good tipper? Are you embarrassed by bad tippers? Do you feel obligated to tip a bad service? Do you even know WHO you should be tipping?
Share in the comment. Enlighten me!
Edited to add: A couple of you have mentioned SkyCaps. What the hell is a SkyCap? We Canucks in the Great White North do not have such a thing (or we do, and I live inside my own puny little head). Someone tell me. What is said Skycap?
:::
By the way, I’ve become totally obsessed with Flickr! Tell me. Why does it take so long for me to catch on to these things? And Twitter? Still working on that one. But knowing me, I’ll get it and love it in about 6 friggin’ months. If you see a twitter of me somewhere make me a friend m’kay? I’d make you a friend, but I don’t know how.
And, I’ve been working really hard to get Carter on video calling Mike, Mike instead of Daddy. Good news? He’s stopped calling him Mommy.
I had to cancel my dentist appointment for this week because of my throat. Sucks! Now I have to wait for JANUARY to get in again. Stupid buggers.
As a former waitress and bartender (and former NYC gal), I tip a minimum of 20%. If the service is outstanding, I tip more. Calcutta tips on average 10%, so when we walk into a restaurant, we’re treated like royalty …
If we eat out with GC and she’s made a mess, I always tip 25% for good service b/c of the clean-up involved. If the service is shitty, I start at 15% and start taking off per offense.
You ALWAYS tip cabbies, extra is they get you someplace fast. And you should take care of SkyCaps, too. Lest your bag wind up in … Calcutta!
July 25th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I tip everyone on your list. I’m a good tipper, if the service is good. If the service is shit, so is the tip. I’ve been known to not leave a tip at all because I felt the service was so bad.
July 25th, 2007 at 8:27 am
I tip very well. i usually start at 20% if it’s good service. If I have kids, I make sure to compensate for the mess they’ve made.
I have to argue with the tax free part though. As a waitress, they made you report your tips and you were taxed on all of it. If you lied about how mch tips you made, the IRS still taxed you at least minimum wage. So I made if $3 an hour, they’d still assume I made minimum, and tax me at that.
The auto tips figured for big tables are necesary too. They take up SO much of your time, you can’t do much else while they are there. They usually sit at the table longer, so you have less turnaround time. And if the bill is $100, most people don’t feel comfortable leaving $20 or $25 as a tip. It’s just too much added up. However, if you had 4 tables at $25 each, it wouldn’t be uncommon to get that much tip. They wouldn’t all be sitting down at once, so you could get things a little at a time, and they’d leave faster so that you can get another table served.
I was a waitress for 10 years.
July 25th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Thanks for the tip!
BTW, I just love your new design. It’s very eye-pleasing and cute!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am
i NEVER know how to tip my hairstylist. i get flustered every single time. and do i tip the guy who washes my hair too?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:11 am
I have to drive into (town) to the doc. And I could write a book on this stuff.
So … I’ll be back.
I took out the city name. Just to be comfy! I don’t want some wacko tracking you down! Cuz, I love you!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:44 am
We are good tippers (at least 20% - hubby worked in food service in college so he insists on a good tip)…tip all those on your list plus skycaps. I also tip babysitters if they have to be at my house extra early or stay really late…my sitters love me and are always available when I call!
July 25th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
A SkyCap is the guy who takes your bag at the airports and controls what plane and what destination it goes to - I threw him $5 a bag and my mother told me I was cheap.
Now, what the hell is an esthetician?
July 25th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Ok first…I don’t know what Twitter is but I’m seeing it everywhere all of a sudden, I’ll have to look into that one. But Flickr! OHHHH! It makes me weak. I’ve been using that for years, love love love it!
Now my actual comment was that I’m a horrible tipper. Well, no. It’s not that I’m horrible, but I ONLY tip for good service. I understand that alot of the service workers rely on tips, but then they should work for their pay just like I do, you do or 99.9% of other people do. I don’t get paid for doing a half assed job, and they shouldn’t either. I usually only tip at a resteraunt, and my nail tech. Don’t know about all the others.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
And I forgot to tell you I like the design. It’s very calm and smooth.
July 25th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Ahh. I know what you mean about WHO to tip! On a vacation years ago, there was an envelope in the cabin for the maids tip? WTF? We didn’t tip, but I was afraid they’d steal stuff if we didn’t give them money!
And as far as tipping food service workers, I do 15% for average service, more for great service, none for poor service (that couldn’t be blamed on the kitchen).
July 25th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Well I think you know where I stand on tipping…that post got me in BIG trouble! Sheesh Have to be careful what I say…spies you know.
And as far as a Skycap–have no idea what the hell that is, so obviously I wouldn’t tip one LOL
July 26th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Good service should always warrant at least a 15% or 20% tip. What a lot of people don’t know is that the server probably also has to tip out the kitchen, the bar, and the busboy at the end of her shift. Usually that totals at least 5% when you’re all done. So tip a waitress 10%, she’s putting 5% in her pocket.
One bar I worked at, also made you pay 2% of your total sales to THEM. For the privelage of working there, you see. Unbelievable.
Another place, instead of paying you even the measly lowered ’server’ wage, paid you a ’shift pay’ of $30. Gee thanks.
Bar owners are skeevy.
And bad tippers suck.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Oh, and thanks for taking out the City name.
Stalkers!
*grin*
July 26th, 2007 at 10:50 am
And I added you to my flickr.
Okay, I’m done commenting now. LOL …
July 26th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Interesting…my list is just about the same as yours, but it would be interesting to see the universal tip list of who deserves what and how much…
July 26th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Food service? (YUP)
Bartender? (ALWAYS)
Pizza Delivery person? (ALWAYS)
Cab driver? (YES! ALWAYS)
What about your esthetician? (YES and HAIRDRESSER)
Any service provider - you tip. Furniture delivery man, plumber, even a tour guide when you are a tourist and on a tour. Everybody gets a tip.
Unless they piss me off. haha.
Like in the Quebec city hotel we just went to. It was nowhere near as clean and as nice as I had expected for a 4 star. They sheets on the bed were not made well. I could see the mattress (gag). I want the mattress WELL COVERED in a hotel. It was crusty to say the least. We left zero tip. But usually leaving a hotel - it is a dollar a day left for the maid. Maybe more.
Good rule of thumb: 10% before tax…
below average service
15% Average service
20% Great service
Anything below “below average. No tip….don’t insult with a quarter or something. Just zero. They will most likely know why. You could always tell them why.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:02 pm