This thread is not to explore whether tipping is a good or bad practice. The wife and I will soon move back to Hawaii, and I would like to get up to speed on present-day tipping practices, so I would appreciate some advice. We have not lived in the US for 22 years or visited there in four years, so maybe it’s changed somewhat.
I’ve looked up some information, but this may be pertinent only to Hawaii since everything is more in the Aloha State. I believe taxi drivers there are usually tipped 10-15% of the metered fare, rounded up to the nearest dollar. Bartenders, 15-20% or a minimum of a buck per drink. Restaurant servers 18-20% unless a gratuity is already tacked on. We don’t plan to pester concierges for last-minute reservations or take much in the way of trips for a while, but when we do I know to leave a couple bucks on the pillow for the hotel’s room cleaner, $5 on check-out day. Anything else I should know?
I refuse to tip cashiers, have heard of some people doing this, and it seems ludicrous. We’ll probably have some furniture or appliances delivered, and from another thread it seems $10 or so would be appropriate. Anything else I should be aware of?
Sounds about right. I’m a good tipper but 15% should still be enough for ordinary restaurant service. 18%-20% for a large group, and 20% or more for better than just average service. For just drinks $1 a drink is fine for bartenders no matter what the total comes to. I usually leave $5 a day for hotel cleaning just to make it simple. It’s not like there’s a lot of logic behind the rules, it’s just convention. Make sure to have ones in your pocket for baggage handlers, bellhops, etc.
I thought of another scenario – haircuts. How much should I tip for that? No place fancy, just maybe Supercuts.
And rather than start another thread, I may as well piggyback a related question here: ATM machines in the US. Do they take chip cards now? A few years ago, Bangkok Bank became the first bank in Thailand to issue such cards, but they warned they would work only with Bangkok Bank ATMs anywhere in the world – there are branches in many global places including London and Manhattan – due to the paucity of chip-enabled ATMs. But I figure the US has caught up by now? An English friend tells me Britain has. This matters because I need to figure out whether to get a chip ATM card for the main account I plan to access from Hawaii. (This is not a Bangkok Bank account, although I do have one of their chip cards for my account with them.)
That reminds me of this one strip joint in West Texas back in the day. One old codger got up and tried to slip a quarter in the G-string of the girl on stage. (This was not me, as I was not yet an old codger but rather still a young buck.) She loudly admonished him: “I’m not a goddamned slot machine!”
As far as haircuts go, you don’t tip the owner of the salon. Restaurants are 15-20% gratuity. If you’re staying in a hotel for an extended period (longer than 2-3 days, YMMV) I’d tip about $3-5 per day at the end of your stay.
Taxis - just round up or down to the nearest 5$. Maybe less if the interior smells like urine. Or more if it’s fresh and/or you like the smell of urine.
Mugging - split 5% of the total taken from you between each mugger. Adjust upwards for non-violent, quick, efficient, mugging or for muggings with a smile.
It’s been many years since I’ve been in a Canadian strip club. I stopped going around the time Canada was discontinuing one and two dollar bills and it really was an issue about how strippers would handle the tipping issue. Would they accept coins? Would there be a five dollar minimum on tips? Was there some other possibility that could gain acceptance? My solution was the one I mentioned in my previous post; I just brought a stack a American singles. At that time, Canadian strippers were as happy to accept American dollars as they were to accept Canadian dollars (the exchange rate made American dollars worth slightly more which presumably offset any inconvenience).
But as I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to any of these places and I have no idea how things work now.
No, it’s a return thing. I’m an American, just been over here a very long time.
Maybe I’ll load up on a bunch of these joke currencies like Lao kip or Zimbabwean dollars and slip those in. “Wow! I just got 2000 Cambodian riel! Party’s on me!” (That’s about 50 cents American.)
I’ve never understood this exception. Why should it matter to me that they are making extra money as the owner of the business? They’re still providing me a service for which I would normally tip.
If the owner of a moving company or a furniture store was out in the field doing work for me, I’d tip them too, just as I tip their employees.
I agree. I include a $3 or so tip where I get my hair cut, even though it is by the salon owner. Same at the last several places I’ve gotten my hair cut, both barbers and hair salons. There don’t seem to be many barber shops anymore.
