A cup of coffee at Starbuck (a not plain an expresso or mocha etc) here is about 3.50 so using the 20% method you would pay 70¢ in a tip for a cup of coffee. Doesn’t make sense.
What I do is I usually leave the change from my dollar bills in the tip jar. I figure these guys make the coffee. I am assuming they split the money evenly with everyone working the shift.
But remember that these guys most likely don’t declare that money so it’s tax free. Other tipped people must.
Also Hotel Van drivers get paid as much as the desk clerks. (at least in Chicago they do - Yes I’ve done payroll at 5 major hotels in the O’Hare area and they get the same). I recommend NEVER tipping a driver if they put out money in the van they pick you up in. That is SO TACKY. No good hotel is gonna allow that. If the driver drives you with no bags or you carry your own on a dollar is enuff. Figure it’d cost you a dollar to take a bus to the hotel.
One other thing HOTEL MAIDS. They do the worst job for the least amount of money. I would leave a dollar or two dollars a day AND two to five dollars the day you check out (if you stay more than one day as it takes longer to clean a s/o than a c/o)
One curious thing I was in NYC and I left my housekeeper a dollar a day and even that small tip (I also stripped the bed for her and put all the garbage in one can so she could get in and out fast) without even telling her I was the first room to get cleaned and she did such a good job at it. My friend left nothing and got much worse service.
If you figure they have 20 rooms a day at a dollar a room that is 20 bucks a day or 100 bucks extra a week, that makes a huge difference for them.
Also leave it every day as different maids work different days.
zuma asked a question in GQ here but was referred by a mod to this old thread. This is what zuma wrote:
Here is my take. I would say that tipping isn’t necessary for fast food take-out. But if zuma is asking about take-out at casual dining resturants (e.g., Fridays, Bennigans) I would say that you should tip. At many resturants, there is not a dedicated take-out person, so a waiter or bartender has gone back to assemble and verify your order. This can be a fair bit of work, so it is appropriate to tip. I’m sure what the exact amount should be, but in many cases 20% wouldn’t be out of line. I think it’s kind of a judgement call.
I never leave tips at fast food places. My general criteria for tipping is that if there is a person at the establishment whose job duty is to satisfy my requests for the duration of my stay at the establishment, then I’ll tip that person. In my book, behind-the-counter fast food employees don’t meet this requirement. I can’t, for instance, ask the person behind the counter to bring some salt to my table; I have to go up to the counter to get it. Same reasoning for coffee houses; I don’t tip if I’m just picking up my coffee at the counter, but if there an employee that comes around to bring my beverage to my table or asks me if I’d like a refill or anything else, I’ll tip that employee.
Yes, I feel it’s wrong to ask for tips. Tips should be something of a reward, something given as a thank-you for good service. And would I be willing to pay higher prices? Depends on what the price was; if I felt that the food and service I was receiving was worth the higher price (the taste of the food and the convenience receive my food quickly being my criteria of worth for fast food), then of course I would pay. Is to convenience of being able to pick up a meal on the run worth an extra $0.50 or $1.00 on a busy day when I’m in a rush? Probably.
Personally, I tip for service. There are a few very popular restaurants near my apartment. Two of them have tip cups. Those two both have prep lines where you can watch your food being made. One of them (Jimmy John’s, motto: Subs so fast you’ll freak) routinely has the sandwich ready before the cashier has made change. At both of these locations, I tip if, at any point on the line, someone makes some sort of friendly overture. For this reason, I’ve made a few friends at each restaurant (one of them because she declared loudly to her co-worker “This guy is the coolest customer ever!”). I invariably leave a dollar in the cup if one of them is working when I come in. The other restaurant has a sign prohibiting tipping, which I find unfortunate, since the cashiers are always very friendly (and usually cute).
I also worked at Jimmy John’s for a while as a delivery driver. The tips were totalled up and split among the employees based on hours worked over the pay period. The drivers got nothing, since we weren’t considered in-store help (though I must say, I was one of the fastest damn sandwich makers they had, from helping out when they were short staffed, or on slow delivery days). I took pride in getting sandwiches out as fast as I possibly could, and, judging by people’s reactions when I showed up 2 minutes after they ordered, I think my tips were mainly performance-based, as well. It wasn’t uncommon for the poor college kids to give me $5 or more for a tip, when their order was only $3-4.
My only delivery guy story that’s mildly interesting concerns a guy who, when exceptionally drunk one night, tried to give me a $25 tip. Being the nice (stupid) guy that I am, I argued him down to $10. The next week, as I was delivering to his neighbors at 3AM, with one delivery left before I went back to cash out, he threatened to kill me if I didn’t give him a sandwich. He seemed serious, but he also seemed even more drunk than the preceding week. He didn’t kill me, is the upshot.
Which type of counterperson? When I worked in Dunkin Donuts (ok, a long time ago) ,besides the “to go” counter we had the diner type of counter with seats and were paid the same sub-minimum wage as waitstaff in actual restaurants.
I was tipped once while working at McDs, but it was for helping out with a large birthday party. The manager on duty took me and another worker off the counter and had us serve the kids their food for two hours. At the end of the party, the manager handed us each a $5 bill, saying the birthday kid’s mother had asked her to give it to us. She (the manager) acknowledged that we weren’t supposed to receive tips, but said that our help with the party merited an exception.
I have issues with your remarks, Thea. I worked at McDs for almost four years, and at the risk of sounding arrogant, I was damn good at my job. I had co-workers who were also very good workers. We didn’t just go through the motions of our jobs; we put in the effort to be thoughtful and considerate of every customer we served. We had to balance that with the speed and efficiency that McDs (and our particular store) demanded, and that was not easy to do. To read remarks like yours is, at the very least, disheartening.
I’m not saying FFWs deserve and should be tipped. My opinion is to the contrary, in fact. Just realize that there are some fast food employees that give excellent service, and they do not deserve to be lumped into the same category as the kind of fast food employees you describe. Trust me-- we don’t like working with them any more than you like being served by them.
One other thing: At the time I left McDs, I was making 30 cents above minimum wage (which in Hawaii was $5.25). You work in Vegas, so the $7/hr. wage you know is far from being the average FFW’s.
Do you tip a bartender when you go out for drinks? (If you dont go out for drinks, then: hypothetically, do you tip the bartender when you go out for drinks?) Because, basically, that is what coffee jockeys are doing, if you substitute caffeine for alcohol. I know at my job, if I am the one making drinks, the giant espresso machine physically prevents me from handing the drinks to the customers (I pass them to the cashier, and he/she hands them over), but asides from the set up, the jobs are pretty similar (in the drink making sense).
So this isnt a complete hijack, I never used to tip at coffee shop/bagel type places, but once I started working in one, I usually dump my change in the tip jar. As for fast food places? I dont think so. Restaurants and bars? Of course.
Thanks, yes I was referring to casual dining restaurants in my original post. I think the moderator didn’t realize that before locking the thread. In any event, since I’m here now, I’d appreciate any input. I’m thinking 10% sounds about right… They are doing a bit of work to get the food to me, but not checking up, refreshing drinks, etc. I suppose I should just ask them sometime what is generally done in these circumstances.