All of you apartment-dwelling dopers–I’ve got a question for you.
I moved into a new building at the end of October, in a nice neighborhood in one of the outer boroughs of NYC. The super has been absolutely wonderful.
He does a great job of all the things a super is supposed to do. The maintenance on the building is great, and the lobby and common areas are always clean and inviting.
He’s also gone beyond his job description, often taking on extra work himself when the incredibly incompetent landlord screws up. For example, the management company messed up my move-in date. They never told the super when I was planning to move in, even though they told me everything was taken care of, and that the super would be expecting me. I ended up outside the building with the movers and a van full of stuff, with no way to get into the building!
The super saved my butt, dropping everything he was doing to get me keys and make sure the movers had a place to park. He’s also done me the favor of taking in packages while I was out, saving me from having to haul my butt out to the FedEx depot in freezing November rain.
I’d like to give him a nice Christmas present, but I’m not sure how much is appropriate.
So, what do you think? I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.
Harmonious Discord–Thanks for the suggestion that I write to the management.
And, yeah, I’m going to give the guy cash in a card, kind of as a generous end-of-the-year tip. I just don’t know how much cash I should give him.
On one hand, I want him to know I appreciate him. On the other, I don’t want to make anyone else look cheap, or set myself up to give a really huge gift next year, after I’ve been living in the building for a full 12 months.
I have no idea what a “standard” gift to the super would be in my part of the world. I don’t really know who to ask, either. Most of the people I know here either: 1) live in swanky places in Manhattan, where the standards are probably different, or 2) are new to New York (or even the US) themselves, and have even less of a clue than I do.
If you’re looking to show appreciation then I’d start at $100, just based on what you said. I think I gave $50-$75 when I lived in Queens, but those guys didn’t take packages. Just my vote, not supposed to be a definitive answer.
Another New York Times article, this time from today’s paper and about tipping doormen. I’m kind of glad that I don’t live in the city and have to worry about this sort of thing.
yes, we do. My issue is whether porters count as supers do, plus super’s helpers, and so on. There’s a crew out there, about six guys all in all, some of whom have helped me, some of whom not so much, most of whom may help me over the coming year in some way…
Yeah, NYC is a real PITA when it comes to tipping. Christ, even the UPS guy once “suggested” I tip him… (average salary $70k+, and that’s nationally - not for NYC).
I’m actually going to tip my UPS lady. I work from home and get a package many times a week and she cheerfully trudges up and down my steep driveway. (Yeah, I know that this is her job.)