Inspired by this and this thread, as well as many others on tipping.
It seems people are expected to tip their waiter, the bar tender, the hotel maid, the doorman, the bellman, the concierge, the room server, the to-go person, and God knows who else.
Two questions come to mind
Are we supposed to be going around handing out dollars all day?
On a more serious note: How far does this go? What professions shouldn’t we tip?
For example, nurses provide us with service. Should we tip them when they do a good job helping us?
Bank tellers provides us with a service. Should we tip them?
Should we tip grocery store cashiers?
Because, you know, there are good and bad grocery store cashiers and we should somehow reward the ones who do a good job, otherwise service will always be bad.
Hey, I almost started this thread myself. Don’t count me among those who complain about being expected to tip—I just wonder about the logic of who gets tipped and who doesn’t. When I go out and have a great meal, how come I tip the waiter but not the chef, f’r’instance? Is there anything besides sheer tradition to explain who I should and should not tip?
Although I can understand why it’s inappropriate to tip the teacher who grades your exams or the cop who pulls you over for speeding.
I’m pretty surprised at how many people don’t tip hotel staff, or were not aware that it’s as common as tipping your waiter/cab driver/bartender/pizza delivery person.
I don’t go around tipping everyone, but I can tell you a few, outside of the obvious, that I do tip.
Hairdresser is obvious, but if I have a shampoo person, that’s a separate tip.
Massage therapist
Manicurist (also obvious, I think.)
Furniture delivery folks/movers
hotel staff (maid/concierge/bellhop/doorman/pool attendant.)
shuttle drivers (limo/cab/etc.)
skycaps
tow truck drivers
slot attendants/hosts/casino table dealers (blackjack, etc.)
restroom attendants
There are probably a few more I’m forgetting.
But tipping isn’t mandatory, ever. Those are just the professions that I do tip when a service is provided, provided the service was adequate or better.
It almost always is. I can only recall ever not tipping someone purposely on a couple of occasions, and both happened to be waitstaff.
When I lived in NJ I would occasionally tip a gas attendant, usually around the holidays. And when I lived in a smaller town I would leave my mailman and garbagemen presents (cash) for the holidays.
And for the record, my mother is a nurse and my sister a bank teller manager. Both do receive gifts from customers around holiday time. Not exactly a tip, but their services don’t go entirely unrecognized, so to speak.
The general rule for tipping is that you tip positions that are relatively unskilled work that you could easily do for yourself and that most people do for themselves- cleaning, driving, shoe-shining, etc. Obviously, this isn’t a perfect definition, but it’s a reasonable general rule. If you don’t want to tip, carry your own bags up to your room, put up your “Do not disturb” sign and cook your own food or go out to establishments where you fetch your own silverware and refills and the like. You can easily avoid almost all tipped situations.
I didn’t say it was a large number of people, most of the people in that thread did tip hotel staff, I was just surprised by how many said they didn’t. And that may be my bad, I just assumed it was pretty commonplace.
My question is: for the types of service jobs that we don’t tip, why don’t we tip them?
Some guy helping you out at Best Buy might provide you with excellent service, whereas a lousy empolyee might not know a thing and be unable to help you. Why don’t we tip for good service there?
Or, in general, why don’t we tip good service from the employees of any store: Macy’s, Gap, etc
Surely these employees don’t make that much money (which is one of the usual arguments for the existence of tips), and surely tipping would improve service (which is the other usual argument for the existence of tips). So, why not?
But, as you mention, these are just gifts around holiday time. People don’t tip your mother every time she takes their temperature and blood pressure.
People don’t tip your sister every time she cashes a check for them. Why not?
They are both providing their customers with a service, and if they were happy with it, they should tip, right? (Unlsess nurse salaries and bank teller salaries are quite high)
You mean, like, never stay in a hotel, never get a haircut and never use a taxi?
The point is not to avoid all tipped situations (which is getting harder every day since more and more jobs are being tipped), but to jack up the prices everywhere so that there is no need to hand out a couple of dollars every few minutes to anyone who provides you with some kind of service.
I hate to tell you, but yeah, you pretty much have to “hand out dollars” when you want people to perform services for you.
Yo can easily avoid paying a single extra cent at hotels. When the bellboy goes for your bags, say “No thank you, I can get them myself.” Turn your room service sign to “Do not disturb” and if you want tickets to the opera, go buy them yourself. Boom! Just like clockwork, all your tipping expectations are relieved.
I don’t know why you guys won’t listen to me. The general rule behind tipping is that if it is something the average guy usually does for himself, it’s probably a tipping position. I can’t check out my own goods at Best Buy, but I can drive to the pizza parlor to pick up my pizza. I can’t re-roof my house, but I can shine my own shoes.
The reason why you tip them is that they are doing dignified work that is not technically worth a lot. Any guy can work at a shoe shine stand. But the fact that THIS guy works at a shoe shine stand means your shoes look nice even though you are late for the interview. It’s not rocket science to clean a house, but the nice lady that cleans your house allows you to do the crap you need to do in your life. It recognizes the importance of their work beyond the straighforward economic ramifications of their work. Generally, the people who frequent tipped establishments are people who are spending their time contributing to the economy more than if they were hanging around washing their sheets. People in these tipped positions allow them to make those contributions. And they should share in some of it.
It also allows unskilled laborers to earn a decent living and perhaps raise a family. It allows the people that provide their minimum wage (the people who just pay the stated amount) to access their service and keep the company going while not limiting their wages to the wage that would net the managers the greatest amount of customers. A large number of people would just stop going to restaurants if their prices raised dramatically. This is overall worse of a situation for servers than occassionally getting stiffed.
Do you “hand out dollars” to your nurse, bank teller, shoe salesman, for the fact that they served you? No. The cost of their service is included in the products you pay for.
Can you avoid going to hotels when you travel to another city? If not, then you have to tip the maid.
Can you avoid getting a haircut (if you don’t want to look like an idiot)? If not, then you have to tip the hairdresser.
Can you (or do you want to) avoid having a social life by not going to restaurants and bars? If not, then you have to tip the waiter and the barterder.
Not that easy, is it?
By this logic, since you can research for new digital cameras and computer printers yourself, if the guy at Best Buy answers any questions and helps you find what you want, then he deserves a tip.
Or, since you can take your own temperature and blood pressure, when a nurse does it, you should tip her.
Or, since you can learn a new language yourself (reading a book, listening to tapes), you should tip your foreign language teacher after every lesson.
Or, …
This is all groundless speculation.
If it were true, then in countries where tipping is not as ubiquitous as the US, unskilled laborers would not “earn a decent living”, when in fact I think that it is the US that has the largest percentage of poor people among industrialized nations.
The fact is, things work just fine with or without tipping.
I can serve myself a hamburger at home, but I don’t tip at Burger King. I can’t cut my own hair, but I do tip my barber. I can’t deal my own game of blackjack, but I tip the dealer. And don’t people tip their massuese? You can’t do that yourself.
