# New York City doormen **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035 "2002-11-27T04:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/1 "2002-11-27T04:33:15Z")
I just read a comment on another website that said doormen in NY pay to go to work because the tips are so good and that there are lots of people that would be willing to do the same. That sounds pretty farfetched to me so I came straight to the place where I knew I could find out. How about it NY dopers…any truth to that? Doormen actually pay for their jobs? I would think it would be against the labor laws for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/2 "2002-11-27T06:34:53Z")
Strippers pay fees to work. Many pay an upfront fee to the house to dance, and then give the house a cut out of their tips. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/3 "2002-11-27T15:08:26Z")
Oh, bribing to get a cush job? I suspect it’s illegal, and probably violates a lot of union contracts (many doormen in larger buildings are unionized). But grease is such a major part of life here that I’m perfectly willing to believe it’s happened - you’re just going to have a hard time coming up with proof. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/4 "2002-11-27T15:55:08Z")
Thanks Oxy, the post I read actually said that doormen pay $100 or more per day for the privilege to work. I can’t see that happening. ---
**Author:** ![RufusLeaking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c5a1d2/32.png) [@RufusLeaking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RufusLeaking)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/5 "2002-11-27T18:14:45Z")
Sorry if this is a stupid question. But what does a doorman do? Only doorman I’ve ever seen is on TV and all they seem to do is greet you as you walk in. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/6 "2002-11-27T19:42:00Z")
I think they hail cabs for building residents. ---
**Author:** ![yoyo3500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5daacb/32.png) [@yoyo3500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyo3500)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/7 "2002-11-27T19:45:29Z")
The doormen also keep the pigeons from harassing tenants and they occassionally mug tourists. Sometimes they shovel snow and other things that can be found in front of doors. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/8 "2002-11-27T19:50:45Z")
Doormen are responsible for a number of things: 1. Opening the door for people coming in and going out 2. Hailing cabs for residents of the building 3. Calling residents when guests appear in the lobby 4. Operating elevators in buildings with manual elevators 5. Keeping the sidewalk in front of the building clean (and shoveled if it snows) 6. Signing for packages 7. Eschewing the riff-raff 8. Wearing really cool uniforms ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/9 "2002-11-27T20:01:42Z")
1. And lying to motorists that they’re not allowed to park in front of their buildings. They can all go to hell. They actually believe that just because they get to dress like some banana republic dictator that they get to make the laws. Morons. ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/10 "2002-11-27T20:30:50Z")
I saw something on TV (FWIW) that showed some of the city’s top doormen actually buying spots from each other. For instance, a door man was retiring and sold his job to another doorman for many thousands of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/11 "2002-11-27T21:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CBEscapee \* > **doormen in NY pay to go to work because the tips are so good** I was acquainted with a person who, though paid a minimum-wage salary the position was such that her salary approached 100K per year, through tips. She had to write a check to her employer every pay period because her minimum wage salary was not enough to cover the IRS withholding on the expected tips. Could this be, perhaps, what some NYC doormen have to do? -AmbushBug ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/12 "2002-11-27T22:08:53Z")
According to an article in the December 16, 2001 NYC doormen and elevator operators don’t seem to get particularly high salaries nor do they receive a lot in tips. One doorman, who worked in Queens however, said he usually got about $6000 in tips around Christmastime. Some of the more expensive buildings in Manhattan gave their doormen bonuses around $15,000. A doorman at a building on West 74th Street, estimated that tips made up 10% of his income. Most doormen are unionized and part of SEIU (Service Employees International Union). ---
**Author:** ![Wazza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/35a633/32.png) [@Wazza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wazza)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/13 "2002-11-27T22:11:46Z")
Slightly OT, but when are you supposed to tip a doorman, and how much? I am new to the US and very slowly used to the tipping concept, but how much should I pay to go theough a door that someone has been opened for me? ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/14 "2002-11-27T22:15:31Z")
I wouldn’t think that doormen would reveal what they REALLY make to the public, though I could be wrong, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/15 "2002-11-27T22:23:48Z")
I had no idea people tipped doormen. Are you supposed to give him a buck every time you walk by him or something? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/16 "2002-11-27T22:39:55Z")
However, I think most doormen have a standard contract through SEIU and that could be used as a baseline. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/17 "2002-11-27T23:19:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hazel \* > \*\*I think they hail cabs for building residents. \*\* Cabs driven by people who pay for the privilege. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Fatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d2c977/32.png) [@Fatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/18 "2002-11-28T01:34:29Z")
At the Las Vegas Hilton (during a convention) I noticed the doorman was collecting $100 an hour in tips just for hailing cabs that were lined up just 50 feet away. I noticed his coat had very deep pockets. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/19 "2002-11-28T03:40:52Z")
I don’t think the doormen referred to in the OP are the same as valets in hotels. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/20 "2002-11-29T15:13:30Z")
A word of explanation: doormen ini hotels get tips if they do something for you, like hail a cab (I usually tip a buck) or help get your bags (a buck a bag). Merely opening a door doesn’t cut it. Oh, and in places like New York or DC, hailing a cab is a real service. If it’s rush hour on a rainy day, it’s all but impossible to get a cab other than in a hotel line, so it’s worth a tip. Remember that the doorman is usually the one standing in the rain and cold all day. **Wazza** , the tipping the OP is talking about is by residents of apartment buildings with doormen. It’s usually just done at the end of the year in the form of a “Christmas gift.” In large, super-luxury buildings doormen can indeed pick up many, many thousands of dollars this way. (I do _not_ believe what _any_ doorman says to the press: they know the IRS reads the papers.) In the top buildings, the doormen not only do all of the things noted above, but they have to do it for many large egos simultaneously - those who do it without pisisng people off probably do deserve the cash they get. (Honestly, these guys could become protocol officers for embassies…) The other person who can pick up lots of cash is a superintendant. In a larger building, this person handles mechanical problems - but in a smaller building with no doorman they may have a lot of a doorman funcitons, too. Residents get very competitive and secretive about how much they give - it’s an ulcer. In my very middle-income, small building (no doorman, but a super who lives on the ground floor), I have never once discussed how much to give with any of my neighbors and I used to be on the board of directors! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035.md?page=2)