# New York City doormen

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035>\
**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:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jane\_D\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/21 "2002-11-29T17:27:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AmbushBug \*  
> \*\*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 \*\*

This sounds like it could be true. I have worked at places where minimum wage employees regularly brought in checks to cover add’l taxes, health insurance, and other miscellaneous benefits because their checks would not cover these amounts. (I have had a payroll processing company call me to ask if the amount of declared tips on certain pay periods was correct, it was.)

Hotel door staff in NYC (different from bell staff or valet staff in most hotels) could very reasonably be making over $100,000/yr. I have heard this number bandied about by some hotel people I know who have worked in New York.

Paying for doors, in NYC, it could happen, I guess. The person who pays would still have to go through the regular hiring process for the apartment bldg or hotel or whatever, so I don’t know how the current door person could assure the payee that the door would be theirs.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/22 "2002-11-29T20:37:09Z")

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I imagine it would be safe to assume that a hotel doorman makes a lot more in tips then an apartment house doorman does, what with hotel guests being more likely to need help with luggage and so on.

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-city-doormen/139035/23 "2002-11-29T23:33:01Z")

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I have a friend who is writing his Ph.D. dissertation on NYC apartment building workers - including doorpeople - in the period 1820s through 1940s. He is also well-informed about modern doorpeople. He told me that many are members of unions, and that their wages are not particularly high, but are often boosted considerably by xmas-time tips from apartment-dwellers.

I also had heard the rumour about the “selling” of door positions to other people. My friend says that he wouldn’t be surprised if this is the case, but has never actually heard of it himself.

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