I know this can be a sore subject here, and I’m hoping this won’t go the way of the pit.
Last year, I got a gift certificate for a local spa, and went a few weeks ago to get a massage. It was well worth it, great service and just what I needed after a stressful holiday.
The massage cost me $80 for an hour.
My question is, should I have tipped? (I didn’t; though I kind of realized when I was paying that maybe I should have. I had only brought the gift certificate, though, and didn’t have cash on me).
The conundrum I am in is as follows:
For food service, I know that wait staff are paid below minimum wage, and that the only way their wage is livable (or much higher than livable) is when customers tip them. I have no problem with this, and a bad tip from me is around 15%, knowing that I’m expected to make up part of their pay.
In this case, though, I spent $80 on a professional service. In that case, I really feel like they should charge what they expect to make, with a tip being a welcome surprise, but not an expected part of income.
An analogy: I’m a musician, and I don’t accept gigs at private parties and low ball a price and then expect to get tipped at the end. I tell them what I cost, and am perfectly happy to walk away with the amount of money in my pocket we agreed upon.
I admit that I don’t know what the guy earned from my $80, but I assume it was at least half (maybe I’m really off-base on this?). I know other folks in business for themselves who charge 50-60 dollars for an hour. Regardless, at $80, I can assume that the guy working on me was making decent pay. I also feel like, with a price that high, I can forgo the confusion of whether or not to tip or how much.
Part of my experience (that I’m paying for) is to not have to be confused about how much that experience costs. If you need to make an extra $5 an hour, then charge $85.
And really, I think that’s the most important part for me. I really don’t like feeling confused or unsure about what a service provider expects to be paid. I thought that that was what advertised prices were all about.
And I’m not saying that the massage wasn’t worth $85, or $90, or whatever. But, I don’t feel like it’s my job as a customer to decide what to pay. If you price it at $80, then that’s what it’s worth, and I don’t think I should be expected to pay extra because you did your job well; that assumes that the advertised price is for shitty service, and if a customer expects it to be done right then he or she should pay more. (I understand that this line of argument could apply to waitstaff, but I really don’t want to go down that road here).
So, thoughts?