During the chaos immediately following Hurricane Katrina, I spent a lot of time here and there chatting with one of the people who monitor the office and door of my apartment complex. He’s from NO and most of his family was still in the area when Katrina hit. Needless to say, he did a lot of worrying, and there was a lot of relief when he learned that while his family lost everything, everyone was all right.
At the time, I mentioned this to my mother, and talked to her about the sort of “vicarious relief” I felt at knowing this man’s family was okay. When she asked for and got clarification as to who this guy was, she said, “Another person you’ll have to tip at Christmas.”
That was quite out of left field for me, as I’d had no idea tips were expected for the door people at a complex. I kind of stuttered about it, changed the subject, and forgot about it. But now that time is upon us, and I remember the conversation, and apparently I need to tip some people! So I have several questions that I’m hoping my fellow dopers can help me out with.
First, do I tip everyone in that office? I assume this is a yes. However, some shifts have a very high turnover, and I don’t see everyone in every shift so I have no (known) relationship with some of these people. Further, the morning weekend shift is covered by an owner of one of the apartments in the complex. Is she a special case?
Secondly, what’s an appropriate tip? I’m a grad student, with the Kangaroo_in_Black supporting my education habit. I’d be inclined to make cookies or brownies or pumpkin bread if left to my own devices, but I strongly suspect that’s not what I’m supposed to do here.
As I’m writing this, it occurs to me that there’s a “holiday party” in the lobby tonight! Was I supposed to have figured this out already, so I can go to the party (which wasn’t in my plans) and give these out there? That’d be a problem. I don’t have cheery cards, I don’t even have any cash!
Finally, how in the world am I supposed to politely get everyone’s name? Particularly for those people I’ve never met and those people I’ve interacted with, but whose names I never caught.
Man, apartment living is hard…