How to Tip In Every Situation

[donheff]

Am I the only one who thought you didn't need to tip service people you call to the house? It just wasn't part of my parents' culture and I never did it either. I always tip cab drivers, waitresses, and pizza guys but not plumbers, g AC installers, room addition contractors, etc.

Do I need to change my practices? I am not asking if I have to tip only if it is really expected. In other words, is failing to tip the plumber equivalent to stiffing a waitress?

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff Am I the only one who thought you didn't need to tip service people you call to the house? It just wasn't part of my parents' culture and I never did it either. I always tip cab drivers, waitresses, and pizza guys but not plumbers, g AC installers, room addition contractors, etc. Do I need to change my practices? I am not asking if I have to tip only if it is really expected. In other words, is failing to tip the plumber equivalent to stiffing a waitress?

It's an exception for me, but I am prepared to tip or do something unexpected (?) if they do anything above and beyond what I expected.

I tipped a kitchen remodel contractor $100 after two weeks work because he clearly worked with me to avoid extra costs, allowed me to chip in sweat equity overnight a few times in exchange for extras/mods. He could've just refused and insisted on extra charges. He acted surprised, even refused it at first, so it must be unusual or he was a good actor. I offered him food and drink during the project but he always brought his own, so I resorted to cash at the end.

Or if someone who quickly comes out off hours to replace a water heater, charge AC or the like, and does a good job and is pleasant - I'll tip them another $10-20. Yes, I know they're getting OT unless they own the business (a few times it's been the owner), but they're still taking time away from their family or other activities to help us out. They don't have to answer the phone.

If it's an all day job, I'll have something for them to drink (cold if it's hot out), or even buy lunch if DW is home too (so one of us can go out). Landscapers, movers, one day contractors.

[folivier]

I usually only tip at a restaurant and the size is very dependent on the quality of service received. Sometimes I'll tip for other type of service for better than expected service. Monday we took our grand girls on a private tour of a local wildlife place and tipped the driver since we felt she was very caring that our young girls had a great time.
But what about if a service guy asks you to pay cash? I'll do that if and only if they give me a discount. If they receive cash you can bet that isn't being reported to the tax guy so he's saving money.

[FUEGO]

Holy bajeezus that's a long and complex list. What if managers started determining the compensation for their employees and simply charge us a pre-arranged price for providing goods and services? In the meantime I'll probably continue to tip too little sometimes and too much other times since I don't particularly care to memorize this list

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff Am I the only one who thought you didn't need to tip service people you call to the house? It just wasn't part of my parents' culture and I never did it either. I always tip cab drivers, waitresses, and pizza guys but not plumbers, g AC installers, room addition contractors, etc. Do I need to change my practices? I am not asking if I have to tip only if it is really expected. In other words, is failing to tip the plumber equivalent to stiffing a waitress?

I follow the same practices as you do. Have never tipped a plumber, contractor or anyone coming to our home to work on something other than our housekeepers. They get a tip at Christmas.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba I follow the same practices as you do. Have never tipped a plumber, contractor or anyone coming to our home to work on something other than our housekeepers. They get a tip at Christmas.

We also tipped our movers, in addition to providing lunches for them.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Holy bajeezus that's a long and complex list. What if managers started determining the compensation for their employees and simply charge us a pre-arranged price for providing goods and services? In the meantime I'll probably continue to tip too little sometimes and too much other times since I don't particularly care to memorize this list

Yep, that is the way I operate.

[Senator]

A 10% tip to the landlord would also be nice.

[exnavynuke]

If a job routinely pays below minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the difference between the wage paid by the employer and the "earnings" that are associated with the position, then I tip. As far as I'm aware, that isn't applicable to the vast majority of workers on that b.s. list.

The movers discussed earlier, for instance, earned $500 for 3 guys over 6 hours, which equates to about $27/hour. Now, they're not going to get all of that, but they're definitely getting a lot more than minimum wage out of the gig. I don't feel the need to tip someone I'm paying almost $30/hour for their services. Plumbers are going to charge me hundreds of dollars to be at my house for a couple hours and someone thinks I need to tip them on top of that? Screw that...

I strongly believe we should transition to a "no tip" society, but that's about as likely to happen in my lifetime as me winning the lottery.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba We also tipped our movers, in addition to providing lunches for them.

I tip my furniture delivery guys before they start the process, It comes with the "listen guys please be careful , dont scratch my walls, everything is brand new speech." Everyone we know that had movers got bent over , what ever they were quoted was not even close to what the final sum was. My brother in law , who is a regular Joe, went ape when they went from one house to the next (a few blocks away). They quoted him X and then they said it was X plus $1100. I was regularly called upon for furniture moving in my old neighborhood, people switching apts. Not my type of work.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by exnavynuke If a job routinely pays below minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the difference between the wage paid by the employer and the "earnings" that are associated with the position, then I tip. As far as I'm aware, that isn't applicable to the vast majority of workers on that b.s. list. The movers discussed earlier, for instance, earned $500 for 3 guys over 6 hours, which equates to about $27/hour. Now, they're not going to get all of that, but they're definitely getting a lot more than minimum wage out of the gig. I don't feel the need to tip someone I'm paying almost $30/hour for their services. Plumbers are going to charge me hundreds of dollars to be at my house for a couple hours and someone thinks I need to tip them on top of that? Screw that... I strongly believe we should transition to a "no tip" society, but that's about as likely to happen in my lifetime as me winning the lottery.

I don't think those guys got $27 because you have to take into account of a lot of things. Like the cost of the truck and gas. It was a local move but still. The owner of the moving company also need to get paid.

However, I agree with you, we should move toward a country like Europe, tip should be minimum not a huge part of the bill.
Intereting, as a country we want to idolize Europe on almost everything, but not in the tip situation.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by exnavynuke If a job routinely pays below minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the difference between the wage paid by the employer and the "earnings" that are associated with the position, then I tip. As far as I'm aware, that isn't applicable to the vast majority of workers on that b.s. list. The movers discussed earlier, for instance, earned $500 for 3 guys over 6 hours, which equates to about $27/hour. Now, they're not going to get all of that, but they're definitely getting a lot more than minimum wage out of the gig. I don't feel the need to tip someone I'm paying almost $30/hour for their services. Plumbers are going to charge me hundreds of dollars to be at my house for a couple hours and someone thinks I need to tip them on top of that? Screw that... I strongly believe we should transition to a "no tip" society, but that's about as likely to happen in my lifetime as me winning the lottery.

That sums it up for me...no way I'd ever tip someone who already earns good money, often more than I ever made when working. Wait staff earning minimum wage get tips, contractors and other well paid people don't get a tip.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Collar Guy I tip my furniture delivery guys before they start the process, It comes with the "listen guys please be careful , dont scratch my walls, everything is brand new speech." Everyone we know that had movers got bent over , what ever they were quoted was not even close to what the final sum was. My brother in law , who is a regular Joe, went ape when they went from one house to the next (a few blocks away). They quoted him X and then they said it was X plus $1100. I was regularly called upon for furniture moving in my old neighborhood, people switching apts. Not my type of work.

We didn't get ripped off. But we didn't provide lunch because they told us they had a big breakfast. It's also cumbersome to provide lunch while moving was in process. Plus do you count the time they take out to eat as part of the hours they charge? What if they drop food on my new house? Who pays for the clean up. I believe we did provide water. But it was a hectic day. We didn't have lunch ourselves until they left us.

[jollystomper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff Am I the only one who thought you didn't need to tip service people you call to the house? It just wasn't part of my parents' culture and I never did it either. I always tip cab drivers, waitresses, and pizza guys but not plumbers, g AC installers, room addition contractors, etc. Do I need to change my practices? I am not asking if I have to tip only if it is really expected. In other words, is failing to tip the plumber equivalent to stiffing a waitress?

You are not the only one. I do not tip service people called to the house. IMHO it sets a bad precedent.

Perhaps it helps that I have been told I have am "intimidating" air around me... so they are not expecting one and do not want to get me upset.

If service folks around on a major project, DW and I will put out a cooler with drinks and snacks and tell them to help themselves. We will also let them use our bathroom on the first floor. Those things alone seem to generate amazing goodwill.

Actually, as I think about it, the only "tip" I have given is if I want something done in a faster time frame. For example, we needed part of a garage wall rebuilt after an accident. The mason gave us a very fair estimate, but said he could not get to it for about six weeks. I offered an additional $100 if he was able to get to it and complete it within 2 weeks. It was done in a week.

[timemoveson]

The whole thing is an outrageous imposition on the consumer that only creates or perpetuates inequity and unfairness amongst the service people and more work for us to satisfy expectations.

Most Europeans and others get paid approrpriately and zero tipping is expected or required. Sanity rules.

Canadian somewhere in-between, unfortunately.

[Blue Collar Guy]

You havent lived until you tell a NYC yellow cab driver theres an extra $50 in it for you if you can get me there in 15 minutes. If i remember correctly TIP stoop for To Insure Promptness. This cab ride will give you a new respect for the word prompt.

[redshift]

+1. My favorite countries to visit are Australia and Japan, neither of which expect tipping in normal commerce. I hope I live long enough to see the US go that way, but I'm not holding my breath...

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshift +1. My favorite countries to visit are Australia and Japan, neither of which expect tipping in normal commerce. I hope I live long enough to see the US go that way, but I'm not holding my breath...

From what I understand, it's a tradeoff between good service and having to do rudimentary math OR variable service and not doing any math (math is a lame excuse IMO). I don't know about Australia or Japan, but I can tell you first hand the restaurant service in much of Europe can often be indifferent at best. Surly servers are not at all uncommon.

Though folks in bargain restaurants or counter service often work hard and make little, that's not the case for most servers. The minimum wage angle is mostly a red herring. I was a waiter in a mid-high end restaurant years ago, did my very best to make every diners experience as nice as possible, and made money hand over fist - easily as much as a degreed entry level engineer (from personal experience). Servers in middle and higher end restaurants make far more than minimum wage despite their hourly pay. They wouldn't do those jobs if the pay wasn't worth it.

But it's a debate with no end, or right answer. However, even if restaurants choose to build in tips as some major US markets have begun to implement, bad service will still have the same effect on the restaurant (complaints to management, or just never going back) - but the servers won't feel the pinch as quickly or directly. Since most people are afraid to complain, it could be harder for restaurant owners to catch on to bad servers.

[Fedup]

Not our experience. We had better or much nicer service from Europe for similar restaurants. For super nice restaurants but for the same price as USA, the service exceeded our expectations. Not at every restaurants though, there's always exceptions.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Servers in middle and higher end restaurants make far more than minimum wage despite their hourly pay. They wouldn't do those jobs if the pay wasn't worth it.

I know a server in a $5 breakfast special restaurant that worked 3 days a week and made $10,000 in earnings plus $30,000 in tips. $1,000 was declared as income and the remaining $29,000 was tax free...