just

I've been trying to book a snowmobile trip for a friend who is coming to visit next month. According to my research thus far, a two hour guided trip is going to cost us about $80 each.

Now before I've even signed up for anything or paid this rather exorbitant fee for two hours of entertainment, I find that I'm treated to lengthy web site guidelines about how and why I should tip everyone involved with this experience.


We experienced the same thing on a sailboat tour in Florida -- web site guidelines suggesting how hard they worked and that their customers should tip them on top of the already high fees they charged.

I find this behavior no better than being panhandled on the street. If I want to tip, I will, but I certainly don't need guidelines on it posted on business web sites. Why do businesses seem to feel that this is helping them or increasing their profits? I'm inclined to cancel the whole thing now, just because of this annoying money-grubbing to which they subject their customers.

What do YOU think?

xxx

I think the tipping situation in this country is out of control. You want to make more money, get a better job, but puleeze stop soliciting your customers for handouts. It is a MAJOR turnoff.

cb

I completely agree. This country is going crazy with tipping!

Even at a restaurant, a waiter expecting 20% is just wrong!

Last week we had a very nice dinner at Gramercy Tavern in NY. There was four of us, and the bill came up to 600 bucks. The guy who paid left a $150 tip!

Let's say this waiter waits 4 tables a night and gets to keep 75% of the tips. That's $450 bucks a night. Times 6 nights a week, that's 2,700 per week. Lets say he works 50 weeks a year, this guy is pulling $135,000 per year!

last

I wouldn't book anything on a website that had tipping rules, that's too much.

I'm also curious to hear from any business owners who think that allowing their employees to harass their customers for extra money is good for business. Any takers?

xxx

All the business owners push people for workers tips because they don't want to pay their salaries. It's not the employees fault. The owners are the ones that want their employees to starve. Two wrongs don't make a right so I just end up tipping the accordingly.

xxx

Not to mention also that at least half the people on tours stiff the guides w/o a second thought.

performance

Oh brother, if only I could work as "hard" as the guys who sail a boat in Florida or ride around on snowmobiles all day. Give me a flippin' break. This is pure greed, and I wouldn't hesitate to tell them all about my high stress 60 hour a week+ job when they have their hands out. If they want to hear about hard work I can chew their ears off.

Teamster

"Two wrongs don't make a right so I just end up tipping the accordingly."

You'd be doing them a bigger favor by handing them some union organization literature and urging them to contact the nearest shop steward. That's corporate America's biggest fear, organized labor and being forced to pay a living wage to employees.

xxx

Yeah, PJ the bellhop may want to be a snowmobile guide instead.

kat

My friend went to a hairsalon last week and when she was leaving they handed her one of their business cards. She didn't look at it until she came back to work. On the back of the business card was a suggested tipping scale showing that if she spent such and such on services that she should tip this amount. She said that if she had looked at the card in the salon before she left that she wouldn't have left a tip. How tacky is it to print that on your business cards????????

eater

At the local "Subway" shop near me, they have a tip jar sitting in front of the cash register. When did it become necessary to tip at fast food restaurants? Tipping is out of control.

r-travels

I do not tip at a "walk up" counter.

Year ago, Dunkin Donuts had counters, and you got coffee served in a real mug. The waitress would refill your coffee (not for free tho!), but at least you got service. I always tipped at least 15%, even when others insisted "loose change" was sufficient.

But now you walk up the the counter, get your grub, and find yourself a clean (maybe) table. Want a refill? You walk back to the counter. Zero service, which deserves zero tip. I'll bet those workers never give a tip to their McServer when they eat at McD's! Why would they deserve any better treatment themselves.

I HATE that the owners allow them to put out their jars. I doubt any "counter service" place does tip accounting & taxation, and wish that IRS would get after the worker & owner for that tax evasion. Unlike "real" servers (paid below minimum) most counter people receive a min. wage.

xxx

To one up the previous guy.....

I commute from Upstate NY to Brooklyn by car daily. I leave at 4:45 AM. In Jessie's Bagels in Sloatsburg, NY there is a tip jar. Only the owners are working when I get there at 5:00 AM. Tipping owners at no-service places...c'mon.