Why is America so "tip" happy
 

Im really tired of all this tipping business. I mean,yes, I will tip appropriately a waitor. But come on! The taxi driver, hairdresser. You name it! At Starbucks they have the can out for tips. PLEASE!!! My boyfriend and I stayed at a lovely B&B in Vermont last weekend and we payed plenty for it. There was an envelope left on the dresser for tips. Im sorry but we payed $175. for the room . It was run by a nice enough couple but I really thought it was tacky to ask for a tip like that. Actually, I did leave a couple of bucks but isn't there an unwritten rule that you don't need to tip the owners? I thought it was so refreshing when I went to Europe and the service was included in the bill. It made it soooo easy.

Maybe the tip envelope was for the maid/cleaning lady. Not all owners of B&Bs clean their properties, they do hire help.<BR><BR>Regarding your hairstylist, find a new one that owns the shop, that way you don't have to tip. By the way, most hairstylists are independent contractors, meaning they pay the owner a percentage of their sales for the rental of the chair, or else pay a flat fee. My hairstylist is the owner, but I do tip the girl who shampoos my hair if the owner doesn't do it himself.

Remembered a similar thread about aggressively pursuing gratuities and topped it for you.

In general European hotels are older, more run down and not as clean as in the States, so I'll gladly tip in the US!<BR>And restaurants in Europe? heck, they don't even have ice and ketchup available. Why would they deserve a tip?<BR>As for Starbux and such, that's up to you dearie. No one says you have to tip at places like that.<BR>

Agree that Americans are "tip" happy. Money seems to be an obsession for a nation such as ours that has one of the highest standards of living. We have who wants to be a millionaire quiz shows, million dollar state lotteries, and we litigate for millions if someone steps on our toes. What pisses me the most is that most recipients of tips don't even have the courtesy to acknowledge your generosity. I've just returned from a trip into southern China and north Vietnam where tipping was not really expected of me. On the rare occasions that I tipped either a waitress or cab driver for exceptional kindness and service, they were genuinely surprised and grateful...

Restaurants that don't have ketchup available on the table? How gauche.<BR>Foreigners.......who need them with their strange food perversions. No ketchup on the table always shows a lack of class. They certainly don't deserve a tip for what is life if one can't drown all food products under mounds of yummy ketchup?

i agree with the previous poster about ketchup,if you want ketchup in europe go to mc donalds!i supect you didn't get ice because you were rude about the ketchup.i live in the uk and have travelled europe extensivly and i have never come across a place that didnot have ice.<BR>If you get good service tip if you don't leave no tip never feel obliged

I am a waitress in Montreal and by far, my best customers are American. In Quebec and in Canada people rarely tip more than 15%. Americans usually tip 20%. At the restaurant where I work, there is a guy from Australia who told me they dont tip in his country. I guess that when there is an American at a restaurant in Australia, all the waitors fight to serve that customer. They are really surprised if the American does not tip even if its not the tradition in Australia. Ironically, our worst tipppers are the French from France. We love them dearly because they are our cousins. However, in France, the service is included and when they come to Quebec, they think its like back home. Its not. Its North America. In Quebec and in other provinces we have a high tax on bills of 15% and maybe they think that it is part of the tip. So when we see an American, especially gay customers, we are happy. The gay customers seem to tip even better. So come to Montreal!!!

Sophie- I don't mean to start an argument but it is kind of amusing to hear someone from Montreal complaining about people from France being the worst tippers- in parts of South Florida wewe have lots of French-Canadian visitors (i.e. Hollywood Beach)- and their cheapness is legendary!

Re: The tipping of hairdressers. Just had to chime in here. <BR>Had my hair "done" on Saturday. Gave the hairdresser a $100.00 bill. It's $75.00 dollars for me to get my hair done. She had to "go get change" (from her car). When she returned, she had fifteen ones and a five dollar bill. She looked at me and asked "Is that o.k.?" <BR>Perhaps if I were a bit bolder and didn't care if she was doing my hair next month, I would have responded differently. I was indeed flabberghasted! I tip my hairdresser at holiday time and that's it! $75.00 every 5 weeks is a lot of money without including a tip!! I will remember this behavior. (Women out there will agree that when you find someone that does your hair the way you want, it's hard & risky to just change salons.)<BR>So, yes Michelle, I agree with you that some Americans have even grown to expect a tip. (how rude!)<BR>Footnote: I always tip my server 15-20 %, depending on service, and I leave a tip for the maid, tip the cab or limo driver, and I give the guy standing in the snow a dollar for filling my gas tank. <BR>But tipping hairdressers?? Come on! <BR>Soon we will be tipping our school teachers, health care workers, garbage disposal personnel...

I tip my hairdresser because she is the only one on your list (school teachers, ...) who has a very sharp potential weapon at my neck.

In the UK the "dustbin men" (garbage disposal) have started leaving us a Christmas card in December. A nice gesture - and of course a request for a tip. Fair enough - quite a lot of people leave them an envelope at Christmas. Same for the milk delivery man (which are a rare luxury these days - worth keeping!).<BR><BR>I know this is the US board - but I hope you don't mind a foreign viewpoint.

Yeah, but, you don't pay him/her until they have put the scissors down!!<BR>FYI: A needle is a sharp instrument made from steel used by health care professionals.<BR>I believe you are missing my point.<BR>People have come to expect tips!! It's just greedy! Tipping anyone but waiters/waitresses should be optional!

I just don't call trying to earn a living greedy. Most people who get tips NEED them, and they aren't buying a Lexus with them, I assure you. <BR><BR>In my experience, the most greedy people are those with considerably more money than anyone on your list of people who expect tips. And those greedy people are also the most stingy, nasty, selfish, and hypocritically self-righteous. <BR><BR>Michelle, I sentence you and all the other tight-fisted grinches to two months on the front lines in a service industry.

Greed is WHAT:<BR>I totally agree with your second paragraph.<BR>But, for the record, my hairdresser travels far more than I do!! Has been to Jamaica (sandals, no less) several xs, and is able to refer ME to good places to dine, stay, etc. while on holiday! <BR>Also, she invited me to her hot tub after my appointment on Saturday. Out on her beautiful deck... she is not married and supports herself!!!<BR>Get the picture? I'm just a middle class joe blow going to work everyday, just like you.<BR>Ruth: just need to add that I put an envelope out for my garbage collector and both my newspaper people, and my mail carrier every Christmas. :) Cheers.

I find that a tip to people/places you frequent is well worth it. For example, I tip my 2 newspaper carriers (who deliver in a car)generously each Christmas - and, yes, they do leave an envelope. Their service is normally great, and this tip gets my paper delivered to the house instead of the roadside box when it is a blizzard or monsoon (and I didn't ask). I don't tip the mail carrier because I get the wrong mail often (maybe that is why I get neighbor's mail!). If a buy a coffee for $1.79 and the counter person is pleasant, I do throw the change in the cup - she is making minimum wage and some days her job seems a lot harder than mine. The "tip economy" is something I am ambivalent about, but it is the way we do business in the US and I do not believe I should make a philosophical or moral statement about its efficacy at the expense of those who serve me - often doing jobs I am fortunate enough not to have to do myself.

hairday,<BR><BR>Just because your hairdresser has been to sandals and has a hot tub, doesn't mean she's pulling in 6 figures. Maybe a lot of her dining and other recommendations come from chatting with clients who have raved about suck places, or perhaps she ahs been there herself, big deal. Sounds to me like you are just cheap or maybe just jealous!!! Why do you give to your mail carrier but not hairdresser? Your hairdresser can make you look good every day with a good hairstyle but how critical is it the way the mail carrier places in the mail in the box/slot?!?! I just don't get the logic.

Nobody likes to be aggressivelt pursued for tips, but I have to tell you that I like the custom of tipping.<BR><BR>The way I see it, tipping is about the only way we have of saying directly, "You did a great job." On the other hand, if I leave a small tip, it says, "You did a lousy job."<BR><BR>Interesting comments from the waitress in Montreal. I've heard similar stuff from service people in other countries: They like waiting on Americans because they know good service will result in a good tip. Long live tipping!

I won't tip at a walk up counter!<BR><BR>Nope, won't do. Used to tip at Dunkin Donuts counter when you SAT at the counter, and the waitress poured you coffee. Now, one walks up to counter, gets their grub, and walks back to seat. Want a refill? Walk back.<BR><BR>Do these counter people at Starbucks, etc. tip those who wait on them at McDonalds???? No!<BR><BR>How about courtesy bus drivers? We don't tip city bus drivers, but we're expected to tip for a short ride from the airport to the rental car lot? No, I don't think I will, thank you.

Let me add my 2 cents on this one. Has anyone ever sat back and thought that some of these public servents are only getting paid minimum wage or maybe a few cents over? IE: Watress', bartenders, paperboys etc. Some people rely on their tips to live. <BR><BR>Call me a big time spender,but I do tip my nail tech, hairdresser,massuese etc. This is a small token to say - Hey, you did a great job and a guarantee that the next time I use their service they will give me extra special attention. <BR><BR>Remember-Money talks.

El Cheapo:<BR>Clearly you don't get "the logic" ~~ or the simple point: Don't assume I'm going to tip you!!<BR>I will tip whom I want, when I want!!<BR>You are not allowed to keep my money (that I personally earned, thank you) when you give me change.<BR>It's really a fairly simple point, but it's just gotten blown out of proportion.<BR>And, I really like my hairdresser as a person. I wouldn't trade my life for hers ANY DAY!!!<BR>That's all from me on this thread! Have a tip top day everyone! :)

El Cheapo, you stated that just because your "hairdresser goes to Sandals and has a hot tub doesn't mean she's pulling in 6 figures". And your point is? Maybe most of her customers aren't pulling in 6 figures either! Maybe lots of them are struggling to pay back student loans and making 30K a year, only to fork over $25 in a tip to their living large hairdressers. When you pay $50 for a haircut, or $ 120 for highlights (the going rate around here), it's hard to feel that a hairdresser "needs" the tips to survive. On an hourly basis, those hairdressers charge more than a shrink! I tip well, because I feel I have to, but I'm not happy about it. By the way, my hairdresser drives a mercedes and probably is making 6 figures for "doing hair". <BR><BR>Yes, I know, I could have chosen that profession too, instead I chose to be a teacher. Silly me.

I see definite reasons for tipping my hairdresser! Not just because she has sharp objects either. I get my hair done every 3 months (cut, 2 different colors of highlights as well as lowlights), she charges me $150 and I pay $175 so that she gets a $25 tip. This is not only a tip for a job well done, but ensures that she caters to my needs. I must go to the salon in the evenings after 6:30 p.m. due to work, sometimes when you call the receptionist says "I'm sorry but she doesn't have any evening appointments available for the next 3 weeks . . ." I have found though that my hairdresser holds certain times free and if you are a regular customer and a good tipper, she'll put you in one of these spots. therefore, whenever I call, she can usually get me in within 3 or 4 days! Also I think better customers and tippers get more attention. I have seen hairdressedrs including mine treat some customers like cattle doing 2 (or even 3) people at the same time, while one's color sits, she is cutting another and your appointment ends up taking double the time. Better customers get individual attention (she rarely even takes a phone call when she is working on me, much less work on someone else at the same time) She also gives me lots of bennies like samples of new products and shampoos to try for free and if I am hungry (I come straight after work and it usually takes her over 2 hours) she orders me food delivered to the salon. I just don't think you get these extras unless you tip!

To all of your cheap tippers, you can just kiss my Royal Tip. I can just see a brinks car following your hearse. You can be you sweet a-- that if the first time I did your hair and you walked out without tipping me, it would be the last time that we would see each other. Payback is a bitch. Oh yes~~~I am a bitchen fag.

FrugalFred: Couldn't agree more!!!!! What's next - tipping the person that rings me up at the grocery store? <BR><BR>ElCheapo: Using your logic, I should tip the saleslady who sells me a cute outfit or the dental hygenist who cleans my teeth, as they both make me look good. These people are doing their JOB.

Re: hairdressers and tips-<BR>hairdressers rarely get salaries, they live on their commisions and tips. Why do you think someone who washes your hair and makes it look good once a month deserves a tip only at Christmas? Most small hair salons do not provide health insurance and the workers have to pay for that themselves...so next time you are laying back in the sink having someone else wash your hair for you, think about that.And NO I am not a hairdresser, I just know what is going on around me.

Ya'll all sound like rick steeves wannabees

Who's Rick Steeves????

Ang: I don't get why your hairdresser kisses your ass the way she does, cuz you aren't that big a customer. You don't even tip her 20% and annually, all you bring to the salon is $600, sans tip - big deal. <BR>Give me the name of your salon, please...with the amount that I drop annually, they might pick me up in a limo for my appointments!

So many opionions!<BR>What do you think of these occaisons?<BR>Tip? and how much in big city?<BR>Doorman hails a cab<BR>Doorman hails a cab and puts your bag in trunk<BR>Coat Check girl at restaurant?<BR>Tip Maitre D' separately from waiter?<BR>Tip Sommelier separately from waiter?<BR>(or put it all on credit card in one lump sum)<BR>Concierge trys to make restaurant reservations for you but fails?<BR>Concierge hands you a map?<BR><BR>Eager to hear those opinions!<BR><BR>

Doorman hails a cab, thank you.<BR>Doorman hails a cab and puts your bag in - 1 dollar.<BR>Coat check girl, 1 dollar<BR>not sure about the sommelier<BR>Concierge, no tip at each activity,but one nice one at the end of stay, ours for a week is about $5-20 depending on how much you use him/her.

Well Jeannie, I do bring more than $600 year to the salon. The every 3 months thing is just a standing thing. I also go there often for facials, massages, manicures (at least once a month), pedicures etc. I also have naturally curly hair which I go to get chemically straightened during the humid summer months and often when I am going out somewhere nice I jsut call and ask her to wash and blow dry my hair straight because it is a pain to do myself. I also purchase all of my hair products including shampoos, conditioners, gels, wax laminates whatever at the salon. Sorry I did not go into detail for you, is that enough? Anyway, my point is people who tip usually get better treatment than those who don't. This may not matter if you are going to a salon for a one time visit, but if you plan on repeat visits, it does.

"Would you like change?" is a phrase that I usually find to be rude. I usually leave a decent tip but I think it is tacky for someone to prompt the answer at the point where I'm paying the bill.

Logic:<BR><BR>Do you guys not understand that most people who customarily get tips are not paid on the same type of scale as dental hygeinists, salespeople, etc. They most likely do not have 401k plans, medical benefits (some do/some don't), stock options, labor unions, etc. They are paid in proportion to the volume of work they do. Examples:<BR><BR>Cab driver<BR>Waiter/Waitress (doesn't even get minimum wage)<BR>Haridresser<BR>Nail Person<BR>Newspaper Delivery<BR><BR>Other people should be tipped IF they offer you excellent service such as:<BR><BR>Skycaps<BR>Concierge<BR>Somellier<BR>Tr ash Collector (when I put stuff out that their not suppossed to accept but they take it anyway)<BR><BR>I do now see hairday's point that you kinda get mad when they don't give back full change assuming that part of it will be a tip. That would bother me too but not if it was my hairdresser who I know fairly well and I'm sure she knows how much I usually tip her anyway.<BR><BR>As for the rest of you, I say you're just cheap!<BR><BR>How 'bout this one, what if you get flowers unexpectedly? Do you tip the delivery person? I say "No" because you didn't order it and weren't expecting it (and I probably don't have a few bucks lying around). Some places allow/suggest the purchaser of a gift to tip in advance for the service which will be rendered later.

I'll agree with that one Ryan. Just last week two of us had dinner. The total was $59.00. We each put down a $50 bill. The waiter picked them up, looked at the bill and asked, "do you need any change here?" Duh, yeh, $41 sounded a little high of a tip on a $59 check.

I agree with Gail--I don't like the "tipping system," yet I do feel that one should do it. I think that our tipping system promotes a certain kind of obsequiousness and servile attitude that we should consider--dare I say it?--unAmerican. <BR><BR>However, many wait staff currently have a rate of pay that is actually below minimum wage, and they are expected to make up the difference in tips. Thus, "a little something extra" as a compliment is no longer that. Yet stiffing these hard-working people is obviously not an option. I suppose the only solution might be a restaurant (or other establishment) that prided itself in paying its staff well and asked its customers not to tip.

Patrick, a $41 tip??? That sounds like a NIGHTMARE to me!! First of all, what are the odds that two people would only have $50 bills? It's not the most common bill, you know.

How about the teenagers dishing up ice cream at your local Baskin-Robbins? I spotted a tip cup there recently and felt obligated to put something in after I got my ice cream. The big smile from the hard-working teenager (is that an oxymoron?) was worth it though. <BR><BR>The hairdresser thing really bugs me though. The woman who does my hair is half-owner of the salon, but she DEFINITELY expects a tip. I didn't tip her one time, after reading an article about not tipping salon owners. It took me weeks to get another appointment after that. Of course, she never shampoos me, so I always tip the woman who does that. A basic cut and blow dry is $45, but after tipping, the total is nearly $70. Recently, I went to a day spa (on a gift certificate). Since I had three services performed by three different people, I tipped each technician $5.00, about 20% of the value of the service. <BR><BR>If the "tipping occasions" are sporadic, the cash outflow doesn't seem so bad. But if you have several in a row, like when you're on vacation, people start panicking over the budget and it can really cause you to question how we do things here and wonder if it's ALL necessary. I thinks it's almost a form of self-preservation to say "hey wait a minute, where did all my cash go?" I like El Cheapo's list of service employees who should be tipped. Good guidelines since for some reason, we Americans always seem to take everything one step too far.

When I was in Brazil we stayed in Brasilia, the capital for about one week. The hotel where we stayed was SO VERY accomodating. I knew going down that hotel workers down there were paid far less than those of the US. I tipped the maid, concierge, bellboys. They all really went out of their way to give me the "low down" on what the locals liked to do and where they go.<BR>It made my experience that much more pleasurable and easy. I gave each person a very good tip in a small envelope. I did not want to be so blatant along with that I had little notes thanking them (thanks to the help of a waitress who translated for me!). I am however sick and tired of people asking for a tip. In my opinion it is very rude.

My husband has been a hair colorist for about 30 years.In a famous salon in NYC and now on his own.In the early days, we lived on his tips,grocery money and whatever was left over for daily expenses and hopefully a movie at the end of the week.The commission check was rent. These days things are thankfully Better! and we have more to spend, partly because he stayed in the business and kept the same clients, and added their children to his list! Also,today he has the mostly pleasant duties of doing the hair of some celebrities and CEO's who must be kept together on a weekly/daily basis...but this has all come about from hard long hours for years..The word in the beauty business is that a loyal customer is worth staying late for , coming in early for, squeezing in when too busy...that client knows that they are being treated well and they tip accordingly-The client who "stiffs" the colorist or haircutter is automatically OFF the list of people who deserve special consideration.Tips are the way of showing your appreciation for not just a good job but all those small considerations that are shown, so if you don't want to tip-Don't ...but expect to be treated accordingly.