Bad

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

enoughwith

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".

Yes, I know, I could have chosen that profession too, instead I chose to be a teacher. Silly me.

Ang

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!

Hair Stylist

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.

BettyBigBucks

FrugalFred: Couldn't agree more!!!!! What's next - tipping the person that rings me up at the grocery store?

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.

UR2Cheap

Re: hairdressers and tips-
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.

kevin

Ya'll all sound like rick steeves wannabees

What

Who's Rick Steeves????

Jeannie

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.
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!

Danna

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

Eager to hear those opinions!

m

Doorman hails a cab, thank you.
Doorman hails a cab and puts your bag in - 1 dollar.
Coat check girl, 1 dollar
not sure about the sommelier
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.

Ang

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.

Ryan

"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.

El Cheapo

Logic:

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:

Cab driver
Waiter/Waitress (doesn't even get minimum wage)
Haridresser
Nail Person
Newspaper Delivery

Other people should be tipped IF they offer you excellent service such as:

Skycaps
Concierge
Somellier
Trash Collector (when I put stuff out that their not suppossed to accept but they take it anyway)

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.

As for the rest of you, I say you're just cheap!

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.

Patrick

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.

Catherine

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.

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.

x

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.

JTA

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.

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.

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.

Carrie

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.
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.

Hairdressers

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.