Comments on: The Tipping Leak

By: Gail

Gail — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:01:27 +0000

Tips have gotten out of hand. I’m willing to tip my hairdresser and a waitress, but that is it. It is illegal to tip or give gifts to the mailman, by the way, so I never understand those holiday tip charts encouraging the practice. It seems the relative has gotten into a frame of mind that if she has the money to tip she isn’t in that bad of shape financially–but it and the activity (coffe shop 3xweek,etc) are driving her to the poor house. Most of the places she leaves tips aren’t even traditional places to tip. Tipping the dry cleaners service clerk–shouldn’t that tip be going to the person that actually did the work?, but most likely doesn’t. I don’t live near subways, but who would you tip on a subway? The whole thing sounds crazy. Glad I don’t live in that part of the country and have no pressure to leave tips for the very expensive garbage men we have, etc.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:23:16 +0000

I think you should tip well so the waitress tips – I’m not against those (for the record I’m not nor have I ever been a waitress).

My personal opinion is that you should always be generous with your money when you can. If you can’t afford a generous tip then DON’T DO that thing that causes you to tip.

I’m amazed personally at how many people are struggling yet spend $60 on a dinner meal and tip $2. That is cheap and that’s not right.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:57:26 +0000

Wow Dave,
Guess waitressing my way through college and law school makes me an “unenducated low life”…. You’re ridiculous.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:31:48 +0000

@ #11 I was a paper carrier for several years in my youth, and I have to say I always greatly appreciated the Christmas-time tips. I didn’t fault the people that didn’t do them, but greatly appreciated the ones that did, esp. since the wages for paper carriers are not all that high (they’re independent contractors, not employees, so minimum wage does not apply). If I had year-round paper delivery service and received good service, I would tip.

By: Luke

Luke — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:06:13 +0000

I’ll bet Dave gets spit in his food A LOT when he goes to places for the 2nd time. What a jerk. Yes, it’s all the fault of not having education to blame. I have news for you peanut, when I lived in Knoxville, I bartended for 3 years, part time, and I made more money on less hours a week than I have ever made at any job in my life. I would easily clear 200 dollars a night on week days, and 4-500 on weekends. It’s all about service and showmanship with bartending. Learn to spin bottles and toss glasses you’re money. I’d stick-dip your drink for sure. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry you’ve had it done before.

By: lizajane

lizajane — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:23:56 +0000

Oh, Dave, you seem a little snobbish on this one. I don’t know if the service you receive is great, good or poor, but you might want to keep the attitude about those serving your food being “uneducated, low-life ” to yourself. I wouldn’t go over so well in the kitchen.

I agree with the majority on here. Tipping food service at a sit down restaurant or diner? Sure. But Subway? No (or maybe you didn’t mean the sandwich joint). Hairdresser? Yes. Dog groomer? Maybe. Weed guy, cable guy, delivery guy? Nope. I don’t tip the mailperson either.

I do want to add that I might make exceptions for some of these that I just nixed if they were self-employed and going out of their way to provide extra service, I might be more inclined to pad their pockets.

By: John @ Hard Work Blogging

John @ Hard Work Blogging — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:59:33 +0000

I definitely agree with tipping for wants and not tipping for needs. That is a great conclusion. I feel that tipping should be for exceptional quality. I don’t tip for poor quality no matter the service.

People always try to claim : low wage + tips = payment argument. This is not a valid argument as most states minimum wage laws require the business pay the difference between income and minimum wage. Tips are supposed to be a bonus so don’t accept positions that count tips as wages if minimum wage is not enough.

I believe deeply in supply demand economics. If you accept this position than you can’t complain about the pay until you quit. If nobody is willing to accept these pay rates then the pay will increase. It you want more prove you are worth it and you will receive the tips to show it.

I calculate and define my tips as follows:
Poor service (you want to leave without paying) : no tip
below-average service (i could do better myself) : 10% service fee
good service (everything else) : 15%
exceptional (i’m going to tell everyone how good the service was) : 20%

By: Jackie

Jackie — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:31:18 +0000

Also, what about tipping at the holidays? Every Christmas season, there are lists all over the place about how we *should* tip extra or just out and out leave an envelope with money in it for the mailman, hairdresser, etc. There’s even a post about this amongst the similar posts listed on the right.

I don’t get this. One, if you’re my hairdresser then I’m already tipping you 20% throughout the year, why would I give you even more at the holiday? Two, if you’re my mail carrier then you’re making a living wage and probably making more money than I am. I just don’t get tipping someone extra whom I’m already tipping or tipping someone that I don’t generally tip.

Do service personnel really expect an extra bump at the end of the year? If I were them, I would totally love that but wouldn’t expect it from anyone.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:25:41 +0000

I do agree with Dave on one thing: servers do choose to work a tip dependent, but not tip guaranteed, job. I think we should adopt a more European system where the restaurant pays their servers an actual wage and only exceptional service gets a tip, or a tip of a dollar or two is considered great. I’ve been to England and Europe; I don’t know how much those servers earn, but I do know that aside from the exchange rate the cost of a meal isn’t much(if any) more expensive.

I also don’t ascribe to the philosophy that even mediocre service somehow deserves a tip. Again, people choose their jobs and how they perform on those jobs, so if you choose to be a poor server then you’re going to get smaller or zero tips. I have pretty broad standards for a server, but I have no problem leaving without tipping if I’ve had poor service.

I will tip extra if my friends and I have talked for hours and held up the server’s table on a busy night. I will also tip at a buffet, just a buck, but there are people cleaning up and often refilling drinks. I don’t get hung up on the tip issue, but I would never tip willynilly. You may feel benevolent, but tipping for poor service or for things that don’t need a tip can set a bad precedent.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:05:32 +0000

To commenter Dave: Your comment suggest that you value money a little too highly, or that is how it appears to those of us poor, compassionate types.

Jennifer, I think your relative has a bigger problem than the tips. You almost touch on the solution at the end of the post. If they are having trouble paying their bills then the solution would appear to me to be stop eating out/shopping/etc.. That way they would save money and save 100% on tips.

It sounds like they’re not miserable enough yet. They’re probably just uncomfortable enough to think that one day they’ll earn enough to get ahead. It’s about choice. How much pain are you willing to suffer to get ahead? Provided that you define “getting ahead” somehow.

Good luck to them, you, and all struggling in this difficult times.