Tipping - Everywhere - for Everything (Maine, food, people, reason)
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I don't eat at Sonic or fast food places in general except Chipotle--how is Sonic different?
I don't eat at Sonic but I do pull in to get a cold drink when I am on the road. These girls rely on their tips and they are working hard. I can afford a nice tip but when my drink cost 1.30 what is a nice tip?
I usually give them 2.00 and tell them to keep the change.
Good - hopefully, this will also result in proper taxes being paid and the unclaimed tip scenario will disappear .
The remarks in this thread regarding punishing poor tippers by tampering with their food just reinforces my position; the tipping system is part of an archaic and failed paradigm. It seems we, as paying customers, are subject to having misanthropes deliver food to us and to our families. However, anyone who negatively tampers with a customer's food is simply a deranged criminal and should be prosecuted.
It's about time the paying customer is viewed as an asset to a restaurant and not as someone subject to the whims of the waitstaff.
Dine at the right places and you'll receive excellent service and be considered a valued guest.
This seems to be the case reading through this thread. Ah, what do I know? I only go to Las Vegas, the probable capital of tipping in the US!!
It does seem to be getting worse though. The thing is, reading different threads in C-D, where I learn what little I know about America, that many folks are earning less money than they used to. Some struggle to pay their way these days. Some people seem to feel this is a sort of blackmail. Servers are paid a tiny hourly rate in many cases, so feel they have to tip.
Tipping is not the norm here. Nobody is earning less than minimum wage, which is about $11 an hour here. Plus folks earning low wages, get tax credits and such from the Government. So, we don't have this worry about tipping so many people. For instance, if I buy a fridge from a shop, and I pay a delivery charge, I don't give the delivery people a tip, nor is it expected. If I go in a bar, and buy a drink, the barman/woman don't expect a tip for pouring me a drink. They are getting paid to pour me a drink - it is their job to do so. Why do bar staff in America expect a tip for doing the job they are paid to do? It puzzles me.
There is another tipping thread elsewhere on C-D, which has just been closed. It got a bit heated I guess. But this shows the anger many people feel at this tipping system. I guess it's too ingrained to do anything about it. The only answer is for people to refuse to tip, and I guess that isn't going to happen anytime soon.
It doesn't help with people coming here and boasting how generous they are when the server is servile enough for their liking. Or wine buffs boasting of their generosity when they find a server with wine knowledge. Listen, I saw a programme on the telly once were a wine expert talked to a group of people on how to recognize wines from different parts of the world. He talked for just a few minutes to them. In a contest afterwards tasting six wines, most of them named the country of origin, and some the grape! It's just snobbery.........
Certain people seem to do very well from tips, and earn in some cases, more than the people doing the tipping! All folks can do is take a stand, and refuse to allow tipping to spread to even more people holding their hand out. Good luck with that.
I'd rather pay a tip when I use a service than be taxed out my duff to cover the people who either won't or don't work yet have their hand out constantly. At least the people getting tipped are actually doing something rather than on the dole.
I was suffering from sticker shock after having my hair done. I had no idea what to tip and faked it. When I asked later I was given some percentage amount that would have made my tip about $75 and I didn't think that was fair. Like adding insult to injury.
You didn't bother to inquire as to prices for hair cuts and services when you made the appointment?
I don't eat at Sonic but I do pull in to get a cold drink when I am on the road. These girls rely on their tips and they are working hard. I can afford a nice tip but when my drink cost 1.30 what is a nice tip?
I usually give them 2.00 and tell them to keep the change.
I don't drink soda--that stuff is worse for you than some fast food is!
I'd rather pay a tip when I use a service than be taxed out my duff to cover the people who either won't or don't work yet have their hand out constantly. At least the people getting tipped are actually doing something rather than on the dole.
That reasoning is totally illogical. You're still getting taxed, whether or not you tip. Whenever you decide not to tip, you're saving that money. I will tip for service above and beyond what is expected of the employee, not just for doing what he/she was hired to do, or worse yet, for doing a lousy job. If the person is merely doing his/her job, he/she will not be tipped, whether he/she gets paid poorly by his/her employer or not.
The massage therapists who work at spas are also LMT's but don't work in a medical setting and aren't paid nearly as much as those that do work in a medical setting. Like with any other spa service, it's expected that a gratuity will be offered.
annerk - I disagree ... I have never worked in a medical setting, the health benefits (and LMT claims and advertising materials for why to get a massage) are not limited to a medical setting, and a good wage can be earned in many settings.
annerk - I disagree ... I have never worked in a medical setting, the health benefits (and LMT claims and advertising materials for why to get a massage) are not limited to a medical setting, and a good wage can be earned in many settings.
MT pay is all over the map. Some chiros pay next to nothing (~$10-12/hour) for short, intermittent treatments, and the mall chains (Massage Envy, etc.) pay $15/hour and expect customers to tip about $10. The mall chains charge about a $70 for a 45 minute massage, plus tip, or else purchase a contract for about $40/month and then you pay only $39/massage plus tip. Private practitioners charge anywhere from $40 to $100 depending on their experience and the local environment, and usually don't expect tips. Spas are variable but do expect tips, and some spas require the therapist to sell product. Now that you're relaxed and happy, would you like to buy our line of hair products?
I've worked at Envy and Elements, briefly, and it was horrible. This whole expectation of a tip poisons the therapist-customer relationship and you spend your time wondering whether they're going to tip you, and how much money you're going to make that day, and whether you shouldn't be running your own practice instead of working for idiots who charge $70 and pay you $15 (actually, you're the idiot in that case!), and so forth.
But each to his/her own!
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