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I love how contentious a topic tipping is. One of the most annoying things I have noticed is that the suggested percentage to tip on a pin pad has gone up to ridiculous amounts over the years. Just the other day I was at a restaurant where the default tip percentage was 25%. Only in North America do we tip at such extraordinary amounts. In most parts of the world such as Asia and most of Europe, a tip is not even expected. In fact, in some parts of the world it is considered offensive to provide someone with a tip. How did we ever get to this point to think that tipping is "expected".
Unfortunately, like most things nowadays, it transcends into the political BS (even though politics should have nothing to do with it). That is combined with a form of public shaming if you don't march in lockstep with their thinking. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me.
Now it depends if it is an independent guy his own side business then yes I tip , if it is a good size company hell no cause they are already making it hand over fist .
Now it depends if it is an independent guy his own side business then yes I tip , if it is a good size company hell no cause they are already making it hand over fist .
A good sized company doesn't always mean the crew is getting paid that much better. If anything, a Good sized company only means there are more slices in the pie.
Tipping has never, and will never be expected in this business. If the crew is exceeding your expectations, or if it's a hot and sticky day, an offering of drinks or lunch goes a long way with crew morale.
I think of it as "sharing the wealth" in situations where the contractor employees have worked hard, or worked through a hot and sticky day. IMHO they deserve something a little extra for doing a good job in difficult circumstances.
If I really think about it, I realize that the extra $50 is not going to be missed in my wallet, but it might make a big difference in the life of a contractor employee. He might be able to take his wife out to dinner, and have a really special evening, while it won't have a material impact on my life.
So, we're having some work done on our house because we're moving and want to make sure it's in decent shape for tenants. Today we had a grout and caulking guy over. The job was $780. I noticed my wife had taken $60 out of my wallet as she was writing the check. I quickly took the money from the table and put it back in my wallet. She just gave me a stare and gave the guy his check. She was upset with me after he left saying she wanted to give the guy the $60 as a tip. I told we would go broke tipping all the contractors like that. I'm questioning how many other people tip contractors like that.
Sixty dollars? Nope. Was he independent or working for someone?
I totally get this point, and this was the original intention of a tip. However, I really dislike how in many parts of the service industry, tipping has become an expectation and as another poster put it, it feels like "public shaming" if you don't fall in line.
I totally get this point, and this was the original intention of a tip. However, I really dislike how in many parts of the service industry, tipping has become an expectation and as another poster put it, it feels like "public shaming" if you don't fall in line.
Agree Waydo,
Part of the issue I have in reading many of the replies is this attempt to characterize a job as a means of justification. So the person did a "good" job? What does that even mean? IF a person comes in my house, puts caulking on my sinks and around the basin, and fixes cracks in my grout, I believe he did his job and what was expected as part of the price I agreed to pay. As far as I'm concerned, whether or not he was an owner or a worker really doesn't matter to me (although in this case I believed he owned the company).
We had a comment earlier talking about tipping a mover for not scratching or breaking something (my expectation of a mover is to move my items from one spot to another without incident). And of course, we tip the person at Starbucks for simply getting us a cup of coffee and saying thank you. Hmmm? Seems to me like we're judging whether we should tip someone based on the fact that they didn't do a "bad" job (or a non-expectation) as opposed to they did something above and beyond their job expectation (which is when I feel a tip is justified). Perhaps we can get beyond the "good" job nonsense and look at whether they did what was expected of them or went above and beyond those expectations.
Last edited by Independentthinking; 11-06-2017 at 09:07 AM..
we're judging whether we should tip someone based on the fact that they didn't do a "bad" job (or a non-expectation) as opposed to they did something above and beyond their job expectation
I was at a restaurant recently and had the same argument with my wife the other day. When I wanted to give a sub-par tip for a restaurant we frequented quite a bit, my wife's response was "don't do that, they'll spit on our food the next time we come".
I was at a restaurant recently and had the same argument with my wife the other day.
When I wanted to give a sub-par tip...
If you have an actual reason to do that you should be talking to the manager about it.
Especially so if you frequent the place regularly.
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