Is it worth tipping building maintenance workers if they lack appreciation? (solution, how much)

[YourWakeUpCall]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

When you give a gift, it is supposed to be just that: a gift.

It's not supposed to be a 'you now owe me' gesture.

If you don't want to tip the staff, stop tipping the staff.

A tip isn't a gift - it's acknowledgement of a job well done.

[gentlearts]

If you live in a co op and the hired staff isn’t doing their jobs cheerfully, it’s time to clean house. If employees are paid to do a job, and they do it right, why is tipping even a thing? Tipping is just over and above. Some employees might find it insulting or embarrassing.

Anyway, everyone in the building needs to be on the same page.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by YourWakeUpCall

A tip isn't a gift - it's acknowledgement of a job well done.

...every year during Christmas...

Sounds like a gift.

[Eyebee Teepee]

this is a local forum ?, neither Political nor really even "Other Controversies".

But it's also a sad reality in the US that some tipping is encouraged bribery or extortion, just to make sure you get decent treatment

[NJ Brazen_3133]

In my building, all the maintenance and doorman, are unionized. They get paid well.

[TheWiseShopper]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

In my building, all the maintenance and doorman, are unionized. They get paid well.

Same in my building and they are set to go on strike on April 1st.

[tickyul]

Doing a crummy job, no way I am tipping.

[AbsoluteVirtue]

No need to tip. The company should be paying them for whatever job they are doing.

[Volobjectitarian]

I "tip" two of these kinds of people annually. The trash collection folks get a 12 pack of beer at XMas, and the postal carrier gets a Dunkin Donuts gift card in the mail slot at XMas.

I don't have to do it, they'll do their jobs whether I do it or not, but hey, a little good cheer never hurt anyone. I also tip the crap out of pizza delivery (because I was a pizza delivery guy once), bartenders (had several of those gigs) and the person who cuts my hair, since I believe in keeping who hold sharp things near my head happy.

Good karma is its own reward.

[Quick Enough]

Originally Posted by TheWiseShopper

I live in a co-op building and every year during Christmas, it just seem customary to tip the building staff, whether it be the doorman, porters, super and handyman. But every year I give $30-40 to each of them and the thing that bothers me the most is that my building staff seems to do a poor job overall and even though I tip annually, the staff doesn't seem to care. They just take the tip from me like it doesn't make them happy and they really don't go above and beyond their duties anyway. For example, our hallways and elevators rarely get cleaned and looks quite dirty sometimes. There are tiles in the hallway that are falling apart that never get fixed. And sometimes when I have a package, the doorman never notifies me, so if my package did not have a tracking number, I would never know that my package has arrived. And sometimes, when I see the doorman for a package, he misplaces it and almost lost my package a couple of times.

Part of me wants to stop giving annual Holiday tips because it almost seems like my building staff couldn't care less whether they receive a tip or not. And because of that, I'm spending extra money tipping the staff every Christmas and getting nothing in return... no appreciation and lack of service. And our building keeps increasing our maintenance fees anyway, which probably means that these people are probably getting annual raises for doing less.

Do you think it's worth continuing to tip my building staff? I've always been indecisive every year about stopping the tips because I feel guilty, but if the staff doesn't seem to care and they are getting lazier at their jobs, it's like, why bother? What do you guys think?

Do what YOU want to do and don't worry about others.