Hotel van tipping etiquette

[poser765]

I caught the bolder quote too and found it interesting. I wondered if the suspicion was derived from the pizza delivery industry where they charge a fee that doesn't go to the driver.

That could be, though it's not universal that it doesn't go to the driver. In my time driving I drove for several different franchises and everyone of them gave me something. Either $1-$1.50 per run or a percentage of my total ticket prices delivered.

 

[wheelsup]

Your last line, I feel, really hits it on the head. People tip, because "that's what we are supposed to do." It's been culturally ingrained in us for decades. So many people who work in the service industry are VERY outspoken when it comes to tipping, and the amount of vitriol and disgust they apply to those who don't partake in the system is frightening. People tip, because it's what they feel the HAVE to do, and because they are scared of being confronted as the boogyman who doesn't tip.

Heck I fit this description perfectly. I despise the system yet I can NOT bring myself to not tip at all. I just do a solid 10% instead of the ridiculous percentage (that seems to get higher and higher every year) that I am "required" to tip.

I tip as a dollar amount not percentage. Since we typically eat at lower end, lower cost places, for my wife and I it's around $18-$20 for the meal. I normally tip around $5-$6 for the time we spend there. I drink lots of water refills and we tend to fill up on bread and salsa/chips that the waiter keeps coming. They also know us on a first name basis. That's when we eat out at those places, normally we do Chipolte or something similar not requiring a tip if we even eat out. We tend to cook a ton of stuff at home. Normally where I run into this stuff is at an overnight at a hotel where I eat in (pick up to go) vs. going out to get something.

 

[Richman]

I always tip in cash to make sure The Man doesn't get his cut.

He plays his games, I play mine.

Richman

 

[CFIscare]

no, you SHOULD expect to get paid. Your expectation on who should be paying you is what's silly. If you have a problem with low pay, your problem is with your employer, not me as a bad tipper.

You're right, though, it is the system and there is only so far I'm willing to go in it. It's funny that people loathe me for this...that they want to blame me for them having to rely on generosity in order to make money.

You know, as a professional aviator I've been grossly under paid in several of my jobs. I never blamed my students or passengwrs

Apples and oranges. The difference between an underpaid aviator versus a waiter IS the system in place of how the worker is compensated. You may hate the system, as do I, but the fact of the matter is that the compensation of the waiter for their services is paid by the patron of the restaurant via his or her tips. It is a unique system because the consumer has the direct ability of determining how much the employee is paid. No other industry is like that that I am aware of, and it sucks, but the facts are the facts. Tipping is part of the costs of going to a sit down restaurant, you just have the ability of determining how much that cost is, including tipping zero if you so desire.

Here is a perfect example. Have you ever gone to a restaurant in a big party? I'm sure you have, and I'm sure there was an added gratuity to your bill that you had no choice but to pay. Typically, with a party of 8 or more (sometimes less) a gratuity of 18-20% is automatically added to the bill. Would you consider this a cost of going to a restaurant since it is already on the bill? What makes it different if you have 8 people, or 2 people? There only thing different is you have the luxury of determining that cost when you have a smaller party.

 

[OneNineHundy]

Coming from a country that doesn't tip the problem I find with it is you are expected to give a percentage of the total bill. If you eat at a nice restaurant a 10% tip on $400 is $40. If you eat at a cheaper restaurant 10% of $40 is $4. I don't see how a waiters effort increases by $36 for essentially doing the same job.

But I guess don't hate the player not the game.