Tip the Damned Maid! (An article about tipping)

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I was always under the impression that tips were to positions NOT getting min wage and hence they provided a service. I do tip van drivers but now wonder if they are paid min or less as their companies expects them to be tipped. If not then the company is holding back salary because of tips.

Is this why pilot pay is low? Companies want us to include our per diem as salary?

Just wondering.
 
as someone who earned a living with tips for about 10 years...a few things (bartender, server, yes and maid)

1. tips are for going beyond what the job asks.
2. I made between 20-100$/ hour as a bartender and it's not because I just showed up and poured a beer.
3. I'll tip the maid if I trashed the room...otherwise, she is most likely getting paid $2-4 per room and she does 4-6 rooms per hour (at least at the hotel i worked at-hampton inn) on top of an hourly wage of around $7-8
~I also know that this isn't the case a lot of places.
4. I'll tip drivers if they help with my bags...but driving the van is what the get paid for. (usually $8-15/ hour)

now serving and bar-tending are where you can make the money IF you go beyond what your hourly wage asks (usually 2-6/ hour depending on the state) but that almost always goes to taxes so my paycheck was almost always ZE RO.

I made good tips for bringing something other than making drinks, it was my character, demeanor, my rapists wit...not because some • learned how make a rum and coke.

so no I don't tip ANYONE unless they go beyond what the basics of the job ask.

EDIT: i usually tip ~20-25% on a good served table....and 10% if it was terrible service...but I usually let them know why it was so bad (no I don't punish the server if the food was improperly cooked)
 
ATN_Pilot said:
I disagree. Complete and total honesty is the most respectful thing that anyone can ever do. I want to hear what people really think, not what they want me to believe that they think. Anything less is dishonest.
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Tact is not dishonest. Tact is used in order to maintain healthy social environments. I'm sure you have noticed something I have...threads where you are active tend to go off topic often and rapidly...usually as a result of something confrontational you have said to another poster. I've been a member of this board (if not active) for several years and you are the only person I have had "spirited discussions" with. That is not a good thing.

You may think calling me scum, or unprofessional, or any of the other slurs you have thrown my way is simply your way of being honest, but that's really not how conversations work. Your choice of words and overt hostility to those you disagree with don't reinforce whatever point you are trying to make...they disrupt the natural flow of the conversation and make you look petty and vindictive.

You can be honest, but more importantly you can be honest with out coming across as a twit.
 
I don't like maids screwing around in my room. I don't care if I'm there a week, I leave the do not disturb sign up and reuse my towels. Makes me feel more at home.
 
CFIT99 said:
as someone who earned a living with tips for about 10 years...a few things (bartender, server, yes and maid)

1. tips are for going beyond what the job asks.
2. I made between 20-100$/ hour as a bartender and it's not because I just showed up and poured a beer.
3. I'll tip the maid if I trashed the room...otherwise, she is most likely getting paid $2-4 per room and she does 4-6 rooms per hour (at least at the hotel i worked at-hampton inn) on top of an hourly wage of around $7-8
~I also know that this isn't the case a lot of places.
4. I'll tip drivers if they help with my bags...but driving the van is what the get paid for. (usually $8-15/ hour)

now serving and bar-tending are where you can make the money IF you go beyond what your hourly wage asks (usually 2-6/ hour depending on the state) but that almost always goes to taxes so my paycheck was almost always ZE RO.

I made good tips for bringing something other than making drinks, it was my character, demeanor, my rapists wit...not because some • learned how make a rum and coke.

so no I don't tip ANYONE unless they go beyond what the basics of the job ask.

EDIT: i usually tip ~20-25% on a good served table....and 10% if it was terrible service...but I usually let them know why it was so bad (no I don't punish the server if the food was improperly cooked)
Click to expand...

I worked as a server for nearly four years and I could not agree more. Tips are for providing excellent service, not subsidizing labor costs for the company (which is exactly what they will do if tips become the norm). I don't ever tip the maid when I'm out on a trip, and I sleep just fine at night considering my w2 from last year as a regional FO. The ONLY time I would leave a tip for the maid would be if for some reason I left my room looking like an alley in a 3rd world country or if I'm staying in one of those fancy resorts where they turn the sheets back and leave chocolates laying on my pillow.

Honestly I feel like the tipping push is getting out of hand. What's next, do I need to start tipping the garbage man? And what's the difference between the van driver handling your bags versus the rampers?
 
I pretty much live my life in the way I think best.

I actually DO tip Mike, the guy who gets my garbage, and Jim, my rural mail carrier, and Rob, the fellow who plows my driveway. It isn't often, but at Christmas, or on a birthday, or if the snow bank is plowed a second time at the end of my driveway, I remember them. I also make a pot of coffee for the road crew working on a ditching project in front of my house on the town road, or occasionally pick up the tab anonymously for a cop or firefighter in uniform at a restaurant. I try to find a manager or supervisor, too, when I can to make sure they know that Debbie, or Don or Maria took good care of me and represented the business (restaurant, hotel, carting company, whatever) well that day.

I do it because I like to, because it makes me feel good - not to supplement poor wages, or because I "have" to. I do it because it matters, even if just a little bit.

What I do is a reflection of who I am, nothing more or less, and it carries no weight of obligation for any other. Eighteen pages of interesting discussion, and I'm still giving Mike a McDonald's gift card for his birthday in March just 'cause I appreciate his weekly garbage runs and the occasional banter we share about pets and family and the weather.

Yep, I occasionally tip the garbage guy, personally. But neither of us "expects" it. Your mileage can (and should?) vary ...
 
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