When are you supposed to tip?

[Utter_iMADNESS]

I'm not sure if this should go here or in Off Topic .

Where my family originally comes from tipping is never done so they never tip. It can be quite embarrasing when they don't tip at restaurants and I've explained it to them yet they don't seem to understand. They've gotten a little better though. When I'm out with them I remind them to tip and they do.

I've heard of people tipping their mail'man' or newspaper 'boy' and I found that a bit odd.

So my question is, in what situations is one expected to tip?

[bhskittykatt]

I'm a newspaper "girl." I usually get a few small tips each month from my customers (often when they pay their bill they'll tack on a couple extra dollars for me), but most usually just tip around Christmas. $25 per customer during the holidays is about average for me. Customers also do holiday tipping with mailmen and even the garbage man, though in the States a USPS employee can't accept gifts over $20 worth.

[BlaqueKatt]

Customers also do holiday tipping with mailmen and even the garbage man, though in the States a USPS employee can't accept gifts over $20 worth.

my mom bakes cookies for the mailman

[MaggieTheCat]

Besides restaurants, the two jobs that I can think of that usually get tips are food delivery people (like pizza or Chinese delivery guys) and beauticians in hair/beauty salons. As with servers in restaurants, usually 15-20% is customary for these two services in the U.S. Not everyone will tip hair dressers/delivery people but I do. For delivery people, they are paying for their own gas to make deliveries and the place they work for often does not reimburse them very well. For hair dressers...well, I dunno what the excuse is there. I was just taught to always tip them, and I know a lot of other people do too.

[Broomjockey]

For hair dressers...well, I dunno what the excuse is there. I was just taught to always tip them, and I know a lot of other people do too.

They have scissors near your face. That's always been reason enough for me to tip if I plan on going back.

[Greenday]

though in the States a USPS employee can't accept gifts over $20 worth.

No one ever follows that anyway. My stepdad is a mailman and he gets tipped in the winter time towards Christmas. $20-$25 seems to be the norm. Some people have given him some nice bottles of wine or alcohol too.

[Peppergirl]

No one ever follows that anyway. My stepdad is a mailman and he gets tipped in the winter time towards Christmas. $20-$25 seems to be the norm. Some people have given him some nice bottles of wine or alcohol too.

When my parents lived here (cincinnati), he always bought a bottle of Jack Daniels for the carrier for Christmas. When he moved to FL and tried the same thing, he was politely rebuffed by the carrier.

Not sure if it was due to some rule, or perhaps the carrier didn't drink...but it was amusing nonetheless.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm a newspaper "girl." I usually get a few small tips each month from my customers

My brother delivered newspapers when he was a kid (back when kids delivered newspapers on their bikes...my parents got him a ten-speed with the baskets on the back for Christmas that year)...he used to get small cash tips and cookies around Christmas

I always tip 20-25% in sit-down restaurants, 15-20% for delivery (I tip a bit more if the weather is bad or the order is large), and about 20% for a haircut (I go to a cheap place...I used to pay $16 so I'd tip $4 [so 25%] to make it an even $20, but her prices have gone up; I still tip $4 so the percentage is a little lower).

[Peppergirl]

Since I got sidetracked by thinking about JackDaniels and letter carriers. here in the midwest US, I tip as follows:

Sit down meal: 20-30 percent, depending on the service. It has to be really dismal for me to tip lower than that, which seems to be a practice of many ex-restaurant people.

Delivery: 20-25 percent, this is another job I used to have back in the day - so I feel their pain. My food always reaches me piping hot and in about half the time quoted on the phone.

Hair color/cut: It usually runs me 80.00 or so every 8 weeks, and I give her 15.00. Too lazy to figure out the percentage.

Airport transportation/vans: 1 or 2 dollars a trip, depending on if they get the bags for me.

Cabs: 20 percent or so, depending on if I've made it to my destination intact.

Carry out (non fast food): I try to tip a buck or so if there's alot of prep-work done by the person getting the food together.

Hotel Bellhops: A couple of dollars per bag, usually. Depending on where the hotel is. It's been a REALLY long time since I've been at a fancy enough hotel to even HAVE a bellhop, so those amounts are OLD.

Take these with a grain of salt, since I know the OP is not in the US. If I think of any more later, I will add.

[auntiem]

When my parents lived here (cincinnati), he always bought a bottle of Jack Daniels for the carrier for Christmas. When he moved to FL and tried the same thing, he was politely rebuffed by the carrier.

Not sure if it was due to some rule, or perhaps the carrier didn't drink...but it was amusing nonetheless.

My carrier told me that they can't have the alcohol in their trucks, so that is why they can't take booze as a tip anymore - so this year we gave cookies and the sweetie returned the gladware with a card and some candy in it.

On tipping hairdressers - I think you do that because in most places they are "renting the chair" and are basicly independant contractors.

I tip the maid whenever I stay anywhere - I tip extra if I managed to track in sand and / or the maid has cleaned and straightened up my bar area that I always set up in the room.

[PizzaTheHut]

Your friendly 6ft 4in 315lb Delivery Driver

[Flying Grype]

I tip 15% and round up to the nearest dollar by default, for hairdressers and restaurant staff. If it's someone I really like (I have a favourite hairdresser who is incapable of giving me a bad haircut, and there's a restaurant where I go and the waiter always remembers what I get) I tip more like 20%. I tip delivery guys $5 because I never order food for more than 4 people at a time, and it's usually just one bag or one pizza that he has to bring up. If I were ordering more I'd tip more.

I have been reminded recently that I should tip hotel cleaning staff. Gotta remember to do that. I always forget, or leave it to the last day of my stay (which doesn't work because whoever cleaned earlier in the weekend doesn't get any).

This is Canada, so wait staff in restaurants do get minimum wage and it's only slightly less than minimum wage for everyone else. Remember that in many parts of the US, wait staff don't get minimum wage because management assumes that tips will happen. A waiter or waitress who gets stiffed on tips is going to take home $2-3/hour in total wages, so in those places please consider tipping mandatory.

[trailerparkmedic]

I tip my hairdresser $5 a cut, which is a lot percentage-wise because I go to SuperCuts. She is amazing, and one of the few people who can actually tame my hair. I also buy a couple of salon products there every few months, and I think she gets a commission on that.

I tip delivery guys at least $5 (for two-four people's worth of food), because my boyfriend has delivered before and I know that it kills your car and that very little of the "delivery charge" goes to them.

I tip the driver of the airport shuttle & hotel housekeeping $5 ish dollars, depending on how much cash I have on me. I stay at cheap motels and I'm pretty clean, so I guess I'd be tipping more if I stayed somewhere nice or if I left a mess.

Restaurants are 20%, more if I'm somewhere cheap like Ihop (especially since I go there to do homework, so I'll be there for awhile) or if I get amazing service.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Tipping thread discussion = http://www.englishonline.org.cn/files/worms.gif

Over here, where I live (ie ENGLAND), tips tend to be handed out for good service in restaurants mostly. Tho the paper boy/girl and postmen do get a tip, too, sometimes.

When I used to deliver papers as a kid, the people who tipped me at Christmas got their papers delivered intact, dry and pushed all the way thru.

[Jester]

Percentages vary from region to region, and you are in Canada, as has been noted. Also, in many cases, the tip is not a percentage, but just a few bucks or whatever. I will try to list the typical, rather than what *I* tip. (Living on tips, I tend to tip higher.)

Food servers and bartenders. I don't think I need to explain this. In the U.S., typical is 15-20% of the total bill before any discounts are applied. This is for food and when people run tabs at the bar. When people just pay as they go at bars, they often just throw down a buck or two per drink.

Hairdressers. Explained below. Not sure what the percentage is supposed to be. I tip mine $10 on a $20 cut, but (A) she makes me look vaguely human, and (B) she doesn't charge me for trimming my goatee, which is pretty freakin' awesome.

Taxi cab drivers. They are getting my drunken ass home safe. I don't think I need to explain this. Usually a few bucks, more if it's a large tab. Percentage wise, typically it is about the same as if it were a restaurant bill.

Bellhops in hotels and sky caps in airports. They're hauling your bags....this to me is worth a few bucks so I can be a lazy shit.

Strippers. If you need this explained, you have never been to a titty bar.

Hookers. For "service" above and beyond. See "strippers" above. (I speak merely as an observer of humanity, not a partaker in the service discussed here.)

Food delivery people. It's wet and cold out, you are warm and dry, and they are bringing you dinner. Typically treated the same way as a restaurant bill. Take care of these people or karma will drop egg foo young down your shorts.

Maids in hotels. A few bucks is typical.

Beer/food vendors that walk around at sporting events. Not the same as concession stands, as these folks are bringing their yummies to you so you don't have to get your lazy ass out of your seat. Basically, these are stadium-roaming delivery drivers.

Valets. You have just entrusted your wheels to these people. I suggest tipping up front to make sure they respect your sled. Remember, valets are often idiot teenagers/twentysomethings who love driving stupidly, so the more you give, the less likely they are to treat your ride like a toy.

Places I don't tip? Any place that is not typically a tipping situation where they decided to put out a tip bucket. Subway? No, sorry. I don't. The parking lot where they are overcharging me to park my beloved Jestermobile under the elements but a couple blocks closer to work? They have a tip jar, but no. Not a chance. All they do is collect my money and give me a ticket. Period. Convenience stores? Give me a break. Sorry, but no.

For hair dressers...well, I dunno what the excuse is there. I was just taught to always tip them, and I know a lot of other people do too.

Two reasons. Broomjockey got the first one:

They have scissors near your face.

The second one being that they make you look goooood. At least mine makes me look good. If yours isn't doing the same thing for you, not only shouldn't you tip them, you probably should find a new hairdresser. After all, a bad haircut is hard for people to not notice.

Remember that in many parts of the US, wait staff don't get minimum wage because management assumes that tips will happen. A waiter or waitress who gets stiffed on tips is going to take home $2-3/hour in total wages...

Not exactly true.

In many (but not all) States, restaurants and bars are allowed to pay the typically tipped staff (i.e., servers and bartenders, but not cooks and hostesses) less than the normal minimum wage. But there is a minimum wage for tipped staff, it's just different than the usual minimum wage. (As an example, at one time for which I remember the numbers, regular minimum wage was $4.25/hour, tipped staff minimum wage was $2.01/hour).

The reason they can do this is, of course, tips. But lest you think this has the potential to be crippling to tipped staff, understand that the establishment is required by law to make sure the tipped staff still make at least the regular minimum wage, between their tips and their hourly wage. Now, that doesn't mean that if you make less than $4.25 (using my numbers above just as an example) in one hour, the establishment has to make it up. Nor does it mean that if you make less than regular minimum wage over a shift, the establishment has to make it up. What it does mean is that, over the pay period, however long it is (typically two weeks, sometimes one week), if the tipped staff has not made at least $4.25 X their hours in the pay period, the establishment has to make up the difference on the pay check. As a numbers-easy example, let's say you work 10 hours in one pay period, at a tipped employee's wage of $2.01/hour. Over that pay period, business is very slow, and the customers you do get are despicable and cheap members of Jester's family, and you only get $10 in tips. $2.01 X 10 hours worked = $20.10 + $10 = $30.10. Since the actual minimum wage that the establishment is responsible for making sure you earn is $4.25 per hour, and thus for ten hours is $42.50, the establishment would have to make up the difference, in this case $42.50 - $30.10 = $12.40. (Once again, the numbers above are for this example only....real numbers are higher.)

I have almost never seen an instance when the establishment had to actually make the difference up, and to be quite honest, between tips and hourly, I not only never average out $2-3/hour, I usually make between $15-20/hour, sometimes as high as $30/hour, when all is said and done.

So should you tip? Of course. Especially in the restaurant industry, the employee relies on your tips, and if they are good, will bust their ass to make sure you enjoy your experience, so they earn them as well.

And as the man said, you should never fuck with people who are handling your food. I do not advocate nor condone messing with people's food or drinks, but sadly there are people in this world that will. And do you want to take the chance that you get them and not me?