[Qman]

Just booked a trip with Western Spirit and received my packet of info. Under the "What's not Included" section of the packet they have quite a lengthy text about how you need to bring cash for tipping your guide and they recommend 5-15% of the price of the trip as a tip.

I drove tour buses in Alaska during my summers away from university and never asked, hinted or indicated that tips were appreciated and I usually did fine. The poor tippers weren't going to tip or tip well whether you asked or not. Some coworkers felt the need to hint ("tipping ain't just a town in China folks.") around about it but it just seemed rude to me. Most people that travel on guided trips understand the protocol without being told. When people ask like this, it makes me want to tip less.

Anyone else think that asking for tips like this is essentially asking for a handout?

 

[SkaredShtles]

Tipping is fundamentally a retarded concept, IMO. *Asking* for tips is a sure way to get $hit for tips.

 

[reflux]

Tipping is fundamentally a retarded concept, IMO. *Asking* for tips is a sure way to get $hit for tips.

Yep. As an alternative means of getting the point across, I've been a bigger fan of the signs that say, "Gratuities are greatly appreciated." This way I know that tips are generally given, but in no way do they tell me how much.

 

[habitatxskate]

its rediculous how some places include your tip, and add another place to add for a tip to rip you off..its rediculous, everyone is so greedy...i mean if you had a tip jar and thats it, then you'll get tips, but not saying ohh bring anotheer 200 bucks for tips..thats my opinion, but people are really getting rediculous these days.

 

[Mizzle]

Tipping is fundamentally a retarded concept, IMO. *Asking* for tips is a sure way to get $hit for tips.

:mumble: People who have to ask for tips, or work for tips get paid low wages and to help offset the eating of Ramen sometimes ask for them. Distastful maybe but no more so than eating sh*tty soup for a week.

Is it a cruise?

If so it's very standard, and you'd be amazed as to the lengths these people go through to earn them...

Tipping is good, and one should always tip based upon "good" service. The better the service and experience the better the tip.

I remember the tippers, as well as the non tippers. Non tippers would not want me as their waiter again for many reasons.

Then again i'm in Nevada a state that full of people living off of tips in Casinos, etc...

 

[SkaredShtles]

:mumble: People who have to ask for tips, or work for tips get paid low wages

This whole bunch of crap about "wait staff" being paid less than minimum wage is retarded too. Pay them minimum wage for God's sake.

Tear the whole asinine system down.

 

[DirtyDog]

This whole bunch of crap about "wait staff" being paid less than minimum wage is retarded too. Pay them minimum wage for God's sake.

Tear the whole asinine system down.

If you don't like it, don't participate. Stay home and have a possum burger.

Tipping doesn't bother me.

 

[habitatxskate]

tipping just gives the dude a lil more money which is taxless, nothing wrnog with that..hey, if you were working as a waiter, wouldn't you liek to make an extra 100 a night to help your family eat?

 

[blue]

Saying "Tipping is not a city in China" is a surefire way to make you look like an ass. At the deli, we have a little tip jar, but nothing else. We're paid enough that tipping isn't necessary, but it's always nice to get five bucks extra for some booze every day.

I'm going to help open a nighttime cafe in the next couple months, and the price of the food will include the tip.

Tipping is a fundamentally flawed (american) concept that the hospitality and restaraunt industry needs to get around...I feel its just another excuse to give the shaft to people on the low end of the totem pole.

And yes, I tip. Well.

 

[Mizzle]

In general i've found that the average tip is far less than the recommended 16%.....

But anything that's not an insult is appreciated....

As far as "being paid less than minumum" most are not. But if I wanted to be paid 5.25 and sit on my ass i'd work @ the BK Lounge.

"Tipping is a fundamentally flawed (american) concept that the hospitality and restaraunt industry needs to get around...I feel its just another excuse to give the shaft to people on the low end of the totem pole."

I agree and if anyone traveling overseas has seen the program works much differently.

F*ck I mean if you can afford a $80 dollar dinner then you can toss a kid in college $10 bucks.

Peace,
John

 

[Qman]

:mumble: People who have to ask for tips, or work for tips get paid low wages and to help offset the eating of Ramen sometimes ask for them. Distastful maybe but no more so than eating sh*tty soup for a week.

Is it a cruise?

If so it's very standard, and you'd be amazed as to the lengths these people go through to earn them...

Tipping is good, and one should always tip based upon "good" service. The better the service and experience the better the tip.

I remember the tippers, as well as the non tippers. Non tippers would not want me as their waiter again for many reasons.

Then again i'm in Nevada a state that full of people living off of tips in Casinos, etc...

No. It isn't a cruise. It's a mountain bike trip with www.westernspirit.com
I've heard great things about the company and the trips but never any mention of this.
You're wrong about the cruises. The automatic tip thing is a fairly recent deal. My wife works for Princess and I used to work for Holland America whose brochures specifically stated "Tipping not required" to make sure the guests felt they were getting genuine service.
Everyone always tipped though. They started doing this because the price of cruising has come down so much that the average red neck can afford a cruise now and they generally don't know jack about tipping etiquette.
It used to only attract people that were well traveled and understood how to reward outstanding service.

As well, the service staff that work on cruise ships are paid fairly well given the alternative in many of their countries of origin. Several of them have told me that Holland America is one of the best companies to work for if you live in the Phillippennes.

In a lot of Europe tips aren't expected. They don't even have a tip line on the credit card receipt and some are embarressed if you try to tip. Spain not so much.

Just to clarify, I'm not against tipping. I'm against being asked for a tip.
America has been fostering the notion that everyone deserves to be rich and have a good job without earning it.
The advent of the "tip jar" has accompanied the downfall of genuine service.
How is it possible to go above and beyond into service worthy of a tip by just making me a latte that I had to walk up to the counter and order?

I worked with a guy that found a woman's purse on his bus after returning to the base and he drove it back to her hotel. She was very appreciative, pulled out her checkbook and wrote him a check that he didn't look at until he got home. It was for $1,000.00.

 

[Qman]

tipping just gives the dude a lil more money which is taxless, nothing wrnog with that..hey, if you were working as a waiter, wouldn't you liek to make an extra 100 a night to help your family eat?

bullsh|t. Most waitstaff are required to report their tips so that it gets taxed for the current pay period. The IRS tracks this info and if they see you work in a restaurant without any tip income reported, your days are numbered.
This happened at the bus company. Some obscure, 3rd party tour brochure showed that tipping the driver was recommended. Somehow the IRS caught wind of this and did a full investigation after which we had to report our tips.

 

[chicodude]

bullsh|t. Most waitstaff are required to report their tips so that it gets taxed for the current pay period. The IRS tracks this info and if they see you work in a restaurant without any tip income reported, your days are numbered.
This happened at the bus company. Some obscure, 3rd party tour brochure showed that tipping the driver was recommended. Somehow the IRS caught wind of this and did a full investigation after which we had to report our tips.

Well I guess I am screwed. I don't think the IRS would care about 3 dollars a night though...

 

[fiddy_ryder]

theres a formula that the IRS uses to calculate a persons tips. i cant remember the name of it, but the do know 90% or people working on tips do not report a majority of the cash income. so they just go ahead a over tax you a bit to help offset the unreported income.

 

[Mizzle]

Well I guess I am screwed. I don't think the IRS would care about 3 dollars a night though...

Report all credit card tips, and about 10% fo cash. You'll be alright.

John

 

[Qman]

Well I guess I am screwed. I don't think the IRS would care about 3 dollars a night though...

Probably depends in large part on whose desk it comes across.

They split hairs with 'fractions of cents' entries for the 940 tax so you never know. You're probably right but an audit is pretty much just a power struggle. If you and your accountant don't know the rules and, say, let them look at tax returns they can't force you to show, you could get hosed.

 

[Sherpa]

I like to tip $.01 for ****ty service when I use a credit card.

 

[Chunky Munkey]

As a rule, waiters and waitresses, 20% for good service. For okay service, 15%. If terrible service I ask if they are new. If so, I give 15%. If NOT, 10%. If waiter or waitress has a major attitude, stiff em. Bartenders, buck-a-beer. With huge hooters, two bucks.

A word of advice. If you are over forty, I find out the "Please help my college fund" jar doesn't seem to work anymore. "Please help support my coccaine habit" is close second."

 

[Mizzle]

As a rule, waiters and waitresses, 20% for good service. For okay service, 15%. If terrible service I ask if they are new. If so, I give 15%. If NOT, 10%. If waiter or waitress has a major attitude, stiff em. Bartenders, buck-a-beer. With huge hooters, two bucks.

A word of advice. If you are over forty, I find out the "Please help my college fund" jar doesn't seem to work anymore. "Please help support my coccaine habit" is close second."

Awesome.....

 

[habitatxskate]

i think i'll stick with Chunky Munkey's idea, and do that..now what credit card company is dumb enough to give me one?

 

[geargrrl]

As a rule, waiters and waitresses, 20% for good service. For okay service, 15%. If terrible service I ask if they are new. If so, I give 15%. If NOT, 10%. If waiter or waitress has a major attitude, stiff em. Bartenders, buck-a-beer. With huge hooters, two bucks.

A word of advice. If you are over forty, I find out the "Please help my college fund" jar doesn't seem to work anymore. "Please help support my coccaine habit" is close second."

hmmm- I've always gone with 10% for average, 15% for good service. And I'm a former wait person. Does anyone else tip 20% as a standard? That seems really high to me.

gg

 

[blue]

hmmm- I've always gone with 10% for average, 15% for good service. And I'm a former wait person. Does anyone else tip 20% as a standard? That seems really high to me.

gg

I usually do, unless the service downright sucks. In which case I'll tip 15...It's just money.

 

[dogwonder]

hmmm- I've always gone with 10% for average, 15% for good service. And I'm a former wait person. Does anyone else tip 20% as a standard? That seems really high to me.

gg

I tend to be a 20% for meals.

I look at it from the other angle. If you are in a situation where you get personalized service and appreciate what you have been given, tip. I did a mountain bike tour a couple of years ago and had no problem giving $20 to the guide at the end of the trip. Not even 10%, but a small token of appreciation. Plus, it builds karma.

 

[habitatxskate]

yeah, its kind of standard, the 20 dollar bill... like hey thanks heres a 20 you were awesome, not heres a 5 don't spend it all in one place...that's if you got the money

 

[Qman]

I didn't exactly mean for this to get into food service but since it's there already; do those of you in sales tax states tip on the Total or the Sub-total?
Here in Paul Allentown with all the goddam stadiums they've built against our will, they bone you for almost 10% sales tax at downtown eating establishments.
I refuse to tip on the total with that kind of markup.

On the only bright side, it makes it easy to do tip math if you've had one too many by just doubling the tax.

 

[blue]

I just round. It's a few cents on a 40 dollar meal...who gives a flying ****?

Some people are penny pinchers. Tipping 10-15% of an entire trip is a different story, but the people who whip out their cell phones to figure out a tip drive me INSANE.

 

[jimmydean]

I toss a couple bucks if the service is good. It works out to be about 10-15%.

What cracks me up is the tip jar at Starbucks. You poured a cup of coffee, you want a buck for that? That is a 90% tip for something I could do myself.

 

[bikenweed]

In Spain, tipping is pretty rare. Only rich Americans and Brits give tips. There are also very few part time waiters. Most are full time, and being a waiter is considered a career. To tip isn't insulting, but it's not expected.

It sure is a shock to go from a place where a $3 beer costs $3 to here in the US where a $4 beer really costs $5, and a crappy meal that costs $30 suddenly costs $35.

I think tipping is a good idea, and really don't mind tipping a good auto mechanic or day laborer or plumber/electrician/phone company worker that gets a job done right and fast.

 

[erastusboy]

A word of advice. If you are over forty, I find out the "Please help my college fund" jar doesn't seem to work anymore. "Please help support my coccaine habit" is close second."

The best tip jars i have seen are at merch tents at concerts. The people there dont really deserve a tip (they throw you a shirt) but if its a funny sign/jar I tend to hook a brother up.

 

[binary visions]

I follow Chunky Munkey's tipping rules generally, except that I can usually tell the difference between a newbie that's trying and someone who's incompetent - and I'm not very inclined to tip people who just don't try hard enough.

20% is standard for me, though. It goes down from there. Normal, decent service is all it takes to get my 20%.

I often don't tip at retail establishments though. I almost never chuck anything into the "tip jars" unless I know the person who's helping me or they are unusually nice/helpful.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

i usually tipped at the subway/quiznos close to school. they knew me, and were good to me.

i tipped 15-20% in the US.
i was a waiter for a couple months, i understand what it is to be on the other side. i read a lot of statistics about tipping habits, mixed with my work experience... i can still smell bad/good tippers...
two 30something males were the best combo of them all. two 40something females, or 1 female with a kid were the worst of all.

i tip waiters 10%-15% here. i tip my house staff too, like when i ask them to get me 1 candy from the store or when they go out on the weekends and little stuff like that.