Tipping

[Don Donatello]

i don't quit understand the tipping of SKYCAPS at the airport.
i walk up to the curb with my luggage. stand in line. carry my baggage to the skycap counter. they give me a baggage receipt and a security boarding document, and sometimes seating and i give them $1-2 per bag tip ?? lets see the skycaps are UNION at SF airport so they make very good $ with fringes.

now if i go inside to the ticket line i again carry my luggage to counter. the ticket persons checks in luggage , gives me a seat. sercurity document .. NO tipping is expected and i see no body tipping at check in counter. some are union some aren't ( southwest) .. in the end they do same job as skycap ... so why do we tip the skycap and not the ticket check in person ??

and why do we tip the hotel peron out front that just waves a cab ( from long line of cabs) 20-30 feet away ( as in las vegas ) .. i could just walk the 20 ft and talk direstly to the cab ??

[John Hudson]

Its a ridiculous expectation that no longer is rewarded on merit but by fiat.

[Douglas Habib]

Protocol at most better hotels (LV ESPECIALLY) to avoid cabbie and guest bloodshed is that ONLY a doorman can summon a cab.
Wait your turn. If your on hotel property, guests will USUALLY be directed to the doorman.
Unfortunately, when you ask the doorman's advice or directions, tipping provides more accurate info. Same with most personal service staff.....YMMV!!!!!

[Gints Klimanis]

>They work a 40 hour week and they've made $102.80. But that >is before taxes, medical insurance, Social Security, etc.

If they're making $102.80/week, there are no taxes. At $5200/year, they're getting a fantastic return on Social Security benefits compared to what the average worker pays.
You can be sure they don't earn *only* $5200 / year. I worked in
the restaurant business for two summers during college.
There is a lot of money flying around off the books. The only tips that are documented properly are those included on credit card statements.

[Imran Zaidi]

Having been a server during college, I can tell you that the tip is the only thing that keeps you from starvation. As a server you are paid WAY below minimum wage because it's expected that the tips will pay your salary. I don't know if restaurants lobbied for this exemption, but if you don't pay a tip, then you're essentially stealing the service from the person serving you. At that point it borders on slave labor.

NOW, if the server is rude, incompetent, or is otherwise the cause of you not enjoying your meal, then you are, by all means, free to reduce the quality of the tip. But here, in America, if you don't ever tip at least 10%, you are one stingy s.o.b. and should stop going out to eat.

Think of it this way - there is no other service in the world like this where you get to pay as much as is your satisfaction with the service.

Ultimately though, it's not the servers that have imposed this on you - it's the restaurants, who choose to pay employees with salaries FAR below the poverty demarkation.

[Dylan Couper]

wait
wait
wait....

In the US they pay waiters/waitresses BELOW minimum wage?!?!?!

What the ****?!? I'm sorry, that's absolutely f-ed up.
If restaurants can talk your government into letting them pay slave wages, y'all have some very serious problems. When did it chang to "...for the corporations, by the corporations" instead of "for the people, by the people"?

Sorry, I don't mean to rant, but now I realize why its such an issue in the States. I had no idea it worked that way there. Servers here get paid $8 an hour (minimum wage here), plus on average make about $20 an hour in tips for a medium range restaurant. Waitresses in bars or trendy places make a killing, everyone I know pulls in about $150-200 for a 4-6 hour shift. Nightclub waitresses can easily take in $400 a night for a 6 hour shift.
(all prices in Canadian $$). Part of the reason it bothers me is that these (mostly) college kids are pulling in more cash than people with jobs that require skill and education (like videographers...)

Oh, my fiancee used to work at a Starbucks a while back. Yes they have tip jars, but they don't ask or expect you to tip. They collect all the tips and split it up among the staff. SHe'd only average about an extra $0.50 an hour.

Anyway, please continue...

[Frank Granovski]

NOW, if the server is rude, incompetent, or is otherwise the cause of you not enjoying your meal, then you are, by all means, free to reduce the quality of the tip.

Reduce the tip? You got to be kidding. I'd give 'em a piece of my mind, and I have resorted with a simple knuckle sandwish a few times. I recall one waiter being so darn rude, and then he actually attacked me. So I sent him flying about 20 feet. I just don't under stand how these types get hired in the first place. I've been a waiter and doorman in my younger years, and I have never, ever had a problem with anyone. You're there to serve and put up with it, and with a smile. It's comes with the job, and I enjoyed those jobs (and the tips).

[John Hudson]

It is unbelivable that they make less than minimum wage. Whos fault but the employees? There is no union Im aware of for servers.

And it is true, when Iwas younger, I bussed, served and bartended and you are only required to claim 10% (if I remember correctly). They are getting alot better deal than is apparent.

[Jeff Donald]

John, the IRS stepped in a few years back and forced stricter accounting of tips. The 10% rule was changed in the mid to late '90's.

[Gints Klimanis]

>I don't know if restaurants lobbied for this exemption, but if you >don't pay a tip, then you're essentially stealing the service from >the person serving you. At that point it borders on slave labor.

There is so much under the table money at small shops and
restaurants that I don't even know why we're having this
discussion. If the payoff were less than minimum wage, college kids would be looking for work at minimum wage jobs instead of
the restaurant industry. The proof is in the pudding.

If the tip is mandatory, as it is when gratuity is already included in the bill or when a particular tip % is expected, then it's no longer a pay per service option. It's just a service tax on the backend.

[Brian Huey]

Washington is one of a number of states that have a minimum wage higher the higher then the federal minimum and they also don't have laws that allow for paying below the minimum wage because of tips.

All my friends that have worked as servers back in Alaska (college students at the time) have been paid well, over $14 an hour after tips. One girl was getting this working at a drive through coffee stand, preying on caffeine addicts!

Cheers,
Huey

[Jeff Donald]

Some states have lower minimum wage. If the business does less than $500,000 a year they can set a lower wage than Federal Minimum Wage. Minnesota minimum wage is $4.90 hour for business grossing less than $500,000 a year.

Edit Seven states have wages below minimum wage, 10 states have wages above minimum wage (ranging from $5.25 to the just increased Washington State minimum wage of $7.16).

[Douglas Habib]

In Las Vegas (Nevada, as a state) cab drivers are employees ONLY and work on a commission compensation basis. That; and other employment classifications, are EXEMPT from minimum wage laws. They, waiters, waitresses, and casino dealers for example are taxed based on an assumption of income from tips by the IRS. That is, you are taxed on 110%-115%120% of your ACTUAL paycheck. Automatically calculated and withheld. Whatever your actual tips. You may get a 25% tip, or you may get nothing. But you're paying a fixed % in every case. BTW, each industry (dealers, waiters, cabbies) each have their own % standard.
(Why????? actually interesting story there. Awhile back, the IRS threatened the employers (casinos) with HUUUUGEE fines and penalties for not accurately reporting their employees incomes; and "negotiated" a standard to tax their employees on. No involvement of said employees; can be changed on them anytime.
There is currently fear and lothing the IRS is planning to increase the tax rate by "upping" the % of reported tips.......)

[Zac Stein]

Weird, there is no tipping structure here at all.

Our mini wage is around 25-27k AUD a year, and a lot is based on that as well, like the price of an average family car and so on.

When i am in the states i find tipping an utterly bizzare situation, i followed the %15 rule as my friend in NYC said that just makes like easier, and always tip people who like take your bags and stuff $5, i kept a wad of $5 notes ready in my pocket to be quick.

But here is a strange story, when i was in BALI, they don't have a strict tipping policy by any means, it is not customary but so many tourists go there, it is becoming more frequent.

I went to dinner, with 15 people, we had this huge meal and were there for hours and only had a single waitress, who was taking care of almost the entire place.

Anyways, when the bill came it was around $50 AUD ($40 USD), this was with beer, and around 27 dishs (pretty cheap) so we thought, what the hell, and everybody through in about $2 AUD as a tip, so in the end we gave her $30.

Well she came out crying, and kissing people and screaming her head off in Balinese.

We found out, we had paid the equiv of 3 months rent with food for her and two kids, and more than she earns in a few months.

Ever since then, when i travel i do tip as heavily as my pocket will allow, and just goes to show, the people who need the tips the most are the ones usually suffering.

Ohh biggest tip i have ever seen given was $2500, this was at a breakfast cafe my dad and i had been frequenting for 10 years together every friday morning with a select crew of people we always catch up with, we are kind of part of the place now.

One of the waiters had fallen in love and was working there to afford to be able to fly back to Italy to marry his fiance' and bring her back to australia, so all the regulars tipped in and got him the ticket.

i still smile when i think about it, (i put in $100).

Zac

[Rob Lohman]

Tipping happens here as well, but it's starting to decline.
Especially with the fact that most people here are using electronic
(or "plastic") money these days. It would also be illegal to pay
below minimum wage here. People in restaurants get paid pretty
okay here.