A little off topic -- tipping 2

[dgillz]

A little off topic as this is not strictly an IT question. The last 2 years I have been traveling a lot on business, and more and more I ave noticed envelopes in hotel rooms to tip the housekeeping personnel.

10 years ago -- the last time I had traveled extensively -- these were NEVER around. Now they seem to be almost everywhere. The question is should I tip or what is expected or normal in this regard?

For what its worth, I do not stay at 5 star places (at least not very often) I usually stay at a Hamptons, Best Western, etc. Anywhere from $60 to $100 per night is my average hotel bill.

Any feedback on this appreciated.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

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[gurner]

Ah, i was just about to post this, lol

"ok, wasn't sure on amounts, was summarising based on the posting above from 'Per the Office of Personnel Management', i was suggesting a US low income worker on a $5.15 example would be comparible to a UK low income worker being on £3 (approx) which wouldn't happen in a legitimate environment in UK

If there is a defined minium wage in the US, as there is in the UK at £5 ($7-8) this $6-7 you say would be comparible to £3-4 (approx)

the rest was a continuation to suggest to anyone debating why a UK minimum wage worker would appear to be on more than a US worker, that the cost of living in the UK is more any how, however grossly disproportionate (i.e. fractionally more on minimum wage structure, but twice as much cost per purchase or whatever)

Then i wondered in the case of holiday or whatever at either destination, what would be the reaction for example to a US citezen in the UK where the Dollar gets you less Sterling than a UK citizen earns (who would get substantially more Dollar to their Sterling) if the frequent tipping by the US citizen would continue as much if they were in the UK?"

Cheers

Gurner

 

[Stella740pl]

Well, I guess I confused federal minimum wage with state/local minimum wages which (I thought) cannot be lower than federal. From the link you posted, I went to sites of state departments of labor, and checked some state minimum wages. Many states don't have their own minimums, or they are the same as federal. But apparently, not all. Many are higher, even though some are lower.

Effective January 1, 2005, the New York State minimum wage will increase to $6.00 per hour. It will increase to $6.75 per hour as of January 1, 2006 and to $7.15 per hour as of January 1, 2007.

District of Columbia’s minimum wage is $6.60 per hour, effective January 1, 2005; and $7.00 starting January 1, 2006.

Alaska – $7.15 per hour.

California - $6.75, $8.50 indexed rate for San Francisco.

Connecticut - $7.10

Delaware - $6.15

Illinois - $6.50

Maine - $6.35

Oregon - $7.25

Massachusetts - $6.75

Rhode Island - $6.75

Vermont - $7.00

Oregon - $7.25

Kansas - $2.65 ([i]whatever that means[/i])

 

[Stella740pl]

OK, I found this "Note: Where Federal and state law have different minimum wage rates, the higher standard applies."

So it's probably not actually $2.65 in Kansas.

 

[Thadeus]

Here's a great link on the minimum wage topic...

~Thadeus

 

[Stella740pl]

LOL!
I have had this one open already, now I have two of them. Got to it through Florida DOL.

 

[skiflyer]

About what to do when where question... when I travel to other countries I tend to either read the guidebooks or ask friends who have lived in the destinations to find out what the tipping policy is and then more or less try to abide by it. When in doubt I tip.

 

[aardvark92]

Kansas - $2.65 (whatever that means)

Not all employers are covered by the federal minimum wage law. For those who are not covered, the state law applies.

 

[DTSMAN]

Have an eight dollar lunch and tip 15%. Next day have a 20 dollar lunch and tip 15%. Both waiters performed the exact same service. Why does one deserve more for bringing me more expensive food?

Bo

Kentucky phone support-
"Mash the Kentrol key and hit scape."

 

[njwcad]

Or work in Burger King and recive no tips. The system is a bit odd!

Pete.

 

[lespaul]

Have an eight dollar lunch and tip 15%. Next day have a 20 dollar lunch and tip 15%. Both waiters performed the exact same service. Why does one deserve more for bringing me more expensive food?

because server/waiter income is determined by the amount of food that they sell.

If a server sells $1000 worth of food, they are REQUIRED to report 8% income on those sales (I'm not sure of the %, it's been a LONG time since I was a server! Most just round to 10% to be safe). So, I have to report to to my employer that I made $80 - $100 in tips and this is what is used for tax calculations. However, if my customers put most my tips on credit cards, ALL that has to be reported because there is "evidence" of what you made in tips for that night. So, if I had actually made $250 in credit card tips and only $50 in cash, I have to report the $250 instead of the $80 - $100. But then there's the nights were you have to report the $80 - $100 tip income and you only made $35.



Leslie

Anything worth doing is a lot more difficult than it's worth - Unknown Induhvidual

Essential reading for anyone working with databases: The Fundamentals of Relational Database Design

 

[skiflyer]

Have an eight dollar lunch and tip 15%. Next day have a 20 dollar lunch and tip 15%. Both waiters performed the exact same service. Why does one deserve more for bringing me more expensive food?

Deserve is a tricky word... but *usually* it goes something like so...

a) The $20 lunch came with a better atmosphere, better service, more personalized attention, more people behind the scenes who are going to get tipped out who helped with your lunch etc.

or

b) The restaurant is in a place where the cost of living is higher, so the waiter needs more to live on.

or

c) The $8 lunch was a phenomenal deal/$20 lunch was a ripoff, and you're right.... but it's the way of the world, and the waiter gets screwed by the tax system/pay structure, so cough up the extra buck and feel good that you helped someone out.


What I want to know, is where's the limit? I don't mind tipping 20-25% on my 10 to 100$ meals... but those rare occassions where I have a $1000 bill, it stings.

 

[DrJavaJoe]

... but those rare occassions where I have a $1000 bill, it stings.

and the $1000 bill didn't?


Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.

 

[lespaul]

but those rare occassions where I have a $1000 bill, it stings.

I would still be washing dishes if I had a $1000 restaurant bill!

 

[Thadeus]

people behind the scenes who are going to get tipped out who helped with your lunch

I don't think it is common knowledge that tips don't always go only into the wait staff's pockets.

When I used to bus tables at a local diner, I received x% of the tips. It was a small percentage and I didn't have to deal with each time individually, the floor manager would collect the money and then pay me out at the end of the shift... usually amounted to $20 - $30 a night. That was for me alone and there were always 2 - 4 "bussers" working a shift.

I can't say if the kitchen staff got any such percentage... I was too young to be interested in the business dynamics.

~Thadeus

 

[lespaul]

the wait staff also has to tip the bartender a percentage of alcohol sales as well as bussers. None of the restaurants I worked in tipped the kitchen staff.

Les

 

[kencat742]

Today I went out to lunch with some co-workers to a resturaunt close to where we work (at a university). One of my co-workers received her food and it was extremely dry, to the point that forks couldn't even penetrate it...and when they did it would shoot half of the food accross the table. The waitress never came to ask us how our food was and my co-worker decided that they wouldn't receive a tip from her. So we go up to pay and when she signs her credit-card recipt she leaves the tip blank and just signs it. They then tell her 'the tip is not included in this price' and then when they ask if she did not enjoy her meal she responds that it was very dry. The waitresses basically force her to tip and say 'its not our fault'. In some ways it is their fault. My co-worker didn't want to make a big deal about it and was just going to suffer through the meal because she was too shy to complain. If the waitress had asked how our food was the rest of us would have said something about how bad her chicken was. She did change her recipt to add a tip, but now they have lost her business and possibly other customers she talks to over a couple of bucks.

You've heard about the computer programmer that died while washing his hair in the shower. The instructions said, 'Lather, rinse, repeat.'

 

[SteveGlo]

kencat's anecdote reminds me when I used to go out with friends for meals in awful mock-resturents (set menu - 3 choices: steak and chips, chicken and chips, fish and chips)
back in the 1970s. Dining out was pretty dire in the UK in those days.

One of my friends had been educated at a very posh English public school and he had all the social graces including demanding to see the manager if his bottle of Blue Nun was 'corked' or his frozen peas were undercooked.

I used to cringe with embarrassment but he usually managed to get a small percentage knocked off the bill. I never saw him leave a tip. I suppose its all about 'breeding' as the toffs would say.

 

[gurner]

slightly off topic again, but i think i just gave someone a star on this topic.

was chattering away not concentrating, and a popup appears saying i just gave someone a star for a helpful contribution.

So guess i've just tipped someone

Gurner

 

[tazuk]

One of my friends had been educated at a very posh English public school and he had all the social graces including demanding to see the manager if his bottle of Blue Nun was 'corked' or his frozen peas were undercooked.

I was educated at a [slightly less posh] English public school, and have been known to speak to the manager during a meal out if I'm not happy with the quality of food or service. For me (having worked as a waiter and barman in the past) it's about giving the establishment the opportunity to correct the problem, rather than squeezing money off the bill or waiting until there's no chance to fix the problem before complaining.

In my experience most restaurants etc prefer this approach (providing it's tactfully done) and generally sort it out straight away - if they don't then I never return. It also saves the group of diners sitting through the rest of the meal complaining...

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[kencat742]

Here's a link from one of the local papers where I live. The ironic part is that the resturaunt in this article is the same one from my story on Friday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/237788_overcharge24.html

You've heard about the computer programmer that died while washing his hair in the shower. The instructions said, 'Lather, rinse, repeat.'