I appreciate your understanding. When you think about it, the customary $3 tip each way adds up when one travels 50 weeks a year. Not to mention the nuisance (and risk) of carrying an excessive number of $1 all the time to pay all these tips out.

Most service people do not tip they must feel they do not make enough money to give it away.

Most rich people do not feel the need to tip, they are not there to impress anyone, and they worked to get where they are at.

Most poor people over tip they are tying to impress, or look down on someone, thinking they are better or the other worker is inferior.

If I don't get the service you do not get the tip, it is that simple

The bus at the Chicago Seminar host hotel is adding $5.00 this year, must be a lot of non tippers on FT, I noticed last year he was playing taxi and very few was leaving him a dime.

On this part time job I do 3 kinds of tippers. Those who never tip. That's how you end tipping the topic of this thread. Those who under tip.(Although some get it right) Appreciated. And those who over tip helps cover those who don't tip. Really appreciated :)

This statement

contradicts this statement

It doesn't sound to me that you really 'do understand'. Perhaps they don't have small change available. Perhaps they are not aware that they need to tip. Perhaps they cannot manage their bags due to age, or a physical issue.


While I don't necessarily agree with generalisations, I do have the impression from some posters that is exactly why they do tip, and often tip excessively. Reading some of the posts it is clear that they consider the service industry workers inferior and that the tips are a method of charity. The same attitude is often portrayed here by those who boast that they tip excessively towards those who don't tip in the same fashion ie that not tipping excessively makes one inferior.

I find it amusing when I witness people tipping excessively, and then see the people they tipped laughing behind their backs. I've seen this before with tour guides for multi-day trips, for instance, discussing their charges in hotel lounges etc, or shuttle bus drivers (I even complimented one at LHR recently for how he handled himself when tipped by an American traveller in a very demeaning fashion). Reading some of the posts here, I cannot blame them when they are treated as if they were being given extra gruel.

Many tours require payment of tips (though these tours are often very cheap.)
This is likely a scheme to lower the upfront price of the tour to attract more clients, and to lower any TA commissions.

And some have outrageous mandatory tips (Adventures by Disney is one example)

There are online travel fora populated with thousands of posters who tip by taping a candy to a card, or a dime, or hand out ramen, or other bizarre things as a gratuity. (Note that I've offered multiple unopened bottles of leftover water to rental car return staff, or car valets, but I don't consider that in the same league as writing a poem and afixing a candy to it as a 'tip')

I think that a handwritten note or picture from a child is charming, but it isn't quite so charming when an adult hands it out to another adult.

Tipping is so serious in the US, or more specifically New York, that Starbucks employees sued for the exclusive right of tips and in counter managers sued for sharing of tips.

I still believe that all service charges should be embedded into the price of (whatever). I think that if somebody depends upon tipping to make their living, than something is wrong. It should be more of an exceptional circumstance, made by exceptional or more than average service, as opposed to just 'expected'.

And tipping at fast food restaurants, where they don't come to your table? Ridiculous. Just a money grab.

Now that don't happen from me.

I think I am going to start a new movement, called the no-tipping movement. Here are the rules.

1. If you are in a state with no tip credit (meaning all staff are paid at least minimum wage by their employers) then you do not tip except for exceptional service.

2. If you are in a state with tip credits (meaning that employers can pay less than minimum wage with the difference to be made up in tips) then you tip like you normally do.

3. At the end of the year, you take the money you saved on tipping (18% of your restaurant purchases) and donate it to a charity of your choice.

Who is with me?

As much of an anti-tipper as I am, there are several areas where I agree with it. And, they are cases where the amount is codified (in a written document), and the people earn it over a longer period of service.

A prime example of this is in the cruise industry. The cruise lines usually hand-out envelopes towards the end of the cruise with suggested amounts per role (i.e. room host, server, assistant server). In this case, these people have served me and my mom tirelessly for an entire week, and the tip was requested in a respectful way that was documented.

In other words, it wasn't just some random person sticking their hand out, because they opened the door of your taxi when you arrived at a hotel. Or, as happened to me on the street in Argentina, getting shaken down when a random stranger opened our taxi door in the middle of a street for a tip because of 'service'.

I am all for paying people fairly who have earned it. But, tip jars in fast food restaurants is just poor taste. Even at 'Pret a Manger', where nobody even takes your order, you just pull it out of a cooler and take it to a cashier, there are pre-installed tip boxes for 'encouragement'.

Who am I tipping? Why? It's like the company feels they don't pay their people fairly, and now they want me to make up the gap. Ridiculous. What about people in other professions where they're not very well paid?

Do claims adjusters get tipped? What about a marketing analyst at a consumer good products company? Do you send a 'tip' to them? If tipping is supposed to be about 'taking care' of the people who take care of us, why should it be confined to only those people we can see? Don't all of us take care of somebody in some respect or another?

Do you tip the municipal worker who maintains the water system? What about the drillers on an oil rig on the North Slope? It may seem like these are extreme examples, but everybody does some sort of service, yet mainly those who work in food service or hospitality industries, or tourism seem to expect tips. And, there are many people who work just as hard if not harder doing more important jobs (firefighters, teachers, and, yes, even corporate white-collar employees) who do not expect 'tips'. And, no, just because you wear a suit, or are in a professional job does NOT mean that you are necessarily well-paid, or that your compensation reflects all the work you do.

So, I'm sick of being asked to tip everybody, when I feel that people should just earn a wage (hourly or salaried) like most other people. And, it's not even their fault. It's just a system, whereby companies may not want to pay people the fair amount, and pass on the costs directly to the customers. Ridiculous.

At the bar on many cruises, there is already a tip included.
'15% service charge'
Often, tips for housekeeping are covered too under a service charge.

But that's only part of the problem. In many places people are paid a proper wage, yet even then some people want to tip and insist on tipping, and tipping against the norm. We see it here on this thread.

No matter how many times some of us have said that tipping isn't necessary in certain places, people insist on tipping, and tipping too much.

Several posts in this thread have really annoyed me because of the tone the posters used towards the person receiving the tip. Then factor in the manner in which some people tip and it is very clear that no matter how much OP (and others) don't like the practice of tipping, it will remain a worldwide practice thanks to those posters.

(And again, I say this as a former server decades ago, and one who many times politely declined three times as told, and even then had an American angrily stuff a $100 in my bra more than once...)

Well, that is just plain disrespectful. I am actually against the norm in my own family. My brother has given servers $20 tips on restaurant bills less than $30 for average service. My mom will often give servers $10 for a $20 bill, because 'they work hard.'

I think there is a lack of appreciation for how hard many white-collar jobs are. We often work under far more strenuous conditions, often receiving verbal abuse, dealing with tremendous deadlines, and sometimes even working 17 hour days far from home, not seeing our own families for long periods of time. There is no union, and no punch-card. Just get the job done. And, the pay is decent, but none of us are retiring early. And, when you factor in that most professional jobs do not pay overtime, and we have to pay all of our taxes, the picture becomes more clear.

Well, depending on the insurance company, they're probably commissioned...

...which is really all a tip is: a commission where you, as the customer, get to determine how much of a commission the salesperson--the person who sold you their services--should earn.

Just spoke to a bartender at Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui (currently I'm in Maui).. and he said.. "I've seen you here before, welcome back".. we had a nice conversation, and he used to manage every Kea Lani restaurant and been at the hotel for 22 years.. even before the hotel became a Fairmont (12 years ago Kea Lani became the Fairmont).

He said he quit being a manager, and became a bartender.. cut his hours in half and gets 3 times the salary mostly on tips. He hasn't retired yet and enjoys being the bartender at the pool. Slipped me a complimentary snack, and two chocolate milkshakes for the kiddies, and I was on my way.

And in this case a tip is a bribe. I cannot go into Macy's, pay for a skirt, and give the clerk $10 and expect them to throw in a $60 cardigan at no extra charge.

But that happens quite a bit in certain places. There are reasons that companies do not permit their employees to accept tips/bribes in return for product.

I doubt that business owners in most other industries would be happy for their staff to give out freebies, and pocket the money from the customer instead of passing it back to the business owners. (I'm not talking about service recovery issues, but examples where someone boasts about being a big tipper, or hands over a folded bill for an upgrade) The latter happened recently next to me in Germany and the staff just laughed and gave it back.

It's the reason why so many high end places also tell their staff to decline tips (as in my case above), and why companies such as Disney do not permit their front desk to accept tips.

The 'automated on the bill' tip is to me one the most impersonal and rude ways to tip; most likely the tip will be pooled, and the employee will not have the personal thank you which a tip really should be.

Complimentary snacks are available to everyone with or without purchase at the pool bar at Fairmont Kea Lani. The snacks are stacked conveniently for everyone to grab off the counter. So no, the tip didn't cause the bartender to slip me a free snack.

What does the peanut gallery here think about this?

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-livin...184829378.html

(bolding mine)

You have to pay all of your taxes? Oh, the horror. Poor workers have to pay all of their taxes!

Who do you think pays my taxes? Santa Claus?

Everyone has to pay "all of our taxes" even if one doesn't actually pay them. Empirical evidence over the last, um, since taxes began, show that white collar earners always pay all of their taxes and wouldn't ever think of an improper deduction. :rolleyes:

If you don't like them, you do something about it (within the boundaries of the law.)
(That is what I did, luckily none of my citizenships/nationalities have this silly diaspora tax that the Americans have.)

Were these tips from the same tipper? The first tip seems to be to old school buddies.. The random tips don't make sense at all.. except to see if the anonymous tipper can grab some national headlines.

Makes my exhorbitant 10% tips in Europe look pale in comparison to these illogical tips. :-:

I dislike the whole tipping thing but generally go along with it. Where I draw the line is when "service" is included but they leave the cc machine open for a further tip. This, IMHO, is tantamount to fraud. At that stage, I deduct the service that they've added and don't leave anything extra. I am aware that, sadly, this could penalise the individual server, and it's a management decision to implement such a policy, but sometimes an employer is so corrupt that the only way to treat it is to get out.

If someone wants to do something like that, good for them. I'd guess they probably made someone's day, or a few someones, as from what I've read, at least at one venue, the bartender split the tip with others.
I'll simply draw a line through the tip line.

Yep. This is a COMMON scam with room service:
- delivery fee
- mandatory service/gratuity
- and THEN they leave a tip line?

Unless the service is truly exceptional, "mandatory service/gratuity" IS the tip.

(Most of the pizza places around here have gone to a delivery charge over the menu prices, and state something like the boilerplate from Dominos: "Any Delivery Charge is not a tip paid to your driver. Please reward your driver for awesomeness." Uh, not sure where they get "awesomeness" but we get it that the business is cheap.)

Yep. Never leave it blank! Ditto occasions where I've paid with a card, and someone else at the table has left a cash tip.

:confused: Then why bring up that he 'slipped' you a snack and two milkshakes? It sounds like you gave him a tip for doing so, which I see as a bribe, with the business owner not getting to keep the revenue for those products.

After recent travels in the US I must say that I am enjoying being back in a non-tipping culture. Service is excellent, but with no expectations attached.

(And I was given snark from an American server in an airport restaurant after I tipped him 15 percent for really crappy service....)

Currently at the Disney Aulani resort in Oahu and I see bills suggesting the amount of tip.. Its always 18% to 20%, I smack it down the middle where it rounds off to the nearest half a dollar.

With this thread looming in my head, I was wondering if it was appropriate to tip 15% or something like that, but didn't bring myself yet to stoop to that level, although everyone here says it ok.

As for a restaurant charging a set service charge.. I thought the restaurant management establishes such a charge to pass along the appropriate tip to the server.. but does the restaurant management actually pocket this service charge? As a server, I wouldn't work under such conditions, where the restaurant pockets a service charge, and I'm left to collect the leftovers.

What?? WHAT??? One is now lowering one's dignity? prestige? I-don't-know-what? to even contemplate tipping at the long-time standard 15% level??

Just because Disney, a world apart, suggests the 18-20% tip doesn't mean that leaving a 15% tip makes you a bad person. Disney is not the norm.

Tipping will never end as long as customers can connect their own self worth with the size of tip they leave.

Yep.. That's Disney..

I'm cancelling another character breakfast in the morning.. Not because of the tipping, but because I'm adding vacation weight that I don't need to by going to a breakfast buffet.

I figure though on a general basis.. That if I won't tip the accepted norm, I shouldn't eat there. But, the accepted norm at Disney.. yikes, they charged full kids price for my 3 year old to eat at Makahiki's.. Most hotels are 5 and under free, plus no tip required. But found a good $8.55 all in option at Auntie Beach House for lunch and supper, and available at the pool as well..

Exactly!

I assume that as I was quoted (for leaving 15 percent after having bad service), somehow it was suggested that I was wrong for doing so. I think that if anything I was wrong to leave that much, and the server was definitely wrong on all counts.

But it's long been known that at WDW and at Aulani Disney overcharges for crap food. And three is the norm at Disney for a child, just as ten is an adult in Disney's world.

Disney actually is one of the worst at demanding a mandatory tip in many situations, and having some of the highest tips in the industry for a comparatively poor product (ie their food, tours, hotel rooms) Having those mandatory tips reduced is extremely difficult, and considering how often the service is mediocre at best, that shouldn't be the case.

It is one thing to tip an American bartender who makes $2 an hour or whatever, but it is absurd that the exact same tipping guidelines apply in Canada, where everyone in the restaurant makes at least minimum wage ($10.45/hr in my province).

Personally, I am starting to scale back my tipping. Being a polite Canadian I was in the habit of tipping 20% all the time. Now it's down to 15%. Next stop, 10%. Call me cheap, whatever. But I don't think taking an order and bringing out bread is worth more than (a tax-free) $10 on a $100 meal.

That's not to say I won't make exceptions for truly remarkable service. But I've reached my breaking point with this nonsense.

That stinks. Too bad I wasn't with you, I'd have called the manager over and made a complaint. Crappy service doesn't even get a 15% tip from me - I tip based on performance, and if it gets bad enough, I'll complain to management, too.

I've never been given any snark for my 15% standard tip, but I'm 6'-4"(193cm) and 270lb(122kg), which I think tends to make people nervous around me.

It definitely caught me off guard! I was left with no acknowledgement, no menu, no drink, etc until I waved him down a good 15 minutes after I sat down, and the rest of the service continued in that vein.

I thought that 15 percent was more than adequate. The snarky comment was a shock, especially as on a $12-15 meal it really didn't make much monetary difference to the server.

In contrast, I often eat breakfast at LHR T3. There is a server who knows me, and even remembers my order with the variables I prefer. That restaurant solicits online surveys, and I always fill it in with high marks for him, and have sought out the manager in past to explain that his server knows exactly how to manage airport full service dining (which can have different needs than a 'regular' full service restaurant)

I don't tip that server, other than to add on a little to round up the bill. He doesn't seem to care that I don't tip, ie it doesn't impact his service at all.

I am a small to medium frame person, and I have always thought that physically very large and imposing people (men, especially) tend to be tested less. Even though we live in a society where conflict rarely results in physical escalation, our cave-man roots have programmed us to be scared of more physically imposing people. A trait that exists to this day. Well, that's my opinion!

That has been my experience since I got so big. My size tends to give people the mistaken impression that I am a force to be reckoned with.

Those who know me laugh derisively at such a notion.

The rare exception tends to be either someone as big or nearly as big as me, or the occasional little guy with the proverbial chip on his shoulder.

Unless I am working in the US for a long period, my accent tends to be a moderated accent of unknown origin. (Or if I am with Germans, speaking English, then my English is an awful German-accented one)

I suspect that people think that I am British (even in the UK they are sometimes confused) Just this week a bartender in told me that he was confused when I asked for sparkling water 'because you are British'.

That may be why sometimes American servers think that I am a potentially bad tipper, and I think making that assumption is unfair. But I've seen my colleagues from the UK treated that way. I'm used to the multi-nationality, multi-lingual nature of my work and my personal life, so I don't generally stereotype based on accent, but in this case I think that it works against me to be generally soft spoken with an accent of unknown but slightly 'British' origin (not that such a general thing really exists)

Disney parks and resorts seem per this thread to be their own weird world, so your guess is as good as ours as to whether something that would be perfectly normal and acceptable within the rest of the US is normal and acceptable there.

That said, I'd tip the way I usually do (which is anywhere between 15-20% depending on rounding, the service and the size of the bill) unless the service was particularly good or bad. I'd imagine Disney to be pricey enough that I'm paying via card and I'm more likely to aim for a precise percentage. For cheap places, on a hypothetical $20 bill the difference of 15% to 20% is going to be exactly $1, and on a bill around that size or smaller they're more likely to get a tip that rounds the total bill up or down to a whole dollar whether it's slightly big or small.

I've went to Disneyland a couple of times in the early 2000s, but have never eaten on-park anywhere but a walk-up snackbar -- too many cheaper, better restaurants off-park in Anahaim.

As far as I know, there's no legal requirement that they pass a service charge on to the servers.

The problem is that Disney had taking over-tipping to the extreme, and built in mandatory charges for many of their meals, tours, cruises, etc. If one is on a dining plan as a park visitor, or has a frequent diner card, certain party size, etc. (As you may not be aware, that poster is at the Disney DVC property on Oahu at Ko Olina, which was a disaster from the start complete with legal issues and firings and was already partially rebuilt and menus retooled due to the massive complaints, which some of us predicted would happen long before opening)

Having them removed can take a very, very long time and be very difficult, I believe intentionally so, in order for people to give up and just pay the 20%. I consider that extortion of mandatory tipping at its worst. If the food quality and service was more than crappy to mediocre, I wouldn't mind so much, but the quality and variety has plunged in recent years to abysmal levels.

And again, as a server, who worked buffets 2-3x a week, I don't agree with tipping more than about 10 percent at buffets in the US (and less than that if at all outside the US) Yet that falls into Disney's mandatory tipping policy of 18-20 percent, and many of the Disney fandom would say that it is more work for a server to work a buffet (it really, really isn't, unless perhaps one is working at Golden Corral or one of those places which doesn't have much service to begin with)