Darn dupe! Flood control and impatience. Mes excuses.

[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 08-14-2001).]

Dupe. Sorry.

It is not my responsibility to increase the living standard of the hotel staff. That is the job of management, the employees, and if they have one, the union.

My job is to pay the bill, and that's it. If the hotel staff is underpaid, there will be fewer staff, and the hotel will have to raise wages. My bill will be higher, and I'll still pay it.

I have worked in jobs with tips, and I thought the practice was stupid then, and I think it's stupid now. I don't eat room service nor go on cruises because the level of tipping is insane.

I can understand the uneasy feeling that one can feel when presented with a room service bill with a delivery charge and mandatory gratuity already included in addition to a request for an additional gratuity. I simply review the bill, making certain that a gratuity is already included and write "Included" on the line requesting the additional monies.

I have asked, on occasion, why the additional line is included, since the gratuity is already noted on the bill and have been told (I realize it is simply to provide more revenue to the service personnel) that the tip is shared by a number of people, so the mandatory 18% is not received solely by the room service personnel, rather a small percentage, due to the sharing with other staff members. Whether I believe this explanation or not, I usually do not include an additional gratuity unless the service was exceptional.

I may be the cheapest person here, but I usually leave a few dollars, because I feel like a jerk if I don't. I HATE that line, though, because I feel the gratuity is already there. But I am afraid my service will be compromised if I stiff anyone at the hotel. I figure that the staff talk and service depends in part on whether you are a good tipper.

But now that I see that others do not tip on this, I won't either.

One thing I was told a few months back in D.C. was that in D.C., you tip waitstaff NO LESS than 25%-30%. Never less than 20%, even if service stinks. I don't get it.

I for one, will sometimes tip 30-40% in cheaper restaraunts but less than 15% in more expensinve ones depending on service. Why should good service in a place where dinner for 2 is $20 be less than a place where service is haughty and spotty and dinner is $150? This is stupid. And I, for one, refuse to go along with this. Tip well for good service.

BoSoxFan45,

This is exactly the point I was trying to make above. The line added to the room service bill for an extra tip above the 18% gratuity and the $2.00 delivery charge is not only confusing for some, it's intimidating! You say yourself it makes you feel like a jerk for not adding a few bucks - that's intimidation. Stand your ground!

The Delivery charge is a scam. Goes directly to Hotel's deep pockets. They already charge more for the food.

I work in a hotel where Room Service does not add a tip to the bill.
What you don't know is that a tip more than $1 or 5 is quite uncommon, even on a $100 order. I agree that most of you know where and when to leave a tip, however i have never seen a bigger abuse than in room service. It must have to do with the fact that it's private/anonymous.

I respect that regular travellers and FT's can tip, or sometimes no tip IS in order.

In Miami they used to add 15% and then word it something like this.....
We have added a 15% gratuity for your convienience(ya right), feel free to raise, lower, or cancel it depending on your ....
We're off to Miami in Oct & Nov. I guess we'll see if they still make the automatic tip optional

As to weather to leave a 20% tip when the service is bad...NO WAY

The argument is that they have to pay tax...
Perhaps they should adjust their service accordingly. I am generous!!!!! when it's deserved. But, ****, that all changes with bad service. And if it's horrible service, you get nothing but a word to the host.

I was just wondering something... When they add the tip on the bill, do they include that as part of the total when calculating tax? I'll have to check the next time I order room service. Perhaps others have noticed?

In Canada the answer is yes. Tax on total, including the service.....don't know 'bout USA

sucks right!

i hate tipping. this thread is right on target. i have tipped a number of times when i didn't understand that service was included. now, i study the bill,facture, etc to try to determine if service is included. i think that we payors should protest when confronted w/ this double dipping attempt. bah humbug rat fink, strong letter to follow. in some places , the server has told me not to waste my money by putting the tip on the credit card. the server wouldn't get it. this was in small , remote places in us & mexico. ..... edit, the ultimate, i think is the pet grooming place where we get the family hd[hound dog] sheared each june because of texas heat. last year they put up a tip jar. i asked patty [ the hd] if she wanted to tip but she didn't answer. the jar was gone this year.

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 08-17-2001).]

clacko: "Double-Dipping-Tipping" - you need to copyright this, it's great!

Patty sounds like she's not a pushover ...



[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 08-17-2001).]

Average 25-30%, minimum 20% for a tip in D.C.? My guess is that the person who came up with that standard works as a waiter or waitress in D.C.

15% standard, 20% very good, perhaps a bit over 20% for superior service. I live in D.C. and dine here a lot, and have never gotten any kind of an argument over that approach.

However, just to get my two cents in on the overall topic: I find it interesting that we (including me) allow ourselves to get tremendously agitated when some poor waiter or cab driver at the sub-minimum-wage level tries to squeeze an extra dollar or two out of us. But when slick, well-educated, wealthy lawyers and politicians casually scoop hundreds and thousands of dollars out of our wallets, we barely wimper, and sometimes even proudly support their right to do so.

Some restaurants do add on an additional tip,and make you pay it. I went out to eat with 10 friends, then bill came at the end with a mandatory tip. 1) the waiter basicalyl took our order and passed out the food, it was the bus person that did most of the work. 2) the waiter was rude to almost everyone at the table. 3) when we tried to pay the bill minus the tip (because of the service) the owner almost called the cops on us!

There are enough people that dont tip enough on their bills for adequite service. Yes, some servers may be missing out on a tip, but if everyone tips 15 percent, it makes more money than if one person tips 20%, and all the others til 10%

OK, this is probably going to leave a mark, but I don't care:

Why should I tip anything at all for 'acceptable' service - that is what the restaurant/hotel pays the wait-person to do. If their salary is insufficient let them take it up with the restaurant/hotel - why should I subsidize the payroll of the restaurant/hotel when I am already paying an inflated price for the food anyway?

Airline Flight Attendants don't make a whole lot of money either, but I don't know of any frequent fliers that tip them at the end of a flight - don't get me started on the Cruise 'beggars' http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

If a waiter/ess is pleasant, I usually tip, isn't that a sad reflection on our society?

Oh, no, not the tip vs no tip discussion! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Actually, I have an answer that's not often brought up, or at least hasn't at other times I've seen this discussion:

If you could do it *all at once* maybe you could end the well-entrenched tradition of tipping that goes with certain service positions. But if you take it upon yourself to try to change it one person at a time, it's *you* that the staff would look at as in the wrong, not their management. The other fact of the matter is that tipping actually favors the employees in most cases. If tipping were universally ended and prices and wages raised accordingly, they might have a more stable income, but it in most cases it wouldn't be as much as the low wage with tips.

There are a large number of other fairly low-paid positions that aren't subject to the tipping tradition. And there are even some not-so-low ones that are (hairstylists, for instance). But pick your favorite low-wage job (fast food, say) and the hourly rate there is higher than the hourly rate given to restaurant staff in a tipping environment. It may not be convenient, but that's how it is, and without a wholesale change, that's probably how it will stay. It benefits the staff, and, after all, if they were paid straight wage, the incentive to be nice or prompt or whatever would truly go out the door. (Does a flight attendant or gate agent have an incentive to be nice? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif)

StacyCat, it is important to note that the wait staff share a portion of their tips with the bus staff. Generally it's not a high portion, but that may vary by restaurant. In that kind of environment, it is more than just the person who takes your order who gets paid from your tip.