y'all I left an awful tip for my hairstylist...

[lil_witch]

Woah, luckily we don't leave tips here in Italy, otherwise I'd always have to do the maths, and I'm not that good at it

 

[cobl04]

We don't leave tips in Australia. For us to leave a tip it's like we're saying, "thankyou for servicing me, you are beneath me and I will prove this by giving you money. I have plenty and you obviously have little." The only exception is in a restaurant. Usually it's only $5 or $10 if the person has been REALLY exceptional.

I love this country.

I hate 5c pieces so if I'm going to get anywhere between 5c and 45c change I say 'kepp the change.'

 

[snowbunny00774]

15-20% at the very least...and extra if they are nice.

I've never not left it and had to go back. I would go without than not be able t tip them properly.

 

[Angela Harlem]

I cannot comprehend the ingrained unwritten law on tipping which exists in the US. It makes me wonder what the hell your unions are doing to fight for your working rights...


But I really don't want to have an FYM debate with anyone, so please leave me naive as to your union uselessness.

 

[indra]

You wouldn't want to know what they get paid here in the states...

If anyone does want to check what waiters/bartenders/etc get paid in the US (stats are from 2004) check out this link from the US Department of Labor Department of Labor Statistics and scroll down to the Earnings section. I'm sure many of you will get a real kick out of the minimum direct wage an employer must pay a "tipped" employee.

 

[Vincent Vega]

In Germany you only give tips at restaurants or bars. But not even near the 15 to 20%.
€5 (about $6.70) would be a very good tip, and I couldn't even afford to give more.

It's really a way to show the waiter or waitress that they did a good job. It's an incentive to do a good job, and why should I reward someone for a shitty job.

I've learned that in Denmark the tip is included in the price for the meal. The "culture of tipping" is really different.

In Australia it's a popular backpacker job, and it can be paying decent. If you are a good waiter you can earn a lot, and it's less hard than fruit picking.
But most places pay you not more than A$10 an hour gross, so either you are a good waiter and work for a good restaurant, or you try to find something else.

 

[ylimeU2]

I don't know the exact exchange rate, but that's amazing.

You wouldn't want to know what they get paid here in the states...

$1.00USD=$1.21AUS

So, at $10.15AUS = $12.50US

 

[GibsonGirl]

Sheesh. I couldn't imagine tipping my hair stylist $20.00. That's insane. I give $5.00 - $10.00 at the most, and only if I'm extremely satisfied with what has been done.

I can't stand the North American obsession with tipping. Where I come from, IF you tip it's based purely on performance. People back home don't expect you to tip them. Here they do, and they don't just expect small tips either. Last semester, I was late for class and had missed my bus. It was the middle of winter so I wasn't exactly going to walk. I called a cab. I'm only a five minute drive from the university, so I only expected it to be about five or six bucks. The fare cost $8.50! I thought, screw that, I'm not giving a big tip, $8.50 is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a five minute trip. That was my lunch money gone for the day. I gave the cab driver $10.00 and told him to keep the change, and he got SARCASTIC with me! 'Oh THANK YOU, how KIND of you,' he muttered under his breath. Of all the bloody nerve!

 

[Butterscotch]

We dont leave tips in Australia. For us to leave a tip its like we\'re saying thank you for servicing me, you are beneath me and I will prove this by giving you money. I have plenty and you obviously have little The only exception is in a restaurant. Usually its only $5 or $10 if the person has been REALLY exceptional.

I am moving down there! There used to be only resturant tipping here in the states too until sometime about 10 or 15 years ago everyone started expecting tips for everything. It has gone too far and it makes everything more expensive. If people would pay decent salaries instead of expecting customers to make up the difference we would never have come to this point.

Waiters-Waitresses have always been tipped, all this other stuff that has come along has gotten out of hand IMO. Now sometimes you see little tip jars on gas station counters. I know everyone works hard and deserves more money but so do I and I cannot afford to suppliment everyone elses incomes. Now that they all expect it, and now that society brands you a skunk for not doing it, I do not see how it is ever going to end. There are places and services I avoid rather than to be put on the spot for a tip I cannot afford. And I never pay over 10 bucks for a haircut, gosh.

 

[JCOSTER]

oops. I do not know what I was thinking. He is a good friend on top of it and I gave him a horrible tip. He gave me a great hair cut and there is no excuse for me being a cheap ass.

I feel awful about it and should go back next week and give him a proper tip.

*move to ZC if you need to*


who here has left an awful tip and felt bad about it and went back to do something about it?

Just tell him you didn't have enough of money on you to give him a proper tip. Thats happened to me before.

 

[Liesje]

I got a free massage from an intern practicing at our school and I couldn't tip him. I had no cash b/c I lent it to my boss the day before b/c the ATMs were down, and then that day all the ATMs were still down.

 

[VintagePunk]

I don't understand entirely the culture of tipping either, even though I do it because it's expected of me. There are MANY minimum wage workers who do not get tipped. When's the last time a data entry person making minimum wage got tipped for doing an adequate job? Or a clerk in a corner store? Just doesn't happen.

 

[VintagePunk]

For some eye-opening thoughts on the whole tipping debate, go here to read the thoughts of food service workers:

http://bitterwaitress.net/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=fc645e50af6afd3858481c9f080fea30&board=9.0

I read through the entire forum a year or so ago, after stumbling across the site (I think someone on inteference linked to the thread about celebrity diners).

Something I gathered from one of the posts is this: some US wait staff make extremely low hourly wages, but are taxed at a higher rate, because their tips are automatically included into their gross income, whether or not they actually receive the tips. So, in essence, if they spend a certain number of minutes waiting on a table and receive no tip for their efforts, they end up losing money. Maybe people in the industry can correct me if I'm wrong, or explain better than I did.

Also, there are many, many posts expounding on how tourists from other countries (Canada included) are notoriously bad tippers when they visit the US. In defense of the rest of the world, I'd like to point out that people probably aren't aware of the pay and taxation structure of wait staff. I know I wasn't until I read this. I'm old enough to remember when tipping was a reward for good/great service, and pretty much the only people who were tipped were wait staff. Now, everyone's got their hand out. And according to that site, 15% is the bare minimum that they expect, for barely adequate service. For good service, it goes up from there. Many of them even look at 15% as an insult.

 

[Bonochick]

I consider myself to be a good tipper, but I once got a haircut that was horrible. She had cut off tons more than I'd requested, and there was this one section on one side of my face that was just inexplicably shorter than the rest of my hair. I was so horrified that I only tipped her $2. I did feel bad about it later...but, yeesh, she jacked up my hair!

 

[BVS]

There are MANY minimum wage workers who do not get tipped. When's the last time a data entry person making minimum wage got tipped for doing an adequate job.

But that's the whole thing that many of you are missing. They AREN'T minimum wage earners.

When I was in college my hourly wage was $2.30 w/ tips it came out to be a little more than the hourly minimum wage at the time.

 

[deep]

what is the proper tipping percentage for a haircut?

i give 50%


but, I get a ten dollar hair cut

 

[Butterscotch]

But that\'s the whole thing that many of you are missing. They AREN\'T minimum wage earners.

When I was in college my hourly wage was $2.30 w/ tips it came out to be a little more than the hourly minimum wage at the time.

I don\'t think anyone is complaining about tipping wait people who have always been paid below minumum wage and expected to make up the rest in tips. I know I\'m not. It\'s all the other stuff, the tip me tip you tip everyone for everything trend that\'s come around the states in the last few years. Even the hotel maids leave envelopes asking for tips.

 

[VintagePunk]

But that's the whole thing that many of you are missing. They AREN'T minimum wage earners.

When I was in college my hourly wage was $2.30 w/ tips it came out to be a little more than the hourly minimum wage at the time.

That was sort of my point in the subsequent post, that many people who aren't from the US aren't aware of this wage disparity. I just checked, and here in Ontario, our minimum wage is $8.00 per hour. Minimum wage for wait staff is $6.95 per hour, plus tips. So, if a waiter or waitress were to make a $1.05 tip for each hour he or she were working here, they'd be in line with some of the people they are serving.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

woah, I seem to have stirred up an interesting debate about our cultural differences and practices in regards to tipping. I find it odd when I travel outside of the US to not leave a tip for a wait staff or for a taxi.

 

[VintagePunk]

woah, I seem to have stirred up an interesting debate about our cultural differences and practices in regards to tipping. I find it odd when I travel outside of the US to not leave a tip for a wait staff or for a taxi.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to imply that it's not customary to leave at least a 15% tip for wait staff, or even more if the service is good, in Canada (I know it differs in other parts of the world though). I was just a little surprised at the venom expressed by staff at that website I posted, where it sounds like some of them think of 15% or less as an insult, no matter the level of service offered.

And seriously, where DOES it stop? Say you're in a retail setting, where the staff make minimum wage. Are they given tips for good service? Why not, when everyone else seems to expect it? It just boggles my mind.

 

[BVS]

I don\'t think anyone is complaining about tipping wait people who have always been paid below minumum wage and expected to make up the rest in tips. I know I\'m not. It\'s all the other stuff, the tip me tip you tip everyone for everything trend that\'s come around the states in the last few years. Even the hotel maids leave envelopes asking for tips.

Oh, I understand it gets out of hand in someplaces. But I think there were some in here that didn't realize the average U.S. waiter aren't making minimum wage. These people need tips, it's the only way they survive. Outside of the restaurant industry, I reserve tipping according to service.

I tip(when they allow) the person who cuts my hair, just because I have a close friend who's a hairdresser and know the added costs that a lot of them have to pay that many don't know.

I usually tip taxi drivers, especially if they were helpful or pleasant. These guys make hardly anything and usually don't hike up their rates according to gas prices, which right now I really feel sorry for them.

The one place I really can't stand, is places with bathroom attendants. I usually tip at the end of the night if they were nice(out of guilt), but come on, I've been washing my hands without anyone's help since I was a kid, or at least since college.

 

[BVS]

And seriously, where DOES it stop? Say you're in a retail setting, where the staff make minimum wage. Are they given tips for good service? Why not, when everyone else seems to expect it? It just boggles my mind.

Well I do know some in the high end retail industry accept tips, but that's usually at places that make custom suits and what not...

 

[*browneyedgirl*]

my question is: in what kind of weird and ancient country do you still tip your hairstylist?

hair stylist expect it I do believe and that would be The United States of America

 

[redhotswami]

what about those people that chill out in the public restrooms? are we supposed to tip them?

 

[Angela Harlem]

Don't eat yellow snow. That's a good tip.

 

[*browneyedgirl*]

 

[redhotswami]

it sure is. i was a very naive child
i understand that it is a job, yet at the same time, i find it kind of ridic to pay someone $1 for giving me a napkin after washing my hands. i'm not too excited about giving tips to them.

 

[Mr. BAW]

what about those people that chill out in the public restrooms? are we supposed to tip them?

$1 a pee for throwing on the hot water and handing me a towel...!

but I won't buy the candy or hair jel!!!

 

[ABEL]

woah, I seem to have stirred up an interesting debate about our cultural differences and practices in regards to tipping. I find it odd when I travel outside of the US to not leave a tip for a wait staff or for a taxi.

first of all i can't imagine paying $67 for a hair cut lol
unless it was an up do or something?
it better look good

for a standard haircut (i usually just go to pro-cuts or salon that charges $25-$35).
i usually just tip $5.

i suppose you could always go back and just tell him you didn't tip enough, or just wait till next hair cut and tip him extra?

and yeah i had the same experience when traveling to the netherlands not tipping the wait staff, etc.
although one restaurant rono and i went to the service started off good.
but the waitress barely came back and checked on us.
finally we were ready to pay and no waitress in sight.
finally we got so fed up with waiting that we went to go find someone to pay.
we found our waitress and another waitress sort of 'taking a break' and just sitting there gabbing in one of the other rooms.
that's one time i thought they might have provided better service had tipping been a factor.

 

[fly so high!]

If anyone does want to check what waiters/bartenders/etc get paid in the US (stats are from 2004) check out this link from the US Department of Labor Department of Labor Statistics and scroll down to the Earnings section. I'm sure many of you will get a real kick out of the minimum direct wage an employer must pay a "tipped" employee.

OMG!........It works out to be around AUS$8 per hour and this is including tips! That's insane, i just would not work for that, plain and simple. i have to admit i always have assumed US wait staff prolly had made between $6-$8 per hour NOT INCLUDING tips, that's why it made sense to me that the income would be supplemented with tips!