Tipping in USA/Canada
in [Airline Travel]
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From: James Robinson on 8 Nov 2007 08:59 Qanset <Qanset(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > The wife and I are planning at trip to USA/Canada in the near future. > Is it true that the Yanks are really hung up on tipping, and that > FORGETTING to tip someone is courting disaster??? Tipping in the service industry is fairly common. In some cases, like for waiters or people who help with baggage, their wage scales, including legal minimum wages, are lower than for other jobs in the expectation that they will receive a certain amount of money in tips. The tax authorities also assume that they will be getting income from tips and tax them accordingly. Therefore, if they don't get tips, they will fall short on income, and could concievably be taxed on income they never received. Tipping is generally expected for waiters, taxi drivers and bellhops, with 15 percent considered normal. They say they hope for 20 percent, expect 10 percent, and get on average 12 percent. Pay what you think the service was worth, recognizing that it is significant part of their income, and it is customary. Tipping is optional for most other groups, such as tour bus drivers, hotel cleaning staff, a Maitre d' or front desk staff in hotels. The greater the personal contact and assistance, the greater the expectation of some sort of a tip. Obviously, if you never intend to patronize an establishment again, you can get away without tipping, if your conscience doesn't bother you.
From: Rick Blaine on 8 Nov 2007 09:14 Qanset <Qanset(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >The wife and I are planning at trip to USA/Canada in the near future. >Is it true that the Yanks are really hung up on tipping, and that >FORGETTING to tip someone is courting disaster??? The only time I've had retailiation for not tipping was in Vegas. A valet was pissed that I wouldn't tip him for lift bags out of the trunk at a hotel and passing them to another valet, so he misdirected one of the bags and it took 30 minutes to "find" it. -- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars
From: Martin D. Pay on 8 Nov 2007 13:50 On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:59:26 -0600, James Robinson <wascana(a)212.com> mangled uncounted electrons thus: >Qanset <Qanset(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >> The wife and I are planning at trip to USA/Canada in the near future. >> Is it true that the Yanks are really hung up on tipping, and that >> FORGETTING to tip someone is courting disaster??? > >Tipping in the service industry is fairly common. > >In some cases, like for waiters or people who help with baggage, their >wage scales, including legal minimum wages, are lower than for other jobs >in the expectation that they will receive a certain amount of money in >tips. The tax authorities also assume that they will be getting income >from tips and tax them accordingly. Therefore, if they don't get tips, >they will fall short on income, and could concievably be taxed on income >they never received. > >Tipping is generally expected for waiters, taxi drivers and bellhops, >with 15 percent considered normal. They say they hope for 20 percent, >expect 10 percent, and get on average 12 percent. Pay what you think the >service was worth, recognizing that it is significant part of their >income, and it is customary. > >Tipping is optional for most other groups, such as tour bus drivers, >hotel cleaning staff, a Maitre d' or front desk staff in hotels. The >greater the personal contact and assistance, the greater the expectation >of some sort of a tip. > >Obviously, if you never intend to patronize an establishment again, you >can get away without tipping, if your conscience doesn't bother you. I have a sort-of-related question... When I've traveled in the US, sometimes I've paid the whole bill and tip in cash, sometimes paid the whole bill and tip on plastic and sometimes paid the bill on plastic and left the tip on the table in cash. Is there a preferred way (preferred, that is, by the waiting staff)? I sometimes wonder how much the waitress sees of a tip that goes on the plastic and so through the establishment's books... Martin D. Pay Not sure yet when I'm going back to the US, but it doesn't hurt to ask now...
From: StephanieM on 8 Nov 2007 13:56 You know the part of the question I fail to grasp on this one is where are you coming from. The US dollar is in the tank. You have got to be benfitting from the exchange rate alone.
From: John Kulp on 8 Nov 2007 14:17
On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:50:17 +0000, Martin D. Pay <martin(a)starship-excalibur.co.uk> wrote: >I have a sort-of-related question... > >When I've traveled in the US, sometimes I've paid the whole bill >and tip in cash, sometimes paid the whole bill and tip on plastic >and sometimes paid the bill on plastic and left the tip on the >table in cash. Is there a preferred way (preferred, that is, by >the waiting staff)? I sometimes wonder how much the waitress sees >of a tip that goes on the plastic and so through the >establishment's books... This is hard to answer because you don't know what of a credit card tip the waiters will get, but, then, if you pay in cash you don't know either because they may be being watched and have to fork over the cash as well. In many place, tips are pooled and split on some ratio, which you don't know either. No set rule for this question. |