Tipping - Let's talk about it

Yes I think tipping is becoming excessive.

I tip for:
- great service at a sit down resteraunt
- valet so my car is safe
-services like massages, hair stylist, nails
-housekeeps at a nice hotel that go above and beyond of just taking the trash out
-bartenders who I order at a bar
-taxis, Ubers, etc

Just this morning I went to get a car wash -- I am a monthly member and it's a drive through car wash, so no one actually touches my car. When you pull up to the drive through, you put you member number in and an electronic arm rises and you just drive through. Today, after I entered my member number, it asked if I would like to tip 15, 20, or 30%. WTF. Yes, there are workers in the booth thing, overlooking the members as they enter their member number. But they aren't doing anything to *help* me. So no. No tip for them and it irritates me so much that they have started asking.

I dont have a housekeeper for my home currently, but I do have weekly landscaping crews that come. I only tip them at Christmas.

I’m thankful I live in the UK and don’t have to worry about it like you guys do!

I live in California. I think tipping is stupid here, we don't have the type of employment environment that tipping culture evolved from. While I tip for all of the traditional, expected services I see tips creeping around places that they never used to be expected at and I don't feel bad about not handing them out at those places.

I tip at sit down restaurants (even though they make at least minimum wage in Washington which is $15/hr I don't need anyone spitting in my food), for haircuts, and hotels (not that it's expected, but it's a gross job.)

I don't tip at fast food restaurants, the bowling alley for the person handing me my shoes, or any sort of job where the person doesn't leave the counter to hand me something.

I don't use valets, have food delivered, or use taxis/Uber.  

Yes, tipping is stupid.

I give my hairdresser £5 each time - I know she’ll make space for me if I need it anytime and if I go to the beauty salon I’ll give my therapist something too but the idea of having to tip every delivery driver and all the other things that get mentioned here seems crazy to me.

I would prefer everyone get paid a living wage - which minimum wage is not - and dispense with tipping. But that’s not reality in the US and won’t be in the foreseeable future.

My personal choice is to tip generously and widely. I tip pretty much anyone who’s providing me a service and at all food service establishments. What they are doing makes my life easier/better in some ways, so I tip. People in those jobs often get treated poorly and I’m happy to be able to show them a little appreciation to offset that a bit.

The broader tipping is totally an individual choice and I completely understand why a lot of people don’t do it. What I don’t understand and frankly think is rude, is when people don’t tip in traditional tip situations because they’re “tired of tipping.” Sit down restaurants, hair salons - tipping is expected unless there is a service fiasco. If you can’t or won’t, don’t patronize businesses where tipping is the established norm.

Tipping is getting stupid. It might backfire sooner or later and no one will get good tips because we are broke tipping every person out there.

- Sit down restaurants - depending on service.
- Hairdresser
- Pizza/food delivery
- I don't normally use valets or uber/taxi but would tip
- Curbside luggage at airport (skycaps)

Starbucks only if I am paying in cash and it is change back, I'll throw it in the bucket thing. Otherwise I usually pay with my app and no tip
Places like Qdoba, Chipotle, Crumbl I feel like I shouldn't have to tip but I will leave a little bit.

If I get bad service no tip, sorry. If it is beyond the server doing, I don't punish that person. I will leave extra with very good service. One year on Mother's Day, my kids took me out to Macaroni Grill. We had the BEST waiter I have ever had in my life. Including very upscale places. He was ON POINT. My kids paid for the meal and left a great tip and I paid him out of my pocket another $20. I think he almost had a 60% tip. I even did the mom thing and told the manager how good our service was.

The only people I know who like tipping are people who enjoy the sense of control they feel with it. And I don’t know many of those people.

Social customs change over time and if a service becomes generally a tip service, that’s the way it goes. We should do a better job of ensuring that all workers can afford rent, food, and health care, but here we are instead.

I tip for jobs that do not earn minimum wage always. Even when service isn't perfect as long as I can tell someone is trying.

I tip for a personal service to my body.

I tip at Sonic when they have to bring it out to my vehicle.

I tip when someone drives me somewhere safely.

I tipped the veteran who drove us to our vehicle from the airport and grabbed my luggage and didn't want me to carry it down the stairs.

I tip when we go out of the US and a majority of the people working rely on tips.

I will tip for excursions where someone is clearly working hard to make me happy or comfortable. For me, on vacation, I do tip more than when I am at home doing my thing.

I was running around getting Easter basket items today and there were several tip jars that I happily walked past and several credit card statements that asked if I wanted to tip. No to them. If you are working in an air-conditioned/heated building earning at least minimum wage and are just doing your job, then no, I usually do not tip.

I think tipping has gotten out of control, but I don't let it bother me. I just don't do it if I don't want to.

Please read to the end before you judge me.

I tip ONLY in sit down restaurants. I never tip for carry out. I do not tip housekeepers in hotels. I no longer tip for a drink in a bar. I do not think I have to tip to supplement someones income.

I was a Registered Nurse for 38 years and retired four years ago. I worked hard and paid all my own licensing and continuing education. I made well over the minimum wage but I did not get rich. My work was rewarding but I did some pretty "miserable" things and many of those things involved some very "personal" contact with people. I have been hit, kicked, spit on, vomited on, cussed at, physically hurt, and had virtually every body excrement on me. No one tips. Years ago, patients or their family would sometimes leave a box of Russell Stover candy or something similar but not often.

A year before I retired, one of my friends let it slip how much she made the night before as a bartender at a local function. She made more money in a five hour shift than I had made in my ten hour shift the day before. ALL her money was cash and she was proud that she claimed none of it for tax purposes. She also was getting a giant ACA subsidy because her income was "so low." This was the end of my tipping bartenders.

Two years ago, my hairdresser bought a condo in an area where I could not afford to look. I told her (while she was charging me $60 for a haircut that took no longer than 15 minutes) that I loved that area but it was a little higher priced than I could swing. She proudly told me that COVID literally doubled her tips and now she could afford a better place. I tipped that day but never did again. I recently found another hairdresser but I won't ever tip again.

I rarely go to a hotel but the last time I did there was no housekeeping service at all. We were told to call if we needed anything. After two nights, we were out of towels. I called and was told if I wanted towels I would need to come to the desk and get them. Somehow, they found my room overnight when we were checking out the next morning. An envelope was slipped under our door for our "service gratuity" I took the envelope with me and left nothing.

Tipping is completely out of control and I suspect more people than me are frustrated with this guilt tipping culture.

Yes I think that tipping in the US is excessive and ridiculous. But.... not my circus, not my monkeys money.

One thing I'm curious about..... How much are y'all paying for things like haircuts and massages? Because I pay $220 for my bi-monthly hair cut and colour, and a massage would cost around $80 for a one hour massage. That's way more than enough as far as I am concerned. It's a hell of a lot more than I am paid per hour! 

Maybe I'm only thinking about it in terms of supplementing their salary? So, if I think about tipping for good service, I guess my "tip" for good service is that they will get my repeat business. I have been going to the same hairdresser for close to 30 years. I have never once tipped her. In fact, there have been a couple of times that she has "tipped" me (in the form of a discount). 

Sometimes we may leave a small tip at a restaurant. Usually it's just a round up to the nearest $10. So if the meal comes to $124, we might round it up to $130. But that's the exception rather than the rule.

Of course. I actually meant to put that disclaimer in my post. There are products and overheads for her to pay (she is the business owner). But still. Even if she's only getting half that, it's still a decent hourly rate. 

I have a friend whose hairdresser work from her own house, so her overheads are a lot less. My friend pays a bit less than I do, but it's still in the vicinity of $170.

Oooops, I hit post too soon on my previous post! I have added the rest of what I wanted to say.