We college students have a lot on our minds, as an economic crisis burgeons, our college expenses continue to rise and no one seems to be screaming, “here’s a high paying job just for you!” We need to keep our wits and understand people have been in our place before.
I recently finished reading a book called Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity by Steve Dublanica. The book’s premise is the author wanted to comment on the many objectives Americans achieve using the tip. It has grown to become a major income force in the wages of dozens of different service sector jobs and is central to the American workforce’s annual income.
Some restaurant waitresses, waiters, bus staff, and bartenders estimate at least 40% of their total income to come from tips. That sizable chunk of income is on their minds while they assist you. Without tips it would be hard to make a living wage in many locales across the USA. A consistent patron tipping, week in and week out, can help a waitress pay off an entire cable bill, phone bill, bar tap, or other expense like a car insurance payment. That constant desire for tips by the employee translates to an anxious tipper, as perplexity and torment are bestowed upon the patron along with the bill at restaurants, coffee shops, or by street vendors serving food in Manhattan.
As patrons we have a right to feel perplexed as the tip jar has grown more ubiquitous in our society lately and our workforce’s paychecks have increasingly become dependent on tips, mostly because of the lack of income growth for our American service workers. We college students need to stand up and better understand the tipping dynamics at play in our favorite eateries, entertainment venues, and other social getaway locations.
Tipping originated as a gesture started in Europe. Aristocrats were tipping their servants and the servants of their aristocratic counterparts for services provided while visiting foreign dwellings. It originated as a showy expression in itself and a display of wealth. From its humble beginnings the aristocrats started stealing the tips from their servants.
Management in restaurants and other service sector companies have been known for stealing tips from their employees. There are several methods for the thievery, like forcing employees to bundle tips and skimming cash for themselves, stealing cash from hotel maids, and keeping wages low to force employees to make up the difference. Finally there is systematic collusion to screw over employees management doesn’t like by giving them poor tipping patrons. Bad seating areas, bad hours, or cutting servers’ hours extensively in favor of employees they can tolerate more.
As students we need to learn how to tip; tipping is a needed courtesy in these tough economic times. We should understand that our tips aren’t getting sent out of the country, but being spent right here in the USA on phone bills, bar tabs, books, school, car loans, workers’ children, and the list goes on.
Most people know how to tip in a restaurant however bartenders are no different then waitresses. Both should get a fair 15%, generally the 15% gets shared with the bus staff, and management shouldn’t receive any of it.
Hotel staff should get tips, including bellhops, who should receive one to two dollars a bag. The concierge or front desk attendants can really help make your stay hospitable, so a couple bucks and a thank you goes a long way. The same goes for the people outside hotels hailing cabs, they often know where the fun is, so ask and you shall receive, two bucks for a hailed cab is fine. When tipping maids use an envelope left on the desk labeled “for housekeeping,” and a gratuity left each day is the best practice to assure you’re tipping the person who will be cleaning the room.
A lot of Western Connecticut State U. students like casinos, but few are aware of the tipping procedures. Everyone in the casino deserves a tip; they work tough hours and don’t make a lot of money. The table game dealers should be tipped; one way to tip them is to bet your hand for their tip. When laying down your bet place a chip outside your circle so they know it’s for them, if you win, they get the tipped money plus winnings, and if you lose the house takes your bet and the tip bet. Of course if that’s not for you, you can leave a chip for them after winning a pot. If you are playing roulette consider asking the dealer what their favorite numbers are and then let them know you are betting for them. In casinos, tips get pooled and split between the staff on duty. The casino hostesses appreciate a dollar or two per drink too.
Tattoo artists are a group of people who are commonly forgotten when it comes to tipping. A tip can go a long way to make sure your body art is the best it can be. You may consider tipping up front, it never hurts to have your artist thinking what a great person I’m tattooing.
Hair stylists and barbers are commonly left out of tipping. Beauty is a big business in the USA and beauty salon tipping is one of the toughest for patrons. Consider 15%-20% of the cost of the service each worker provided as the general courteous gratuity rate. In the salon, positions that you should consider tipping include bikini waxers, leg waxers, hairdressers, shampoo girls/ assistants, colorists, blow dryers, manicurists and pedicurists. Again envelopes with cash and an itemized receipt can help you pull beauty salon tipping off smoothly.
If you’d like to know the history of tipping, who the best tippers are or how to tip strippers, deliverymen, drivers, movers, or bathroom attendants, I suggest you read, Keep the Change by Steve Dublanica.
Now that you know about tipping there should be know excuses. Tip our brothers and sisters behind the salon chair, bar counter, or in the hotel or restaurant businesses and perhaps they’ll return the karmic favor to you one day.