tipping

[Lori]

Yup. I'm not complaing about it. In my case, it's significantly overkill...but  oh well.  So I won't be tipping.

 I'll have the digital camera ready to capture this. It's not everday a crane comes to my house to deliver my tub.  It's should be pretty cool and get the nieghbors talking
 

Drewstar,

I was the talk of the neighborhood for awhile after my crane delivery!  It is an awesome (and scary) sight to see your tub dangling over your house!  My hubby couldn't watch!  He kept himself busy talking to our neighbors and telling them what a nice guy he was for letting me get a tub!!!

Pictures are a great idea!  I took lots of them, myself!!

[J._McD]

Lori, I know the feeling.  I stood next to the homeowner as we were craning a rather large spa over the house.  She turned to me with a very worried look on her face and was asking exactly what was going through my mind at the time; what if it slips out of the straps or if they should break.  Trying to remain calm myself when asked about the possibilities, I simply told her, we charge more for inside deliveries.  

I certainly lightened the anxiety levels at the time, but it goes through everybody's mind at the time.

[drewstar]

Thanks guys.    I hadn't even thought of the tub slipping from the crane and crashing through my roof!  st one more thing to drive me crazy during this whole adventure  

[drewstar]

and I can see that we've gone from "tipping the delivery crew" to "Tipping the spa off the crane"

Thread title is appropriate for either subject  

[Spatech_tuo]

and I can see that we've gone from "tipping the delivery crew" to "Tipping the spa off the crane"

Thread title is appropriate for either subject  

Speaking of which, I love the scene in Tommy Boy where they go cow tipping.

[Brewman]

Someone asked me to go spa tipping one night, but I didn't fall for it becase I saw Tommy Boy.  
Excellent flick, btw.
Brewman

[Bosmani]

This tipping thing really makes me boil !! Its an american habit and every time I go over there (often) I am amazed that tipping is expected and indeed I have been verbally abused for not tipping because I didn't think the service i received  was good enough ! "We need tips to make up our wages" the waitress moaned. Get a life, argue for a decent wage and leave the punter alone. I order, eat, pay, tip if the service was exceptional, (not because it is expected) and leave. When you ask what is the norm for tipping I,m told 10% on alcohol and 15% on food. You want me to spend a quarter of my hard earned holiday money on tips ? I don.t think so !! At home its not expected but if you feel someone has put themselves out to be helpful or has been exceptional in  the manner they attended you then you consider a tip. I cruised recently out of Miami and was mugged for tips at the end of the cruise when envelopes were left dictating the amount to be paid. Some of your resturants add the tip to the credit card before asking for signature-----This is unacceptable behaviour when someone assumes the service was good and dictates the rate of tip. Not to me they dont !! Tips are a bonus, not an expectation, sort out a decent wage and then give 25% of it away if thats the way you feel...........But I do love your country and the friends I have there.  

[Spatech_tuo]

When you ask what is the norm for tipping I,m told 10% on alcohol and 15% on food. You want me to spend a quarter of my hard earned holiday money on tips ? I don.t think so !!  

You wouldn't actually add the 10% for alcohol to the 15% for food in this situation so we wouldn't expect you to spend 1/4 of your hard earned money overall, more like 12.5% (if the cost of the alcohol and the food were equal).

Tipping may be more of an American thing but then again, you were here in America when you had to deal with it!! If I traveled to XXXXland I would expect that I would have to adjust to their customs, even if they felt out of place in my mind.

[Anglia67]

all the little birdies sing CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP

[bob5820]

all the little birdies sing CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP

Awsome 1st post. Looking forward to more

[cappykat]

Ditto Anglia67...great post!  LOL!!

[Bosmani]

There is no doubt that money gets people excited. Earning it, spending it, sometimes saving it sets pulses racing. Frustrations with banks and credit card issuers get us worked up too. But our greatest everyday finance bugbear is reserved for relatively small amounts of money, also known as tips.

The British are not very good at tipping. It can make us feel awkward and unsure. Many of us don't have the confidence of our American cousins when it comes to complaining and witholding cash following poor service. We are also conscious of 'not making a scene' when dining with business contacts and loved ones. We are better than we used to be. But it doesn't help that there is no standard gratuity system in the UK.

Sometimes a bill has no extra charges beyond your food and drink and any gratuity is genuinely left to your discretion. Usually there is a service charge - typically 12.5% - included in the total. If you're really lucky, you can enjoy everyone's favourite add-on: the cover charge. Surely if I had wanted a couple of packets of stale breadsticks, I would have ordered them? Charging a customer for something they did not order - whether they eat it or not - is a rip-off.

In many countries, service is included in the price of your meal and the staff share receipts. Any cash tip on top of that is either a cultural expectation, as in the US (check out bitterwaitress.com unless you're faint-hearted), or an unusual bonus, as in France. The dogs dinner that is our gratuity system prompted the Earl of Bradford, owner of Porters English Restaurant in London, to attempt to get a Bill through the Lords to abolish the hidden service charge in 1996. It failed due to lack of government support but his idea for reform would be along lines of the French system - to enforce a mandatory, uniform service charge across the board, with the knowledge that you shouldn't tip any more on top, unless you're particularly delighted. Or drunk.

Of course the intriguing thing about service charges as a percentage of the bill is that it takes a waiter no more effort to open a £20 bottle of wine than £60 bottle. But you will pay him three times as much in service cost for the privilege.

That said, your waiter is not to blame for the fact that restaurants get away with being the most stingy employers around. Waiting staff are paid what amounts to a nominal salary because it is 'accepted' that they will make up their income through service charges and tips. Some years ago when I was a student, I had a part time job as a waitress. It was non-stop hard work but provided me with valuable insights now I am on the other side of the menu. The restaurant paid us £15 for a six to eight-hour shift. This measly amount was dwarfed by the £60-£100 I made from shared tips per night. The same is true today of almost all restaurants across the country. Until this employment anomaly is rectified, there is little hope of us having a clearer or fairer gratuity system.

Double cream

The red mist really does start to descend when the 'open' credit card slip is presented. This happens in as many as one in five restaurants where the service charge is included in the bill but you are given the chance to add more money when you sign the payment slip. It seems that nothing annoys us more. The idea that you are invited to pay more gets peoples' backs up but cynics believe that when you are perhaps trying to pay discreetly, are a little tipsy or are thinking about collecting your coat and getting a cab (or all of the above) the 'open' credit card slip suggests that service was not included after all and so encourages diners to, erroneously, tip twice.
Richard Shepherd, the owner of Shepherd's and Langan's in London, defends the practice. 'I've done both systems in my time: left the credit-card slip closed and left it open. When I used to leave it closed, so many people were up in arms, saying, 'I wanted to add on a few quid.' If the bill's £48, they want to round it up to £50, even though they know service is included. They really hate paying with a card and then having to pay cash separately.'
There is also the mystery surrounding whether or not the waiter gets the tip if it is added to the bill. Apparently, this is down to the way that the Inland Revenue taxed restaurants. Any tip added to a credit card slip was subject to national insurance. The rules have now changed and restaurants can deduct the gratuity before processing the rest of the payment.

As the law stands, you are within your rights to remove a service charge that has been automatically included in your bill. I don't know whether it's my waitress experience but I am very happy to tip on top of a service charge if my table has been very well looked after. And no, I cannot claim it on expenses. Equally, as a feisty hackette, I have no qualms about quietly and politely raising issues and once refused to pay service charge after an appalling experience.

If in doubt, take a tip from Groucho Marx in A Night At The Opera: 'Do they allow tipping on the boat?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Have you got two fives?' 'Oh, yes, sir.' 'Then you won't need the ten cents I was going to give you.'

[drewstar]

Tipping is expected in the US.  If you travel to the States you should make allowences for that exspense in your budget.  

The fact is, Wait staff in the US get paid below the legal minimum wage.  You may not like it, or agree with it, but its a fact, and a law.

The price of your meal reflects this.

On the upside of things, the amount you leave for a tip is at your discretion.

An annoying trend I've noticed is the wait staff calculating what the "Suggested" tip should be and writting it in on the bill.  (This is usually only done on dinner parties larger the 6 people but lately, at some of the more trendy spots they do it for all the tabs, regardless of party size).   When the wait staff calculates the tip for me, I make it a deliberate point to leave less than what was calculated, and leave a note  that  I don't appreciate it.  The thing is, I usually leave 20%.  They write in 18%,  and I'll leave 10%.

Sorry.

The point is....well I have no point.

[TTyacke]

I had two delivery guys make a special trip out on the weekend, they did a great job, with my help, were helpful with the setup, installed the coverlifter, and were not part of the company that sold me the tub, so I tipped them $50.  Small change compared to the overall cost IMHO.

[Ronnie526]

"Tip on Tipping?" .... When an appliance or furniture is delivered to my house I greet the guys as they are getting out of the truck & tip them ("usually $10 apiece")THEN .... BEFORE they begin & just say "I want to buy you guys lunch".  Well worth the $20 or so to promote a healthy attitude & they always seem to go the "extra mile"