the sandbox guide to tipping demographics

valet parking came with my hotel room package (in chicago)...how much do i tip the dude that brings me my car tomorrow morning? and do i give it to him or the front desk (logic is that someone else parked it and they should share, or something?

If it was me, I would. I always tip more when I expect to use a service again, and would like people to think kindly of me. I realise this is a capitalist crime: using my money to get superior service, but I don't care. I tip my hairdresser well because she cuts only my hair when she is dealing with me, she doesn't flit off to talk to other clients, she doesn't stand around chatting to other hairdressers, and she gets a great cut done quickly. That earns you a big tip in my book.

One of the nice things about working in a charity shop was that people kind of gave you tips, by putting money in the collection tin on the counter. So even though the charity got the money, we all got to feel like it was our good service that was getting that little bit extra for them.

Did I miss something? Have you moved back? Or do you mean now that you live in the UK?

I did recently get completely gamed by a pizza deliveryman who seemed to refuse to understand that I wanted change from him (he did a very amusing "I no longer understand English" thing at which I point I just shrugged and let him keep it haha.)

If, tho, I'm tipping a beautician who has her hands busy with other customer (pedicure, etc) if I'm acquainted w/ someone from previous visits I put bill into apron pocket directly.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST DO NOT DO THIS. It pissed me off every time someone did it - this is not The Sands circa 1962, you are not Dean Martin. Doubly bad when it's a lousy tip.

no, it's a salon, present-day where that's the usual way you tip someone

or you can put the tip in the little envelope and give it to the person behind the desk. i don't see why you wouldn't trust them - how many times are they going to get away with 'no, s/he didn't leave a tip' when the stylist person comes asking?

But the only time I got cuts in a gen-u-ine salon I was dating a stylist and the tip was dinner.

Tonight went to happy hour with friend and we tipped as if full price on happy hour drinks and snacks. Server got $8 on $28 check.

Clearly you don't have much experience waiting on the French, Dutch, German or Brits. Oh and Canadians! They are the ones that'll sneak up on you: no strong accent--except the French-Canadians--and then at the end of the meal--BLAM! You get a credit card with the dreaded maple leaf.

I will always give each group of people consistent service because while I might suspect that a German or Black person might tip me poorly, I would only be guaranteeing that by favoring others who fit the good-tipping demographic.

Not true at all! I delivered pizza for one of the big US chains when I was in college, and found that rather than a percentage, people tend to tip a specific dollar amount. Say the order was $20, you'd most likely get $2 from it. A lot of people don't tip at all, specifically Born-Again Christians (though I now have a good collection of Chick tracts), poor whites, poor blacks, realtors, and office managers (when delivering to offices). It's different being alone with someone on their turf—they can be as rude as they'd like and there's no societal pressure on them to make themselves look good. You guys in restaurants had it easy. Five dollar tips were considered good. We would also have to pay for our own gas and car maintenance. For each delivery we took, we got $.50 for gas, which in many cases wouldn't cover the distance there and back. To make up for this , we'd try to take more than one delivery at a time, if they're both going in the same direction and ordered at the same time. Oh, and if the cook fucks up, I have to make a second delivery FOR FREE (though if you're charming, you can turn a second-trip into a $5 tip). On a typical Saturday night, I'd make ~$75 for about 30 deliveries, putting about 105 miles on my car (but it's stop-and-go driving, so I was getting the low end of my Camry's fuel economy) so minus $12 for gas. And people ordered more and tipped less in bad weather. Fight nights and Bowl games were good, though.

While my single best tip ($50 for a $12 order) came from an older black lady who lived in a rough apartment complex), the best tippers tended to be single working mothers, liberals, fat people, and former servers/drivers. Drunk/stoned people were a mixed bag. I quickly learned the bartender trick: never carry coins or any bill larger than a one (if the bill is $15, and they hand you a twenty, you're more likely to see something back if you don't give them a $5).

Also, and I've mentioned this on a previous Mickey-complaining-about-tips thread, as a delivery driver I have had my car run off the road and into a guardrail, I have been mugged at gunpoint ($65 worth of tips gone), bitten by dogs, and threatened by more people who meant it than you could imagine.

urgent tipping question: some guys are coming in an hour to clean and fix the gutters on our roof. $260 for the job. should we tip and if so how much??

― nice catch cuauhtemoc blanco niño (dayo), Tuesday, December 27, 2011 7:51 AM (32 seconds ago) Bookmark

count the leaves at the end give them a dollar for every gold leaf and take one away for every silver leaf and if the difference is more than fifty send them hang-gliding

a++

aye, it's good hang-gliding weather this time of year, it's true

Good joke, that

tipper rarely

Bring nationalism into it, that'll surely help

xp you went a long way for that one