What's Up With All The Tipping?

[babygrl1234 6]

I always tip at Coldstone Creamery but only because they sing when you tip them. At the one by my house they really get into and and the show is worth the dollar.

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

I always tip at Coldstone Creamery but only because they sing when you tip them. At the one by my house they really get into and and the show is worth the dollar.

I did that last night for the first time last night, so fun...

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

I really really hate tipping. I think it is a system that does not make a bit of sense. Waitstaff should be paid a living wage by the establishment, we should not have to support them. I work in retail and i think my job is every bit as demanding as waitstaff but i don't get tipped.

Except they get paid an average of 2.80 an hour....big difference there. And if you tick them off they can screw with your food....lol...

[JeninCO 0]

does anyone know the origin of the term "The Trots"?

[green 6]

does anyone know the origin of the term "The Trots"?

Nope, but sometimes it is called "the runs." :heh: I guess this covers the more severe cases, eh. :help: LOL

[Carlene 12]

I went thru the Starbucks Drive Thru yesterday to buy a pound of coffee, and they had a tip jar on the outside of the window. Everyone has their hand out for a tip these days, or so it seems. I have a great tip for all of them.....don't put bananas in the refrigerator. Yep....that's the only kind of tip you'll get from me, unless you actually provide exceptional service. Mediocre wait-staff get zilch, or 5-10% at best. There are actually a couple of restaurants in my area that don't allow tipping, and I have e-mailed them to say how much I appreciate their policy. Tipping is fast becoming sanctioned begging, if you ask me (although I realize no one did), and I resent that "give me more" attitude.

[nume130 0]

I guess I always tip for everything. I waitressed way back in the day, going thru school. Without those tips I wouldn't have been able to buy groceries. We shared our tips as well. Its pretty tough to try to survive without it. I'm a soft touch though.

[newlife 0]

I believe it was from having to "trot" to the outhouse when the situation occured.

[green 6]

I went thru the Starbucks Drive Thru yesterday to buy a pound of coffee, and they had a tip jar on the outside of the window. Everyone has their hand out for a tip these days, or so it seems. I have a great tip for all of them.....don't put bananas in the refrigerator. Yep....that's the only kind of tip you'll get from me, unless you actually provide exceptional service. Mediocre wait-staff get zilch, or 5-10% at best. There are actually a couple of restaurants in my area that don't allow tipping, and I have e-mailed them to say how much I appreciate their policy. Tipping is fast becoming sanctioned begging, if you ask me (although I realize no one did), and I resent that "give me more" attitude.

Now that is way over the top! Nevertheless I have come around to tossing my spare change into those jars when I am buying food and drink in cafteria-style coffee shops. This is because I suspect that those kids make mini-money and I do find that they usually do give me cheerful and thoughtful service. You see I am one of those who likes an atypical iced coffee; I want it cold but I don't want it sweet and so this means discussion and a certain amount of emphasis on my part because they tend to assume that everyone loves a sweet drink. In fact most of those iced coffees are pre-made sweet and this means that they have to build me one from scratch.

Then too, I usually eat my little cake and drink my coffee on site and that means one of them will have to collect the plate and clean the table after I have left.

A friend of mine always leaves a tip in the tip jar at her local coffee shop and this has paid off big for her. As soon as the staff see her coming they get her coffee ready for her and hand it to her even though she isn't in line. She pays, tips, and leaves. This means she doesn't waste her coffee break by standing in a line-up waiting for her turn.

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

Now that is way over the top! Nevertheless I have come around to tossing my spare change into those jars when I am buying food and drink in cafteria-style coffee shops. This is because I suspect that those kids make mini-money and I do find that they usually do give me cheerful and thoughtful service. You see I am one of those who likes an atypical iced coffee; I want it cold but I don't want it sweet and so this means discussion and a certain amount of emphasis on my part because they tend to assume that everyone loves a sweet drink. In fact most of those iced coffees are pre-made sweet and this means that they have to build me one from scratch.

Then too, I usually eat my little cake and drink my coffee on site and that means one of them will have to collect the plate and clean the table after I have left.

A friend of mine always leaves a tip in the tip jar at her local coffee shop and this has paid off big for her. As soon as the staff see her coming they get her coffee ready for her and hand it to her even though she isn't in line. She pays, tips, and leaves. This means she doesn't waste her coffee break by standing in a line-up waiting for her turn.

I do the same thing here at my favorite coffee place. I get iced coffee and I am very particular about how it is made. I always tip, and now my favorite girl makes it for me. I have even seen her do it for me off the clock because she knows that I have to have it a very certain way. Tipping can get you much better customer service!

[JOYCE13 0]

Starting the week after Thanksgiving all the restaurants put up a "MONEY TREE" thier idea of a Christmas tree. Everybody who works there will show you the tree, and ask you if you have a tip to put on it. There is one place I go to for coffee everyday, and they will ask everyday. They don't want dollars, just tens or twentys. This year they were doing sooo much begging that they left it up two weeks into January.

I never give money for the tree.

[green 6]

I sure have a hard time with beggars and with begging. My parents came from Europe and survived the Second World War. My mother came from minor Scottish aristocracy and this was a culture where any discussion of money was considered to be dreadfully vulgar. My father was a Polish Jew who ran away from Poland in 1937 and made his way through pre-war Europe on his wits. He was lucky in that he eventually washed up in England. He was luckier still that he eventually hooked up with my mother. They chose to come to Canada because they were aware that their marriage would not stand a chance in class and race conscious Britain. Their life in Toronto was fairly difficult but they ended up doing well in their new home.

We children were raised in an environment where we were expected to make our own way. What our parents contributed to us was unlimited access to education, something which they viewed as a tool. We were never given cars, designer clothes, or anthing of that nature. And we were shot down whenever we asked for this stuff. In many ways this was terribly humiliating for us as children for we saw our peers living much better than we did.

At the same time, all three of us sibs grew up to live financially solid lives. None of us had debt load, all of us owned property, and we all had additional investments, ones which could carry us through a rainy day. Still, I carry emotional wounds from being forced to live poor when my family was living in an upper middle class milieu. I still hurt from being forced to wear geeky loser clothes when all the other girls were wearing cute trendy gear.

When it comes to those who are asking for tips or who begging for money in such a crass and irritating fashion, I find myself thrust into an array of complicated emotions. There is a part of me that says that it is vulgar to ask for money and that if you want money you should work for it. This is what I have been taught by my European parents.

There is another part of me that says that these are hard-working individuals who are working in low paying service jobs and that these people are as desireous of and are in as much need of money as any corporate lawyer or plastic surgeon. They simply can't raise it as easily or as gracefully and so they must resort to tacky reminders that their services are also not without value.

[Carlene 12]

I completely forgot about the fee-to-pee in Paris. It's like that in Italy too. We had just landed in Italy and had to pee like mad! We had no Italian money though and the lines for currency exchange were horrible. I almost peed myself.

Amy

Pay toilets used to be very common in the USA. Airports had pay toilets, as did many department stores, etc. Someone filed a civil rights suit (the right to pee freely?) and thereafter, at least one stall had to be available gratis. That kind of killed the pay toilet business, so now they are totally a thing of the past.

[green 6]

Pay toilets used to be very common in the USA. Airports had pay toilets, as did many department stores, etc. Someone filed a civil rights suit (the right to pee freely?) and thereafter, at least one stall had to be available gratis. That kind of killed the pay toilet business, so now they are totally a thing of the past.

Wow! Your post just reminded me that we had coin-operated toilets in all the department stores, etc in Toronto when I was a kid but everyone would hold the door open for the next person as they exited the cubicle which totally defeated the greedy pee merchants. Now we can all pee for free. Yippee!

[BJean 16]

Those tip jars make me very uncomfortable. Especially when I am essentially waiting on myself by standing in line to order and sometimes then again to pay at the register.

The first time I came in contact with the tip jar near a register was in Montreal. They were everywhere! I was not a native and I wasn't sure what would happen if I didn't tip. I didn't know if everyone USUALLY tipped or if it was simply something discretionery for them doing something extra for you.

Starbucks was the first in my area to put out the tip jar. That was pretty shocking to me because I knew they were making (at that time anyway) minimum wage - not the $2.10 that most waiters were making. Plus, I was paying a whole lot more for a cup of coffee than at any other restaurant or bistro, and I was essentially waiting on myself. Then to add insult to injury, when they opened all their drive-thrus, here came the tip cup out on the ledge. Amazing!! I'm still conflicted, but I've become used to it and now if I get back change, I toss the change in the jar. Very seldom is the same person at the window so it doesn't matter that I like my coffee a certain way - I get it however the barista makes it on that particular day. When they burn it, I always regret the tip I left.

In restaurants, I'm so used to my husband taking care of the bill, I feel awkward paying the bill. I have been known to grossly undertip, accidentally, and I've been known to way over tip, also accidentally. I've noticed that when the attractive waitress is especially attentive to my husband, he is a really big tipper. I feel pretty ignored sometimes by these little lovelies. So when we get a gorgeous young strapping hansome stud waiting on us, I usually manage to get a little conversation going with him. (I always need help with the choices on the menu, etc.) The DH finally gets it.

When I'm out with the girls, the wealthiest women are the worst tippers, without fail!!! The ones who have been waitstaff, are great tippers. There has been so much media attention about how certain people are good or bad tippers, I always make certain that as women, we leave a good tip.

This is one more place where the rules were bent to suit the businesses and we get the shaft. Tips used to be to reward good service.

How do you all feel about tipping your hairdresser, Shampoo person, etc.? Does it make a difference if she/he owns the salon? When you pay mega bucks to get your hair done, it seems ridiculous to add on a tip, especially if the hairdresser is the owner, but I'm probably out of step on this. I do go ahead and tip, but I often do not tip 20%. On a bill of $250, for instance, I usually tip $20. So far, no one has made my hair purple, but I may have just been lucky.