List the job titles associated (legitimately) with tipping.

If I understand your question right, are you wondering who gets tipped well even though they are paid very well? The beauty industry – hairstylists, facialists, waxers, etc.

Cabbie’s/ drivers, strippers (if that’s your thang), hotel porters, waitresses.
Anyone who provides a service specifically for me and does a good job at it will get a tip.

Tattoo artist.

I had a 30 minute tattoo done and he charged me his minimum which was $80. I gave him an extra $40 as a tip and thank you for charging the minimum.

Valet parking attendants, movers.

Yes that is what I mean @figbash.

@KNOWITALL which ones do we tip as a habit, but really they do well enough not to need it I’m thinking postmen/women, for example.
@FutureMemory wow you must be rich.
@SuperMouse but do they get paid well enough?

@flo My postal worker gets a Christmas card with gift certs or card each year, more a show of appreciation for doing his job well I guess. There are times I will leave a small tip for poor service, but I generally never leave without at least $5 on the table, unless it was horrible service, then I usually tell them why.

Here’s what I do:

I tip people for the reason I feel people should be tipped: Going above and beyond the call of duty.

(Waiters are a different story – tipping is their entire paycheck. I always tip unless there’s a really good reason not to.)

A lot of people in service industries really do the bare minimum. If I see someone taking pride in their work and giving it a little extra, I’ll give a little extra right back at ‘em. Do I tip the person at the coffee counter every time I get a latte? No. Do I tip the girl who saw me last week and asks if I want mine white, three pumps, nonfat, no whip again? Abso-frakking-lutely.

So, I were a postman et al, I would get the message:
“If you don’t get tipped, then you are excused for not doing your job well.” They should do their job well, because just because they are getting paid, no?

By the way not all waiters are needy of tip right? Some of them work in high end restaurants and some are unionized.

@Seek_Kolinahr Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go out a lot to restaurants, so I’m no big spender…lol And my friends tease me because I always go to places where I can use a gift certificate that I get from work as part of my pay. I’m exremely tight-fisted on how I spend my money, a running joke since there’s a town here names Tightwad, MO…lol

@flo I have no idea. I can’t afford fancy restaurants, and there are no unions in Florida unless you’re a first responder or a teacher.

Some parents compete to give the most tip (not so much cash) to teachers, that is what it has come to.

Taxi drivers
Waiters
Hotel maid
Bellboy
Hair dresser and person who washed your hair at the salon

They say it is good to slide a little cash to the hotel reception people so you get a great room. I have never done it though.

Sometimes I give some extra to a person who cleans my house, trims my garden, delivers furniture, I am sure there must be others.

I’m in the US. I think it is a good idea to look at a tip book when travelling internationally.

Eating grass in a field and mooing.

I don’t go to nail salons or hair parlors or strip clubs and I don’t stay at hotels or take taxis, ever. Basically what I am saying is I don’t tip anyone except for waiters, and I tip them extremely well, unless they’re extremely shitty. I am a waitress myself and I love the job….I think all servers (and really, most professions in general) should not be doing the job unless they love what they are doing. Otherwise, it shows, and affects your experience in their restaurant, salon, taxi, whatever. I personally think tipping is a great way to make your money….for me, it makes me work harder. I am already a very friendly and hard working person, so doing a job that personally rewards me for being good at it is perfect for me. To my coworkers who hate kids, old people, and working in general, I say, good for you if you get a shitty tip. You were probably an asshole and unpleasant the whole time. You don’t deserve the money if you’re going to be like that. I will probably be a server for a long time. It’s great money, flexible, you can do it anywhere, and you always get to interact with people. I tip baristas occassionally, but often they are pretentious. One yelled at me for grabbing a chocolate patty out of the jar with my hand, he said “NEXT TIME, JUST SO YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TONGS!” And as I grabbed it, excitedly and innocently, one of the other baristas LITERALLY gasped. It was the funniest thing ever. But, I will not return to that coffee shop, ever. Snobs. This ended up being a tangent, sorry.

@flo, valet parking attendants do not make enough without tips, I am sure about movers.

@SuperMouse No matter how high end the place is?

@flo I just noticed you wrote not all waiters need tips. That is completely false in America. Unless you are in South Beach Miami where the gratuity is already on your bill.

@deni but if you happen to be in a very high end retaurant/Hotel and you find out they get paid very well, tip or not tip?

@flo All waiters are paid with the assumption they are also tipped. Their minimum is less than regular minimum, but even if they are paid more than minimum, the tip is expected.

If they were paid well enough for no tips your food would cost more, it would be built into the food price. That’s not how we do it in America. Are you not tipping waiters sometimes? It is almost like stealing. Not paying for service.

@flo my ex was a bellman valet parker at the swankiest hotel in our town and was making minimum wage.

@SuperMouse They should get paid according the swankiness of the place.

And also, waiter could do a lot more work on $20 bill than an astronomical amount of bill and yet tip is on the percentage of the bill. That makes no sense either.

I’m completely against the notion of waitstaff making less than minimum and depending on tips. It’s pretty fucked up IMO. Here I am eating dinner, paying money to this establishment and on top of that I need to feel responsible for paying the wages of my server? What if I barely have enough for my meal, now I need to feel like an asshole because I can’t afford a nice tip. It’s even worse when the waitstaff has to then split their tips they made with the bus person/bar tender.

@uberbatman Right, it is ridiculous in so many ways. It just inserts hostility for no good reason.

@uberbatman If you didn’t have to tip the food would just cost more. This way you have a little control on the cost of the dining out experience.

@flo I agree that sometimes it is out of whack to pay by percentage. I sometimes leave more than 20% if I eat something very inexpensive. I sometimes leave less than 20% if the meal is a fortune. But, never less than 17% if the service was very good. Pretty much in an expensive restaurant we are an inexpensive table anyway, because we don’t drink liquor. I also tip extra if we spend a lot of time talking after the meal.

@JLeslie Not if the owners took less for themselves. I’ve worked in food service industry since I was 14. I understand how much needs to be paid out to this and that and I understand how much the food is already marked up. There is no reason the wait staff couldn’t be paid appropriately.

I also don’t mean to imply that I myself don’t tip, I generally tip around 20% sometimes more since I know what it’s like having served for a period. I just don’t feel like I should be obligated to pay their wages.

Where there is no tipping (some countries no tipping) whatever the cost of the meal is that is the cost of the bill, there is nothing complicated about it. Waiters who have to bad mouth this customer and that customer and in some cases they chase the customer to get the tip., or start a fight. Insane, I saw it was on one of the shows (oprah?) this topic was covered, and the waiters were so aggressive, it was disgraceful.

@uberbatman I say that about most industries. If the greedy business owners, board members and C-level made a little less, then people can be paid better and the consumer can pay a more reasonable price. The whole thing is out of control in America. Not all business, but a lot of it. A lot of restaurants don’t make a fortune though, many of them struggle.

I don’t tip :P

@flo Which countries? Have you looked at their prices? Western Europe? I haven’t researched it lately, but I am betting prices are high. I know when I was in England 30 years ago I paid 6 pence for ketchup for my fries at McD’s.

In Latin America they tend to tip less, but the custom is still to tip in many of the countries. But, service people are generally not given a respectable wage in general. Haves and the have nots.

I don’t have any use for excuses. Bad behaviour, and bad system is bad behaviour and bad system.

@flo I have no problem with you wanting a different system. I do have a problem if you are in the system and hurt the wrong person. Namely in this case the wait staff.

How about ask a Q about the pros and cons of systems that utilize tipping and ones that don’t. Ask people who live in other countries what they think. What they pay for an average meal.

Where do you live?

@JLeslie Tipping was completely unheard of in Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala . When I first went down there and tipped people(what I’m accustomed to) they looked at me like I was crazy and generally gave the money back. I would however still tip from time to time for exceptional service, and that’s really how I think it should be. If you did a REALLY good job sure you should get a tip but otherwise I don’t see the point.

Why do we tip the wait staff but not the cooks? I mean really all the wait person is doing is carrying your food from point a to point b, that’s it. Yea the cook is making more hourly but it generally turns out at the end of the night since everyone has been pushed into this tipping system that the waitstaff walks away with more money than the cook. But if you’re that one person that didn’t tip that night I can guarantee that wait person will remember it(have fun next time you visit if they’re working) and will curse about you as soon as they get through those doors to the kitchen. The whole system is flawed.

@uberbatman Absolutley. Flawed.

@uberbatman In America there is actually still supposed to be a guarantee the waiter makes minimum wage, regular minimum wage. The waiter minimum and tips need to add up to the standard minimum or the restaurant needs to pay more. Or, at least that was how it used to be, I haven’t studied the laws recently.

I am pretty sure we tipped in Mexico (my husband is Mexican) but not as much. I remember once his cousin was visiting here in the US and they tipped around 10%, I threw in extra to bring up the tip. I am not sure if they were not accustomed to tipping, or if they were just tipping at the rate they would in MX.

Cooks are paid more money, because there is not an assumption they will be tipped. It’s just how the restaurant business grew up in America. Tips for the service people in the front of the house. I’m not defending it, just saying that is how it is. It depends on the restaurant whether the cook is making more than the server or vice versa.

But, when you look at countries in Latin America, wouldn’t you agree in general service people are underpaid? I’d rather live where the middle class is larger. Not that America isn’t going the direction of the third world, it is. For that matter parts of the developing world feel more and more developed.

Tipping amonts to bribing the tipee, subconciously most likely.
“I’ll pay you to pamper me at the expense of this other person.”.

@flo I don’t see how that is the case with a waiter? They are tipped at the end. Maybe you can say it about reception at a hotel, or even the host at a restaurant to get a better table.

Food service aside, I do tip my independent tree-trimmer who always underbids the job and is meticulous (I’ve also invited him to stay for dinner and bought beer after the work day because he’s pretty damned awesome and a great guitar player)

The company who offered free delivery for my new bed sent 2 men who put on paper booties at the door AND helped to rearrange the other furniture AND helped put on the bedskirt and sheets… They got $20 and cold drinks.

The guys who charged me $65 to deliver a new sofa 15 blocks and then wanted another $40 under the table to move the old one just out to the driveway… they got no bonus.

@JLeslie I worked in a gourmet restaurant in a casino and made minimum wage. Cooks do not make real good money until they move up to a lead position. So here I was preparing this lavish meal that people enjoyed and to show their gratitude for it the money went to the girl that walked it 6 feet to their table. (wait staff would often leave with upward of 200)

“But, when you look at countries in Latin America, wouldn’t you agree in general service people are underpaid?”
No, the wait staff and cooks made around the same wages.