Do you tip someone like the cable guy, when they come to your home to do what needs to be done?

I have but only when they go above and beyond the original work order like run a connection to another location. The last cable girl hooked up our lake house and there is a massive TV antenna on the roof and I asked if she could run a line from it into the house for those times the cable might go out.. She did. Took her an extra hour and I gave her a real nice tip!

I do not tip.
@Cruiser
did you wash it first?

No, and I’ve never heard of tipping skilled labor. I tip service staff in restaurants and hotels, redcaps in airports and cabbies. As a nurse, a carpenter, a merchant marine, a courier and a cook I never got tipped and never expected to. As a nurse and merchant marine, I would have been insulted.

@Espiritus_Corvus: you don’t consider cable repair/installation a service?

I consider it labor at an hourly wage that enables the person to not rely on tips, which isn’t the case with waiting staff and the others I mentioned. When I was a waiter, I made $1.15 per hour on the clock when carpenters and the like were making $5.00 per hour. The discrepancy is even greater today.

In my opinion, Cruiser was rightfully paying the cable guy for labor off the clock—labor he might not be compensated for by his company—not giving him a gratuity. There is a huge difference.

I would not.
It just doesn’t occur to me to tip someone for doing their job. I mean, if they’re hourly and they stay longer, then they’re getting paid longer.
If they installed a router or the weather was particularly crappy, I might think about it, but not otherwise.

I do not consider cable installation/repair a service. They are enabling their employer to charge you for a service. When you pay your bill, you’re essentially paying their wage.

Depends. If they are there to fix something that is broken, I do not tip. If they’re there to install a new service that I will be paying for, I do not tip.

On the other hand, if they do something extra – putting in a new wire that wasn’t expected, going onto the roof to do me a favor in the installation, then yes.

I had an independent contractor fix my AC a couple of years ago, and he went above an beyond. He asked $225, I paid him $250, cash, and sent him on his way.

Last time when I left the $20 for the cable guy, in advance in anticipation of him and as encouragement for him doing a good job, he gave me some ultra-incredible cable thing. It’s like the hi-def cable wire, as opposed to the run of the mill cable wire. He said never tell any future cable people that he gave it to me.

I agree with @ibstubro that they’re getting paid hourly, so I don’t see the logic of paying them like they’re working off the clock, if they do something extra. I see it more as encouragement for going above and beyond.

I’m referring to why I paid tip to them in the past. I am not arguing, as I asked because I am totally open to reversing my previous tipping behavior and not tipping the guy today.

I don’t think I have ever tipped the cable guy, but I have had so many bad cable people it’s incredible. Probably I should tip them when they are competent.

I just gave a $50 tip to the guy who installed my tile backsplash in my kitchen I probably should have given him half that, but the job was more difficult than I think he anticipated and he was here 10 hours. He was paid for the job by the person who “hired” him, not hourly.

I also always tip movers; they are paid hourly.

I tip the maid at the hotels, they are paid hourly. In fact, my husband is staying at Residence Inn for a couple of months, and he was telling me a couple of the people we met there were checking out this week and they gave the maid, the breakfast people, the dinner person, each gift cards. My husband was telling me I guess to let me know that maybe we should do the same. I would rather just give them cash. As far as the maid I think he should leave money when they clean the room. A dollar or two here and there, rather than $25 at the end.

Not unless they’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty.

I’ve tipped workers who got the job done a few days ahead of schedule, and the tow truck guy who had to go back and get a different truck because my rear wheels wouldn’t turn. Stuff like that.

No, that is their job.

No, but I do offer cold drinks, soda, ice water, etc. and am very friendly.
Because I am so charming and humorous people naturally like me and while it is not a manipulative ploy, just my nature, it also works and I get good service.

No. Tipping has gotten out of control. Lots of countries just don’t do it.

^^The countries that don’t do it have minimum wages much higher than the US.

The people who gave nice tips at my husband’s hotel, they are all Latin American.

I’ll offer a bottle of water or a soda. Furniture delivery guys, if they’re really nice might get $10–20

No, I don’t tip when I am paying for the service anyway. Our cable charges a pretty steep price for extra service and installs, and the cable companies rationale is they are paying a contract employee.

I’ll tip furniture delivery men but not employees of a service company or contractors.

Thinking about it, I did tip the window cleaners who came from a small local business a few weeks ago. They did an excellent job. There’s a line somewhere. I would never tip an employee of a utility company.

@Coloma

“No, but I do offer cold drinks, soda, ice water, etc. and am very friendly.”

Do you ever treat them to your herbally-enhanced brownies?
I once “tipped” my plumber with a hit of some fine bud.

I rarely tip ever. But it’s not really in the uk culture. However, like @Coloma I do chat and offer tea and coffee with a smile and find I get good service

Update from The Update Lady: I didn’t tip them. It was two guys- the cable guy and his supervisor. I was thinking about this thread, thinking about what they did, and thinking about how I’m a single mother and if I don’t have to, then why do it. I have a friend who does AC, refrigeration and heating calls and I asked him, and he said no. He said when he does get a tip, it’s usually not more than $10, so if I did feel compelled to tip them, $10 total is what I should give.

@Brian1946 Oh yes, I used to treat my old gardener buddy to beers in the garage fridge and a little smokum’ the peace pipe. He adored me, and went above and beyond in keeping my little zone super neat and tidy.

@JLeslie Most of the time gratuity is already added into the price you’re paying anyway. So people are getting paid their wage + gratuity + the tip you leave.

No matter which way you look at it.. the cable guy doesn’t fit into the tipping equation for me. I’ve never heard of something crazy like that before.

Like I said, I don’t usually tip the cable guy. I work for a general contractor, and some guys get paid pretty crappy. Depends on the work.

If someone is paid to come to my house to enable me to pay for a good or service, I’m not going to tip them. Phone, cable, TV… installers in general are not going to get tipped. If I asked for something over-and-above and they did it for me, I might.

I agree that you were under no obligation to tip.

Nope, it’s their job, and they get paid a decent hourly wage for it. I only tip those who rely on tips.