Tipping

I have not tipped supermarket drivers but not against idea. I do tip food delivery guys, nail bar, etc
Yes, on minimum wage but in SWLondon that's almost a joke - insulting at the very least. Everything here is more expensive than elsewhere. Years ago when I moved from Midlands my rent trebled.
I do understand when individuals are on low income they don't feel like paying extra and that's fine but for the comfortably off it's good - imho - to be generous.

Yes, there have been lots of threads regarding tipping.

I am always amazed at how many people say they don't tip anybody. We tip virtually everybody - window cleaner (working for a company), restaurant staff, dustmen (at Christmas), hotel cleaners, taxi drivers, delivery drivers, coach drivers, etc. etc. Most of these people are not terribly well paid. Of course it is a crazy system because their employers should pay better but as they generally don't I don't begrudge giving a tip (unless someone is out and out rude or incompetent).

I agree that people on a tight budget should not be expected to, or feel bad about, not giving tips.

Supermarket delivery drivers are in breach of contract if they accept a tip, and can be sacked from their job if reported or discovered accepting gratuities from customers

I tip my hairdresser £2 after a shampoo and cut that costs me only £20. My hairdresser is very good and her charges (until recently it was only £18) are very reasonable I think.

You tip virtually everybody Eloethan ? do you tip the nurse at A and E or the paramedic that got you there or the hospital cleaner, do you tip the shop assistant that goes to the back room to get you umpteen pairs of shoes to try on what about the bus driver that gets you to your destination safely or the street cleaner (I bet he’s on minimum wages) what about the life guards at the local pool checking your grandkids are safe I could go on and on
You say you are amazed at non tippers well I m amazed at tippers it’s a very unfair way of saying thank you and screams of ’umble servant, tipping forelock, thankee sir
No one has yet answered why they tip some ‘servants’ and not others unless of course it’s just tradition and you follow blindly, dustman yes, street cleaners no, waiters yes, cooks no, hairdressers yes, shop assistant no the valet that cleans your car but not the engineer that mends it
By saying people who are on a low budget don’t need to tip underlines the class system even more

I’m a tipper and don’t see myself as patronising the people I tip every time, eg waiter, hair stylist. I give our window cleaner a Christmas tip. The young men who trim various trees and shrubs once a year get enough to buy a bacon butty and a cuppa at the cafe down the road. My hair stylist could charge more and I always add £5 ‘to,put in your tea fund’.
In many poorer areas of The world, those working in the tourist industry earn next to nothing, so in effect work for tips. If I can afford to go there, I can afford to tip well.

In the many poorer areas of the world those working in the tourist industry earn next to nothing so in effect work for tips if I can afford to go there I can afford to tip as well

So give to the local hospital, school, orphanage, street kids, the family with no home ... the worker ( servant) is already rich compared to them

So I guess if you were on a cruise you’d be one of those who queues up to have the tip element removed from your final bill, BlueBelle, just because it isn’t fair (and nothing to do with being a cheapskate)? I’d assume the local hospital, orphanage etc get a share of any aid given by richer countries or charities. If not, it’s hardly something your average tourist could put right.

I don’t think anyone here’s saying they tip instead of giving to charity.

I understand what you’re saying about charity maggiemaybe but maybe the average tourist going to a very poor country should think about that more surely it’s better to give to a beggar or a homeless person than a worker who is rich in comparison
In answer to your first question I have never been on a cruise and wont ever need to go on one, so no I won’t be queuing with anyone, I can’t imagine what that’s about, do tell me ? Do you mean you spend thousands on a cruise then start tipping people on top? That sounds so strange

It’s not the generosity I m against it’s the crass unfairness of giving to one and not another and I d be really interested if someone would enlighten me as to why you would tip a waitress but not the person run off their feet in a fast food outlet Just out if interested where doesthat come from if not the class system of old days
Why is a nurse worth less than a hairdresser ??? Just asking

If you prefer not to tip BlueBelle, that's fine. I can see your reasoning.

I think if you asked people on low wages if they would prefer not to be tipped, they would be unlikely to say yes. They may well prefer to be paid properly by their employers - and I would prefer that too even if it meant the cost of the service increasing - but that probably isn't going to happen.

So far as restaurants are concerned, many of the ones we go to pool tips and share them equally, including amongst kitchen staff.

Of course, nurses and other emergency workers and any number of other people should also be paid properly but many of them have proper contracts and set working hours, and those with a professional or other training behind them have valuable transferable skills. Low paid workers are often semi or unskilled and are at the mercy of unscrupulous employers because their employment options are limited. The minimum wage is ridiculously low and those living on it are really struggling - in big cities even the "living wage" is totally inadequate.

When we lived in the north west and I worked for a local solicitor I was paid very poorly. However, I did not resent giving people a tip. I don't understand this "I don't/didn't benefit from something so why should someone else" attitude.

And whilst this unfair tipping system is perpetuated nothing will change with the wage structure.

The system on many (most?) cruises, BlueBelle, is that a set percentage, or a set amount per day, is added to your final bill for tips which are shared amongst all staff, frontline or backstage. Cruise ship workers are usually very poorly paid and rely on these tips, yet some choose not to pay. I guess if this system didn’t exist and pay was decent the upfront cruise price would just be increased, which I’m sure many would prefer. But that’s the way it usually works now, and I for one wouldn’t have the ship’s hard workers go without just because others in the Philippines or wherever are even worse off (or to save myself a few bob).

I do agree with you though that the whole tipping tradition is outmoded, and I’d like to see an end to it. It’d be so much better if workers were just paid properly across the board. But I don’t see it as patronising, more as a thank you for a service. I’ve never worked in a job where I was tipped, but my DC have when younger. One massive, demanding family party at the gastro pub where one DD waitressed was very well looked after by the staff for a couple of hours or so, then left 2p on the table, amongst the huge mess that had to be cleared. Now that’s patronising, and so much worse than leaving nothing at all! ?

I don't tip.As I never have the same driver twice from Tesco none of them get a tip or a present at Christmas. My hairdresser would be mortified if I offered him a tip. He does get something for his wife and himself at Christmas.

Bluebelle, my comments were about workers in the leisure industry in countries where the reality is the work for tips. What makes you assume I don’t also give to charities in those countries? Don’t tip my if you prefer not to but try not to patronise those of us who do.

When my D lived in Antigua it was the custom in shops for a young girl/ boy to pack your bags and carry them to your car, the tip you gave them was the only pay they received, no tip, no wage.
That really is exploitation.

I tip and can assure you Blubell it has nothing to do with "umble servant, tipping forelock, thankee sir" which TBH I find rather offensive just as offensive I'm sure, if someone were to accuse you of being tight for not tipping, whatever the reason.

I tip as a sign of appreciation for good service and not for a sense of superiority.

I don't tip at all, simply because I feel that while people continue to tip, employers will continue to pay shirt buttons, expecting their employee's to make up their wages in tips, a crafty way of keeping their costs down, and putting OURS up!

I wish I thought that stopping tipping would put up wages but I really don’t

Not on its own maryeliza there needs to be a sea change. I don't expect it will happen any time soon but I would have thought some workers would feel unhappy at relying on this system to make up their wages. Obviously it's not in the interests of employers to see an end to tipping.

Totally take your point Smileless just please please as a tipper explain to me why the bus driver gives less of a service than the taxi driver, the nurse needs less appreciation than the hairdresser the shop assistant less than the delivery driver the fast food server less than the waiter
Just to put the point straight I m a very generous soul to friends family charities home and away anyone down on their luck but not to people who are being paid to do what ever they do and certainly not in dividing the work force into those that get and those that don’t I find that so unbelievable and whilst I wasn’t trying to suggest you were giving in a superior way that’s exactly how it all started with the rich helping the ‘poor humble servants ‘

Hear hear bluebelle

I totally agree with BlueBelle. There is no sense in it, such an antiquated system.

My son is a paramedic on fairly low pay. He does 12 hour shifts on unsocial hours, it can be full on and pretty stressful. If he gets a call right near the end of a shift, he could easily have to do an extra hour or more unpaid.

How is he different from a postman or a supermarket delivery driver?

I wasn't suggesting that "the bus driver gives less of a service than the taxi driver etc." and I honestly don't see how you feel that by tipping those that we do is dividing the work force Bluebell.

How for example would you go about tipping a nurse? There are other ways of expressing ones appreciation without giving a financial tip. A simple 'thank you' for example.

As for tipping having started "with the rich helping the 'poor humble servants'", not necessarily. As there are today, there were those in a more fortunate position who desired
to help "anyone down on their luck" and did so to help and not to feel superior.

I remember my Grandmother putting "christmas box" into envelopes and more or less camping out by the front doors.
There would be money for the coal man, paper boy, milk man, dustbin men etc.
She worried that she'd not catch them to hand over her thank you, word woukd get round and the whole Crescent would think she couldn't afford to tip.

We have a relation who works at a minimum wage job. The paediatrician told them that their children needed to go to a nursery two mornings a week. Despite being on top up benefits they received no financial help and the cost of the nursery/ playgroup was £40 a week which they could not afford. The father then obtained an evening job delivering for an Indian take away. The pay he gets is far from generous and depends on the number of deliveries he makes. Any tips he receives make a tremendous difference to them and if he works six evenings a week pays for the nursery fees.