Originally Posted by
boilerpilot
And frankly I don't see why we should reward a van driver being on time, lifting your bags, and getting you to and from the hotel without violating any major traffic laws. That's his/her JOB. A good van driver for me is one that goes out of their way to explain points of interest around the hotel, is willing to take me to one of those said points of interest, and does things above and beyond like reattaching all my bags, offering me water, or things like that.
I don't reward the driver with a piece of candy simply because he didn't say anything obtusely racist on the van ride over. That's being civil and a descent human being, you don't deserve a tip for that. I don't tip you simply because you arrived on time. That's your job. I don't tip you for picking up my bags (which I have to do multiple times a day, even without obnoxious aircraft swaps), not running red lights, and not waiting half an hour to pick up another crew. Those things are all your job.
Now here's an idea though: why don't we start tipping the station crews for when they call the van prior to our arrival, knowing that its a 20 minute van ride, so that we can get picked up right when we walk outside? That truly is going above and beyond, something that I would gladly hand out a couple bucks for.
Boiler -
Because it is a service industry and we Americans tip service related jobs. We (at least I didn't) even get paid minimum wage because it was expected that I would make up money on tips - just like the bellman and the waitresses in the coffee shop. Do you tip the taxi driver who might take you out to eat (and how much did that taxi cost you or your crew)? So my crews were nice enough to tip again if I took them to eat (AGAINST THE RULES) because it saved them money. Another $3.50 in my pocket saved them a $20 cab ride maybe? Personally - I would have rather made more money and NOT accepted tips. At least that way I would have some idea of how much I was going to make that day - or that week - or that month so I could figure some type of budget. Instead - I go to work for 8-10 hrs making a little over $25 that day/night maybe and get a few trips to the airport with people that DON'T tip and my day of work was pretty shot. At least I could COUNT on that $3.50 per crew coming through the hotel from the airline crew.
If that last sentence is true then I wish you would had been part of my crews then. I knew when they were coming in and I was always standing at the escalator when they came down the flight and had the van sitting right out front for them (ah....good old pre-9/11 days). They never hefted their own bags into my van and rarely opened their own doors (they had to be quick). I gave the best service I could and it didn't matter if I got stiffed or if some BIG spender gave me $5 for that nearly 20 min tour of grand Oklahoma City on the way to the airport
Hey....we're all just trying to make a living out there.
USMCFLYR