Right on! What is a darn buck? Unless they're a complete slacker, tip the driver.

 

Like I said earlier....

If I am on a bus that has 15 people on it and 10 people tip for the 15 minute drive then I will not tip. (He is well on his way to making twice as much as me on tips alone with 4 trips in an hour. Dude makes enough money) But if very few people tip then I will be sure to give him a buck. Small hotels I always tip.

 

When I flew commuters in the northeast, I was making around $17,000 a year BEFORE taxes ($15,000 or so after taxes). I lived in a crashpad with 18 other guys and we paid $40 a month to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. I worked up to 22 days a month and didn't have much of a life. I distinctly remember one of our Ithica hotel van drivers discussing his wife's job........a professor at Cornell making over $120,000 a year, and he said he was making around $18,000 a year on tips alone driving the hotel shuttle. So........here I was living like a dog, scraping by, and giving him MY HARD EARNED money, while he was living the good life. Had a cab driver tell me the same story........had 5 or 6 very expensive race horses and used the cab money to pay for hay. Well, that cooked my goose on who got tips and who didn't. Needless to say, I got very frugal with my tip money. Now it's no problem, but hey, you don't have to give your retirement money away when you're first starting out. The only person I felt bad for was myself for giving away my sweat money to people who had money. Seemed everyone wanted the handout..............except the pilot working his butt off.

 

[quote=stoki;592996]Tipping is over the top these days. Everybody expects a tip. It is the hotel shuttle drivers job to pick you up and drop you off at the airport. He makes a normal wage, probably similar to the cleaning people at the hotel, but you don't leave them a tip for cleaning up after you? Restaurants and haircuts is another thing, so are rides to restaurants etc.[quote]

I actually didn't expect a tip for what I did. I had an interest in avaiation, that and I knew what it was like to work a long day and the need to get sleep what little the crew was getting. Anyway, since then, I have met some nice pilots and I don't make generalizations about people.

I guess I would feel the same way about someone assuming that they are owed a tip.

 

I tip $1 only if they are on time and waiting. I have never had a van driver not load the bags for me. Usually it's just my crew and I, not 20 people. I agree with the guy who said he doesn't tip if they are talking on their cellphone for non-company business, I hate that.

Isn't this why we get perdiem anyways? Food and tips?

P.S. I am on first year FO pay and I am frugal enough to have a prepaid cellphone that I can barely use because I think $30 a month is too expensive.

 

Why do people tip the driver, but not the maid? The maid does WAY, WAY more work for you than the driver does.

 

What is interesting to me is how indiscriminatly we are expected to tip these days. I see "tip buckets" popping up in odd places.. the dunkin doughnuts counter, the dry cleaner, I even saw a gas money jar for staff in a local bookstore.

What amazes me is there are situations where you are forced to tip despite the service, and others where service was excellent and there is not an opportunity, or there is a company policy against it (like the grocery store where i bagged as a boy)

I do not try to base my tip based on what i think the person is making. I have tipped well to a bartender who makes $700 a night, but dammit the guy was awesome and the service phenominal. I was alone with a van driver one day going to JFK, young guy fresh off the boat, loving life for his opportunity to be here, his attitude was infectious and his professionalism showed. He got $5 from me.

I will not, however, subsidize lackluster service by feeling obligated to tip a percentage regardless of the result. Rudeness, apathy, incompetence and unprofessionalism will not be rewarded, no matter how small the expected tip.

 

Tipping is a gratuity, an "extra" for good service, friendly person, etc. It is NOT required, nor should it EVER be expected...and should be left to the tipper as to whether they feel they got good enough service that they want to tip...it is up to them, whatever the reason to tip or not to tip. I don't know why this thread has gotten 8 pages long on "tipping".

 

you know one thing i really dont like is CLT... you cannot find a single bathroom in that airport without an attendant and her tip jar. why is this necessary???????

 

Where I worked the maids were paid much more than the drivers. Maybe things have changed in the years since - but drivers were expected to get tipped, therefore they paid us much less. Not all people tipped - but the airline crews *always* tipped - $3.50 per crew.
Alot people on here are talking about negotiated rates and such by the hotel, I don't know - that may be true - but the driver isn't getting any of that. I still got below minimum wage whether it was negotiated or not. Also - some are mentioning that they give a tip only if the driver does more than pick them up and takes to the hotel/airport. I worked at the Sheraton Century Center (downtown OKC) and it was against the hotel rules for me to make side trips for food and such - probably some legality thing - but in essence when I took the crews out to eat, or stopped enroute, I was risking my job.

USMCFLYR