You’ll remember Dublanica as the author of the bitingly funny “Waiter Rant” blog and the follow-up 2008 book of the same title. After discovering that his treatise on the trials and tribulations of waiting tables had turned him into a de facto “gratuity guru,” he set out to earn the title in earnest.
The result is an entertaining and informative guide to tipping, loosely organized by profession. Though humorous, the book does address a universally shared anxiety: when and what to tip who? Dublanica intends to help the reader navigate the winding, treacherous byways of tipping and arrive at a more enjoyable experience, whether it is dining out, traveling, getting your dog groomed, or receiving a lap dance. Dublanica interviewed and worked alongside people in these professions, resulting in entertaining horror stories and useful advice on tipping straight from the professionals.
Take his chapter on hotel staff, for example. Although the doorman does not have to be tipped simply for opening the door for you, pretty much every other service a doorman may provide warrants a single or two: directions, recommendations, and taxi-hailing, for example. Maids should be tipped $2-3 a day in medium-range hotels; and since a different housekeeper may clean your room each day, it is better to leave a tip every day instead of leaving one bigger one when you check out.
Dublanica also exposes the practice of “buying the door:” in big cities, hotel doormen often receive monetary rewards or perks from companies in return for recommending their services. This usually applies to cab companies and limo services but could also apply to flower shops, spa services, and many other services. He discovers the same practice in his chapter on cab drivers. Drivers are often asked for recommendations on nightlife and get kickbacks for taking fares to certain establishments.
If knowledge of the trials of service workers and appreciation of the work they do are not enough to make you reform your cheapskate ways, perhaps threats will do the trick. Service workers can be quite imaginative when it comes to getting revenge on bad tippers. My favorite is the parking valet’s so-called “Dirt-Butt Scoot.” You’ll have to read the book to find out what this is, but I’ll give you a hint: it’s not very nice. The many anecdotes along these lines are eye-opening, to say the least.
Despite these scary scenarios, the overarching theme of this book, and the sense that you will carry away with you after reading it, is that most of these professionals depend on tips to survive and tipping them adequately is not only a sign of respect for what they do, but will ultimately come back around in the form of improved service. Despite getting a lot of mileage out of the horror stories related to him by service workers, and being quite entertaining to boot, Dublanica shows appreciation and respect for the jobs these people do and conveys that to the reader in a constructive manner.
Check the WRL Catalog for Keep the Change
I know how much to tip waiters, but other service professionals…. that’s always been a gray area for me. Sounds like a good read.
Sounds like a book I should read! Thanks for the tip! And congrats on FP-ed! (Now how much do I owe you?)
Kathy
Personally, I think tipping has gotten completely out of hand. It seems EVERYONE expects a gratutity these days, no matter how much money they earn or what kind of ‘service’ they actually provide. My blog post this week specifically addresses some of the issues:
The simple fact that someone wrote a book about the subject shows that giving a ‘tip’ has become far more than a way ‘to insure promptitude’.
Margo Karolyi
I was a waitress/bartender for 22yrs, I’ve seen and heard it all. If the service is great, the tip is great. If the service is so-so the tip is so-so. If the food is crap and the service is great, the tip is still great. Not the waiters fault the food stinks.
I’ve have been jobbing at a restaurant too – and I like the post :)
Definitely going to have to put this book on my summer reading list! If I leave a bad tip, I usually stick around to tell the person why. I don’t want them to think I am a bad tipper because I am young and not because their service was bad.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
I knew about tipping waiters, but I was totally unaware of tipping other service professionals….
Sounds entertaining. What’s the link for the author’s blog?
http://waiterrant.net/
I used to deliver pizza….regulars who were poor-tippers definetely had to wait a lot longer to get their food than good tippers. Also made me into a better tipper.
Blimy! We don’t tip period. Well, most of us don’t.
OK, so I’m TOTALLY afraid of reading about the “dirt butt scoot” …
;)
Sounds like a fun read. I recently learned that I should have been tipping my esthetician…I had no idea! I thought it was a medical/spa treatment!?!? Apparently, more “spa” than “medical.”
I recently read something that said we’re supposed to tip the pizza boys 15-20%. Can this be TRUE? I had no idea I was supposed to tip the pizza delivery person as much as I would a waiter/waitress at a restaurant. WHY? That makes almost as much sense as tipping the clerk at the grocery store.
The one tipping grey area for me is take-out. There’s always the tip jar and/or the line on the credit card receipt, but if I’m carrying out the food and not receiving table service, is this really expected?
In any case, thanks for the recommendation!
There are so many services out there that I wonder if I should be tipping or not. Thanks for the tips!
Loved this post. I want to check this book out now.
In restaurants, I double the tax. Since sales tax is 9.75% where I live, I think it works out.
If you tip the chambermaids in hotels well, I notice you get extra goodies – like more of the free bottled water. :-)
Congratulations on being FP!
I’ll read it just to find out about the “dirt butt scoot” oh I hope it’s not what I think it is.
I’d love to know if Starbucks and coffee shops are covered in the book. Should I really tip a barista for taking 90 seconds to make me a $5.50 coffee? I’m iffy about this one.
And congrats on making the Freshly Pressed front page. :D
Congrats on FP and thanks for the tip! Every person who has waited tables or tended bar knows that generous tippers are rewarded. Thanks for the run down on various chapters in the book, it will be interesting to see if tipping rules have changed in 30 years. Have the best!
I am never sure how much to tip but I always tip the housekeepers. They reward us by making cute displays of the kids’ stuffed animals on the bed.
Nice post. I’m a non-tipper in general, however I am yet to stay in places where I would even get a cleaner so I think this is ok!
How much do you tip the person who cuts your hair? I’ve heard 15% is appropriate. On an $18 haircut (I know – ouch!) that comes to $2.70, which seems like a low amount of money to give. I’ve been rounding up to $5.00. Is that too much?
Another challenge is when I go to dinner with a group of people who believe in tipping no more than 15%. I feel cheap tipping less than 20%, but I can see my practice makes the 15%-ers uncomfortable. Am I wrong? Or is it just an honest difference of opinion?
Tipping really is a sensitive topic. In the past, French waiters were insulted when they were tipped; of course they receive(d?) good pay for their work and thought tipping reflected poor status. As I understand it, they aren’t so sensitive about it now.
Taxes became a big thing for servers in the US. It used to be that they could declare their tips for taxes. Now restaurant managers must declare for them, and the amount is based on overall sales. If you get a lousy tipper on a big bill, you lose out twice. And since most servers only make a couple of bucks an hour, that’s three strikes.
Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed really opened my eyes to the need for hotel service tipping. Many hotel maids are essentially doing piecework, only getting paid for the number of rooms they make up.
And if you go out to eat with cheapskates who won’t tip, tell ’em to watch the first scene in Reservoir Dogs.
I try my best to tip at least 20% when I go out to eat. I also tip the door man and maids at hotels. Do you tip the gas pump attendant?
I am never sure how much to tip and I think it getting out of hand with everyone expecting a tip regardless of the service they give.
Good post. Tipping is a very sensitive subject indeed and I think it is situation-specific. If there is a true standard, who came up with that standard? And what if someone simply cannot afford the standard? Does that mean they don’t have the right to eat out/stay in a certain hotel/catch a cab/etc? You can easily be nickeled and dimed to death. I have been known to not tip, tip the standard, or WAY over-tip all based on the specific situation. It’s ok to use the standard as a guide, but I don’t think it HAS to be adhered to in all situations.
Wow. I bet the author of this book is pretty pumped that you got Freshly Pressed with this post, huh? LOL :)
I worked as a waitress, it was quite a bit of fun, but be forewarned if you regularly eat at a particular place and don’t tip…. we talk about you. and often give you to the poor unsuspecting newer people. unless the service was absolutely horrendous tip at least 15%, minimum wage in the US for waitresses is $2.13. truly we live off our tips.
I refuse to tip for services I did not order or ask for. A doorman opening a door for me when I attempt to open it is no different than a crack head cleaning my window and then asking for a tip.
Most people don’t tips maids, in my experience. But we clean up your hair and bodily fluids… seeing a dollar upon checkout is at least something! (And, yes, different maids clean the rooms so someone else getting the end tip out is a damn shame.)
It’s funny how tipping can tell you a lot about a person.
I remember being extremely disappointed when I had lunch with a friend who tipped $1 for a $15 meal. I was shocked! What a horrible cheapskate!
That tipping incident made me pay attention to my friend in ways I hadn’t before – like how she says she can’t pay cash for a meal and she’ll scoop up everyone’s cash so she can put the whole bill with tips on her card. Gee, I wonder how many times she’s done that and cheated our waitress out of our generous tips?
Now, when I eat with her I tell the waitress, right off the bat, “May we have separate checks, please?”
Problem solved.
If you can’t afford to leave a decent tip, you shouldn’t eat out.
My day job is a bartender in Las Vegas. There are so many people that don’t tip anymore. The economy is Vegas is one of the worst in the U.S. and people not tipping makes it more difficult.
Congrats on Freshly Pressed. Will have to check this book out.
I tip at restaurants, but rarely otherwise. And I tip big at restaurants. For 7 years, I lived in a great town that I miss where most of the waiters were aspiring actors who were working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Those kids were killing themselves, and the food was routinely great. Not only that, but you do get remembered and treated very well if you tip very well. I ended up on very friendly first-name terms with the staff from two good restaurants that way.
In hotels, I tend not to tip except for the housekeeping, and I’ve always left a fat tip at the end. I’ll keep in mind the advice to leave a couple bucks each day instead.
A few times I’ve gone without tipping people when I wanted to, only because I’ve been draggled and exhausted from having flown in someplace and had six cents in my pocket.
Oops, another thing:
I also always tip cash when I can. Companies will often take a cut out of their service employees credit tips. If you tip cash, whoever it was who brought your food or made your bed usually keeps the whole thing.
i was a waitress for ages, and people are very aware of the 15-20% standard since dining out is a regular thing and not sporadic. But while I’ve relied on tips on and off for many years, I can’t help thinking of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes when it comes to other aspects of tipping culture. As a waitress, people knew to pay the tab, whether by card, cash or a combination. But just the other day, I needed a cab in front of a hotel and was out of cash. I told the doorguy I needed a cab that took credit cards and he was a dick to me just cause I didn’t have time or energy to go out of my way to pay an exorbitant ATM fee at a Vegas casino, to THEN break a $20 or $50 to THEN tip him a single or two, or three….At restaurant’s, tipping can be done many ways. Other times, not only might you be out of cash, but the right increments of cash, it’s a hassle.
I waited tables for many, many years and unless I one day wind up with 6 children, they’ll all have to be starving before I ever do it again. I disagree with the comment that people tip according to service. People will use any excuse not to tip. Excellent service and bad or slow food-bad tip. What people don’t understand is that people in the food industry anyway generally make minimum wage, are taxed on all credit card tips automatically, and must claim all cash tips. This means that a 40 hour week will result in substantially less money for a server on their paycheck. Tips are how they make their living. A service is provided; a service people know about when they go out. My opinion: if you can’t tip, eat in. If you’re short on cash and want to treat your family and can’t afford a large tip, do what you can. We understand, we’re struggling too. But don’t be glib with the “I don’t tip,” attitude. That’s just rude and flat out cheap and selfish.
I have never heard of the book, but I think I’ll get it. thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing content to read.
Regarding whether or not to tip pizza delivery boys: I always tip them. They make minimum wage, they put hundreds of miles on their car each week, they risk a lot when they knock on the doors of people they don’t know. I’ve known a lot of people who delivered pizzas at some point in their lives, and all of them can describe more than a handful of delivery runs where they were robbed and/or threatened. Some have had guns pulled on them. Tipping is a personal decision, of course, and I fault no one for having his or her own criteria, but I believe people who deliver things to your door, and who lack the symbolic protection of something like the USPS, deserve a tip.
The book looks interesting. I enjoy your blog. Thank you for posting :)
My dad didn’t ever tip so I didn’t even know about it until I was a young adult. Truth be told, I’m not sure that my dad knew about it either. He was a generous man. I grew up in a town of 1200 and he’d help anyone who need help. I do remember him giving waitresses money to pay bills, but not a tip. My mom died so we ate out every day. He wasn’t the most socially aware guy. Anyway, I tip more now than I used to and for me it does have to do with the service of the waiter or waitress.
In Oregon waiters are paid the state minimum wage which is $8.50 so I don’t feel bad not tipping when they’re not great.
giving tip from heart to someone who gives you good service is very gratifying for both the giver and taker.
Thanks :) You’ve just filled my ‘to-get’ list!
How about instead of tipping for a lap dance, you just simply choose to not to participate in creating a demand for mostly vulnerable women (economically coerced, most of whom have been sexually abused as children) who sell themselves their bodies for cash. Donate your money more productively please.
Some of the comments made me ponder about the ethical thing to do while tipping and I am always glad to have a point of view put across in a pleasant enough manner for me to take cognizance of it. A belligerent attitude however does not leave the reader in a good enough mood to being generous and I am glad that I have not been rubbed up the wrong way on this subject. So many of our actions positive or negative are the cause of how we have been approached.
I’m from the UK where there’s less of a tipping culture and therefore going to the States is always a bit of a minefield. I believe in tipping, but never know what’s appropriate. A bunch of us are planning on going to Comic-Con next year, so thanks for this review, I think this book might be useful in future…
This was a well-written article I didn’t plan to read (but glad I did). Tipping is expected in Nigeria but is not complusory. I do agree that this humble act could improve service rendered. Congrats on getting FP’d :)
Oh, soes the ‘Dirt-butt scoop’ have to do with spraying a vehicle with er…excrement?
i was always told to tip 10% at a restaurant but sometimes its not enough or way too much and what about hotel workers i have no clue!!!!
Age old problem especially if you dont like giving money away!!
Nice blog
This book nerd is so thankful to find your site! Thanks for the info on tipping and the book reference. I’m on my way to purchase this gem!
Thanks!
I’m a server and for the most part, people do not seem to tip me based on the quality of service. I usually bend of backwards for my customers, and some nights I get left mostly 10%, others mostly 20%. I am unsure whether this is a good thing or bad thing and leaves me wondering about the nature of tipping and wishing that servers were paid more and didn’t have to rely on the generosity of others. Which I really really appreciate, of course!
I am going to get this book, I use to waitress, great article!!
I love this! I always say be nice to the people that serve you food. I try not to be intentionally mean to a server during a meal, you never know what they’ll do. And I used to work in a coffee shop so early morning work rush if someone was rude to us we would give them decaf…..looks like I’m not the only one who’s gonna have a rough morning!