[Homelander]

Originally Posted by Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

In the US, servers are paid BELOW the minimum wage or I think have a particular one of their own that is way lower than the normal one. What are you not getting about this?

In fairness I think unless explicitly mentioning the US, everyone's talking generally about Ireland, including that poster.

[Obvious Desperate Breakfasts]

Originally Posted by Homelander

In fairness I think unless explicitly mentioning the US, everyone's talking generally about Ireland, including that poster.

He replied to my post, in which I was in a dialogue with another about US tipping culture. To anyone paying attention, it was explicit.

[Raconteuse]

Don't mind this should or shouldn't stuff. Tip or don't tip - it's up to you. Personally if something costs me €18 and I leave them keep the change out of €20 it's not going to make an impact on the service economy overall.

[Shelflife]

I work in retail. I work hard, do a good job and I like to think I give a good service. Im attentive and polite and try to make the customer happy. No one tips me or any of my co workers nor do we expect it. My tip is that they keep coming back and keep me in a job.

Tip if you want to tip, dont tip if you dont want to tip

I personally dont tip, I give repeat custom to those that give a good service.

What I hate is that people have decided that restaurants/hairdressers/taxidrivers should be tipped, that its the done thing.

In restaurants I dont understand why people feel the need to tip because they cooked a good meal or they were polite when they took your order, thats their job !

And who decided that the tip should be 10-15% of the meal ? Thats insane !

You pay €30 for a bottle of wine that sells for €10.99 im my shop and you expect another €4.50 for bringing it to the table?

I also dont get the big guilt trip when your out with others and they are insisting that we all leave a tip and hover over you until you cough up, they are usually the first ones to tell you that they can get the bag of sugar for 15c cheaper in another shop but have no problem forking out another €15 for a tip in a restaurant.

Tip if you want to , but leave those of us that dont out of your guilt trip !

[Bobblehats]

No flagons permitted into the grounds
No hand shandies
No stage diving for ‘Rage against the machine’. or Chris de burgh

[Obvious Desperate Breakfasts]

Originally Posted by Homelander

In the US, tips are their actual wage in many places, it's a weak system but it is what it is and tipping culture makes contextual sense.

There's no reason for it in Ireland, at all. I don't mind tipping for excellent service, for someone who went out of their way, or was just extremely helpful, whatever.

But this thing that you 'have' to tip or else you're a stinge really pisses me off. Why? I don't tip the lad in Curry's, in Woodies, or the lad behind the counter at the cinema nor does anyone else for the most part. They're all generally paid the same; so why should I be tipping someone for serving me a cup of coffee or carrying me a plate of food?

As I said, exceptional service I don't mind. Could be the lad in Currys who went above and beyond in helping me with a TV, some amicable lad in Woodies who carried out a load of paint, an exceptionally friendly and helpful waiter, etc - no problem giving them a few quid in recognition of their efforts.

But this notion that in Ireland, certain service industry jobs automatically deserve tips...well, just because, and if you don't, you're a miserly git..... really annoys me.

Having worked in a busy supermarket and a busy clothes shop and a busy restaurant, waitressing was by far the hardest of the three.

I never expected tips as a waitress though. In my experience, there’s no real sense of entitlement in Ireland about this, at least when I was waitressing in college.

[the_pen_turner]

Originally Posted by Raconteuse

Don't mind this should or shouldn't stuff. Tip or don't tip - it's up to you. Personally if something costs me €18 and I leave them keep the change out of €20 it's not going to make an impact on the service economy overall.

No but it does make a difference to the customers pocket. Yes 2 euro is very little but they all add up.
Tip 2 euro ten times a week and you have 10 euro. Think of what 20 euro could buy. Petrol for the week to drive to work , bag of coal to keep you warm

[ZX7R]

years ago when i started out working self employment ,i use to have to price jobs so low just to get my foot in the door,i remember every tip anyone ever gave me and it was always people who didn't have much money to begin with.
those tips helped both with money and to keep pushing and working hard.
Different times now and i work in a different profession know.
so i always tip people who are at the bottom trying hard to succeed.

[Obvious Desperate Breakfasts]

Originally Posted by the_pen_turner

No but it does make a difference to the customers pocket. Yes 2 euro is very little but they all add up.
Tip 2 euro ten times a week and you have 10 euro. Think of what 20 euro could buy. Petrol for the week to drive to work , bag of coal to keep you warm

Anyone who is in a position to tip ten times a week (if we’re just counting the few situations it happens with regularity) wouldn’t really have any money worries.

[Raconteuse]

Exactly. The regularity with which I tip, averages out at I'd say once a fortnight.

[Tell me how]

Originally Posted by iamtony

I tip everyone I can, if fast food places have a tip jar I would tip also. It says more about you as a person than it does about the service you've received and judged the person bases on what you feel was good service.

Stop being miserable it's only a few euro and can make a big difference to the person you've just tipped. And not tipping because nobody tips you is a sad way to look at life.
I will say as someone who receives tips in my profession, they are getting less frequent as people become more selfish and about themselves. The older the person the more likely it is they will tip!

I can't help but think that the first sentence ofyour last paragraph greatly influences the view expressed in the first two paragraphs.

Do you tip your gp, pharmacist, medical consultant, accountant, mechanic, plumber or tiler? Because, you could.

If not, why not, given you tip everyone you can?

[iamtony]

Originally Posted by Tell me how

I can't help but think that the first sentence ofyour last paragraph greatly influences the view expressed in the first two paragraphs.

Do you tip your gp, pharmacist, medical consultant, accountant, mechanic, plumber or tiler? Because, you could.

If not, why not, given you tip everyone you can?

The only one of those services I use regularly is a mechanic and the last time I was in about a month ago getting tires and I had a bottle of red wine in my car and when I was sorted I asked the guy does he like red wine and he said not particularly but he drank it so I gave it to him.
I diy the rest of those jobs including the gp

[iamtony]

Just thinking about this thread today when getting my car's fixed. Bill was €1759.00 and I gave €1770 to the helpful mechanic and told the guy to keep the change. But that's not what I wanted to tell yis.

I had carpet fitted on the 2 sets of stairs in my house last week and I had fit wooden floor in the hall and the landing just before and I had yet to buy a divider to go between the landing and the bathroom tiles.
Anyway the carpet was paid for in advance and when the lads were leaving I gave then a €20 tip as they had a difficult job because their was a stairlift on the bottom stairs.
Anyway that was grand but when I went upstairs after they left they had fitted a divider between the bathroom and the landing which didn't have any carpet near it so didn't have anything to do with the job they were doing, A really nice surprise as it matched the bar at the top of the stairs and looks well now.
I just think that was a great example of me being nice out of the goodness of my heart and they were being nice out of the goodness of their heart.
Wouldn't the country be a better place if everyone was like this?

[bluewolf]

Originally Posted by iamtony

Just thinking about this thread today when getting my car's fixed. Bill was €1759.00 and I gave €1570 to the helpful mechanic and told the guy to keep the change. But that's not what I wanted to tell yis.

I had carpet fitted on the 2 sets of stairs in my house last week and I had fit wooden floor in the hall and the landing just before and I had yet to buy a divider to go between the landing and the bathroom tiles.
Anyway the carpet was paid for in advance and when the lads were leaving I gave then a €20 tip as they had a difficult job because their was a stairlift on the bottom stairs.
Anyway that was grand but when I went upstairs after they left they had fitted a divider between the bathroom and the landing which didn't have any carpet near it so didn't have anything to do with the job they were doing, A really nice surprise as it matched the bar at the top of the stairs and looks well now.
I just think that was a great example of me being nice out of the goodness of my heart and they were being nice out of the goodness of their heart.
Wouldn't the country be a better place if everyone was like this?

did you mix up the car mechanic figures

[iamtony]

Originally Posted by bluewolf

did you mix up the car mechanic figures

Fixed now