Tipping Ettiquette

Whether you are at a restaurant or the hair salon, sometimes, a tip is necessary. Tipping can be a touchy subject, whether you are giving or receiving them. We went to the source for some answers.

Audra Lowe: Well, whether you're at restaurant or at the hair salon sometimes a tip is necessary but it can be a touchy subject whether you're giving or receiving them. So here is what some people had to say about the topic. Beth: Typically during the holiday housekeepers receive gratuities of 20% to 30% of what they're charging. Alecia: Consider sort of like if you’ve had a restaurant 15 to 20% but tipping is just a way of showing your appreciation, so it’s not anything specific. I wouldn’t get too overwhelmed about how much the tip generally. Jay: It’s really just so wonderful how clients can show us a service provider how much they really appreciate the great looks that we provide for them throughout the year. So it’s just a really nice way to show us that they appreciate us. Joanne: The rule of thumb is to be practical and whether it’s a gift card or it’s cash, it’s really anything we do appreciate. Audra Lowe: All right, but when it comes to holiday tipping a lot of people as you see are so left in the dark. Who do I tip? How much do I give? So here to clear things up for us etiquette expert Thomas Farley, welcome back. Thomas Farley: Thanks, Audra. Audra Lowe: Good to see you here. Thomas Farley: Nice to see you too. Audra Lowe: You always clear things up without putting out like the stick you know saying “You have to this, you have to that” you give us some great guidelines, I'm glad you're here today. Thomas Farley: I'm happy to be here. Audra Lowe: All right, some general guidelines that we should all know, what would you say right off the bet? Thomas Farley: Well first of all, you got to know that tipping is a very individual decision. So we’re going to offer some guidelines a little bit later in the segment but the idea is that you never want to feel absolutely obligated to tip a certain amount. It’s community specific. You know what we do here in New York to be completely different from what somebody would do in the mid-west for example. Audra Lowe: Yeah, it’s regional right. Thomas Farley: Exactly, exactly. So you want to kind of take the post of what your community does, so you don’t feel like you're under tipping and don’t feel like you're over tipping as well. And again, if you really don’t feel tip is deserved, don’t feel resentful and you’ve got to do it. Audra Lowe: Don’t have to do it, as long as it’s not coming from the heart. Thomas Farley: That’s right. Audra Lowe: Okay, so let's talk about some tipping amounts for some of the most commonly tipped individuals the cleaning person that you have, how much should you give them. Thomas Farley: That’s right, that’s right and just to back up, the idea really is that anybody that your transacting cash with on a regular basis as a general guideline and that’s going to be somebody that you're going to tip. So you're not going to be tipping your doctor, you're not going to be tipping your lawyer but this people who you're seeing maybe on weekly basis and it’s kind of a cash economy, those are the people you're going to tip. So a cleaning person you would tip one week’s pay. Audra Lowe: A week’s pay, okay just out of curiosity what if the cleaning person only comes one every two weeks or once a month. I mean, how do you adjust then? Thomas Farley: You would use your best judgment. In that case I would do one visit. Audra Lowe: One visit, okay, got you, now the regular baby sitter. How much would you tip him or her? Thomas Farley: Him or her again, yeah, that’s right we want don’t be sexes here. Audra Lowe: Right, you never know. Thomas Farley: Again one night’s baby sitting is what you want to the baby sitter. Audra Lowe: Okay, the nanny a little different though. Thomas Farley: That’s right, because— Audra Lowe: Because they're spending more time. Thomas Farley: That’s right. They're probably a little bit more like a family member so with the baby sitter and the nanny you want to give a gift from the child and a little note and for the nanny you would want to give anywhere from a week to a month’s pay. Audra Lowe: Okay, a lot of people do that with teachers too, school teachers a gift from the child as well. Okay, now the hair stylist and the colorist, these ones a little more expensive, right? Thomas Farley: It’s more expensive but again what's great about it is it depends on what you’re paying on a regular basis. So you pay what you would pay for a regular visit. So you know somebody is getting a $20.00 hair cut, $20.00 if it’s a $300.00 hair its $300.00. Audra Lowe: Okay, now these ones up for a little bit debate between Thomas and I, the sanitation workers, I know that they I wouldn’t want to do their job at all. But a lot of them will dump the trash in the truck and half of it is still laying on and off the street but we’re suppose to tip them as well, right? Thomas Farley: That’s right. Audra Lowe: You have an interesting theory is to why we’re tipping them. Thomas Farley: Well, these are not the kind of people that you want to have unhappy, right? If you think they're doing a bad job just wait until you don’t tip them and never fear, your tip envelop will never be lost in the garbage. They will find that before they find anything else. Audra Lowe: Right, we would have someone different to you, so maybe they will now, all right, great to have you here. Thank you so much Thomas. Thomas Farley: My pleasure.