Tipping at Christmas

[jellymankelly]

Dec 22, 2014 16:17:58 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

So I hate this time of year wen it comes to tipping. I never know who I am "supposed" to tip. The mailman? UPS? Daycare (even though we're only been there two weeks so should I tip out last one?)?

Who do you tip?

Re: Daycare. Oh HELLLLLL no. I love my sons' daycare and after school programs, and I sent a small gift to all of our daycare and after school teachers (NINE of them), but I pay half my salary for childcare every month. Tipping those providers would tip the scale to the point where I've put more money into their pockets during the month that I have kept for myself. I'm not working for fun here! (I'm also counting the days until DS2 starts kindergarten and I can stop paying the daycare bill)

[Deleted]

Dec 22, 2014 20:42:01 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Dec 22, 2014 20:24:28 GMT -5 @heehee01 said:

$600 tips for the freaking building people??!!?
Just call me Scrooge. That's asinine.

On top of the fact that rent is already outlandishly expensive for a shoebox apartment.

It's New York. Come on. Your building staff doesn't see any of that money; saying you are going to live in NY and can't afford to tip is like going to a swank dinner and saying you can't afford the tip. Nobody enjoys tipping people they don't know at the holidays but you have to do it. I fuvking hate the valets at my office, they lose my car, bring it at the wrong time, and once left it in gear. I still tipped them, along with two sets of cleaning people, our dog sitter, our trainers, our handymen, my secretary, and the girl in the mail room who is nice to me.

[v]

Building staff rely on tips as a massive component of their compensation. Rent goes to your landlord, not them.

Just be happy that you don't have 22 people on your building staff to tip like we do! (They are awesome and do a lot for us so I don't mind thanking them -- but so many cards to write out!)

[Deleted]

Dec 22, 2014 19:29:28 GMT -5 toledo said:

I give nothing to anyone. I find the whole thing exhausting, and I'm poor.

Lol, I know right.

But I'm so poor I don't have a hairdresser or house cleaner door man or trainer to tip anyway!

And why is tipping the mail person a thing? I appreciate that he/she drops off a couple letters a few times a week cause that's their job. 

[meganew]

I've got my head cocked to the side for most of this. Tipping my hairdresser? I go 2-3 times a year to the same girl, and I love her, but you people must go more often, right? Or do you just pop in with an envelope?

[Jalapeñomel]

Dec 22, 2014 19:55:48 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

Dec 22, 2014 19:22:10 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

What should I be tipping them?

At least $100. It all depends on how many units in your building. If you use him a decent amount, probably more than $100. Maybe try googling. I live in a building with a super, handyman, porters, and doormen with 200+ units so its different. We usually have to spend about $600 for everyone.

I just asked a Facebook group of moms in my area, and they said tipping the super is not common here.  So I'll probably split the difference.

[rubytue]

Dec 22, 2014 16:47:45 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Someone told me that it's customary to tip the landlord. I was all...?

Ummm... No. If anything, the LL might get a gift for the tenants (gift card, gift basket, new fancy dryer - oh wait, that's just me)

[Deleted]

Dec 22, 2014 22:12:10 GMT -5 @booby said:

Also - I thought this was interesting: my friend recently started a house cleaning business. She's had a pretty solid customer base the whole time, right from the beginning. (she's been operational about a year).

She said that out of 10 clients, only 1 of them gave her a holiday tip. I was surprised, as was she (and also a little pissed, understandably).

Does she live in Canda? You all are so anti-tip that I am surprised to hear you tip your stylist. Though I guess you don't want to mess around with your hair.

I want everyone to know, though, that when I tried to tip the housekeeper at the hotel I stayed at a couple of weeks ago they had never heard of adding s tip to a credit card. And after I sat on hold for 15 minutes while people tried to figure out whether they could the answer was "no."

[AndyCohen]

Dec 22, 2014 22:06:03 GMT -5 tators said:

Dec 22, 2014 20:26:34 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

It's not something I enjoy doing, it's just the standard in my neighborhood.

Who are you?
Where did you come from? Where did you go?
Have you been married to Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear a long time ago?

I said earlier in the post I'm an April 2012 poster

[bronxgirl]

Dec 22, 2014 22:00:54 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Dec 22, 2014 19:55:48 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

At least $100. It all depends on how many units in your building. If you use him a decent amount, probably more than $100. Maybe try googling. I live in a building with a super, handyman, porters, and doormen with 200+ units so its different. We usually have to spend about $600 for everyone.

I just asked a Facebook group of moms in my area, and they said tipping the super is not common here.  So I'll probably split the difference.

Yes. the previous responses in this thread are referring to high- end full service buildings in Manhattan. A small no service building in the Bronx is a whole other entity.

[flex]

I live in the boring suburbs so I have no one to tip except my housekeeper, which I did last weekend. I want to tip my hair lady, but I was poor a couple weeks ago, so when I go back in late January I plan to tip her then.

I'm also contemplating leaving a big tip for the girls at my favorite coffee kiosk because they're so sweet and fun to talk to. They're open for a few hours on Christmas Day so I'll stop by then to get a latte and listen to them squeal when I hand them a $50 and tell them to keep the change. : )

[AndyCohen]

Dec 22, 2014 23:06:11 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Dec 22, 2014 22:00:54 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I just asked a Facebook group of moms in my area, and they said tipping the super is not common here.  So I'll probably split the difference.

Yes. the previous responses in this thread are referring to high- end full service buildings in Manhattan. A small no service building in the Bronx is a whole other entity.

Ehh I tipped my super when I lived in a small building in Bed Stuy. Everyone I know tips their super including my friends in the outer boroughs.

[pantsparty]

I gave my hairdresser an extra $20 last weekend and hopefully I can catch our UPS guy. That's it. If we had cleaners, we'd tip them, too.

[bronxgirl]

Dec 22, 2014 23:28:34 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

Dec 22, 2014 23:06:11 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Yes. the previous responses in this thread are referring to high- end full service buildings in Manhattan. A small no service building in the Bronx is a whole other entity.

Ehh I tipped my super when I lived in a small building in Bed Stuy. Everyone I know tips their super including my friends in the outer boroughs.

I assure you this is not universal. 

[iamgrace]

I tip no one. I hate this bs.

I see my hair stylist maybe once a year and my mail delivery person is an idiot. I give my daycare provider a present.

I don't really interact with anyone else.

[BunnyMacDougal]

Dec 22, 2014 16:20:25 GMT -5 zoomzoom said:

I tip my house cleaner, hair stylist, my personal trainer, and tip extra well to the bartenders at the places we go on the regular.

At work, we tip all of our carriers.

What did you tip your housekeeper?

We have a lady who cleans and basically does all our gruntwork.  She even grocery shops now.  I told H we need to give her like a whopping gift card to walmart (she's always telling us about the super saver app thing).  


Anybody want to share what they tip and/or give?

[catbus]

I wanted to leave a generous tip at Starbucks this morning, but I use the app and it caps the tip at $2.

Oh, and I got the complimentary 4-week trim from my stylist a couple days ago and left $25 for her. Daycare teachers got my contribution to the pooled gift fund, an ornament, and a box of chocolates

[Jalapeñomel]

Dec 23, 2014 2:53:12 GMT -5 catbus said:

I wanted to leave a generous tip at Starbucks this morning, but I use the app and it caps the tip at $2.

This must suck for the the baristas! 

[Deleted]

I buy gift cards for daycare workers and that's it. I might give a little extra to our babysitter if she's here around Christmas.

When we lived in the city, we tipped the super and doormen.

[Muddled]

Dec 22, 2014 16:47:45 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Someone told me that it's customary to tip the landlord. I was all...?

Do not tip your landlord. If you had a doorman, you would tip. You can give the super a little something, if you have one. The landlord gets your rent- it would be like tipping the owner of the business, which is not customary. They set the prices, after all.

[zoidberg]

What about DC/NoVA?

Our apt complex is HUGE and there is no way we can possibly tip all of the staff, but we wanted to tip the front desk people who sign for our packages and probably the cleaning staff who work in our building (there are 6 buildings in this complex) and I have no idea what is customary in this area.

[zoomzoom]

Dec 23, 2014 1:32:18 GMT -5 BunnyMacDougal said:

Dec 22, 2014 16:20:25 GMT -5 zoomzoom said:

I tip my house cleaner, hair stylist, my personal trainer, and tip extra well to the bartenders at the places we go on the regular.

At work, we tip all of our carriers.

What did you tip your housekeeper?

We have a lady who cleans and basically does all our gruntwork.  She even grocery shops now.  I told H we need to give her like a whopping gift card to walmart (she's always telling us about the super saver app thing).  


Anybody want to share what they tip and/or give?

We're tipping her $500.  It's not for 'Christmas' since she doesn't celebrate (she's a JW).  She comes weekly and we pay her $100 a week.  She also house sits for us.  And without asking, started stripping our sheets, putting fresh sheets on the bed, and washing/drying the stripped sheets while she cleans.  She pretty much just cleans our 'used areas' but will refresh the guest rooms/basement in lieu of other things if we ask.

[mmmomof2]

I tipped my cleaners what an every two week service would cost. Though they come every 4 weeks and cost more.

I always tip my hairdresser 20% per visit. In Dec I add another $10. Prob low, but I don't really think they need a tip on top of a tip.

Teachers get a gift (gift card).

Nothing for mailman, ups, newspaper, and garbage.

[Deleted]

Dec 23, 2014 1:32:18 GMT -5 BunnyMacDougal said:

Dec 22, 2014 16:20:25 GMT -5 zoomzoom said:

I tip my house cleaner, hair stylist, my personal trainer, and tip extra well to the bartenders at the places we go on the regular.

At work, we tip all of our carriers.

What did you tip your housekeeper?

We have a lady who cleans and basically does all our gruntwork.  She even grocery shops now.  I told H we need to give her like a whopping gift card to walmart (she's always telling us about the super saver app thing).  


Anybody want to share what they tip and/or give?

Two weeks pay. So the cost of one visit if they come every other week, four visits if they come twice/week, etc. That covers them not working Christmas week, or gives them overtime for working Christmas, and an extra payment as their bonus.