Tipping Guide for Gratuitous Folks

About the Book

An anthology of writers on the subject of tipping.

READERS WILL DISCOVER:

HOW TO DEVELOP A PERSONAL TIPPING PERSONA

Tipping experiences are irreversible. Once they occur, they help shape future tips. The author provides several situations that have shaped his tipping persona: the single bill for a group, the service charge, discovering God's way of handling money, and gaming.

WHEN YOU TRAVEL ACROSS TOWN, THROUGHOUT THE USA, OR FOREIGN COUNTRIES, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER A MULTITUDE OF TIPPING SITUATIONS

Your service expectations will be challenged by a variety of service workers, leaving you to decide who, when and how much to tip.

HOW TO DEAL WITH TIPPING AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

Foreign currencies, the exchange rate between the US dollar and the foreign currency, service worker expectations in foreign facilities, and government tipping restrictions in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific and Asia, North America, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF TIPPING

The US Department of Labor is revising Federal Regulations, IRS is investigating Hotel Workers Unreported pay, Supreme Court is hearing S.F. Italian restaurant case, Form 4070 Employees Report of Tips to Employer, and Form 4070A Employees Daily Record of Tips

THERE IS NO LAW THAT REQUIRES CUSTOMERS TO TIP SERVICE WORKERS, SO WHY TIP?

The author spent four months traveling across the US interviewing service workers and their employers. Chapter 5 provides the employee focus on tipping and its relationship to the service workers' standard of living.

FOR MANY OF US THE ISSUE IS WHO TO TIP, WHEN AND HOW MUCH

A great deal of tipping depends on the consumer expectations of service. If the consumer is quite demanding and requires special requests, a higher tip percentage should be considered. Otherwise, start at 10% and go up from there depending on the quality of service.

WHY SERVERS CHOOSE THIS LINE OF WORK

The focus on why service workers choose this line of work varies from worker to worker: service is a good job; the income can provide for a certain standard of living; the income can underwrite the cost of books and tuition at a school; it is the major entry level job in the business world; single mothers have to earn their own way; they find customers interesting, especially children of regular customers.

THE NATIONAL AVERAGE TIP IS 14.4%

Consumers leave cash tips at the table when they leave, or add the amount of the tip to a charge card. Some establishments have the computer estimate the amount of the tip at 15, 18 and 20% as a service to the consumer who makes the ultimate tip decision. IRS indicates that upon audit, tips on credit cards are accurately reported whereas cash tips are underreported.

THE AUTHOR USES A MINIMUM TIP OF 10% FOR ANY SERVICE, WHETHER THE SERVICE IS GOOD OR BAD

The author would rather give a minimum tip of 10% just for having the server get out of bed and report for work. Otherwise he would have to bus the table, set it up, order the food, carry it to the table, calculate the charges, all of which he doesn't want to do. Or, carry luggage to a hotel. Or, carry a recliner from the second floor when moving. Or, create a new hairdo. One tips for this individual service.

THE TIP PERCENTAGE CAN GO UP AS SERVERS PROVIDE KNOWLEDGEABLE, ATTENTIVE, FRIENDLY SERVICE AND PROVIDE FOR SPECIAL REQUESTS

A chart is provided to assist the reader to set priorities for different percentages of tips.

WHY SERVICE WORKERS SEEK TIPS TO AUGMENT MINIMUM WAGES WHICH CAN BE AS LOW AS $2.13 PER HOUR.

2 to 4 million service workers work for nothing. The author finds that to be un-American. If one works, one should be fairly compensated for one's work, according to the author. However when asked the question "If you had the choice of being paid $12 to $15 per hour and no tips, vs. a minimum wage and tips, which would you prefer?" 92% of those who responded would prefer the present system of minimum wage and tips. They explain that they can earn $40 to $60 per hour in tips.

DEVELOP TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE TIP INCOME

Experienced service workers can increase tip income by using certain techniques that have been found to create customer satisfaction. Chapter 7 provides a means to develop these techniques.

About the Author

Milan E. Wight is a native Californian. He was educated in California schools (Go Bears!), and also attended Oberlin College in Ohio, and the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Wight's professional credentials provided for his 40 years in secondary education as teacher, counselor and school administrator. He also served as an Associate Professor of Education at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, in their summer education programs. Travel to conferences provided tipping opportunities.

While serving in the US Navy in World War II, an incident at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City began the development of Mr. Wight's personal tipping persona.

Mr. Wight's travels in the USA and foreign countries exposed him to various tipping practices. One month long trip was to view secondary schools in Eastern Europe including France, Romania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Moscow in the Soviet Union. On another occasion, with the Comparative Education Society and Kent State University, on an around the world trip of 8 weeks duration, visits were made to secondary schools in Switzerland, Moscow, Lebanon, Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Hawaii and return to California.

Tipping practices in the USA and foreign countries varied due to government edict, custom and their respective economies.

Avocational travel in their Airstream travel trailer over a period of 30 years was in caravans and to international rallies in the lower 48 and to the Yukon and Alaska.

In all that travel, much was learned about tipping practices in the USA and foreign countries. We share some of those experiences in this book.