Holiday tipping- no beatings PLEASE!!!!!

Most of your building staff is most likely union and enjoys a level of job protection unheard of among professionals who are "at will" employees.

Your building's staff also most likely enjoys a union contract that provides overtime pay for working even one minute past their "out" time, which I doubt is a benefit you enjoy.

And your building's staff also most likely has the financial security of a defined-benefit pension plan -- something again that's also unheard of in our post-Reagan economy.

re2009, you seem like a generous type. generosity is generosity. if you are giving and it is less it doesn't make it any less generous. it means you have less to give. we do need to take care of ourselves and our families first. how lucky we are if we are then able to share with others.

tipping staff when no work is offered other than what is required in their job description, is simply another word for charity. Give what makes you feel comfortable, nothing more, nothing less. It is a personal decision.

yep, i second ar and p09. i'm considering two things: what am i comfortable giving and what, if anything, does the person deserve.

can i ask a general question (on a new, clean tipping thread...though i don't want it to detract attention from RE2009's question): who else do people tip besides building staff? was thinking today that i wanted to tip the stroller check guys at kidville b/c i feel bad not tipping them on a daily basis. i know, random, but it made me think about who else i should tip. mail carrier? do people tip their ups guy? how about laundry/dry cleaning people, particularly the delivery guys? is all of that going overboard?

Hey Matt. We do not get overtime if we work one or 15 or 20 minutes past our 8 hrs. We get overtime if we work a double. That is a 16 hr day which we are often forced to do if we cannot find a replacement to come in.

you need to understand matt...he makes everything and anything up to support whatever crazy point he's trying to make.

i tip or "gift" people that provide serivce on a regular basis, i.e. hair person, dog walker.
I do not tip the mail or ups person.

You don't need us to tell you that you should continue to be the lovely, generous person you always have been; only you know how much this downturn has hurt your personal economy.

"This year will be down approx 30% (last year was very small)."

Shhh... don't tell SteveF. He swears you'll be making double.

RE2009 - interesting b/c i do NOT tip hairdressers extra for the holidays, mostly b/c i feel like i tip them very generouslyl at each visit. my thought was to give a nice little holiday tip to those that i don't normally tip (well, i do tip the laundry delivery guy each time so prob wouldn't give him holiday tip). anyway, wonder it that's looking at it backwards.

for instance, contrary to what many others have noted, i have not tipped our super or porter each time they've fulfilled various requests for us. i do view it as their job and not worthy of a tip. but, i do plan to tip them well for the holiday.

When I tell friends in Europe about all the tipping I do in the US, they are horrified. They just don't understand the concept of tipping. They believe that your wage is enough....SOCIALISM!!

uws... i moved into a new building last year and in the owners manual it states no tipping. as the building is a year old i do not tip for each job. but yes, i did in my old building. while they state no tips they do allow gifts as i gave a few last year even though i moved in mid dec.
i love the idea of pooling the tips, but i guess i am in the minority on that...
and yes prada, i lived in euro for four years and no tips!!!!
should we start a thread on tipping taxi drivers...how did that become common place (i stopped taking cabs- could not stand it!!)

nobody picked up on the irony of prada's mention of no tipping, socialism?

re2009, how you treat people really does matter. not just monetarily. people know that things are tight, don't worry about pooling, this is something from you.

i actually really admire taxi drivers, and i've learned a hell of a lot from them. i agree if you can avoid taking them it's best, because they are superbly expensive, but if you are receptive you can get an education just by being friendly and listening.

Interesting to read the variety of comments. Are there guidelines when condo is a second home and used less than 50% of the time?

I don't have a job, haven't for most of the year and I will tip what I did last year. I don't tip for service during the year (unless its a specific private thing like getting rid of furniture) and my financial situation is my problem, not the guys who work in my building, do an amazing job and whose annual pay (per our building manager and yes they are union) can only be called pathetic. The way I see it holiday tips are as much as part of annual compensation expectations for building employees as tips are for hairdressers or restaurant workers. Is the system right? Maybe not. But I'm not going to hold good, hardworking people hostage to my feelings about the system.

Hairdressers and restaurant workers don't even come close to the guaranteed union salary, benefits, pension, and job security that your allegedly "pathetically" paid building employees enjoy.

If you want to participate in this insane shakedown, be my guest.

That's our Matt, Mr. Scrooge, but he'd be HOWLING if he didn't get his holiday bonus. Happy Holidays, Matt.

drdrd, how was your b'day/trip? glad you're back in time to tip the staff.

liz, bless you. as we all know these tips are not merely remunerative (although that's important), it's also a time for us to show our appreciation. and no, matt, we don't need to do so to make ourselves feel better. we do it because it's a traditional way of showing our appreciation. if it makes you bitter, don't do it. i doubt under most circumstances that your quality of service will be affected. i'm sure staff far and wide are accustomed to assholes, and probably more people than you'd expect don't tip.

AR, dahling, I was in the Dominican Republic & it was GLORIOUS ! Great to be back & just in time to get busy for the upcoming festivities. xox

I've always wanted to go the DR. Warm weather, beautiful scenery and maybe a chance to see a future Cy Young winner or the next Manny Ramirez years before anyone hears about them. Did you see the movie "Sugar"?

Baseball doesn't interest me a whit but the place is magnificent. Santo Domingo is the oldest 'European' city in the Americas which is what fascinates me. I highly recommend it.

Hey, I've got an idea: Let's not let one jerkoff who shall remain nameless (though it could rhyme with "NYC Nat") hijack another tipping thread, whereby he makes some absurd statement and everyone else ruins the thread by telling him what everyone - including he - already knows: The guy is a moron.

Instead, why don't we use this tipping thread to post how much we'll be giving per person:

I'm thinking of tipping our 10 doormen/front desk ppl $125 each, and $200 for the super. I live in a 40 story luxury hi-rise. Sound right?

Hugh_G, I also live in a 40 story lux hirise (rental) and those numbers are inconceivable for me (non-profit sector job, no bonus, no cost of living increase for 2 years running). I expect to be able to make a token gesture to each of the building staff, but it will easily be half or less than what you propose. I have no doubt they will appreciate your generosity; I appreciate the services I expect to receive in exchange for paying rent every month.

wow... i tip about ~$60 for doormen / front desk i like, about $40 for those that are mediocre. tip porters about $30 - 45 again depending on whether they are helpful. i stiffed the super 3 years running, but that's becuase i lived in ab uilding where the super is notorious for being an a--.

I am going to give $100 per doorman (with the exception of the night guy... i NEVER see him and the one or two times i did he was asleep). The building manager $100 and the maintence staff $50.
I agonized over this and that is the number. I am in a luxury building and the service is very disappointing , no help with packages, door and i use the service entrance most of the time. There is a part of me that would like to give zippo (sorry to be a scruge, i would rather give the extra money to people that actually do help (dog walker, hair stylist ect) but i will bite the bullet and do the right thing.

Hugh, curious about the $125 as you are the second person in two days to use that number.... How did you get to $125 as opposed to $100 or $150. Just curious!!!
thanks

If you live in a 40 story building, with 7 units per floor, that's 280 apartments.
Now everyone gives a doorman $100.
Result: the doorman just got $28,000 IN CASH (and so pays no income taxes, let's face it).

Obviously that is a crazy outcome, isn't it? What doorman would expect more than $4,000 in christmas tips? $4,000 divided by 280 would mean a $14 tip from each apartment.

Therefore, I don't know how people in a 40 story building can be thinking of giving more than a $20 tip to the doormen, etc.

Do you guys only give to your favorites or something? Are you trying to make up for the deadbeat tenants?

I use math similar to Skunkles. $100 tip per head is way too much. Unless they bring hookers to your front door, of course.

" I am in a luxury building and the service is very disappointing , no help with packages, door and i use the service entrance most of the time. There is a part of me that would like to give zippo (sorry to be a scruge, i would rather give the extra money to people that actually do help (dog walker, hair stylist ect) but i will bite the bullet and do the right thing."

What the hell is so "right" about tipping for disappointing service, no help with packages or the door, and using the service entrance most of the time?

^^^(hit "return" too soon)

Do you not realize that not unlike giving in to a child's temper tantrum, tipping in this instance actually rewards and reinforces this shoddy service?

Total guess, but I am seeing several very "generous" tippers who are either starting these threads or contributing at opportune times. Also not totally sure, but I don't recall seeing these posters before. So I am bit skeptical about both the objective and truthful nature of their posts. Don't mean to offend anyone if I am off base.

Two trees put out a memo that made it on curbed about what "average" tips are like... and the consensus was... they were lying.

I like to give something personal, so I used to give a framed photo of myself. For framing, I suggest an inexpensive black frame from CVS, but buy some white-out fluid and paint little zebra stripes on it to make it cute.

I'm going with $150 for the super, handyman and three of the doormen that make me truly very happy to live in my building. $125 for the night doorman and also the one guy who's usually a porter, but does the door one day a week. Of the remaining two porters, one gets $100, and the other's pretty indifferent, so he gets $60. I guess that's $1,160 for the building guys.

$50 each for the two garage guys who also get tipped every time I see them. $400 to $500 lump sum for the dog daycare team, given to the manager to disburse. I have no idea if that's necessary, generous, or offensive.

some of you guys tipping numbers are amazingly high...total of 1000 or so,,,that's absurd in my view,

i don't disagree. Of course, one the term "dog daycare" came into it, I started thinking absurd.

I like to let them know they're appreciated, and I'm not going to get super-fussy about what an incremental few hundred dollars will do for my life. YMMV.

"I'm not going to get super-fussy about what an incremental few hundred dollars will do for my life."

Good for you, that "a few hundred dollars" is so "incremental" in your life.

For most people, it's the difference between either buying Christmas presents for the kids or paying the mortgage/rent.

Thanks! I think most people enjoy giving gifts.

Although I'm not rich, I'm very happy with where I am, and happy to spread it around to the extent I can - particularly when I can hook up those people who make my life better. I certainly wouldn't be as generous with Christmas tips if it meant not being able to pay the bills or give gifts to friends and family.

By the way, if my circumstances aren't relevant to you, and that's a problem for you, you're welcome to ignore my posts. I am happy to reciprocate if you'd like.

How much do people tip their once per week cleaning lady, relative to what you pay them per week? Would it be considered scrooge-like if we are away for 2 weeks over the holidays and just paid her for those weeks but ask her not to come. Basically a 2-week paid vacation?

I usually give my housekeeper (she comes once each week, and an additional once every two weeks) two weeks paid vacation in the summer, and about 2.5 that for a Christmas gift.

I also have her come when we are away traveling, as it adds to my peace of mind to know that someone who knows my place is keeping any eye on things. That paid off in a big way when she prevented a flood while we were away.

"an eye".

Also depends on how much you like her work and how difficult it would be to replace her