Do you tip at Christmas time?

Question

I think some of the holiday tipping guides are ridiculous and excessive. Do people really tip this much???

Specifically, I'm wondering about the suggested amounts which seem excessive.... For instance, the gal who cuts my hair gets $45. The suggested *tip* at Christmas is $45, meaning I should have given her $90 for the trim I got yesterday??? Yikes! I gave her a jar of home made cookie mix instead.

Answer 1

I tip no different than I do the rest of the year.

Christmas IS NOT about this. I think it would do people well to learn why we really celebreate CHRISTmas in the first place!!

Answer 2

I usually tip between 15% -20% year-round as long as I receive good service; I have to be very impressed to tip more than that ( and I've tipped between 40% to 60% on occasion...) I also have to tell you that there have been a couple of times when I received such poor service that I did not leave a tip at all.

I don't feel that tipping more around Christmas time is necessary. I would much rather pay more attention to someone in need- ie- cook dinner for my neighbors who are very old, call someone to say hello and really mean it when I ask "How are you doing?"- and be ready to help if needed (like take them to the hospital and be ready to spend the night in the emergency room with them..)

As far as tipping the hairdresser and the housecleaner a day's rate.... well I think that's pretty silly. I had a housecleaner for many years and I got a nice gift for her but it was not worth a day's work.

I absolutely love to give, but I don't think anyone should dictate how much or what I should give. I think that as long as you have a conscience you know what is reasonable to give/tip.

Most important of all, some of you mentioned that we need to keep in mind the reason why we celebrate CHRISTmas, and I could not agree more. You can't have Christmas without Christ in it.

Many blessings and Merry Christmas to all.

Answer 3

A tip is just that. Extra money for doing a good job, above and beyond the designated service. Too many people in the service industry think that a tip is not only expected but required. The origination of tipping was actually done before a service was begun. The amount of tip would insure a good seat at a restaurant. The better the tip the better the seat and service. Tipping for a job done satisfactory can be given but it is not required.
The percentage of a tip is set by those receiving the tip not by a governing agency. A tip is extra. If you do not feel anything extra is deserved then don't give anything. The key is if extra is "deserved". It's your money if they want to get extra then they need to do extra.
I do tip and I tip well when it is deserved. Tipping is not an obligation. I don’t give my boss a dirty look if my paycheck is the same as the last one. And yes I deal with people all day.

Bottom line “do not be bullied” into giving something that is not deserved. If you feel you want to tip then give what you feel is deserved and what you can afford.

Answer 4

This question is turning into a debate with some of these answers! :) I however tip normally at Christmas time. If I get great service I try and tip 15% if I get ok service I only tip 10% if the service is bad in my judgement I tip anywhere between 3-7%. The reason why I do not go overboard on tips during the Christmas season is because I am a stay at home mom with 4 children and my husband is self employed. We do not get Holiday bounus or tips for that matter so we can not afford to excessively tip others. We don't go out much either for that matter. I think it all depends on service and your income. The servers should understand that some people are in the same boat as they are.

Answer 5

Honestly if I tipped everyone that served me at the rates that are being suggested here I would be broke. I think tipping has gotten out of control! A tip was supposed to be meant as a "Thank you" for great service. It was a plus on the part of the tipper and the person receiving the tip and now it is an expectation.

Except for hair stylist that are making a killing exploiting our vanity; the business pays the employee at a minimum while maintaining their prices or increasing their prices. The tip has become supplemental income for these employees all the while the business continues to increase their profits.

Years ago the standard was 15% now it's more like 18-20%. The percentage should remain the same because the cost of goods and services are going up with inflation. So how is it that on top of the increase in the product we the consumers pay more for the same service?

Think about it people... business tells you to tip and set's the rate. So then it becomes an issue of the little guy against the little guy and the fat man get's fatter.

Answer 6

There are so many things to factor in when tipping, more so around the holiday season then any time of the year. Depending on where you live, the social standing of the businesses you patronize, and your own social standing, the range of your extra holiday tipping might range from zero to an extra 100%.

If you are an average tipper, you may want to go with the season and be a bit more generous. If you are stingy, will my opinion even matter? If you are wealthy, make someones' holiday something to remember.

If you can afford the luxury items, you should afford the service that goes with it. For those that book extra appointments or parties at this time, definitely add the extra, and if your tip is already included, beef it up a bit. Mandatory gratuity is minimal at best.

By tipping service industry employees you prove the statement "What comes around, goes around." and you are doing your part to stimulate the economy. A thoughtful gift or just a card can suffice when nothing else is affordable. But what ever you do, smile. Give a little bit of yourself. It really is what's in the heart that counts.

Answer 7

I usually will tip regular bartenders/waiters 50-75% during the holiday season. Normally, I will tip 25-30%. I tip well, and i get great service, free drink a lot and I have had these people help me out a lot with other things (moving/getting a ride to/from the airport). And it makes them feel good. These people depend on their tips to pay for their rent/bills/school. I know people say that they can go get another job if they hourly rate is so bad, but if that was true, there would be a a lot more turnover in these places and they service would be much worse. Also if the owner was to pay them a decent wage, the price of menu items would probably double or even triple. I was in Europe a few weeks ago, where tipping is not customary, and I went to a casual restaurant. I had a salad and a beer and it was 20 euros (about 26 US dollars). If tipping was not customary here, that is probably close to what prices would be here.
I usually tip my hairdresser $100 (she manages a salon and she gives me huge discounts on services).
Mailman/garbageman i usually give $50. I am not made of money, but I try and make people feel good during a very stressful and sometimes depressing season.

Answer 8

Actually, those who serve are just doing their job, and if you are pleased with their performance or service, it's because they know they have to be competitive and do their best to keep their job or position in today's tough economy, where they must stand out in crowd and try to do better than the average and better than others in order to be successful.

Tips however would be nice, it can spoil them, and make them think differently about those who do and those who don't. Tips can make them expecting all the time for some free reward for their service, and upon learning about the person who doesn't tip, it may change them into doing poor service the next time or treat the person differently, without taking much interest.

Many establishments split the tip jars equally either among the workers, or workers and managers or workers and owners if the place is owner operated. Now owners don't have to be tipped, do they?

Know where your money is going or how is it spent. Don't tip some girl just because she looks good or serves with a smile and later buys some crack after going home.

There are people who are in need and have no means to celebrate even Christmas holidays. There are those who are less fortunate and have birth defects and disabilities who cannot work and are left out by our self-centered civilizations around the world where money is actually worth giving, and that even the most influential and powerful governments like ours is too busy playing world politics instead of a cure for hunger and poverty among the needy.

The so called laundry list of the people described by many are not the way to go and appreciate. Be human and feel good about helping those in real need is what the holidays are all about.

Answer 9

At Christmas, we give the paper boy and the mailman gift certificates for candy or gift certificates for the market. Everybody appreciates food. We don't tip the garbage men, because it's not always the same people. My haircuts are $20, so if I get a haircut near Christmas, I'll tip an extra 10.

As for restaurants, this overtipping stuff is totally out of control. I tip 15%, and always have. Some people now are saying that the tip IS 20%. Hey, I'd sure like a 25% raise too! I have (had) some friends who actually looked down on me for tipping 15%. Of course, these "friends" make over 100 G's a year, so for them, it's nothing. I'm retired, and don't have lots to throw around. I think that at cheaper restaurants, say, $25.00 dinners, a $5.00 tip isn't excessive (even though it's 20%) , but an $8.00 tip for a $40.00 dinner is just RIDICULOUS. 6 of us went to a nice place recently, and tipped the "required" 20%, so the waiter made $48.00 in tips to serve six people. If that waiter just served 8 tables of 6 per night (not a lot of work, I'm told), that's $400.00 a night in tips, times 5 work days, is $2000.00 a week, times 50 weeks a year is $100,000 a year. Not bad at all, for waiting tables. Where do I get a job like that? I know a waiter who, granted, worked TWO restaurant jobs, who made $120,000 in 2005. So, you big tippers who've got it to throw around, have at it. But this business about servers are "expected" to get 20% tips, and if you don't tip that amount, you get the scrooge award, is such b----------t. Know what I mean? And, by the way, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or whatever it is that you celebrate

Answer 10

Tipping has gotten completely out of control. It's been all screwed up ever since the government started taxing it while not forbidding employers to determine wages based on a projection of what tips would be. Ever since then, it's been a race to the bottom on how little employers can pay employees in service jobs, and a race to the top on how much an "acceptable tip" is. I think some people need to wake up and learn to tip, and others need to learn to withhold tips when they receive apathetic or hum ho service. When I was waiting tables, it always razzed me that the lazy waiters always made almost as much as the creme de la creme, which tells me that most people tip even when they should withhold. The service industry isn't for everyone! But, if you play it right you can make the same or more money working comparatively less and usually with a flexible schedule. It has some major benefits. On the other hand, some of you miserly people need to take your head out of the 1800s, your mind off of yourself, loosen your fists, and act like loving humans. I agree that %15 is plenty - year round. (Not all companies do the Christmas bonus thing! Who cares anyway! The service industry has inherent benefits you'll never get at a big Corp!). I do think that when the bill is small, your tip should go up to something reasonable. %15 of a $5.00 bill is hardly worth counting, now days. I always ask myself this when I wonder if I should tip at all: Does how fast and how well this person does their job make a huge difference in my experience here, or is it a straight forward do/don't do situation? If the first is true then I usually tip. I don't automaticly tip at the coffee shop for a $5.00 cup of coffee. McDonalds gets my order correct more often than the coffee shops do. Starbucks needs to start paying their employees what their worth and stop staffing warm bodies. It's just a cup of coffee. If you can't make that correctly, give up!

Answer 11

While tipping $45 on top of a $45 haircut does sound a bit outrageous. This should probably warrant better service from the hairstylist for the upcoming year. I think this holds true in any service industry. Tipping people who don't make a very good hourly wage such as a waiter/waitress ($2.13/hr.), bartender, housekeeper, or hairstylist, also allows the businesses to charge lower prices for the services they offer. If people were to decide to stop tipping or perhaps tip less, these businesses would have to charge more for the service they provide, to pay their employees a greater hourly wage. So by tipping an appropriate amount such as 18% or greater to a waiter or bartender, not only are you going to get consistently better service from them, you are also helping keep prices lower in restaurants, hotels, barber shops, etc. So, I don't think tipping 100% at Christmas is necessary. Tipping appropriately throughout the year, and maybe a little more during the holidays, should ensure that you get better service than the people who do not tip appropriately.