Monthly Debate! Do you/should you tip the Maid?

[Priscilla]

A couple weeks ago we drove to our son's university to pick him up for the summer. Because it's a five hour drive each way we stay overnight in a motel once we get there and gather up his stuff and come home the next day. Anyway, we always leave a little something for the maid, usually just a couple of dollars. I worked as a maid during the summer as soon as I was old enough and all through summer vacations when I was in college. It's a hard, hot, often disgusting, dirty job. Also, not very well paid, either. So, the question is this. Do you think you should tip the Maid who cleans your room? And, if not - do you tip in restaurants, and if you tip there, why not tip the Maid? So, have at it! ;)

[Milo]

I dont really go to hotels, and rarely eat out, but yes, I tip.

[spellwight]

Personally, it depends on the place. A motor hotel/motel where you pop in for a place to crash between points A & B is different than a nice hotel where you might stay more than one night and actually MEET your maid.

Overnighters at a motel, no tips. Sorry, you ain't doing it for me, you're doing it for anyone.

Extended stay at a hotel I'll leave a tip for the maid and something for anyone who delivers food or extra towels or such.

But then again, I don't leave a room trashed. If my kids were heathens or there's a ton of crappola to be cleaned up - I would prolly leave a tip for a motel maid, too.

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

The rare times I do stay at a motel, yes I tip. Well, *I* don't, I'm usually just a guest along for the trip, but if me parents don't leave a tip, I make them. Unless it's a crappy motel.
Restaraunts (fast food doesn't count) I ALWAYS make sure they get a tip. anywhere from 7-15 % depending on quality. It's just plain common courtesy.

[Dux]

It depends - if I stay mor than one night, usually I'll leave something. Anything extended, definately. Restaurants we always leave a tip.

[Jax]

I personally would not tip. It's not a custom where I come from, and I don't have a lot of money, so why should I just give it away. I can't help how I feel, perhaps I'm greedy, but our governments have made it the law to pay these people at /least/ the minimum wage, I've worked for less than the minimum wage and have to admit I've received perhaps 5 tips in my 3-5 years of working like that. It just doesn't happen unless the person has a lot of money and is feeling generous, I certainly don't expect to receive tips, I expect to be treated courteously.
I think, too, that if I went on holiday to America, I wouldn't tip either, if I can avoid it, I'd be scrimping and saving to get what I could to go over, and having to save that 10% extra just to make sure I've got enough spare to give everyone?? I don't think so! I barely scrape by on the seat of my pants as it is!

I do understand that these people don't get paid a lot of money, but that is not my fault, and it's up to the government to do something about it. How on earth did this ridiculous custom come into being?? :shake:

[C_ris]

I don't give tips much myself. Unless the service has been exemplary. These people are doing a job, and get paid for that. Why should I pay them more for doing their job?!

I know that some get paid less than they should - but then they should either go elsewhere or demand a raise. Also, many places now automatically add an extra 10 or 15% onto bills as tips, which is ridiculous!!!

[AnnMarie]

I usually do. In part, because of the college I attended. Paul Smiths is half forestry related, half hotel/restauraunt and chef trainee. We have a hotel that isowned and opperated by the college, and is used for training. Most of the "lower" staff are college students in training or work study. They appreciate the extra money, and most of them bust their butts to make the Hotel Saranac THE place to stay.

Also, having heard and seen the state some rooms are left in...when I walk in, it's clean and fresh... I know someone worked hard to make sure my first inpression is favorable.

Yeah, sometimes I can't leave much. Believe me, most of them know most visitors aren't rolling in dough. But, until they're paid what they are worth (THAT ain't about to happen in this life) a tip is a good way to say "Thanks, you're doing a fine job, and I appreciate it"

[Milo]

I know that some get paid less than they should - but then they should either go elsewhere or demand a raise. Also, many places now automatically add an extra 10 or 15% onto bills as tips, which is ridiculous!!!
Yeah! that makes me mad too!

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

I agree. Tips should be an act of kindness, not obligation.

[Priscilla]

Do you tip in a restaurant, then? I'm curious why so many are against tipping a maid who from my own experience has a very hard, dirty, disgusting job, and yet in most cases we tip in a restaurant without question, unless the service has been awful. Waiters or waitresses take our order and get the food. Yes, if we are only staying one night, the clean up done of our room is for the next person, but the room had to be cleaned for US from the person who came before us, and who knows what a terrible mess that might have been?! I've seen pizza thrown all around rooms, vomit all around, "things" you don't want to hear about all over the bathrooms, sorry to be graphic, but I think a maid deserves a little something, even if we only stay at that hotel for one night. And, in some cases moving on to a "better job, with more pay" isn't always an option. Next comments! ;)

[C_ris]

My comments stand for any kind of service job. You do a job. You get paid for the job. Profit from which you are paid is made from the prices charged for the service/goods.

I work in a supermarket. I don't get tips for showing people where the apples are. Why should someone get tips for bringing me food which I am paying a lot for anyway?

[AnnMarie]

My comments stand for any kind of service job. You do a job. You get paid for the job. Profit from which you are paid is made from the prices charged for the service/goods.

I work in a supermarket. I don't get tips for showing people where the apples are. Why should someone get tips for bringing me food which I am paying a lot for anyway?


Because those of us who work in supermarkets

A) get paid more, generally

b) are not considered janitorial staff, and therefore don't usually end up cleaning up when someone has shit on the rugs (Hotel)

C) Don't run the risk of morons and jerks causing accidents (sometimes on purpose...seen it happen) where you can end up seriously scalded or cut (food service)

[Shani]

Tipping isn't done here so it's not something I think about. Minimum wage in Australia is very different to say America. We can expect to get paid around $15 per hour depending on age of course, a 16 yr old gets a lower wage than a 20 yr old but it's still fair, we also get a higher rate for weekend work or 'after hours' depending on the time. It's just not necessary to tip when the person gets a fair wage to start with.

[leahiniowa]

I usually tip 20% in restaurants.

I almost always tip in hotels/motels. Often I'm staying with the children, and almost always I am preparing food where I am staying. (No kosher restaurants in many cities.) The bigger the mess we leave, and the longer we stay, the bigger the tip.

The other night I stayed in a Motel Super 8 just with #1 and I wouldn't have tipped but there was an envelope left by the cleaning help for tips. That does sort of bug me, b/c it's really pushing the idea of tips being gratuities, but I can understand b/c I don't think many people are so aware of the custom.

[One Pony]

I work as a motel manager. In my experience the maids are not paid enough and it is just common courtesy. What’s a couple of bucks to change the bed you slept in and the towels you used. Then there’s the trash you leave behind, vacuum and clean the toilet. Cleaning the toilet alone should be worth a couple of bucks (eewwww). In a restaurant absolutely 15 % if it's good service a penny if not.

[Jax]

:roll: A couple of bucks is usually all I ever have! Why should I give it to someone else? The laws over there (about this) obviously suck, from my point of view anyways! The minimum wage ought to be enough for a person to live on

[leahiniowa]

Yeah, well I just saw a great bumper sticker. It said, "Don't steal. The government hates competition."

I don't care which country you're from, you gotta laugh.

[One Pony]

:roll: A couple of bucks is usually all I ever have! Why should I give it to someone else? The laws over there (about this) obviously suck, from my point of view anyways! The minimum wage ought to be enough for a person to live on

it isn't a law here. The minimum wage here is 6.75 per hour. After taxes (which CA is very high) your at the poverty level. Then you have to figure in bills, rent, food and if you have a car then gas,insurance and maintance. Most workers in the service industry depend on tips to help make ends meet. That seems to go double for families and students. So in summation no minimum wage is not enough to live on.

[One Pony]

I usually tip 20% in restaurants.

I almost always tip in hotels/motels. Often I'm staying with the children, and almost always I am preparing food where I am staying. (No kosher restaurants in many cities.) The bigger the mess we leave, and the longer we stay, the bigger the tip.

The other night I stayed in a Motel Super 8 just with #1 and I wouldn't have tipped but there was an envelope left by the cleaning help for tips. That does sort of bug me, b/c it's really pushing the idea of tips being gratuities, but I can understand b/c I don't think many people are so aware of the custom.

Thats really funny I run a Super 8 here in Ca in Northen Ca. You are right though. The envelopes are placed in the rooms because many people dont know that they should leave a tip. With it being there the point is put across silently. And wow I could tell you horror stories about what people do to the rooms.

[Mary]

This is odd. "Many people don't know they should leave a tip" No I don't. When I go to a hotel I pay the rate the hotel asks of me. This to me includes the cost of cleaning the room and the costs of paying the staff.

My question: Is it morally right to employ someone for a wage that you know is not enough for that person to live on?

Pay them a proper wage and charge the guest accordingly. Then the guest knows exactly how much it will cost them to stay in that hotel and can decide themselves beforehand if it is a fair price.

[Priscilla]

I'm guessing that the people who say they never tip in a hotel/motel also never tip at restaurants or when they get their hair done either. After all, if the cost of your room "should" cover the service, then the cost of your food should as well. And, as an aside here, when we were in England visiting with Anneli this spring we went out to dinner several times and yes, she tipped too, so I guess it isn't just an American thing.

OnePony, I hear you on the disgusting things people do to their motel rooms! I guess they figure they're leaving and will never be back so why should they care!? :banghead:

[leahiniowa]

Oh man, the hair salon tips. You gotta tip the shampoo person, the stylist, the manicurist, and it goes on and on and on . . . . .

[Jax]

:shake: ludicrous!

[AnnMarie]

Oh man, the hair salon tips. You gotta tip the shampoo person, the stylist, the manicurist, and it goes on and on and on . . . . .
I figure if ANYONE deserves a tip, it's the gal that does my daughter's hair. For one thing, just getting Dancer to sit still long enough to get her curls trimmed is hard enough. Then to actually do a stunning job each and every time? Erin is close to a saint in my books! She even managed to straighten un the mess Dancer made cutting her own hair, without losing as much of the length I was afraid would have to go.

[leahiniowa]

When my kids are little I cut their hair. Actually, now that #2 is old enough, she cuts their hair. Oh Darn! I just realized she left for camp w/o cutting :moon:'s hair! Now I'll have to do it.

[One Pony]

I'm guessing that the people who say they never tip in a hotel/motel also never tip at restaurants or when they get their hair done either. After all, if the cost of your room "should" cover the service, then the cost of your food should as well. And, as an aside here, when we were in England visiting with Anneli this spring we went out to dinner several times and yes, she tipped too, so I guess it isn't just an American thing.

OnePony, I hear you on the disgusting things people do to their motel rooms! I guess they figure they're leaving and will never be back so why should they care!? :banghead:

Thank you that is exactly what happens just like a rental car

And Mary If the staff were paid what they need to live with out tips, Nobody would be able to afford the rooms.

[One Pony]

Oh man, the hair salon tips. You gotta tip the shampoo person, the stylist, the manicurist, and it goes on and on and on . . . . .

Actually I cant afford that so the lady that cuts my hair also does the shampooing (sp) and styling. Manicures I can do my self.

[Milo]

My brother cuts my hair. I shampoo it myself.

[Anareth]

$15 an hour as minimum?!? :eek: Remind me never to open a business there! (Even if that is Australian dollars, not US.) If it ever got that high here all the small business would have to sack 2/3 of their staff at least just to stay open. Forget restaurant waitstaff.

In hotels, I leave a couple dollars for the maid. Not much, but enough to show housekeeping they're appreciated. I don't leave a horrific mess, but the people who do generally also don't leave anything for the cleaning staff. My neighbor here works as a housekeeper at the casino hotel in town and has horror stories about what guests (especially the celebrity entertainers) have left in rooms and believe me, whatever they're paid, it's not enough.

[leahiniowa]

This thread is making me feel much better about the pretzel/chip detritus my kids usually ending up leaving. Also about my tipping. When I've got enough to make a food mess I try to leave at least $15. I figure, 6 kids, 3 under 12 yrs. of age, and not being able to eat out - the maids DESERVE a tip. And I still throw away all the garbage I can, or leave the extra in shopping bags, tied up, next to the filled garbage can. And I TRY to put all the wet towels in one pile.

[Jax]

$15 an hour as minimum?!? :eek: Remind me never to open a business there! (Even if that is Australian dollars, not US.) If it ever got that high here all the small business would have to sack 2/3 of their staff at least just to stay open. Forget restaurant waitstaff.

That's one of the reasons why a LOT of places employ people under the age of 20 - the minimum wage is less.
I loathe being served by teenagers! There are some good ones, but as a general rule they are completely disrespectful and rude and have no idea what the words customer service mean! :irked: I was never /ever/ like that when I served people when I was a teenager. It absolutely disgusts me!

[Priscilla]

Your minimum wage is different for under 20 year olds? Ours is I believe the same no matter what the age, but you can't start working in most cases until you are 16, it might be 15 in some areas. At what age can you start working, Jax?

[One Pony]

leahiniowa can you come stay at my motel?? the house keepers would LOVE you.

How the heck can you stay in busniess paying 15 bucks an hour????.Unless your a carpenter or a plummer paying aprentis wages (sorry about the spelling I never was good at it)

[Jax]

Ummm, I'm not sure if there is one, but there probably is and I just don't know about it (I've not been in Aus that long) never heard of one in NZ either. I"ve seen kids of 13 and 14 working at places, like washing cars at a car yard or whatever. When I worked at the takeaways in NZ, when the new people came and bought the place, they had little 10 year old Pauline taking orders (LOL don't worry she loved doing it) - the only problem with that was that some people don't like being served by a 10 year old kid (don't worry, I was there too - some of the time, and she had an older sis - 16)
And of course, lots of kids do paper runs.... I wonder if ther eis a law about it...

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

Oh man, the hair salon tips. You gotta tip the shampoo person, the stylist, the manicurist, and it goes on and on and on . . . . .
This is why I like to be a male and a hair cut means simply that: just cutting the hair. :redfruit: