Tipping at Disneyland

[MAH4546]

As far as cab drivers, no way i have never tipped them, they do not go above and beyond of what they are supposed to do and mostly they don't even do what they are supposed to do

I feel bad for any cab driver that has to take you.

Cab drivers, like waiters, live off tips. It's their livelihood.

 

[f15robyn]

This has been a big subject of debate between me and my sister for years. I typically tip waitstaff 20% for acceptable service and more if the service is better. She, however prefers 15% for acceptable and more if the service is better. Both of us live in east coast states.

However, an earlier poster made a very intersting point. So I did some quick internet research (take all info below with a grain of salt as it's rounded to make it easier, but it is from each state's state government web pages).

California's minimum wage is $8.00 per hour. And that's the minimum that a restaurant must pay waitstaff. There is a California law forbidding business from applying a "tip credit" against the minimum wage. Tips are income waitstaff earn on top of their wage.

Vermont's minimum wage is also around $8.00. However, in Vermont, employers can apply a "tip credit" against that and therefore can pay their employees as low as $4.00 per hour. The waitstaff need the tips to even get back to "minimum wage".

Federal law allows this tip credit for "tipped" service employees, it's just that some states choose not to allow it. Like California. Just like some states choose to set higher minimum wages than the federal. It appears than states can be more "generous", as it were, they just can't be less generous than federal alw.

So to be honest, I can see why tipping guidelines on the "west coast" might be lower than the "east coast." The waitstaff in CA are guaranteed DOUBLE per hour what waitstaff here are guaranteed, before tips.

Interesting....... (and choosing not to comment at all about legal minimum versus "fair".)

 

[albertamommyof4]

I feel bad for any cab driver that has to take you.

Cab drivers, like waiters, live off tips. It's their livelihood.

Well that is not fair , i will tell you about my cab expereiences here in my town,
I have called a cab after grocery shopping and had a child plus 7 months pregnant and do you think the cab driver got out of the vehicle to help , nope, when i got home do you think the cab driver helped, nope he left his meter running and i had to pay more.
one other time the cabby never had change for a 20 and it was %15 50 cab fair so he ended up keeping the change, made me mad
other times the cab turned on his meeter as soon as he pulled up to the store, we weren't even in the thing yet, i have had a few that didn't even know the address we gave hime, even though he said he did, so it costed up 10 dollars extra. we almost got in a accident with one cab driver and he was speeding the whole time with my kids in it.
so ya i will not tip in these situations i don;t think it is fair to judge on that .
KNow if i had a nice expereicne and they were helpful , then by all means i would give them a tip .

 

[pixiewings71]

I will tip a cab driver ONLY if they are doing a good job. We took cabs a lot our Jan. trip. The last couple nights anyway, we stayed at 2 different hotels and rather than take ART we walked in the morning and took a cab back at night. It was faster and easier for us. The first 2 nights we tipped the driver, they did great, they got us back quickly and they were nice guys. The last night we did not tip the guy, he drove the WRONG way, we had to tell him twice where we were going, he was on his cell phone the whole time (illegal in CA without a headset which he was not using until the end of the call), as a result our taxi cost us almost double what it did the first 2 nights. We paid him $7 for a $6.60 cab ride.....the other guys all got $10 for driving us and their fares were each under $5. I wouldn't have tipped the taxi drivers that albertamommy had either. A tip is a gratuity, it's a THANK YOU, it's not something that anyone should count on. I think the states that allow employers to add tips into the "minimum wage" should be fined....seriously, I know it's a federal law but it's a horrible one!

 

[Teki]

I useually double the tax and add a dollar for me. I live in Vegas tipping central, we tip everybody. Im so used tp people living on their tips that I tip even when I shouldnt (cashiers etc). However I do know from living in Vegas that people who get tipped are used to people from other countries not knowing a good amount so dont worry to much about it as long as you leave them alittle somthing for the service provided.

 

[Kiwianna]

Does the restaurant tip go to the person who attended to your table, or does it go into a pool/kitty to be shared with other staff?
As for tipping housekeeping staff in hotels, what is an acceptable amount? Do you pay per room or per number of occupants?

 

[fairycat]

This has been a big subject of debate between me and my sister for years. I typically tip waitstaff 20% for acceptable service and more if the service is better. She, however prefers 15% for acceptable and more if the service is better. Both of us live in east coast states.

However, an earlier poster made a very intersting point. So I did some quick internet research (take all info below with a grain of salt as it's rounded to make it easier, but it is from each state's state government web pages).

California's minimum wage is $8.00 per hour. And that's the minimum that a restaurant must pay waitstaff. There is a California law forbidding business from applying a "tip credit" against the minimum wage. Tips are income waitstaff earn on top of their wage.

Vermont's minimum wage is also around $8.00. However, in Vermont, employers can apply a "tip credit" against that and therefore can pay their employees as low as $4.00 per hour. The waitstaff need the tips to even get back to "minimum wage".

Federal law allows this tip credit for "tipped" service employees, it's just that some states choose not to allow it. Like California. Just like some states choose to set higher minimum wages than the federal. It appears than states can be more "generous", as it were, they just can't be less generous than federal alw.

So to be honest, I can see why tipping guidelines on the "west coast" might be lower than the "east coast." The waitstaff in CA are guaranteed DOUBLE per hour what waitstaff here are guaranteed, before tips.

Interesting....... (and choosing not to comment at all about legal minimum versus "fair".)

Just to expand on this because of the required taxing on tips it actually brings down what CA servers actually make. Basically CA started a rule a server has to claim at least 10% (I could be wrong about the amount as it has been a while since I worked in this type of situation) of what they sell in a shift, so if you sell $150 in food you are automatically taxed $15, 10% of that amount, but the terrible thing is if you actually make less then that the goverment does not care you still pay your $15 even if you make $1, and on the other side if you make more you are required to pay 10% of that amount as well.

This system has hurt some of my friends. One went to work and ended up with a very large (25-30 people) for most of her shift taking up her whole station. They loved her, they laughed with her told her she was great everything. She brought the check which by her employers rules had a 15% added large group graituity and they got mad. She had the manager explain that though that was the rules they would allow them to adjust the tip to what they wanted. They ended up leaving her NOTHING. They punished her for the companies policies, ones stated on the menu and when they were seated. So after the bill was figured she actually paid for them to eat as the goverment still believed she would get the minimum tip.

Basically my main point, if you ever chose not to leave a tip, because your server was terrible, please inform the manager why. If the service is bad enough to give them nothing it is bad enough to get a manager. I have only done this twice in my life and one of the times I still tipped the bus boy directly since he did everything for us but take our order!

Can I also take a moment to say how much I hate bathroom attendants!!!! It's not the people themselves, it's just I find the idea really creepy and I try to be nice but to not use any of their stuff cause it's just too odd.

 

[fairycat]

Does the restaurant tip go to the person who attended to your table, or does it go into a pool/kitty to be shared with other staff?
As for tipping housekeeping staff in hotels, what is an acceptable amount? Do you pay per room or per number of occupants?

It depends on the restaurant. Many places have the servers "tip out" other people in the restaurant, people like the Hostesses, Bartenders and Bussers.

At my job servers collect all the tips, we then tip out 30% of our tips that go into a pool that is split by our back up staff.

For housekeeping most figure $1-$3 a person I believe. Honestly the first I ever heard of tipping housekeeping was here on the Dis board. But it's a nice thing.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Just to expand on this because of the required taxing on tips it actually brings down what CA servers actually make. Basically CA started a rule a server has to claim at least 10% (I could be wrong about the amount as it has been a while since I worked in this type of situation) of what they sell in a shift, so if you sell $150 in food you are automatically taxed $15, 10% of that amount, but the terrible thing is if you actually make less then that the goverment does not care you still pay your $15 even if you make $1, and on the other side if you make more you are required to pay 10% of that amount as well.

This system has hurt some of my friends. One went to work and ended up with a very large (25-30 people) for most of her shift taking up her whole station. They loved her, they laughed with her told her she was great everything. She brought the check which by her employers rules had a 15% added large group graituity and they got mad. She had the manager explain that though that was the rules they would allow them to adjust the tip to what they wanted. They ended up leaving her NOTHING. They punished her for the companies policies, ones stated on the menu and when they were seated. So after the bill was figured she actually paid for them to eat as the goverment still believed she would get the minimum tip.

Basically my main point, if you ever chose not to leave a tip, because your server was terrible, please inform the manager why. If the service is bad enough to give them nothing it is bad enough to get a manager. I have only done this twice in my life and one of the times I still tipped the bus boy directly since he did everything for us but take our order!

Can I also take a moment to say how much I hate bathroom attendants!!!! It's not the people themselves, it's just I find the idea really creepy and I try to be nice but to not use any of their stuff cause it's just too odd.

I remember that flap about the government assuming they made a certain amount in tips and being taxed on it even if they didn't. A few years ago a very old SF restaurant went up to the Supreme Court about it and they lost. It is very unfair, so I aways make sure to leave a decent tip. Like you said, if it was bad enough to not tip, I'd call the manager and fortunately I've never had to do that.