Tipping line handlers...What's realistic?

[ingrid75]

I will admit that I am out of touch. I have been cruising full time since 1995 and am currently in India. But am I expected to tip everybody who takes my lines when I come into a dock!?! WTF! I lived aboard in a California marina for eight years before I went cruising. My slip was right next to the marina transient dock. I helped people dock and undock on an almost daily basis. My buddy was next to the pump out station. He was known as the pump master because of all of the help he provided. Neither one of us expected or were ever offered a tip. Marina employees were just that, employees. They worked for a salary. They did not expect a tip for doing their job. Have we become a society that expects monetary reward for every little courtesy. "Yeah, you can borrow my hose, but I expect a tip".

[Sailorbob8599]

This forum is starting to take on the trappings of "i can out tip you" . . . as I admitted in a previous post, I originate from the Isle of Wight and I like the way we treat customers there.

[scuba0_1]

Originally Posted by crawdaddy282

Wow. Some of the comments are so off base I have to say I am appalled. Somehow we went from marina tipping for pump outs and line handling to restaurant etiquette. 20% is standard regardless if you order a hamburger or $140.00 steak (think Japanese Wagyu). Federal law in the US now prohibits 'auto-gratuities' although enforcement and culture has not caught on completely yet and now some charge pre-approved 'service charges'. If you can afford to spend $200 on a bottle of wine, you should tip appropriately. We don't make the min. Wage law, but some of us work in restaurants and deliver exceptional products and service and expect to be compensated. The argument of if it 'right' or not should not to be taken out on those working for a living and providing the services. There is always 2 sides to an argument and this one is frustrating as I have made my living and boat kitty serving in restaurants and managing them.


Jason

Lol if you need that to live you should find a better paying job. That's the issue. It's a tip don't expect it. You open a 10 dollar bottle of wine the same as a 200 don't you. The only thing I expect is that I'm going to eventually die some day.

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[Captain-Avenger]

Originally Posted by crawdaddy282

Federal law in the US now prohibits 'auto-gratuities' although enforcement and culture has not caught on completely yet and now some charge pre-approved 'service charges'.
Jason

Call it an "auto-gratuity", or a "service charge" added to the bill, it is still normally an 18% or 20% added to your bill on top of the product ordered. Call it what you want, I still have to pay it regardless of how good the service is. And I agree with whoever stated about the wine...if I order a bottle of wine why do I have to pay the waiter $20 to bring a $100 bottle vs. $4 for a $20 bottle. Is he really going to provide me with $16 MORE service bringing me the bottle? It makes no sense.

[Captain-Avenger]

Back on topic, I could be in favor of a $20 per hour guideline. 20*40*50=$40,000/year (annualized amount) in tips in addition to his/her regular pay for service help is what I would consider reasonable. If a deckhand spends in the neighborhood of 15 min helping me a $5 tip would be in order. Closer to 30 min would be $10. If he spends 1 minute dropping my line around a cleat it would be worth a "thank you", but 5 min would earn a couple bucks.

All tips would increase in amount in driving rain where I requested help, decrease in value if I do not want help but they won't take no for an answer.

Whatever the amount given or not given, respect for the person should be highest priority. Treating a person like an equal at the end of the day means more to their pride and self worth than a couple bucks and being seen like gum on the bottom of your shoe.

[scuba0_1]

60k line handler. Lol.

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[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

................ Tipping in general is a poor way to run an economy, but the idea that a server who brings you a 200 dollar bottle somehow has earned and deserves a bigger tip than one who brings you the house red really bothers me..............

The same point I tried to make earlier with a hamburger and a steak.

I think restaurant staff should be paid by their employer for what their skill and effort is worth and the increased wage should be included in the cost of the meal.

But, being more or less obligated to leave a 20% tip for a restaurant meal makes me believe the guys who run down the dock in all kinds of weather to help me dock my second home deserve something for their efforts.


BTW: At my home marina, I'll often help incoming or outgoing boats but if I see a dockhand coming, I'll get out of the way and let them do their job. I don't want to beat them out of a possible tip. As a side note, like in at least some restaurants, they split the tips at the end of the day.

[savoir]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Agreed, but I think it exceedingly unlikely that any but a very few are earning that kind of money.
Kind of like saying it's insane to pay someone millions of dollars for playing a game, but one on a million balls players do, but they are of course one in a million.
Problem as I see it is when people believe that they deserve a tip for doing their job, but that just me I guess, maybe I'm an old man now?
Hey, get out of my yard!


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No way. The bartender at my neighborhood bar whines like crazy if he doesn't make $200+ in tips in a Friday and Saturday night. So what we have is a guy wanting to earn $40/hour whining because people earning $15/hour won't tip as much as he would like. As for waitresses, a waitress in any busy big city restaurant can make $300 in tips on a Friday or Saturday.

Tipping is a racket.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by savoir

No way. The bartender at my neighborhood bar whines like crazy if he doesn't make $200+ in tips in a Friday and Saturday night. So what we have is a guy wanting to earn $40/hour whining because people earning $15/hour won't tip as much as he would like. As for waitresses, a waitress in any busy big city restaurant can make $300 in tips on a Friday or Saturday.

Tipping is a racket.

Yep and they are not paying taxes on much of their tip income. Those of us who do pay taxes are tipping them twice.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I've never worked in a restaurant, I understand they wait staff is sometimes paid under minimum wage, that confuses me and I think should not be allowed, but I do tip there because of that.

But it bothers me when I walk up to a counter to order Coffee, that I sit there and wait for and there is a "tip" jar, and it does seem more and more in the US, people seem to expect a tip for doing their job, sorry I just don't understand that, you get a tip if I sit down and you bring it to me, not if I have to wait for it, do you tip at fast food restaurants? Why not?
I can go on and on about people whom have given me service that I did not tip and some like the Dr. I just got my flt physical with, would think absurd if I were to offer him a "tip".

I agree totally and I'll say I just don't get the whole tip thing. It's turned into it's own monster. Restaurant owners adjusting wages to compensate for tips. Other workers developing a right of entitlement with tips.
Twenty years ago traveling South East Asia, tips were not expected and a few times turned down. Now, you'll receive a sneer, if you do not tip.
Boating was a blue collar hobby/adventure. Boats with technology, GPS,Radar and the like, have now attracted affluent and with them comes the influence. Nowadays, I come to a fuel dock, tie up myself and pump my own fuel. That's right, I don't appear in my whites, expecting to be waited on.
I also help others dock in slips and at fuel docks if I'm there. To me, it is helping and not expecting a bone. Times have changed.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by savoir

No way. The bartender at my neighborhood bar whines like crazy if he doesn't make $200+ in tips in a Friday and Saturday night. So what we have is a guy wanting to earn $40/hour whining because people earning $15/hour won't tip as much as he would like. As for waitresses, a waitress in any busy big city restaurant can make $300 in tips on a Friday or Saturday.

Tipping is a racket.

OK, Fri and Sat night, what about the rest of the week?
If it were all that lucrative, it wouldn't be for long as there would be lines of people wanting the jobs, and there aren't.
Supply and demand, but I too am uncomfortable with tipping, especially as a few here seem to think it's 20% across the board, which I can't fathom.
I believe pay, which is what a tip is, should be commensurate with the job that has been done.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by ingrid75

Have we become a society that expects monetary reward for every little courtesy.

Yes we have and you can see the source of this from most of the posts here. The only result for me is, I'll look cheap and be ignored...so what.

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Yep and they are not paying taxes on much of their tip income. Those of us who do pay taxes are tipping them twice.

But you already paid the taxes!!!

[Nicholson58]

Wow - a new world. We sail the Great Lakes. Nobody tips. The subject never comes up. Most times, other boaters handle lines as do we when boats come in.

[sailorboy1]

Every boat related tip thread I've read results in me learning the same thing, nothing!

The question in my mind is: for marina and related workers who are not getting paid a tip based wage, as defined below, get tipped?

"A tipped employee engages in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 per hour in direct wages if that amount combined with the tips received at least equals the federal minimum wage. If the employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct wages of at least $2.13 per hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Many states, however, require higher direct wage amounts for tipped employees."

Does anyone think that tip money is being accounted for and tracked by the marine industry?