@laz98 wrote:
@Paxx wrote:Whenever you receive a service such as this or whenever you go out to eat, get your hair cut etc. All these people make very little off the amount you pay for the service.
I use to be a waiter and to my surprise, many people don't know how little the restaurant pays their servers. I know you're talking about a massage and not eating out but the two are comparable - they are two professions that rely on tips to make their money. Marty provided an example for the therapist but here is an example of a run of a mill server. The restaurant pays their servers far less than the minimum wage. When I use to wait tables I made a whopping $2.50. Like every other employee the government takes it's share for taxes, Medicare etc so by the time they get their pay check it's almost nothing. I remember getting around a $50 check for a 40 hour work week. Just imagine that for a second. I worked with servers who would let their weekly checks accumulate for weeks before going to cash them because the dollar amount was so small.
Point is 15% of any service is generaly a good enough tip. What people don't realize is in a type of profession where you receive tips as your main income vs a paycheck you can actually lose money by performing a service if you don't get a large enough tip. The government will tax you whether you receive a tip or not and it's based off the total amount charged.
i know that waiters/waitresses depend on tips most (if not all) of the time, but i'm not going to tip people well if a) they did a crappy job, or b) for doing the bare minimum. i almost never leave without tipping a person, but if someone is rude or ignores our table all night, they are definitely shooting themselves in the foot.
this topic is a heated discussion in our area, where most of the jobs are customer service & a lot of people DO depend on tips.
I agree that minimum service does not deserve maximum reward....more like minimum wage. But if we consider that they make about $2.50 per hour, then I try to formulate that if they had a normal paying job in which they waited on me, like a check out person, how much time did I represent approximately. If I am in the restaurant for an hour, then I want to make sure I contribute to them making at least minimum wage, since that wage is not for anything of stellar performance.
Fast food places pay minimum wage. The service in fast food is generally bland, straight forward and hurried. If my sit down server acts this way, then I may pay them like a fast food worker. I don't require them to spend oodles of time or hang out at my table, but a cheerful dispotion, keeping my drink filled, checking in regularly and taking note of other needs will get them a nice "bonus" when it comes time for me to pay their tip.
And with that in mind, for those who are in service, I LIKE to pay well, I just want to be treated well. Service is a very discretionary expenditure...so give your patrons good reason to tip you well! And thanks for it!
