Tipping; when to tip and who gets it

Who gets a tip, when and how much? Is there ever a time not to tip? There is a lot of talk about tipping these days and getting the right information is important.

Hotel room

In addition to blogging, the jobs of my younger years included work as a server, hotel clerk and as a pizza delivery person. This means that my email overflows with questions about when to tip and who gets it. 

During the next few articles we are going to talk about tipping; who gets it and who doesn't.

Prepare for some of the answers to surprise you, just as they surprised one woman I spoke with.

My daughters were preparing to embark on a multi-night high school trip. The group was traveling by private charter bus and the question came up of how much to tip the drivers. There wasn't much discussion on the subject. It was generally accepted anyone hauling a few hundred teens deserved a tip. Motion made and passed in .02 seconds.

When I brought up the matter of tipping the hotel maid it was a different story. Hostile trade negotiations probably go more smoothly. One mother snapped her head around and hissed (yes, hissed) when she loudly (and mistakenly) proclaimed 'you don't tip a hotel maid'.

Her attitude was proof that you don't leave drama behind at graduation. According to a quote in the Denver Post from the etiquette experts at Emily Post, the mother was also wrong in regard to tipping a hotel maid.

We will talk more about tipping a hotel housekeeper tomorrow. In the meantime, leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on the subject.