For all the servers that have rented a room in my house and all my dear server friends, this one is for you.Tipping in Fernie has a darkside. Turns out, our quaint, colorful and international mix of townspeople isn’t as educated and worldly as like to think we are. Travelers and locals are tipping poorly and it’s such a shame they choose to be so ignorant about it. Because give me a break, you DO know better and now you just look tacky as fuck.
Of course I am not speaking about everyone, because not everyone is a douchebag when it comes to tipping. Most are well aware of how important this aspect is in the hospitality industry, or they just respect that this is the situation and you just have to account for it.
Oh my have I heard some whopper embarrassing stories about people in town, I would never name names obviously, but I will share some.
-A local lady brought her entourage of women to a certain pub and was waited on hand and foot by the server that the server actually would call a friend. The server meticulously waited on their every request, paying extra attention because this was a friend of theirs. The bill came to $178.40. They table left $180. They graciously thanked her and waved as they left. ***cringe!
-A fine dining establishment that unfortunately does not exist anymore, attracted a local business man and his wife to regularly dine there. They thoroughly enjoyed the place and the particular server. They liked their server so much that they subjected her to extensive small talk about their overachieving children throughout the night, every time. They never left more then 5%. **These people know better, trust me.
-At a different pub then mentioned above, a server waited on a table of local “dudes”. They were demanding and brass, but she smiled and did her job. They left her pennies. **classic ignorant shitheads, who if their server girlfriends were with them the girls would have left more then their share to make up for these idiots to avoid embarrassment.
-At a local golf resort, a table of local wealthy ladies left the server $2 after she served them for 3 hours. ****you never know who is watching you old bags!!
Ahhhh tacky. It’s a small town!! People talk about your shitting tipping if you haven’t realized it.
http://www.lousytippers.com/ – a website where your name could be listed as a bad tipper. The server can post anonymously.
http://www.tipthepizzaguy.com/ – dedicated to educating the masses why you should tip the pizza guy.
I could write pages and pages of real life stories about travelers that act dumb about tipping and tip poorly, but at this point we just got to accept that not everyone that visits Canada is going to have the same respect that we might have when we Canadians visit their countries and abide by those countries rules and customs. This is why most restaurants “auto grad” a gratuity to protect the server from getting screwed over.
But with this heated economic climate. Are people tipping less these days? Would it be okay to cut back if we are all scrimping? Is it more acceptable to receive a shitty tip if the town is bobbing its head just above the water in an economic crisis?
The answer is NO!
The Globe and Mail did a survey Jan 15 2009 of the country, and looks like we are basically all decent human beings here in Canada, our tipping has remained the same since entering this economic downturn. Across the border, USA Today is saying last month that Americans are leaving less in tips and sometimes all together leaving nothing. Hopefully we don’t follow suit.
However, when sales are down, that means tips are down. You can’t get tips when people aren’t coming through the door, and when someone is counting on those tips to survive, they are feeling the pinch too.
Fernie servers have noticed lately that it’s slower so less tips in general. But tippers are still leaving a standard 15-20%. But also, more and more servers are exercising the “autograd” on many tables of 4-5 or more, just to avoid getting screwed over, they just can’t take the risk anymore if that table will leave a bad tip.
Tipping Guildlines
Bartender - $1.00 to $2.00 per drink or 20% of the total tab.
Coatroom Attendant - $1.00 to $2.00 per coat checked.
Gas Attendant - It's rare these days but if they pump the gas for you they should get $1.00 to $2.00.
Hairdresser/Barber - 15% to 20%.
Hotel Bellhop - $1.00 to $2.00 per bag, with a $2.00 minimum.
Hotel Concierge - $5.00 to $10.00 for getting tickets or reservations.
Hotel Housekeeper - $2.00 to $5.00 per night.
Manicurist - 15%
Room Service - 15% to 20%
Pizza/Delivery Person-
$2.00 or 15% to 20%, whichever is greater.
Spa Service - 15% to 20%
Taxi Driver - 20%
Waiter/Waitress - 15% to 20%, more if the service is very good.
“Thank you very much, please tip your server, Ill be here all week!
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