Tipping....yes, again

[audcc77]

9 hours ago, skridge said:

The line seems to wrap around the entire lobby when the gratuities hit the folio

Not sure that’s a fair statement.  
 

Not everyone is removing tips. Some people are just having questions in general.  I go there sometimes to have my friend’s tips moved to my account, refund on wi-fi, questions about debarkation and a myriad of other things.  
 

I’m almost diamond and have never removed tips. Although, if I felt the need to do so, I’d do it.  

[Elaine5715]

14 hours ago, crazyank said:

Nope,

 

Not to those of us who cruise with several family members it isn't.

 

Sickening to you maybe.  Certainly not to the rest of us who have decided we've had enough of paying more for less service.   Tipping in the USA is severely out of control.

Would you prefer they call it a "service charge" and make it mandatory?  

[john91498]

geebus, talking about beating a dead horse...

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Would you prefer they call it a "service charge" and make it mandatory?  

 

If they did that, they would have to disclose it during booking and it would show in the bottom line price.

 

NCL weasels out of that by making their "service charge" optional by allowing you to remove it, at least on paper.

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

If they did that, they would have to disclose it during booking and it would show in the bottom line price.

 

NCL weasels out of that by making their "service charge" optional by allowing you to remove it, at least on paper.

I was making a reference to the European practice of claiming not to having grats but putting service charges on bills  

[aborgman]

14 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Would you prefer they call it a "service charge" and make it mandatory?  

 

Yes.

 

1) It would be calling it what it actually is

2) It would be better for the employees, as well as any any governments involved in taxing the cruise lines and their employees.

[mz-s]

While we are making gratuities mandatory fees, all mandatory fees should be included in the price shown on carnival.com and in advertising - as is required for airlines.

[skridge]

On 12/12/2023 at 7:10 AM, audcc77 said:

Not sure that’s a fair statement.  
 

Not everyone is removing tips. Some people are just having questions in general.  I go there sometimes to have my friend’s tips moved to my account, refund on wi-fi, questions about debarkation and a myriad of other things.  
 

I’m almost diamond and have never removed tips. Although, if I felt the need to do so, I’d do it.  

The lines are always longer right after the auto tips hit the folio.  Coincidence, I think not.

[vwgolf2]

Am I missing something? I appreciate tipping is much more common in the US than the UK where I'm from (probably because minimum wages are lower) and am quite happy to treat the prepaid tips as part of the cost of the cruise but I don't really expect to tip again once aboard. 

[mz-s]

24 minutes ago, vwgolf2 said:

Am I missing something? I appreciate tipping is much more common in the US than the UK where I'm from (probably because minimum wages are lower) and am quite happy to treat the prepaid tips as part of the cost of the cruise but I don't really expect to tip again once aboard. 

Wage laws in the US vs UK have nothing to do with tipping onboard because these are foreign ships not subject to either country's labor laws.

 

Cruise lines in the US do tipping because they can get away with it in American culture.

 

That said if you do prepaid gratuities you don't need to tip additional except in very specific circumstances such as when you call room service for continental breakfast delivery (a few dollars tip is customary).

 

I think this thread was started because the OP was unhappy with the cost of prepaid gratuities in the face of the declining standard of service on Carnival of late.

 

I honestly believe that some people think that tipping more makes them a better person, so they like to brag about how much they tip and how much better they are than the people who remove automatic gratuities. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by mz-s

[ldubs]

On 12/8/2023 at 5:32 AM, aborgman said:

 

No, the goal of an employer is to make as much profit as possible in any legal way.

 

If providing better service does that, they will do that. If providing worse service with lower labor costs does that, they'll do that.

 

On 12/8/2023 at 4:12 PM, BlerkOne said:

Unless a non-profit or not for profit business. 1.5 million or more.

 

I'm lost here.   Should not a non-profit be concerned about expense ratios?  Seems the good ones would want to maximize whatever social or public benefit they claim to support.  

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 

I'm lost here.   Should not a non-profit be concerned about expense ratios?  Seems the good ones would want to maximize whatever social or public benefit they claim to support.  

 

Nonprofits still have to make profit or they won't exist for long 😉

[ldubs]

17 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Nonprofits still have to make profit or they won't exist for long 😉

 

Since there are no owners, I wonder who profits from a non-profits profits.  🙂

[aborgman]

23 hours ago, mz-s said:

I honestly believe that some people think that tipping more makes them a better person, so they like to brag about how much they tip and how much better they are than the people who remove automatic gratuities. 

 

That's probably because the actual origin of tipping is precisely that.

 

It's something originally adopted by rich Americans to emulate Mster-Serf cultures.

[mz-s]

8 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

That's probably because the actual origin of tipping is precisely that.

 

It's something originally adopted by rich Americans to emulate Mster-Serf cultures.

 

People are fed up with "tipping culture" and I really hope we are near the end of it.

[crazyank]

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

That's probably because the actual origin of tipping is precisely that.

 

It's something originally adopted by rich Americans to emulate Mster-Serf cultures.

ROFL!

[aborgman]

46 minutes ago, crazyank said:

ROFL!

 

It's true.

 

Wealthy Americans in the 1850s and 1860s discovered the tradition, which originated in medieval times as a master-serf custom where servants would receive extra money for having performed superbly well, while on vacations to Europe. Wanting to seem aristocratic, they began tipping in the United States upon their return.

 

There were also some pretty gross racial angles to it in the south.

 

"Negroes take tips, of course, one expects that of them – it is a token of their inferiority. But to give money to a white man was embarrassing to me." - John Speed, Southern Journalist 1902.

 

[carohs]

7 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

Agreed. I waitressed for a year and swore I would never work for tips again. Salary/hourly is preferred if the compensation is similar.

 The key being the compensation being similar. I hated working for tips. I always felt like I had to put on a fake persona for the customers or not be tipped as well. Fake smile, fake sing song voice, fake interest in your jokes I've heard 1,000 other times. 

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, carohs said:

 The key being the compensation being similar. I hated working for tips. I always felt like I had to put on a fake persona for the customers or not be tipped as well. Fake smile, fake sing song voice, fake interest in your jokes I've heard 1,000 other times. 

So much better to be surly to the customer and receive the same amount of pay. 😊

 

For most of the tipped jobs I had, I am pretty sure that the restaurant would not be willing to directly pay me the amount of money I was getting in gratuities. Most of the servers were earning more in salaries and tips combined than their manager's salary. 

[VentureMan_2000]

I don't buy into the severs not making enough money argument... at least not in California.

In California, they eliminated the two-tier pay of restaurant workers decades ago.  They get paid minimum wage regardless of TIPs.  Minimum wage in California is $15.50 per hour.

So, when we go out, we sit at the table for 2.0 hours and our bill is generally $120 or more before taxes.  I normally tip 18%, or $22 for this $120 tab.  So, in 2 hours, our server made $26.50 per hour... but for only one table.  Let's say they have 6 tables to serve, and others' tabs are half mine, but they are only at the table for half the time, or 1-hour.  So, the server is making ( Let's do the math... I like doing the math ) $11 per hour, per table, plus California's $15.50 per hour.  That's $81.50 per hour.

How is that a bad wage... even with hearing over and over the same old bad jokes and smiling at the customers until your cheeks hurt ?
 

[john91498]

I believe California is one of the few states that are minimum wage plus tips and not minimum wage minus tips

[MRVEGAS711]

23 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

I've been a service worker and there are lots of service workers in my family.

 

Every one would rather make the same salary in total without tips.

I'd rather we had universal healthcare, so we didn't have to depend on tips on my servers wage of $7.50 per hour as an American.

[DallasGuy75219]

On 12/15/2023 at 7:45 AM, crazyank said:

ROFL!

It's not amusing; @mz-sis correct.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Tipping threads always do. It's always the same - a holier-than-thou who believes she walks waters because she tips extra (and doesn't mind telling everyone that).

 

To be fair, the criticism is about the removal of the daily gratuities.  Not about tipping extra.  

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

To be fair, the criticism is about the removal of the daily gratuities.  Not about tipping extra.  

 

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