cobright
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
I think there are a number of cultural divides concerning tipping of housekeeping both within the US and between the US and other countries.
The tipping tradition started as a result of our colonial beginnings. So many in this country were immigrants without real prospects for normal employment that 'working for tips' established itself as a de'facto in the service industries.
In europe, in contrast, there was already an established servant class and a social system in place to manage and exploit these workers (that's the term, I'm not disparaging Europe for making use of labor). By the time the United States broke off from her lunatic tyrant, the labor party (or whatever the equivalent of the time) was a pretty powerful political force. Laws had even been passed in England governing maximum work week hours in order to bolster empliyment.
Speaking generally about the system, in practice, I like our's better. Most noticable when dining, I have never had consistently poor service here as I have at the mid-lvl dining in England, germanu, and France. Service is always perfect when we eat out at 50 quid a plate, but that's 1 in 10 meals at best. Diners and greasy spoons throughout England and Europe yield service consistently worse than the average American Denny's. And Denny's is a garbage place to eat.
Without a mechanism like tipping in place, the incentives for good service (or sanctions for bad) have to come from management. Certain industries, necessarily, are difficult to provide that kind of oversight in. Like waitressing and housekeeping where managers are severely outnumbered by their charges and customer experience cannot be tracked in real time.
Even compared to average tipping in the US, eating out in europe is much more expensive. When we travel, I like to eat out most meals and it just amazes me what the locals will tolerate, even pay more for, inot terms of service at most places.
Housekeeping tends to run the same. I rarely even see the housekeeper when staying at chain hotels. Special requests get me a smile and nod and then nothing else. I end up getting econo-lodge service even when paying Marriott rates.
So we tip 15-20%. Whether it's a meal or the nightly room rate or the cost of a haircut or whatever.
The tipping tradition started as a result of our colonial beginnings. So many in this country were immigrants without real prospects for normal employment that 'working for tips' established itself as a de'facto in the service industries.
In europe, in contrast, there was already an established servant class and a social system in place to manage and exploit these workers (that's the term, I'm not disparaging Europe for making use of labor). By the time the United States broke off from her lunatic tyrant, the labor party (or whatever the equivalent of the time) was a pretty powerful political force. Laws had even been passed in England governing maximum work week hours in order to bolster empliyment.
Speaking generally about the system, in practice, I like our's better. Most noticable when dining, I have never had consistently poor service here as I have at the mid-lvl dining in England, germanu, and France. Service is always perfect when we eat out at 50 quid a plate, but that's 1 in 10 meals at best. Diners and greasy spoons throughout England and Europe yield service consistently worse than the average American Denny's. And Denny's is a garbage place to eat.
Without a mechanism like tipping in place, the incentives for good service (or sanctions for bad) have to come from management. Certain industries, necessarily, are difficult to provide that kind of oversight in. Like waitressing and housekeeping where managers are severely outnumbered by their charges and customer experience cannot be tracked in real time.
Even compared to average tipping in the US, eating out in europe is much more expensive. When we travel, I like to eat out most meals and it just amazes me what the locals will tolerate, even pay more for, inot terms of service at most places.
Housekeeping tends to run the same. I rarely even see the housekeeper when staying at chain hotels. Special requests get me a smile and nod and then nothing else. I end up getting econo-lodge service even when paying Marriott rates.
So we tip 15-20%. Whether it's a meal or the nightly room rate or the cost of a haircut or whatever.
