Shamed at the Carwash
Today was the day for my Honda Civic’s annual car wash. Since I was feeling lazy and had a coupon I decided to take it to one of the local auto spas. It was working out pretty good until they announced my car was done and I noticed another customer giving one of the workers a $10 bill. That’s the moment I realized the guys were working for tips and I didn’t have any cash.
I tried not to make too much eye contact as the gentleman who worked on my car handed over the keys, opened the front door, and scrubbed a final little smudge from the window. Man did I feel terrible. Well, I guess now I know for next year.
August 14th, 2005 at 5:27 pm
You slime. He probably makes like $5 an hour!
August 14th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
You should have gone to the manager and fought for better base wages for the employees, so they don’t have to rely on tips to actually make money.
In many European cultures they don’t tip usually, even in restaurants, and I kind of wish it was like that here to. I usually do tip in restaraunts since it’s become more of a cultural thing here, but all those other places trying to jump on the bandwagon are messed up, IMO. They’re just trying to get away with paying their people less and expecting the customers to make up the difference by tipping them directly. I’d much rather they just up the prices to pay the employees decent wages and not expect tips to cover it.
The worst is Starbucks where they already have high prices, and they’re asking for tips also. I think the same about restaraunts too, but I know that it’s been going on for so long in that business that it’s probably not going away, and I also don’t want anything bad to happen to my food if they remember me from next time.
August 14th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
But it’s nice to be able to give a big tip for good service and no tip for bad service.
August 14th, 2005 at 7:16 pm
Ya, I should clarify that I have no problem giving big tips for good service, which you can do at any time; I just don’t like the expectation of a minimum tip regardless of the service, which seems to be the case in the restaurant culture.
August 14th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Yeah, it’s more like a big tip for good service and 15% for terrible service.
August 14th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
Jared: you rather not tip and have the total cost of service go up? That’s dumb. I rather control the workers wage rather then the employer because we all know the boss likes the guy who has horrible customer service.
Tipping creates better service, and if you don’t get good service you don’t give them a good tip.
What I do is pay the expected %/tip for average service and if it’s horrible I tip *a little* less. This way the server knows exactly how they stood with me.
As a person that worked solely off of tips for 2 years, Sherwood, I know that if you work in a field that expects tips it is the worst thing not to get a tip when you work hard, or even a little less then expected.
The only way to get good service is tipping, motivating boss’ just cannot get out of an employee that a dollar can. As for the euros maybe that is why I hear they are all so snooty.
August 15th, 2005 at 7:46 am
i think if the guy worked extra hard on your car and you liked the service, you should go to the atm, get some $$, go back to the car wash, find the guy and give him a tip. tell him you didn’t realize the protocal but you were happy with his performance and you wanted to let him know. imagine how that would make him feel. can’t you just feel the love, guys?
August 15th, 2005 at 7:49 am
also, i’ve heard that at some places, the workers have to turn in their tips, then the bosses only pay them up to a certain hourly wage. that sucks. alsmost forcing some people to steal. “tips? oh, no mr. manager, i didn’t get any tips today.” back to the personal responsibility issue, i guess. oops. wrong subject.
August 15th, 2005 at 8:10 am
When I moved to Los Angeles, I was shocked to find that there seem to be absolutely no do-it-yourself car washes (the kind I was used to). So, I did whatever everything good Angeleno did- hired someone to do it for me. As I pulled into the Celebrity Car Wash I felt overwhelmed because the people at those carwashes do everything except spit shine your door locks. After browsing through the Celebrity Car Wash Gift Shop (for real) and picking out some $20 worth of magazines, cards, sunglasses, and junk food, I paid the cashier for it all , including my car wash, using my debit card. So, the guy honked my horn to tell me my car was done and I came out of the shop with my arms full of crap to the point where he even has to open the door of my car for me. I looked ahead and saw the tip money exchange between another customer and washer and it was then I realized I had to tip. Having no cash, I just smiled, told him I had no cash but thank you the car looks great, and I was on my way. What was I supposed to do? Hand him my People magazine or toss some junk food his way?
I should’ve gone back there and tipped the guy the next day. I was so embarrassed and chalked up the whole experience as a learning one.
August 15th, 2005 at 6:35 pm
Restaraunt rants
Inspired by Nate’s tipping article, I thought I’d post my thoughts on restaraunt protocol here, just because sometimes things in restaraunts annoy me.
Tipping: I don’t really like the whole cultural practice of “expected tipp…