From the article: Tipping in Hawaii
You've read my suggestions on whom to tip when visiting Hawaii and how much to tip. Did I leave someone out? Were my amounts too high or too low in a particular area? Share your tipping suggestions with our readers. Share Your Opinion
To Those Who Don't Tip...
- First off, no I don't tip my lawyer or doctor, but they don't get minimum wage OR stand on their feet all shift. We were just in Hawaii and I could NOT believe how few of the people tipped the servers. We had some GREAT service, as did those around us. So, since Discover is giving 5% cash back at restaurants, I tipped double my usual 20% most meals and, on my last morning, gave $10-$20 cash to the 4 people who took the best care of us. I'm FAR from rich, but we saved for 15 years for this trip and tipping made me happy!
- —ohcatoh
Gracious
- If tipping is in order to GET good service then it is done backwards. We should tip before we are served. Since we don't I can't see how tipping is a bribe to get servers to do a good job. Why not pay servers better? - This has a negative cascading effect for servers. Higher wages means the restaurant can only afford to hirer fewer servers so the quality of their work diminishes and/or servers hours are cut to keep everyone employed but with fewer hours. Fewer hours, harder work, and diminished quality isn't a good thing for anyone. Restaurants actually have a very slim profit margin. In some restaurants the tips are divided with all the service staff. And there are more people not leaving tips than you might think and, yes, in the US the wait staff must declare a certain dollar amount of taxes whether they make them or not. I do not tip to this dollar level but I do tip. It's an act of character - stingy or gracious.
- —Guest almondroca
Tips are good, but confusing.
- Hey I'm 21, and I've been saving for half a year in a service industry job to visit Hawaii. I'm scared that I won't have enough money to stay fed while I'm there, let alone tip 20%. Who are you guys to say that I'm being a terrible person for already deciding to be a solid 10-15% tipper because that's GENUINELY all my budget can handle. Unless I'd like to starve, which I don't. I'm happy to tip restaurants and tip jars and people who make a great drink - but having to tip housekeepers and tour guides and shuttle drivers... damn, I just don't have enough time to save up for all of this. Let alone have a stress free holiday whilst worrying about it. Have a bit of leniency for tourists like me.
- —Guest nicole
The unreasonableness of tipping
- I would like to respond to the rationales advanced by others in why we must tip: 1. So you don't get hot soup spilled on your pants - well, there are mechanisms in place to prevent it from happening even if you don't give tip. For example, sue for damage, vicarious liability, or less dramatic, not going back. Business owners have incentive to ensure top quality service be sure they want repeat business. Same model works in every other industry so why can it not work in service industry? 2. Go somewhere else for your holiday - I bet the Hawaiians won't really want that. Would they prefer to lose 100% of the money over losing 13% tip? Our Hawaii holiday cost us $3000. Would Hawaiians like us to spend zero of this money in Hawaii and spend it in Thailand instead? 3. Minimum wage theory - The U.S.A. runs on a supply and demand free market system and a democracy system. If people really think the minim wage is too low, they can: a) stop supplying labor and b) vote for higher minimum wage.
- —Guest Daniel
Underpaid
- I work in Hawaii and I get paid $7.50 an hour and have been told by many Australians that in Australia people get paid anywhere from $20-$30 an hour for the same work. Many Australians come here, and treat us like we are less than human and stupid as well. (Thanks guys - makes us feel so happy to serve you.) We kiss your asses, bend over backwards, and go the extra mile to make your vacation nice. We don't get to go on vacation. We don't even make enough money to survive on two jobs! So when you show up flaunting all your money and behaving as if you are so superior to us lowly scum. No wonder your service sucks there when you treat people like crap they don't want to be nice to you. But here we are nice anyway we know you wont tip because you are Australian! We already know you won't tip - the moment we hear that accent. When we go the extra mile to make your vacation a great experience, we already know you won't tip!
- —Guest Underpaid
Tipping culture ensures decent service
- I don't understand the opinions of the other Aussies in response to this article. Considering the extremely poor levels of service we experience at home, I actually wish that the service industries worldwide would all work under a tips based system. This would make the wait staff who don't have to put in any special effort into their work think twice before providing the poor standards they I generally experience in countries where a minimum wage + tips is the normal way of earning a living. I mean it's not that hard to be attentive and friendly to customers, who after all are the reason they are in a job in the first place. And I have worked for over twenty years in the service and retail in Australia before people make any assertions that I don't know what I am talking about.
- —Guest Furns
Tips
- Every American believes that the USA is the worlds best country. How is this possible when someone has to rely on tips to survive? Why not just move to India and become a beggar? Because that's what it is essentially is - begging. Why should people work hard and save their money to go on holidays just to give it away to people who were doing their job. You say tipping is taxable income. I say rubbish. I'm sure everybody is declaring their cash money. That's why the US is 15 billion dollars in debt. I say do your job. If you do it well enough you might get a tip. If not than don't expect anything. Nobody can force you to tip, it's not a written law and if you're forced to give a tip, report it to the authorities. Hopefully the police don't rely on a $1 or $2 to survive.
- —Guest michael
Tipping/ Thanks
- Thanks for the guidelines, I appreciate it! Having said that, I do also feel like tipping has gotten out of control. And sometimes I get the less than perfect service because the person is ticked that someone else didn't tip. I love places that cover the salaries the people deserve, so tipping isn't required. It's always awkward handing off the money. It feels seedy. Like I'm bribing, which is essentially what's happening. But anyway, it is what it is. If I have to tip to get a warm smile and make my vacation go nicely, so be it.
- —Guest Michelle
Tipping in Hawaii
- When I go on holidays to another country, I go to spend and enjoy. I do not see a problem with tipping for good service received. When in Greece in 2010, I was tipping just about everyone when a Taxi Driver I tipped alerted me to the fact that I was tipping too much.....Live and let live I say....hospitality workers are poorly paid the world over....be nice....Greetings from Australia.
- —Guest Elliot Vardis
Tipping
- On tipping, why is it that restaurant and hotel industry, and a few others expect tipping, when its not part of other industries. Do you tip your lawyer or accountant for doing a good job? No, they are expected to do a good job because that is what they are paid to do. They shouldn't get a special reward just because they do the job they are paid to do. If they get a tip, that's great, but it should never be expected. Tipping in the US has in my view gotten to a crazy state. What is so hard about delivering food to a table that deserves such a special act of appreciation that most other industries don't have. To me it makes no sense. I say pay staff what they are worth, don't expect customers to bring their wages up to a fair level with tips. I find it impossible to believe that 15%-20% of the cost of a meal is needed to cover the waiting charge. A waiter services multiple tables and if each table leaves a tip of 15% or more, well you do the math. - Editor's Comment: Depending on state law, some restaurant staff make very low hourly wages, the rest is made up with tips. In some cases, if tips total more than state minimum wage, the employee does not receive any salary at all.
- —Guest Tony
Will never understand this
- I tip because I want to not because I am forced to. In the UK when gratuity is added to the menu price I feel robbed, especially since the service is generally abysmal and they do this because Brits are too polite to get it removed. Further, when I do my job I do it because it pays my bills and I do a good job and because I don't want to get the sack. Paying tips so people do a good job seems fundamentally flawed, they should do a good job and be rewarded with generosity rather than simply expect. Surely there is no incentive to do good work when you will get tipped anyway? These people saying if you don't want to tip don't go. How many of you would visit an Asian country and find the time to learn to speak some of the language or actually experience their culture. These are westernised, capitalist cultures, I pay for things because I want to, tipping is a generous act not a tax.
- —Guest Barry
If you don't like it, don't go.
- When you visit another country it is only decent that you respect the culture/rules etc of that country. Tipping is a way of life in the US/Hawaii. You are aware of this when you decide to travel there. If you do not want to pay tips choose an alternative holiday destination. YOU are travelling to THEIR country so whether you think the paying of tips is right or wrong, it is completely irrelevant.
- —Guest Michelle
Tipping
- I have to say that tipping has crept up to 20% which I find expensive, as most peoples wages have not gone up by much but everything you buy has. My personal feeling on tipping is of course only tip on good service, but I feel 15% is plenty and that is NOT on top of government taxes! I wish the service industry people would get paid more, but then I would be paying more for the food/service! So I tip. But tipping has become "expected" and that I don't like. I think if you build tips into a price or menu its wrong as many management/owners would take advantage of this and tips might not make it into the hands of the right person, leave them cash for their tip then you know they get it.
- —Guest julie
ungrateful people
- People that don't should take into consideration how much easier and pleasant your trip is with the staff. Just imagine someone not giving a crap about their job and dropping hot food on your pants, letting you get lost on a tour in an unknown place, or making a helicopter ride that is not very pleasant. Take care of these people and they will take care of you.
- —Guest Judy
Tipping in Hawaii
- My husband & I will be going to Hawaii for a holiday with my sister, her husband and my friend. I am from Australia and tipping is not mandatory. For us to be tipping all the people will deflate our funds and we won't be able to enjoy our holiday. I don't mind tipping, but if I am told that I should be tipping 15-20%, which is rather excessive, that's where I don't agree. I should be able to tip according to what I can afford and not what someone tells me to. - Guide Comment: I understand how US tipping guidelines are odd to people from countries where tipping is rare. For many types of jobs in the USA, the government assumes that the wage earner is receiving a tip and that amount must be added to their taxable wages. For some jobs, when you fail to tip, the person who has rendered the service actually loses money in the long run. In Hawaii, the cost of everything is so high, that my belief is that if you can afford to visit Hawaii, you can afford to tip those who help make your vacation worthwhile.
- —hotchilly
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