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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 20:59:25 GMT 12
Post by baronbeeza on Jul 30, 2014 20:59:25 GMT 12
Fair Go was just on and they ended with an article on eating out and restaurant etiquette. As they paid the bill Jesse Mulligan queried the tipping and mentioned that he rarely tipped. The others in the team seemed to think tipping was normal.
Is it an Auckland thing or haven't I been getting out enough these days ?
I never saw the other two do tips during the road trip. Did we upset the North Islanders ?
*** EDIT *** Enough to drive a man to try another Citrus beer.... warm and thirsty in ChCh this evening.
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bae
Flying Officer
Posts: 67
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 21:17:19 GMT 12
Post by bae on Jul 30, 2014 21:17:19 GMT 12
Normal weekend for us would be to go to a restaurant. Often it states on the menu 'no surcharge for weekends' that usually means that staff or owners are on base wages and could be living off their tips. If service is good or better we tip up to 20%. If it says on the menu that a surcharge applies for P/H & weekends and the service is below par then we cross the tip part of the bill out and never go back. Service is king and should be rewarded especially if the food was good.
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 21:52:48 GMT 12
Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 30, 2014 21:52:48 GMT 12
Tipping is generally not the kiwi way. Even in Auckland, I do not tip. When you buy goods or services, you are entitled to good service at the price charged. They do not say "Pay $10 for this and we will treat you badly. Pay $12 and we will treat you well".
Additionally, unions are also against tipping. They maintain - quite correctly in my view - that the employer should pay a wage that reflects the job. If tipping becomes a general practice, employers tend to pay less in the way of wages because the staff can make up the shortfall in tips.
Many years ago I knew a chap who had worked as a doorman at a posh resturant in Sydney. Rather than getting a wage he paid the restaurant owner each week for the job. He made his income out of tips.
Do we want that sort of thing here?
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 22:03:14 GMT 12
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 30, 2014 22:03:14 GMT 12
I sometimes stay at the Intercontinental Hotel in Wellington. A member of the concierge's staff always rush out the door and get my bags out of the taxi, while greeting me by name at the same time (I stay there often enough....a few times a year when I've got something on in Wellington....for them to know who I am) and take them up to my room while I check in. Generally, I get to my room about the same time the concierge staff member is leaving after depositing my bags in there. I've learnt that if I hand over a small tip (usually about five dollars) as I enter my room, I get special attention for the rest of my stay and at a five-star hotel, that special attention can be really special with nothing at all being too much trouble. I gather that the concierge staff pool their tips so that they all benefit from the total of tips they receive. So tipping one of them tends to result in special attention from all of them. If they really look after me during my stay there (which is more often than not), I often hand over another small tip as I leave when I check out, usually as one of the concierge's staff is putting my bags into a taxi.
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Post by baronbeeza on Jul 30, 2014 22:34:44 GMT 12
I must admit I am thinking along the same lines as Flyernzl....I thought what made us unique as a country was that we did not do the tipping thing.
I also have trouble overseas trying to work it out but did notice that some places like the States make it pretty obvious that they expect something. My understanding there was that the staff get paid a pittance in wages and rely on tips. I don't ever recall an instance where I have been tipped as a pilot, or as an aircraft engineer for that matter. No customer has ever added $5 to the bill for good service, perhaps I have been a little too grumpy. Some of the landings were not so bad, I think an American may have even tried her hand at clapping once.... that was probably more of a sign of relief though I suspect. I have had customers bring in fish and chips, pizza and beer though. I would have thought that was more the Kiwi way.
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bae
Flying Officer
Posts: 67
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 22:57:21 GMT 12
Post by bae on Jul 30, 2014 22:57:21 GMT 12
Got to agree with all your thoughts - spare a thought though to the restaurant owner/operator not able to claim time and a half or double time or heaven forbid time off in lieu! to keep his little operation going. That is what baronbezza was talking about. Your big fancy hotel, paid by your company that puts you up and feeds you, has well covered any service charge that you would have been expected to pay.
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 23:22:41 GMT 12
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 30, 2014 23:22:41 GMT 12
Jesse Mulligan is on Fair Go now? No wonder Brian Edwards was ranting recently about how the standards of that show has dropped.
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bae
Flying Officer
Posts: 67
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 23:34:05 GMT 12
Post by bae on Jul 30, 2014 23:34:05 GMT 12
Now Brian Edwards was a very good tipper - once heard that he said to a paperboy in Manners Street "keep the change" as he proffered the correct money for an evening paper.
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Tipping
Jul 30, 2014 23:43:05 GMT 12
Post by baronbeeza on Jul 30, 2014 23:43:05 GMT 12
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Post by Andy Wright on Jul 31, 2014 9:52:39 GMT 12
We did a cruise across the Pacific in 2010 and noted the ship's information had recommendations for tipping in NZ and Australia. While we couldn't comment on NZ, we made sure we told the people we knew on board to not tip in Australia as it is not an accepted custom because, generally, service staff are paid much better than their American counterparts. I have tipped here but only to the point of getting rid of some loose change into the tipping jar at the register (and even then only when I have a warm glow from the great service and food).
We certainly tip when in the US but don't use a set percentage. It's always relative to the service provided.
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