Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I guess I'm way out of the reality loop. At the Southwest Craft Center as the Chair of photography we hosted workshops. Here is my take on this issue.

When we hosted a workshop with Arnold Newman he accepted the absurd payment of $600 dollars, with his air fare, and all meals, and 4 star hotel. He chose the subject for a two day venue and was only required to give a public lecture open to anyone.

Now, we did promote his public lecture that was held in our chapel (like a medium size church), bringing in two bus loads of children and a load of local religious organizations. Our Board of Directors were suppose to have a monthly board meeting at the time that got canceled and the entire board went to his lecture.

Arnold Newman workshops were usually at a cost of $300 to $400 for two day WS, ours was $125, it did not fill.
Arnold gets between $1,000 to $5,000 a day to do an assignment and he decides how long it will take and delivers usually one image. For a workshop he would charges $2 to $4 thousand for a two day WS.

We were a school and another New York Photographer who was a close friend of his, told him to do the WS, even at no cost because he would love doing it. The public lecture (reminding you, free to anyone) was attended by more than some 800 people, I know because my director though I was nuts that I and the staff setting up all 600 chairs we had and it turned out not to be enough.

Arnold had a sweet tooth we discovered and so he had triple deserts each evening meal. Between the first and second day for an evening meal the school hosted a dinner with 16 guests and Arnold. That dinner cost $750, which one of the board members paid for, rendered the bill to my directors office, and presented his annual donation back the same day of $1,000 to the school (written off to his real-estate company as a charitable donation).

As Arnold was leaving for the airport on Sunday afternoon, he requested that we not tell his wife about all the deserts and assured us that was not why he wanted to come back, and do another WS for the school. He also told us tat he had never had such a large audience in his entire life and that the Ground and buildings of the old Ursuline Academy was a special place.

The next week my director received his pay check for the workshop and a matched check as a matching amount as donation to the school. In his letter with his donation he spoke about his experience and that the next time he returned that the wanted to do a special pinhole photo WS at our children's program on Saturday mornings called Saturday Morning Discovery.

The only 'tip' I can imagine giving Arnold would be his personal chocolate cake to take home on the plane ride back to New York (custom baked by the master chef at the Club Gerard, on the ground of the school). A persona like Arnold Newman doesn't need or want money, a real teacher has his reward to give back to his community.

texasdigital Loc: Conroe, Texas

At the risk of sounding like Scrouge, I oppose subsidizing an employee's wage because the employer doesn't wish to pay them a proper salary.

I don't often advise emulating Europe; however, in the case of tipping, I like their system. They pride themselves on paying their employees a living wage, and tipping is discouraged. In Japan, you tip someone and they will chase you down to return the tip.

My thoughts are: raise your prices to reflect the actual cost of providing a service. At 20% to 25%, you are paying it anyway, which brings me to the "recommended" tipping schedule. I recall when tipping was 5% of the bill. Then the minimum jumped to 10%, and not long afterward, checks began to show a “recommended” percentage that the minimum was 18%. Where does it stop?

Cruise lines are some of the worst. To get you to book a cruise, they low-ball your fare, then expect you to pay for the service staff doing the job they are hired for. Not to mention charging fees for things that should be free.

Tipping is not necessarily commensurate with good service. Service providers can give you a barely adequate experience but still expect a tip. I have had exceptional service in the past that went beyond what I expected. In that case, I was happy to tip, usually 20%. I would rather the vendor tell me the actual cost of their service and let me decide if it is worth it.

My parents recently took a cruise, and the cabin steward was surly, unhelpful, and basically had an attitude. Except for the last day, when suddenly he tried to befriend my parents, knowing that this was the day tips were calculated.

I learned from our local Mexican food restaurants that they have a nasty habit of subtracting tips from their already meager wages. I know this is illegal. However, many of the employees in these restaurants are happy to have a job, and the threat of unemployment keeps them in line. Due to language barriers and legal issues, they cannot go between jobs easily. I try to tip in cash because the owner isn’t sure how much I gave them.

My final thought on tipping is how a person who doesn’t tip is treated in the future. I know that a less-than-enthusiastic tipper on a cruise is quickly identified, and their name is passed around. It is not the consumer’s fault that the employer is too cheap to pay decent wages.

Gourmand Loc: Dallas

Like the rest of you, I hate it when they flip the payment screen and it is prompting me for a set of large tips for someone who just rang up my bill and at most handed me a bagel from behind the counter (or any other product for that matter).

On the other hand, a few years ago I attended a college night school's graduation appreciation dinner where each student got to get up to the mike and say a few words. I started getting tears in my eyes about the fourth or fifth time someone got up and said they wanted to thank their single mom for working all those long, exhausting and often late hours as a waitress so that their child could go this far in school. It was a larger percentage of the students than you might think who told similar stories. It chokes me up to think of it. Next time you're in a restaurant, look at the shoes of the person waiting on you - they aren't stylish or big name, they're made for standing and working long hours. Everyone is entitled to a bad day once in a while and now I always presume that poor service is somehow related to circumstances I'm glad I don't have to trade for. It has become my true pleasure to tip well in restaurants and in certain other situations, but if you flip me the screen I will probably not be flipping you a tip....

BebuLamar

What you said is a real bad thing. The restaurants should raise the price of the food and pay the waitress more. Making them depending on tips is real bullshit. That way it's no longer tip. The tip should really be tip not paying wages.

texasdigital Loc: Conroe, Texas

I totally understand and I am not suggesting that underpaid employees are the problem. I also realize that anyone can have a bad day. Yet, when your level of tips depends on your interactions with your customers, it behooves you to provide the best service possible. If you have the occasional bad day, don't blame the customer; learn from the incident and improve next time.

Regarding funding their children's education, the bad guy is the employer who refuses to pay a living wage. After all, accumulating the tips necessary to provide an education means many hours of overtime and sacrifice for the employee. Although I hate the tipping system, I am not inconsiderate and tip commensurate with the level of service.

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

I’m not cheap but tipping is getting ridiculous.
Almost every service, including self service or take out, request a tip when you check out.
The only good thing is, on the bottom of the slip it has “suggested” tip options which makes it easier for you to not have to calculate it out.
If I pay with a CC, I always leave a tip in cash based on my experience, good or bad, and the magnitude of effort that went into servicing me.
Remember that TIP stands for To Insure Promptness!

Cubanphoto

I do. Most of my travels in Africa were with company drivers.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Buy low, sell high, collect early and pay late! While it’s not my practice to pay late, that’s the name of a book on how to manage money. Bought it the Harvard Buisness school library. 😂

Dr. Dan

John Gerlach does not accept tips at his workshops. You can buy him a glass of wine at dinner if you so choose.

Rmccully

I do not tip the tour leader, ever. I have never been asked to either. I have been asked to contribute to tips for drivers and luggage handlers, which I contribute to. However, I think the tour/workshop operators should include the tips in the cost of the trip and handle it rather than asking us for it. I recently went on a Strabo tour and the pre-trip materials said that we should plan on $300-400 for our spending money for shopping, etc. They said to plan for $3-$4 tips in restaurants. Then the first night that we arrived we were told to plan on $175 for tips for the driver, assistant and a guide. Then during the trip, they keep on collecting $10 tips for staff at the hotels. We were up to $225 in tips. We all had to make additional trips to the ATMs just to cover the tips. I suggested that they just raise the cost of the trip by $225 and they take care of the tips.

Rescue1dude Loc: Rutherford, NJ

When you hold a quarter, does the eagle scream?

Rescue1dude Loc: Rutherford, NJ

When I went to Oregon & California with BCJ I tipped 10%. Our guide/instructor knew his stuff. Oh, so did everyone else.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Good topic. Really depends on the responsibilities of the guide and the staff. Is the guide is providing technological education for all and was brought for that purpose, or driving from one place to the next to show interesting things to photograph. Is the guide the owner/guru of his/her firm that has been hired to teach, or guide? I have been on several. We have hired the professional, who has been paid a handsome fee for tutelage. We also have the guide who has been hired to organize the trip. We typically all contribute to a tip fund for the organizer. The participants have been very generous as the guide’s presence and commitment has been constant and continuous, organizing, solving problems, arranging meals and other activities. I know that the organizer was paid, however, I am the first to round up a generous gratuity. No one has ever said no. Safaris are different. Guides on safaris expect to be tipped and the organizers or tour companies will tell you in advance what is customary. If the service is good, I typically err on the side of more, not less.

texasdigital Loc: Conroe, Texas

I don't know about his quarter, but my wallet lets out a mournful scream when I'm victimized simply because I'm expected to subsidize the employer's wages.

texasdigital Loc: Conroe, Texas

That is certainly your choice. Regardless of any tips, why would you expect them to be less knowledgeable? Isn't part of the reason you chose them is that they do know their stuff?